Ice Golem — The Winter Oath
The snow has stopped falling, but someone is still moving in the white silence beyond the gate. The sentry lifts its lantern. Beneath the blizzard’s last veil stands a figure cut from blue ice, jagged splinters jutting from its shoulders. Each movement sounds like lake ice cracking. Beyond it, the missing courier’s footsteps end at a smooth hollow in the snow.
An ice golem is a bound guardian shaped from a winter-hard block of enchanted ice. A maker can give it a narrow command: defend a pass, carry medicines through a sealed winter road, stand watch over a frozen tomb or seize a particular prisoner alive. It has no wish to kill and no desire to spare; it obeys whichever words remain engraved in the binding.
The older frost guardian is roughly seven feet tall, small enough to fit a human fort’s gatehouse. A rarer prison-bearing type from another tradition is larger, with metal straps surrounding a hollow chest that freezes captives in place. They are distinct constructions, not simply variations in Hit Points.
Where Its Oath Began
The dwarven ward-smiths learned to bind spirits into guardians when their refuge gates and food stores needed defenders that could endure a siege without sleep. In the colder reaches, an ice golem could be fashioned from frozen mountain water rather than immense quantities of quarried stone or worked iron. Some served at Alpine passes, where a watchman’s life might be shorter than a winter, while others stood in glacier caves over the heirlooms of a clan that had long since travelled elsewhere.
Ice golems are a maker’s promise made material. They will return a traveller to the wrong fortress if their task names an extinct lord. One made to stop a plague convoy may still seize innocent carriers decades after the disease vanished. A preservation golem will not understand that a living prisoner has rights, only that its frozen cargo must arrive undamaged.
What Is Happening Right Now?
The first thaw has opened the northern road, but the caravans will not cross. A pale guardian walks between the snow-banks with a sealed copper token frozen into one fist. It has taken three couriers, and their horses wait unharmed near the watchtower. Each courier carried a message concerning the reopening of the pass; the golem’s instructions were written in a year when any such letter was considered treason.
The garrison wants the creature destroyed before trade is lost. The nearest ward-smith claims the token can change its orders, but the maker’s workshop lies under a dangerous spring avalanche. An escaped courier swears one of the missing travellers is still alive inside an icy shell. The adventurers can follow the guardian’s path, recover the old charter, rescue the captive or persuade the road’s rival claimants to abandon their claim to the gate.
Signs, Habits and Weaknesses
Its body cracks and reforms in faint, brittle noises as it moves. The air around it leaves frost on warm buckles and glass. A narrow trail of hard-packed snow, oddly free of footprints, can mark the route of a golem that has walked the same watch for years. It may stand motionless among commemorative ice carvings, only revealing itself when a command boundary is crossed.
Do not assume all cold magic is effective against it. In Pathfinder and 3.5e, magical Cold repairs the guardian while Electricity slows it and Fire strikes through its usual magical defences. In the Kobold Press captor version, Fire can melt open the cavity and help rescuers free a prisoner. A GM should use only the vulnerabilities printed in the selected edition.
Ice Golem Stat Blocks
Select your game’s rules. The 5e / 2014 option is the published third-party captor from Tome of Beasts 3; Pathfinder 1e has a smaller official frost guardian. The 2024 and 3.5e versions are original conversions. Their capture, breath weapon and death-burst rules are not interchangeable.
Ice Golem — D&D 2024
Original campaign conversion for D&D 2024 · Medium Construct, Unaligned · CR 5 (1,800 XP; PB +3)
AC 17 (frozen shell); Initiative +0 (10); HP 110 (13d8 + 52); Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 (+4) | 10 (+0) | 18 (+4) | 3 (−4) | 11 (+0) | 1 (−5) |
Saving Throws Con +7. Damage Immunities Cold, Poison, Psychic. Damage Vulnerability Fire. Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned.
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 10. Languages Understands the maker’s languages but cannot speak.
Traits
Immutable Form. The golem cannot shape-shift. Magic Resistance. It has Advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Rime-Covered Body. Whenever a creature hits the golem with an Unarmed Strike or a natural melee attack from within 5 feet, that attacker takes 4 (1d8) Cold damage.
Ice Shards. When the golem drops to 0 HP, the body bursts. Each creature in a 10-foot Emanation makes a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) Slashing and 7 (2d6) Cold damage on a failed save, or half on a success.
Actions
Multiattack. Two Frozen Slam attacks.
Frozen Slam. Melee Attack Roll +7, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) Bludgeoning damage plus 4 (1d8) Cold damage.
Freezing Breath (Recharge 5–6). A 20-foot Cone. Each creature in the cone makes a DC 15 Constitution saving throw; failure: 21 (6d6) Cold damage and Speed reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn; success: half damage without the speed reduction.
Icebound Grip. One creature within 5 feet which is Grappled by the golem makes a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or is Restrained by ice until the end of its next turn. The creature or another adjacent creature can use an action to attempt a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check, ending this effect on a success.
Running This Version
Two Slams inflict roughly 34 damage if both hit; breath replaces those attacks rather than adding to them. Fire is effective but may bring the golem close to its dangerous final burst. This conversion favours guarding a pass over imprisoning victims, unlike the published 2014-compatible captor.
Original 2024-rules campaign conversion inspired by golem traditions and Pathfinder’s Ice Golem. Not an official D&D 2024 SRD creature.
Ice Golem — D&D 2014
Published third-party 5e (2014-compatible) · Tome of Beasts 3 · Large Construct, Unaligned · CR 8 (3,900 XP; PB +3)
AC 16 (natural armour); HP 114 (12d10 + 48); Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 (+5) | 11 (+0) | 18 (+4) | 3 (−4) | 10 (+0) | 1 (−5) |
Skills Perception +3, Survival +3. Damage Immunities Cold, Poison, Psychic and Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing from nonmagical attacks not made with adamantine. Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned.
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 13. Languages Understands the languages of its maker but cannot speak.
Traits
Ice Cavity. The golem’s hollow torso can become solid ice or liquid water. While frozen, creatures touching it or hitting it with melee attacks from within 5 feet take 9 (2d8) Cold damage. Taking 15 or more Fire damage in one turn liquefies the cavity. While liquid, a creature within 5 feet may spend an action to pull out one trapped creature with a DC 16 Strength check, taking 9 (2d8) Cold damage on that attempt.
Immutable Form. Immune to shape-changing effects. Magic Resistance. Advantage on saves against spells and magical effects. Construct Nature. Does not need air, food, drink or sleep.
Actions
Multiattack. Two Slam attacks, or one Slam followed by Preserve Creature.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack +8, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (3d6 + 5) Bludgeoning plus 9 (2d8) Cold damage. A Medium or smaller target is Grappled (escape DC 16) if the golem does not already hold a creature.
Preserve Creature. The golem encloses one Grappled Medium or smaller creature in its liquid cavity, making it Restrained and unable to breathe. At the end of its next turn, the captive makes a DC 16 Constitution save. On a failure it takes 18 (4d8) Cold damage, is Petrified inside solid ice and has Total Cover from outside effects. If this damage brings it to 0 HP, it becomes Stable instead. On success it takes half damage and is ejected Prone within 5 feet. Removing the captive allows it to thaw in 1d4 rounds, or immediately after Fire damage. The golem cannot preserve more than one creature or use this ability while its cavity is frozen.
Reaction
Freeze or Liquefy Cavity. The golem changes its cavity between solid and liquid states.
Published third-party monster: Kobold Press / Open Design LLC, Tome of Beasts 3 (2022). This is not an official Wizards of the Coast 5e or 2024 SRD creature. Kobold Press monster index lists the Ice Golem as CR 8. Original book Section 15 identifies Eytan Bernstein, Celeste Conowitch, Benjamin L. Eastman, Robert Fairbanks, Scott Gable, Basheer Ghouse, Richard Green, Jeremy Hochhalter, Jeff Lee, Christopher Lockey, Sarah Madsen, Ben Mcfarland, Jonathan Miley, Kelly Pawlik, Sebastian Rombach, Chelsea Steverson, Brian Suskind and Mike Welham.
Ice Golem — Pathfinder 1e
Published Pathfinder 1e Bestiary · CR 5 (XP 1,600) · N Medium Construct (Cold)
Initiative −1; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0.
Defence
AC 17, touch 9, flat-footed 17 (−1 Dex, +8 natural); HP 53 (6d10 + 20); Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +2; DR 5/adamantine; Immune Construct traits, Cold and most magic; Weakness vulnerability to Fire.
Offence
Speed 30 ft.; Melee two Slams +9 (1d6 + 3 plus 1d6 Cold); Special Attacks Cold, Breath Weapon, Icy Destruction.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 (+3) | 9 (−1) | — | — | 11 (+0) | 1 (−5) |
Base Attack +6; CMB +9; CMD 18; Environment any cold; Organization solitary or gang (2–4); Treasure none.
Special Abilities
Cold (Ex). A touched creature takes 1d6 Cold damage; a creature successfully striking it with an unarmed attack or natural weapon also takes 1d6 Cold damage.
Breath Weapon (Su). Every 1d4 rounds, a 20-foot Cone deals 3d6 Cold damage (Reflex DC 13 for half).
Icy Destruction (Ex). At 0 HP the shell explodes into ice shards; all creatures within 10 feet take 3d6 Slashing plus 2d6 Cold damage, Reflex DC 13 half.
Immunity to Magic (Ex). Immune to spells and spell-like abilities that allow Spell Resistance, except those with the Fire descriptor, which affect it normally. Magical Electricity slows it for 2d6 rounds, no save. Magical Cold cancels the slow and heals it 1 HP per 3 points of Cold damage that otherwise would be dealt; excess healing becomes Temporary Hit Points.
Construction
Single ice block of at least 1,000 pounds, treated with unguents worth 500 gp. CL 12th; Price 18,500 gp; Cost 9,500 gp; Craft (sculptures) DC 17. Requires Craft Construct, chill touch, cone of cold, geas/quest, ice storm, resist energy (Cold) and caster level 12th.
Published Pathfinder 1e Bestiary — Ice Golem (OGL). Unlike Kobold Press’s Large captor, this is a Medium frost guardian with a breath weapon and explosive destruction.
Ice Golem — D&D 3.5e
Original D&D 3.5e adaptation of Pathfinder’s Ice Golem · CR 5 · N Medium Construct (Cold)
Hit Dice 6d10 + 20 (53 HP); Initiative −1; Speed 30 ft. (6 squares).
AC 17 (−1 Dex, +8 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 17; DR 5/adamantine; immune to Construct traits, Cold and most magic; vulnerable to Fire; Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision.
Base Attack/Grapple +4/+7; Attack Slam +7 melee (1d6 + 3 plus 1d6 Cold); Full Attack two Slams +7 melee; Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 (+3) | 9 (−1) | — | — | 11 (+0) | 1 (−5) |
Saves Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +2; Skills/Feats —; Organization solitary or gang (2–4); Treasure none; Alignment always Neutral.
Special Abilities
Cold (Ex). Slams deal 1d6 Cold damage in addition to Bludgeoning. Unarmed or natural attacks that hit the golem expose attackers to 1d6 Cold damage each.
Breath Weapon (Su). A 20-foot cone every 1d4 rounds; 3d6 Cold damage, Reflex DC 13 for half.
Icy Destruction (Ex). When destroyed, a 10-foot-radius burst deals 3d6 Slashing plus 2d6 Cold damage, Reflex DC 13 halves it.
Immunity to Magic (Ex). Spells allowing Spell Resistance have no effect except Fire effects, which work normally. Magical Electricity slows the golem for 2d6 rounds without a saving throw; magical Cold breaks that slow and repairs 1 HP per 3 points of damage prevented, excess becoming Temporary HP.
Construction — Adaptation
Use a 1,000-pound block of worked ice and 500 gp of alchemical treatments. Suggested CL 12th, Price 18,500 gp, Cost 9,500 gp plus the XP expenditure required by your 3.5e Construct creation rules. Requires Craft Construct, chill touch, cone of cold, geas/quest, ice storm and resist energy (Cold). The GM should apply D&D 3.5e-specific construction rules rather than PF1e costs automatically.
This D&D 3.5e stat block is an original campaign adaptation of Pathfinder’s Ice Golem, not a claim of published WotC 3.5e statistics. The attack bonus is adjusted from Pathfinder’s Construct BAB +6 to D&D 3.5e BAB +4.
Meeting an Ice Golem in Play
A golem is most dangerous where flight means abandoning something valuable: a child on a narrow bridge, a wounded traveller on a sled or a chest of medicine at a locked mountain gate. Let players spot the ward-marks, search for orders or find the one patch of bare rock where a collapsing ice wall will not take the whole party with it. During a fight, mention cracks spreading along the guardian’s arms before its final burst.
For the prison-bearing creature, make rescue urgent but understandable. The metal struts and suspended ice block are visible, giving the group a clue that the body hides more than frozen water. It can preserve a victim without killing them; breaking the shell with a great fire could save a prisoner but also damage the pass’s old waterworks.
Adventure Encounters
The Courier in the Ice
Every winter a merchant house loses one messenger near the same watchpost. This year the messenger is the only person who knows which caravan carries a forged treaty. The ice golem has detained them under a century-old order. Destroying it frees the captive but sends the village’s grain cache sliding into a ravine; the party can instead locate the charter and change the watch command.
The Salt Road
A thaw has uncovered a stone causeway across a glacier. A local lord orders the party to secure it, but the dwarven guild that built the crossing refuses to let its ice guardian move. The golem’s original duty was to keep the spring melt from flooding the valleys below. The party can negotiate ownership of the waterworks, reinforce the spillway or divert a caravan before the next warm spell breaks the dam.
Five Names on a Cold Door
Inside an abandoned Alpine refuge, five names are etched onto a frozen inner gate. Every time a name is read aloud, the ice guardian opens a different storeroom; one contains food and medicines, another the trapped remains of a dangerous summoning. A sixth name has been scraped away. The ward-smith’s ledger can reveal who was removed and why, but repairing the stone may awaken more than the sentinel.
After the Encounter
A frost-hardened command token, a maker’s chisel, a weathered road charter or a partial golem manual can be more valuable than a broken shell. Where the guardian controlled a glacier gate or reservoir, its destruction may change the watercourse for miles and force the inhabitants to rebuild protections their ancestors relied on.
Related Monsters, Materials and Magic
Explore the golem family, Stone Golem, Iron Golem, Crystal Golem, adamantine, cone of cold, ice storm, resist energy and Craft Construct.
Rules provenance: Pathfinder 1e Bestiary: Ice Golem (OGL); Tome of Beasts 3, © 2022 Open Design LLC / Kobold Press (published third-party 5e). The 2024 and 3.5e conversions and new encounters are original campaign material. None should be described as an official WotC Ice Golem in those editions.
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