Cold Magic • Legacy Witch Spell

Arctic Grasp

Arctic Grasp charges the caster’s hand with killing cold until the spell is delivered through touch. The strike deals heavy frost damage and can slow the target under the legacy d20 rules.

Arctic Grasp at a Glance

5.5e / 2024	No direct conversion published here
5e / 2014	No direct conversion published here
Pathfinder 1e	Not a Pathfinder Witch spell by default
D&D 3.x Legacy	Witch 3, Sorcerer/Wizard 3

Spell Rules by Edition

D&D 5.5e / 2024D&D 5e / 2014Pathfinder 1eD&D 3.5e

Arctic Grasp — D&D 5.5e / 2024

Historical third-party spell. Arctic Grasp is not supplied as a spell in SRD 5.2.1. No 2024 conversion is supplied here. Its older caster-level, saving-throw and action rules do not transfer automatically to this edition.

Arctic Grasp — D&D 5e / 2014

Historical third-party spell. Arctic Grasp is not supplied as a spell in SRD 5.1. No 2014 conversion is supplied here. Use the earlier-edition rules only in their own system, or an explicitly approved conversion.

Arctic Grasp — Pathfinder 1e

Edition status: No Pathfinder 1e conversion is supplied. The historical d20 spell does not become a Pathfinder spell merely because its terminology looks familiar.

Arctic Grasp — D&D 3.5e

Legacy d20 text, preserved from Liber Mysterium. The use of partial actions identifies an older action economy; this is not an official D&D 3.5e SRD spell or a completed 3.5e conversion.

D&D 3.x Legacy Rules

School	Transmutation
Level	Witch 3, Sorcerer/Wizard 3
Components	V, S, M
Casting Time	1 action
Range	Touch
Target	One creature
Duration	Until discharged
Saving Throw	Fortitude half; see text
Spell Resistance	Yes

Until discharged, the caster’s hand glows with cold blue light. On a successful touch, the spell deals 1d6 cold damage per caster level, to a maximum of 10d6.

If the target fails its Fortitude save, it is also slowed and can take only partial actions for 1 round per 2 caster levels under the original rules.

Material component: a crystallised stone.

What Changed Between Editions?

The partial-action and slow mechanics belong to the older d20 rules. Modern editions should use their own action economy and condition rules rather than importing this text unchanged.

Using Arctic Grasp in Play

Prepare the cold touch when a single dangerous enemy is likely to come within reach. Its damage scales with caster level, so the same spell becomes a harder strike as the caster advances. Delivering it still requires a successful touch; preparing a charge is not the same as striking a foe.

Keep the charged hand clear of companions and objects. Use the active legacy edition’s holding-the-charge rules rather than treating the duration as permission to deliver repeated damaging touches.

Worked Example: An Eighth-Level Caster

A caster with caster level 8 delivers a successful touch. Arctic Grasp rolls 8d6 cold damage. On a successful Fortitude save, that damage is halved and the additional slowing does not apply. On a failed save, the original slowing lasts 4 rounds. “Partial actions” must be resolved under the original rules; it is not a fifth-edition condition.

Counterplay and Games Master Rulings

Stay outside the caster’s reach, interrupt the casting when the edition permits it, or use appropriate cold resistance. Spell resistance applies before the spell takes effect. Resolve a successful saving throw before applying the remaining damage and any relevant resistance.

The blue glow gives observers a visible warning. The spell provides one discharge, not a cold weapon that can be swung indefinitely. Do not add paralysis, ice restraints, numb limbs or an automatic reduction to modern movement speed.

Compare Dispel Magic for removing ongoing magic, and return to the Witch Spell Lists for the spell’s legacy place in the class archive.

Mythical Context

Boreas, the Greek North Wind, was imagined as a powerful figure whose arrival brought bitter cold. A witch’s blue-glowing hand makes this weather-bound supernatural force intimate: winter is brought to a single victim by touch. See the collected ancient accounts of Boreas.

Historical Context

The Metropolitan Museum preserves a Greek bronze hydria, dated about 375–350 BCE, whose relief depicts Boreas and Oreithyia. This is a specific surviving image of the personified north wind. See the museum’s hydria record.

Classical writers treated the seasonal winds as forces that shaped travel, sailing and weather. Ancient Greek art also personified winds as winged beings, an evocative visual parallel rather than proof that a person could freeze another with a hand. See Encyclopaedia Britannica’s overview of Boreas.

Rules Sources and Licensing

Legacy source: Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks.

The Arctic Grasp mechanics in the legacy panel derive from Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks (2003), by Timothy S. Brannan and the Netbook of Witches team. That rules text is designated Open Game Content under the Open Game License v1.0a. The edition-status notes, new commentary and site illustration are not designated Open Game Content by this notice.

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