AuldDragon's AD&D Blog

One of the deities straddling the boundary between the Seldarine and the Seelie Court, Rellavar Danuvien is the king of the frost sprites and a member of the outer circle of the Seelie Court, as well as being a rising power of the reclusive snow elves. He is a protector deity who looks out for elves and faeriefolk who are endangered by harsh weather and natural disasters.

If you’ve been enjoying these entries, please consider supporting the project on Patreon or Ko-Fi.

Rellavar Danuvien (PDF Version)
(The Frost Sprite King, Warder Against Elements)
Lesser Power of Arborea, NG

Portfolio:                 Frost sprites, protection from the elements (particularly the cold), protection from natural disasters
Aliases:                     None
Domain Name:           Olympus/Arvandor (the Ice Plain)
Superior:                   Corellon Larethian (formerly Tarsellis Meunniduin)
Allies:                       Aerdrie Faenya, Eilistraee, Erevan Ilesere, Oberon, Skadi, Solonor Thelandira, Tarsellis Meunniduin, Tethrin Veraldé, Titania, Uller, Velnius, the Seelie Court, the Seldarine
Foes:                           Auril, Hred, Incabulos, Kostchtchie, Kriesha, Lolth, Pyremius, the Queen of Air and Darkness, Stalker, Talos, Taranis, Telchur, Thrym, Umberlee, Vatun, the drow pantheon (except Eilistraee), the goblinoid and orcish pantheons
Symbol:                     A silver spear with a white circle to either side of the shaft
Wor. Align.:             LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN

Known as the Frost Sprite King, Rellavar Danuvien (rell-ah-VAR dah-NOO-vee-yen) is a minor elven power favored by the reclusive snow elves. He is a protector-deity who guards elves and faerie folk from the effects of weather and natural disasters, especially those found in arctic lands.

As patron of the frost sprites, Rellavar is one of the elven deities who straddles the murky border between elf and faerie; like Erevan Ilesere and Sarula Iliene, he is also a member of the Outer Circle of the Seelie Court. Sages are divided as to whether the Frost Sprite King is a faerie power who has interloped onto the Seldarine, or a member of the Seldarine who has adopted a race of faeriefolk as his own. For their part, the elves and frost sprites who worship him give it little thought, considering each other equals in their deity’s eyes, leaving it to sages to debate.

Long ago Rellavar served Tarsellis Meunniduin as the shield to the Lord of the Mountains’ spear. However, he never felt the same estrangement towards the rest of the Seldarine as his superior did, and his closeness to the rest of the pantheon has strained their relationship. This is especially the case for the friendship between Rellavar and Solonor; the Lord of the Mountains has a distinct dislike of the Great Archer due to some past disagreement. The separation of Rellavar and Tarsellis was gradual, and only truly formalized when the Frost Sprite King moved his realm from the Beastlands back to Arvandor. However, Tarsellis holds no ill-will towards Rellavar, and each can still count on the other for aid. However, as the Frost Sprite King’s stature appears to be on the rise and Tarsellis’s seems to be fading, it is possible this will no longer be the case in the future.

As a power who protects elves against weather and the elements, Rellavar opposes those deities who use such natural forces to cause harm and destruction, even if somewhat inadvertently. He especially opposes Auril, the goddess of winter on Toril’s continent of Faerûn. The Frostmaiden has long hated elvenkind and the Seldarine; due to this Rellavar has taken it upon himself to actively search out her plots and stymie them wherever elves reside. These actions have often led him into conflicts with Auril’s fellow Gods of Fury, Talos and Umberlee, both of whom use the natural environment against the elven peoples. He is also a staunch opponent of the frost giant gods Thrym and Kostchtchie, as their followers regularly come into conflict with elves in arctic and glacial lands.

Straddling the line between Seldarine and Seelie Court has put Rellavar at odds with the foes of both pantheons, but also allowed him to rely on members of each for aid. He works closely with Aerdrie Faenya, for she represents the beneficial aspects of weather, and her followers are most often in contact with those who follow the Frost Sprite King. He is also sometimes depicted as accompanying Tethrin Veraldé on some of his adventures, and the pair are said to strong friends who have protected elven communities together on many an occasion. Outside of these pantheons, the Frost Sprite King is on excellent terms with Skadi and Uller, allies of the Aesir, for they are both beneficent powers of cold and winter. It is also said that he has gained the aid of the Oerthian power Velnius against two of that world’s deities of winter, Telchur and Vatun in the past. Whether their alliance still holds is unknown, however.

Rellavar Danuvien is an active deity, often sending an avatar to protect an elven community facing dire natural disasters, especially those that happen during winter. He is always on the watch for the activities of his rivals, and quick to act should their plots threaten elven lives with icy cold and unnatural winters.

Rellavar’s Avatar (Ranger 27, Cleric 24, Abjurer 18)
Rellavar appears as an elf or sprite with pale blue skin, shoulder-length silver hair, and sapphire-blue eyes. In his sprite form, he has transparent, rounded wings like those of a bee, and in both forms he wears warm clothing of white fur, fringed with grey fur strips. He draws his spells from all schools and spheres, but almost never uses those that create fire or heat.

AC −1; MV 15 or 6, Fl 30 (A); HP 198; THAC0 −6; #AT 2
Dmg 1d6+9 (spear +2, Str +7) or 1d8+11+1d6 (long bow +2 and arrows +2, +7 Str, +1d6 ice)
MR 60%; SZ M (7 feet tall) or S (3 feet tall)
Str 15, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 22, Wis 21, Cha 18
Spells P: 12/12/11/11/9/3/3, W: 6/6/6/6/6/4/4/3/2*
Saves PPDM 2; RSW 5; PP 4; BW 4; Sp 6
* Numbers assume one extra abjuration spell per spell level.

Special Att/Def: In battle, the Frost Sprite King carries Icicle, a glittering spear +2 made of permanent transparent blue ice that is as hard as steel. In addition to normal damage, creatures struck by this weapon must make a saving throw versus paralyzation or be paralyzed by the numbing cold. He also carries a long bow +2 known as Sleetshooter. Any arrows fired from this bow become encased in a sheath of ice, dealing an extra 1d6 points of cold damage and counting as a +2 weapon.

Once per day, Rellavar can create a field around him to a radius of 50 feet that nullifies all damage and harmful effects from storms, rockslides, raging fires, and other sorts of natural disasters. This protection even covers spells that summon or mimic such effects, including the spells call lighting, fireball, ice storm, lighting bolt, wall of fire, and the like, but not spells such as shocking grasp, burning hands, or meteor swarm. Further, he can cast protection from fire, protection from cold, and protection from lightning (as the priestly versions of these spells) 3 times per day each.

The Frost Sprite King is immune to cold, as well as natural heat, fire, lightning, and all other harmful effects of weather and the natural environment. He can only be struck by weapons of +1 or better enchantment.

Other Manifestations
When Rellavar chooses to manifest his power, it usually takes the form of a blue-silver nimbus of light surrounding a follower that offers them complete invulnerability to cold, both natural and magical. He has also been known to create fields of protection similar to Otiluke’s resilient sphere or a wall of force that offer protection against avalanches, mudslides, floods, or other terrible disasters; the field persists at least as long as there is danger and does not entirely dissipate if doing so would cause harm to the protected creature. Finally, he has been known to manifest as a ghostly wolf that brings emergency supplies to a stranded individual and leads them to safety.

The Seldarine call on agathinons, asuras, and ancient treants as their preferred servants, but Rellavar is also served by alaghi, arctic foxes, arctic hares, asperii, boars, brown bears, caribou, cave bears, eladrin, feystags, ice mephits, ice paraelementals, ice toads, mammoths, mastodons, mist wolves, owls of all sorts, polar bears, sha’az, stags, taer, werebears, and yeti. He demonstrates his favor through the discovery of alabaster, aquamarine, blue quartz, marble, milky quartz, moonbar, sapphire, and snowflake obsidian, the tinkling of chime oaks in winter, holly berries, snowdrops, and winter aconite, as well as a feeling of internal warmth that staves off cold temperatures. The Frost Sprite King makes his displeasure known through sudden chills, icy breezes, and the sound of cracking ice or snow packs.

The Church
Clergy:                      Clerics, specialty priests, rangers, wizards
Clergy’s Align.:      LG, NG, CG, N, CN
Turn Undead:           C: Yes, SP: No, R: No, W: No
Cmnd. Undead:         C: No, SP: No, R: No, W: No

All clerics (including multiclassed half-elven clerics) and specialty priests of Rellavar receive religion (elf) and reading/writing (elvish) as bonus nonweapon proficiencies.

With his worship primarily contained to snow elves, frost sprites, and those elves and faeries who live in glacial or arctic lands, Rellavar’s faith is not well known beyond such communities. Nevertheless, his clergy is well-regarded as a group concerned with protecting and rescuing others from the dangers of cold, weather, and natural disasters. They do so without expectation of recompense, although many members of the faith are quick to point out any foolhardiness or mistakes that may have made such rescue or protection necessary.

Rellavar’s elven temples tend to be more recognizable than those of Tarsellis, as they are often built in less remote locations. They take the form of sturdy wooden lodges well-designed to protect those within against the elements and weather. Often lacking any exterior embellishments besides a watchtower and subtle symbols above the doors to indicate their nature, their interiors are bright, warm, and cheerful. They are so well designed that they seem to need only a minimum of extra heating to keep them comfortable even during the coldest winter storms, and they always feature some small chambers set aside for those in need of shelter. Because of this, they often serve as waystations between snow elven communities. Snow elves are particularly reclusive, however, and even if not as remote by snow elven standards, these temples are often days away from any trade routes or settlements of other races. Shrines are also well-known among snow elves, as they are usually built as small shelters in strategic locations to aid travelers who know of their locations. Members of the priesthood regularly visit them to ensure they contain a small stock of emergency supplies. Other than Rellavar’s symbols on these shrines, there are few other obvious signs of their nature.

Novices in the service of the Frost Sprite King are called the Freshly Fallen. Full priests of the Warder Against Elements are called the Weathered. In as ending order of rank, the titles used by the Rellavaran priests are Flurry, Snowfall, Graupel, Sleet, Hail, Blizzard, and Avalanche. High-level priests have unique individual titles. Specialty priests are known as frostwardens. Rellavar’s clergy includes snow elves (65%), sylvan elves (12%), frost sprites (8%), half-snow elves (6%), high elves (4%), grey elves (2%), half elves of all other extractions (1%), faeries of other sorts (1%), and a smattering (1%) of dark elves, sea elves, and winged elves. The Frost Sprite King’s priesthood is composed of specialty priests (48%), clerics (including multiclassed half-elven clerics, 40%), rangers (8%), and wizards (mostly frost wizards and abjurers, 4%). The priesthood of Rellavar is roughly evenly split between males (53%) and females (47%).

Dogma: Extreme weather and inhospitable environments are dangerous, but these dangers can be overcome. Learn to survive these hazards and defend others from the harm they can inflict. Many enemies will attempt to harness the power of the land against your people, but the same skills that can protect against natural hazards can be turned to ward off such magical threats. No matter how inhospitable a land may be, it has beauty of its own that should be embraced.

Day-to-Day Activities: Rellavar’s clergy have few regular, formal duties, and so spend much of their time hunting, exploring, or performing other everyday tasks. Many choose to make their homes near but outside dangerous locations, such as high narrow mountain passes or often-frozen lakes. They see it as their duty to watch these locations for creatures in need of aid from the dangers they present. As important as they see helping those in need, Rellavar’s priests are permitted to leave enemies of their own people to suffer the dangers of these locations without aid.

Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: The start of the winter season is the most holy day in the church of the Frost Sprite King. On this day, known as Cold’s Descent, the clergy make offerings sculpted from ice or bone as a request for Rellavar’s protection from the storms and temperatures of the season. They then lead their flock in hymnal prayer for about half an hour, ending at sunset.

Similar sacrifices, but without the ritual prayer, are also held during times of great danger for a community or before dangerous expeditions or undertakings are begun. If the danger seems especially high, the sacrifices of worked silver, crystal, and ivory are made by the head priests.

Major Centers of Worship: The Rellavaran clergy have few notable holy sites, although locations of great environmental disasters are sometimes honored, such as an elven settlement destroyed by an avalanche or a mudslide. This is not so much a remembrance for the location as it is for the lives the priesthood was unable to protect.

In the northern lands of Faerûn on Toril, there is a legend that speaks of a dangerous sorceress of ice and cold, known as the Winter Witch. Sightings of this wizardess go back at least one hundred years in the wilderness areas north of Silverymoon up to the Spine of the World, and often connect her to terrible blizzards, avalanches, and other natural disasters. Most residents of the towns and cities of the region dismiss her as superstition, but many rural folks swear she exists and plots against those who try to make their living off the land. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. The so-called Winter Witch is in fact a dark elf by the name Erelda, a sorceress who specializes in the magics of cold and ice. Despite her reputation, she has been a benevolent force in the icy lands, often saving those caught in blizzards, avalanches, and other wintry hazards; her reputation, however, stems from her regular use of magic to erase memories of her activities coupled with the survivor bias of those she saved who blamed her for the situations they were caught in. Exactly how she came to Rellavar’s faith is unknown, but it was apparently strong enough that she was infused with his power during the Time of Troubles and faced the avatar of Thrym high up in the Spine of the World.

Major temples are rumored to exist within significant snow elven settlements, but the insular nature of these elves keeps such locations well-hidden, even from other elves. Still, rumors of such locations persist. Hints of a large temple nestled in the southern reaches of the Crystalmist mountains of Oerth are known to dwarves in the region, although they have had little interest to confirm its presence. Similarly, the Uthgardt living near the Ice Mountains of Faerûn have a legend of “tall folk of the mountains” who live in a shining city deep among the peaks. Those who insist they have seen it have never been able to return to its location, but such sightings have been reported for centuries. The reclusive wizard Tulrun has indicated these “tall folk” are elves, but no one has been able to convince him to reveal more information.

Affiliated Orders: The church of Rellavar sponsors many independent orders of rangers who patrol mountains, glaciers, and tundras. These orders tend to be fleeting, organizing and disbanding with regularity, although there is almost always one such sponsored group in any given area that has a strong presence of Rellavaran faithful.

The church of Rellavar also sponsors a knightly order known as the Whitescale Slayers. These warriors have dedicated themselves to slaying white dragons that plague the high mountains and glacial lands favored by snow elves and frost sprites. While consisting primarily of fighters and rangers who take a modified version of the wymslayer kit (see TSR2147 The Complete Paladin’s Handbook), most chapters are also home to a couple of priests and wizards to support their efforts.

Priestly Vestments: The ceremonial garb of the Rellavaran clergy includes white trousers and a blue jacket with white sleeves. Head coverings are rarely used, but when they are, they tend to include fur-lined hoods or wreaths of holly leaves. Higher-ranking members of the priesthood have fur fringes or fur stoles generally made of winter wolf fur. The holy symbol used by the clergy is a bone or silver disc inscribed with Rellavar’s symbol, typically worn around the neck on a thong or thin silver chain.

Adventuring Garb: Priests of the Frost Sprite King favor spears and axes over the more traditional swords due to their secondary usage as tools. They prize white dragon scale and dragon hide armor if they can get it, otherwise mail is preferred. Hide armors are also common, especially where added warmth is especially needed.

Specialty Priests (Frostwardens)
Requirements:          Constitution 13, Wisdom 13
Prime Req.:                Constitution, Wisdom
Alignment:                NG, N
Weapons:                   Battle axe, club, dagger, dart, hand/throwing axe, knife, long bow, long sword, short bow, short sword, sling, spear
Armor:                       Fur, leather, hide, elven chain, or dragonscale armor, plus shield
Major Spheres:         All, animal, charm, combat, divination, guardian, healing, protection, wards, weather
Minor Spheres:         Elemental, necromantic
Magical Items:         Same as cleric
Req. Profs:                Spear, fire building
Bonus Profs:             Weather sense

• Frostwardens must be elves or half-elves. While most frostwardens are snow elves or half-elves of snow elf ancestry, elves and half-elves of every subrace are called to be specialty priests of Rellavar’s clergy.
• Frostwardens are not allowed to multiclass.
• Frostwardens may select nonweapon proficiencies from the warrior group without penalty.
• Frostwardens are immune to natural cold and receive a +3 on saving throws vs. all cold-based attacks.
• Frostwardens can cast resist fire/resist cold (as the 2nd-level priest spell) once per day.
• At 3rd level, frostwardens can cast aid (as the 2nd-level priest spell) or call upon faith (as the 1st-level priest spell) once per day.
• At 5th level, frostwardens can cast protection from cold, protection from fire (as the 3rd-level priest spells), or protection from lightning (as the 4th-level priest spell) once per day.
• At 7th level, frostwardens suffer half damage from cold-based attacks, or none if a saving throw is successful.
• At 7th level, frostwardens can cast call arctic beings (as the 4th-level priest spell) once per day. If this ability is used to summon frost sprites, there is an 80% chance of success; this does not apply with a normally memorized and cast version of this spell.
• At 9th level, frostwardens can cast icesteel (as the 6th-level priest spell) once per week.
• At 12th level, frostwardens gain the ability to turn cold-based creatures, much as other clerics turn undead. The priest can turn back no more than twice their experience level in Hit Dice, though up to 5 other priests may join in and add their levels to the principal priest for the purpose of determining how many hit dice worth are affected.

Rellavaran Spells
In addition to the spells listed below, priests of the Frost Sprite King can cast the 3rd-level priest spell protection from cold, detailed in Powers and Pantheons in the entry for Ulutiu.

1st Level
Weapon of Ice (Pr 1; Alteration)
Sphere:                    Elemental Water
Range:                     Touch
Components:           V, S, M
Duration:                 1 rd./level
Casting Time:          4
Area of Effect:         Special
Saving Throw:        None

This spell allows the caster to transform a normal chunk of ice into a weapon. The weapon must be a melee weapon that the caster is proficient in. However, the affected ice must be of a volume relative to the weapon type it will assume; the spell fails if the amount of available ice is less than the volume of the desired weapon.

Despite being made of ice, the weapon inflicts normal damage for its type. Its ice composition makes it immune to metal-affecting magic and conditions like rust or corrosion, heat metal and crystalbrittle spells, and so on. On the other hand, the weapon is susceptible to ice- and crystal-affecting spells such as shatter and the like, as well as being vulnerable to extreme heat; this spell ends immediately if the weapon is subjected to any flame- or heat-based spell or breath weapon. In any case, the weapon is considered magical for purposes of determining what creatures it can hit, but it provides no additional attack or damage bonuses.

When the spell expires the weapon returns to its normal form. Dispel magic and similar effects can make the weapon revert to a normal ice early if cast successfully. Icesteel can be used to make a weapon created with the weapon of ice spell permanent, within the restrictions of the icesteel spell.

The material components are the priest’s holy symbol and a small chunk of iron ore.

2nd Level
Snow Devil (Pr 2; Conjuration/Summoning)
Sphere:                    Elemental Air, Weather
Range:                     30 yds.
Components:           V, S
Duration:                 2 rds./level
Casting Time:          2 rds.
Area of Effect:         Creates 1 snow devil
Saving Throw:        None

This spell enables a priest to conjure up a weak ice paraelemental—a snow devil of AC 4, 2 HD, MV 180 feet per round, one attack for 1d3+1 points of damage—that can be hit by normal weapons. The snow devil appears as a small whirlwind of swirling snow one foot in diameter at its base, five feet tall, and three to four feet across at the top. It moves as directed by the priest, but dissipates if it is ever separated from the caster by more than 30 yards. Due to the cold of its winds, it deals an extra 2 points of damage per hit to any fire-loving or based creatures, but it suffers an extra point of damage from fire-based attacks. Its winds are sufficient to put out torches, small campfires, exposed lanterns, and other small, open flames of nonmagical origin. The snow devil can hold a gas cloud or a creature in gaseous form at bay or push it away from the caster (though it cannot damage or disperse such a cloud). If skimming along the ground in an area of loose snow, the snow devil picks up those particles and disperses them in a 10-foot-diameter cloud centered on itself. The cloud obscures normal vision, and creatures caught within are blinded while inside and for one round after they emerge. A spellcaster caught in the snow devil or its cloud while casting must make a saving throw vs. spell to maintain concentration, or the spell is ruined. Any creature native to the elemental planes of Air or Ice—even another snow devil—can disperse a snow devil with a single hit.

4th Level
Call Arctic Beings (Pr 4; Conjuration/Summoning)
Sphere:                    Animal
Range:                     100 yds./level
Components:           V, S, M
Duration:                 Special
Casting Time:          Special
Area of Effect:         Special
Saving Throw:        Neg.

By means of this spell, the caster is able to summon certain creatures native to high mountains, glaciers, or tundra lands to his location. Naturally, this spell works only outdoors, but not necessarily only in these lands. The caster begins the incantation and continues uninterrupted until some called creature appears or two turns have elapsed. (The verbalization and somatic gesturing are easy, so this is not particularly exhausting to the spellcaster.) Only one type of the following sorts of beings can be summoned by the spell. They come only if they are within range of the call.

The caster can call three times, for a different type each time. Once a call is successful, no other type can be called without another casting of the spell. (The DM consults his outdoor map or bases the chance of any such creature being within spell range upon the nature of the area the caster is in at the time of spellcasting.)

The creature(s) called by the spell are allowed a saving throw vs. spell with a −4 penalty to avoid the summons. Any arctic beings answering the call are favorably disposed to the spellcaster and give whatever aid they can. However, if the caller or members of the caller’s party are of evil alignment, the creatures are allowed another saving throw vs. spell, this time with a +4 bonus, when they come within 10 yards of the caster or an evil individual with him. These beings immediately seek to escape if their saving throws are successful. In any event, if the caster requests that the summoned creatures engage in combat on his behalf, they are required to roll a loyalty reaction check based on the caster’s Charisma and whatever dealings he has had with them.

This spell works with respect to good or neutral arctic creatures, as determined by the DM. Thus the DM can freely add to or alter the list as he sees fit.

If the caster personally knows a certain individual arctic being, that being can be summoned at double the normal range. If this is done, no other arctic creatures are affected.

The material components of this spell are tufts of fur from three different cold-climate dwelling animals.

If a percentage chance is given in the accompanying table, arctic druids, snow elves, and frost sprites add 1% per caster level. These chances can be used if no other campaign information on the area is available.

Creature	Type of Arctic Land
Type Called	Mountain	Tundra or Taiga	Glacier/Arctic
1 alaghi or werebear	20%	1%	—
1 crystal dragon (age category 1d4+2	15%	5%	10%
1d3 feystags	10%	5%	—
1d4+1 frost sprites	20%	30%	25%
1d4 ice toads	5%	20%	30%
1d3 polar bears or wild tigers	30%	30%	30%
1 remorhaz	0%	1%	10%
2d6 sha’az	0%	1%	15%
1d3 yeti	25%	20%	15%

6th Level
Icesteel (Pr 4; Alteration)
Sphere:                    Elemental Water
Range:                     Touch
Components:           V, S, M
Duration:                 Instantaneous
Casting Time:          9
Area of Effect:         Object touched
Saving Throw:        None

The icesteel spell turns normal, nonmagical ice into a transparent substance that has the tensile strength and unbreakability of actual steel. Only a relatively small volume of material can be affected (a maximum weight of 10 pounds per level of experience of the spell-caster), and it must form one whole object. The Armor Class of the substance is 1.

This substance is protected from melting up to a temperature of 100°; above those temperatures, it melts at the normal rate for ice. Exposure to any extreme heat, such as a fireball spell or dragon breath forces the item to make an item saving throw, as metal, versus disintegration or be completely destroyed. Further enchantments can prevent this destruction. Ice enchanted with this spell can freeze water, but this created ice is normal in all ways and does not have the same strength. Such ice can easily be separated from an object enchanted with this spell.

The material components of this spell are a chip of diamond worth 100 gp and a small piece of steel.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2021 at 12:11 am and is filed under Deities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.