Frosthowl Pack

The Cool and Level-Headed Warriors of the Wulven People

Pack Description

Frosthowl: The frosty counterparts to the Firefur pack, the Frosthowl are Wulven that prowl the colder climates of the world, though not those so extreme as those often inhabited by the Winterfang pack. Their fur is often icy blue or white with shades of blue highlighted on the tips of their fur and their claws, which are, along with their teeth, constantly enshrouded in small clouds of icy and hoarfrost that freeze and snap the flesh of those they strike with each strike or bite. Opposite their fiery counterparts, the Frosthowl Wulven are cool-tempered and reserved even among the Wulven, and they are often quiet and reserved unless addressed or spoken to directly, which makes them quite the oddity among Wulven culture. They are somewhat disparate and tend to roam much like the cold winter winds, but in time they all are blown back together into villages where they carefully carve out a living for themselves. While not exactly morose, the Frosthowl Wulven can frequently be misconstrued as such thanks to their quiet and reserved attitudes even in the presence of their fellow Wulven. To the Frosthowl, celebration and battle are things enjoyed best with none of the fanfare or boisterousness of other Wulven...instead, they drink, smile, and fight as they please in silence and with no particular zealousness. They often ascribe themselves to the maxim "A life lived well is reward enough"...meaning that while they strive to live as vivaciously as their fellow Wulven, they believe that doing so is in and of itself good and well, and doesn't require loudness or noise...meaning that while they leave perhaps less of an impression on the places they visit, to those who truly get to know a Frosthowl Wulven, they often will remember their mighty furred friends for the rest of their lives as a friend like none other. A very common Frosthowl belief is that even though a Wulven may die and shed his corporeal body, he lives on forever in the hearts and minds of his friends, pack, and those who remember him...in this way, he lives forever or until he is forgotten.

Pack Mechanics

Pack Trait: Gain a 30ft cone breath weapon (DC 10 + 1/2 HD + CONMOD) Reflex save for half damage. Begins at 1d8 cold damage. Increases by one damage dice every five levels. Can be used once every 1d8 rounds.
Their lungs constantly roiling with freezing mist, the Frosthowl Wulven can release this mist at a moment's notice, spreading this freezing mist over the battlefield and freezing flesh and bone alike with its touch.

Alternate Pack Traits:

Rimenose: Gain a racial +10 to survival checks made to track all creatures you have dealt cold damage to in the last 24 hours. You automatically know the direction they are in relative to you if they are within 2 miles. Replaces Hunter’s Nose.
A pack closer than any other to cold, ice, and snow, the Frosthowl have adapted to take full advantage of their freezing makeup as hunters so that their noses can detect the finest traces of frozen flesh and ice nearby, allowing them to track down foes or creatures that they recently dealt cold damage to within the past day...so finely tuned are their senses that they are said to automatically know the direction towards their target so long as they are near their prey. In this way, their prey has little chance of escape even long after they flee from the fight itself.

Icy Cold Calm: Gain Aquan as a bonus language. You are immune to all extreme weather effects in cold environments, and you gain a +4 morale bonus against all saves made to resist a fear effect. Replace Nature Primordials.
Their demeanors often as frigid and calm as the vast icy landscapes they call home, the Frosthowl are all but immune to even the worst weather that can take place in their frozen homes...and as a result of their level-headedness and uncharacteristic patience, they often get along perfectly with water elementals or those closely tied to water.

Hunters of the frozen north: Gain the cold environment as a favored terrain, and gain a favored enemy as the ranger class ability. You are immune to all magical aging effects, and are instead stunned for 1d6 rounds. Replaces Wulven Immortality.
Though they rarely dwell in climes as inhospitable as those frequented by the Winterfang pack, the Frosthowl pack nonetheless dwells within the icy and remote expanses of the world...and as such, none are more familiar with they than hunting, living, and making a life in such areas, nor are any as skilled as they at hunting the beasts that dwell within those places.

One with the blizzard: You may treat all cold damage you deal as nonlethal damage with no penalties. Replaces We fight for the thrill, not the kill.
Where other Wulven strike with claw and maw to strike nonlethally and fight without killing, some Frosthowl do so not with tooth and claw, but with icy cold. Capable of using their innate connection to cold to manipulate its intensity, these rare Frosthowl can freeze their foes without truly killing them.

Pack Feats:

Rimenose Tracker:
Prerequisites: “Rimenose” Alternate Trait, Character level 6th
Effect: You gain the racial +10 on survival checks from Rimenose” against targets that have taken cold damage from any source in the past 24 hours, not just you. You automatically know the direction they are in relative to you so long as they are on the same plane as you, rather than just 2 miles.
Taking their special senses to even greater heights, some Frosthowl become so adept at sniffing out frozen flesh, iced over and chilly foes, and cold itself that they become able to detect those frozen by any cold or ice...not just their own. Often seen as a powerful blessing by the pack, these Frosthowl often become scouts, trackers, and those who head first into the fray to track down their prey and drive them to ground.

Elemental Ally:
Prerequisites: “One with the Blizzard” Alternate Trait, Character level 4th
Effect: You may treat all elemental damage you deal as nonlethal damage with no penalties.
The Frosthowl, being a pack highly in tune with the Elements, live their lives with a large respect for the creeping assuredness and adaptability of water and ice, the power of flame, the swiftness of rushing air and the durability of immobile earth that often, this veneration for the elements takes their fighting style to new heights as these select few Frosthowl learn how to manipulate the various elements with as much precision as their Wulven brethren wield their own claws, fighting their foes with elements without truly killing them. Often, this earns them the respect of the various elemental races, as they see the Frosthowl as using the natural elements to their fullest and most natural state.

Icevein:
Prerequisites: Character level 10th
Effect: Each time you take cold damage, BEFORE any immunities but AFTER resistances apply, you heal for 1/3 of the total damage taken. If you take more than three times your total HD in a single attack that deals cold damage(Or through environmental damage), you must make a will save or erupt with the force of the Fireball spell equal to your level that does not injure you, and deals cold damage instead of fire.
As a pack who live their entire lives with an icy calm and cool collectedness, some Frosthowl embody these core traits of their pack so expertly that their very blood begins to freeze and become as cool and still as them...such that when their bodies are struck with cold and ice, their flesh and blood takes the energy and knits themselves back together...and even, when they receive enough frozen power in one attack, detonate in a cascade of frozen fire that freezes all nearby.

Muzaka’s Divine Breath:
Prerequisites: Character level 8th
Effect: Increase the damage dice for your pack trait breath weapon by one step. When you use the breath weapon, you can choose to EITHER increase the range to a 60ft cone or 80ft line OR decrease the cooldown time for that use to 1d6 rounds.
Though the frost mist that roils within their chests is already potent, some Frosthowl receive what their pack considered a divine gift from Muzaka himself, their lungs infused with a shard of his immense divinity as they become capable of blowing even colder and wider cones of frosty mist on command...and even become capable of shaping the shape of the mist as it leaves their lips.