Due to having multiple intestinal exorcisms over the last few days, this post is being released much later than I originally intended.
Frostburn
Frostburn was the first book in the environmental series. Like Sandstorm and Stormwrack, you need only see the title and the cover art to understand exactly what it's about. It's the book you read if you want a winter campaign with snow and ice everywhere. I personally am a big fan of Frostburn because it's where neanderthals were introduced to 3.5. They aren't a particularly amazing race, mind you. I just like them better than orcs for "HULK SMASH" type builds/characters.
Cloud anchorites are (usually) monks that hope to achieve immortality by spending long periods of meditation and training atop the peaks of mountains. Nearly every single class feature revolves around making you a better mountain climber and there are very few that increase your combat capability. Cold resistance 10, a 20 foot boost to move speed, and the skill to charge over difficult terrain. That's it.
Everything else is about hiking up mountains. For your level 10 ability, you learn the secret to immortality... which is ultimately useless beyond its flavor. There are very few campaigns where characters reach venerable age and far less where characters reach maximum age.
One half of cloud anchorite is garbage because the class it's focused on (monk) is also garbage. The other half is garbage because the class does nothing to improve upon the monk. Ignore it.
Rating:
Garbage
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the cyrokineticist, AKA the pyrokineticist with an ice theme. This class is awful for the same reasons that pyrokineticist is. If you know what those reasons are, feel free to skip this as it does absolutely nothing to fix the follies of its predecessor. As for those that don't... frankly, I'd still skip ahead as cyrokineticist is migraine-inducing levels of bad.
We are immediately presented with shit as there is absolutely no manifester level progression whatsoever... on a class that requires you to have a psionic power to enter it. For those unfamiliar with psionics, this is the equivalent of making a prestige class meant for casters without any spellcasting progression. I just... trying to write for this class is actually giving me a headache because of how abysmal it is. If the 0/10 manifester level progression hasn't scared you off for some reason, let me assure you that it does not make up for it in any way whatsoever.
Dear god it doesn't.
The vast majority of your features consist of crap damage-based abilities that don't scale with your level. Before level 10, your strongest attack does a flat 3d6 of cold damage, I shit you not. Your capstone at level 10 is an attack that inflicts a weak 9d6+21 points of cold damage. By the way, have fun fighting anything that has cold immunity with nothing but attacks that do cold damage. You get other stuff like a slight buff against cold effects (+8 to saving throws against cold spells and 20 cold resistance), a pseudo-air walk, and wall of cold as a spell-like ability. All of which could be done by a straight psion much earlier (and much better). This class is pain.
Play a straight kineticist psion, or even a straight wilder, that specializes in cold damage. You'll outclass this disaster by level 10 at the latest. I have no clever quips for this class, only disdain and disgust. Merely looking at cyrokineticist is legitimately painful and I just want to move on. Whoever thought pyrokineticist was good enough to be remade into an ice version was hopefully fired when this book was released.
What an awful, awful class.
Rating:
Garbage
Here we have a Norse mythology themed viking-esque class, and oh boy is it refreshing after dealing with cyrokineticist. Disciples of Thrym spend half their time preparing for Ragnarok and the other half undermining those who serve Thor and Loki. They are nearly always frost giants, though non-frost giants can take levels in the class without issue as the fluff mentions that it's possible and the entry requirements aren't restricted to frost giants.
The best part of these guys is that they have their own frost themed spell list, and by Disciple of Thrym level 9 (ECL 14 at the earliest) you'll have up to 5th level spells. The list is small and also a bit limited due to most everything revolving around the frost theme, but limited spellcasting is still spellcasting. You gain other neat stuff like an unaligned pseudo-smite that does 1d6 cold damage per 2 class levels, twice your strength bonus to damage with greataxes rather than 1.5 times your strength bonus, and eventually immunity to fire as a capstone.
A good class if you want to hit things a bit harder while also having some extra utility on the side. An EXCELLENT class if you want to help fuck over Thor and Loki, the smug bastards.
Rating:
Good
Frost mage is very, very simple both in fluff and mechanics. They're arcane casters that attune themselves to the cold and specialize in cold magic and that's it. You lose zero caster levels at the cost of having to take two mediocre feats and having to spend 24 hours in a blizzard without protection.
Like the sand shaper, you add some spells to your spells known, only you learn a lot less. To be specific, you gain conjure ice beast (I, II, III, and IV), animate snow, and frostfell. That's a total of 6 spells compared to the 40+ of the sand shaper. You also get a weak metamagic feat that bypasses cold immunity and a natural armor boost (+4 to natural armor on a caster class? Why?). For your final level you'll gain immunity to cold and vulnerability to fire.
Frost mage is rather unexciting. It's there if you want a handful of extra ice themed spells and a weak metamagic feat, and you at least won't lose any spellcasting. If you're a sorcerer you won't have any class features aside from your spellcasting, so you might as well give it a go in that case.
Rating:
Good
You ever get so pissed off that icicles start forming around your fists? If so, then you might be a frostrager.
Important thing to note about the entry is that you need to be reduced to 0 health points or less by some form of cold damage, so keep in mind that you have to risk dying to take levels in this. It's also a bit weird that you need to take power attack despite the class being based around multiple attacks rather than two handed weaponry.
As for the actual class, frostrager is a a short five levels and augments the barbarian's rage with some cold and unarmed abilities. Main thing you get is a boost to your unarmed damage (eventually 1d8 + 1d6 Cold) and a natural armor bonus (eventually +6) while in rage. You later get an extra attack at your highest base attack bonus -2, you heal a point of HP for every 2 points of cold damage you take (RIP cold damage specialists), and at the last level you finally gain a rending ability (you deal an extra 2d8 + 1 1/2 your strength bonus + 1d6 cold damage if two or more of your attacks hit).
While not exactly the most impressive class, it's not the worst choice if you really want to try out an unarmed barbarian type build.
Rating:
Playable
Knight of the Iron Glacier
Knight of the Iron Glacier is the third prestige class intended for paladins that we've encountered in the series. Maybe this one will be alright... nope, scratch that. I can already tell this class is bad from glimpsing at it and noticing the lack of any spellcasting progression or extra uses of smite evil (no increase to smite evil damage either). Into the breach we go once more.
Their fluff is boring and describes them as generic "protectors of the downtrodden" or whatever. That's uninteresting. What is interesting, though, is that every knight gets their own personal motherfuckin' megaloceros (essentially a prehistoric elk). However, as radical as having a giant elk mount is, it's sadly not enough to make the rest of this class worth anything. There's no spellcasting progression despite being intended for paladins and you need a whopping four feats to enter. Of the four feats you need, one of them is exotic weapon proficiency (bastard sword)... do I really need to say anything else?
Aside from the megaloceros, you gain a handful of powers that grant extremely minor bonuses that are only usable in specific situations. Examples being a +2 to attack rolls, +2 to will saving throws and immunity of fear to people you give a speech to along with a +2 to various statistics against a single opponent. For your capstone, you gain DR 3/- and +2 to all saving throws and your armor class when fighting an enemy with 3 hit dice or more. Man, I sure am glad I threw away ten levels of paladin spellcasting and wasted multiple feat slots for this!
If you really want a giant elk mount it'd be much better to simply ask your DM if you can have one. Unless your DM is an asshole or there's a particular reason for not having elks in the setting, the worst case scenario is that you'll get an elk that's mechanically a re-skinned warhorse.
Even taking a single level dip solely for the mount screws you over due to the massive feat tax you pay. Fuck whoever decided to lock such an awesome mount behind such a shit class.
Rating:
Garbage
Primevals are people who purposefully regress into a feral, animal-like state to become more in tune with an ancient creature (of their choice) from long ago. Mechanically, primevals are essentially bear warriors if they weren't limited to bear forms.
So, the main attraction of the class is the ability to transform into a certain animal of your choosing. The requirements are that you must choose from any prehistoric animal-type creature of 8 HD or less that's one size category higher than yours or smaller. Megaraptors, megaloceroses or even fleshraker dinosaurs (if you want your DM to strangle you) are examples of creatures that qualify.
Speaking of which, like bear warrior you don't assume the physical ability scores of your chosen animal. The difference, though, is that instead of just adding a preset amount to your physical stats, you subtract 10 (or 11 for odd scores) from the physical ability scores of your chosen animal and add that to your own. For example, a creature with strength 21, dexterity 15 and constitution 21 would add 10, 5, and 10 to your respective ability scores. That's combined with the other ability score boosts from the class (and rage if you have it). By level 9, you'll have a +6 to strength, +2 to dexterity, +4 to constitution, and +8 natural armor on top of the physical score boosts from your animal form.
To further demonstrate how your primal instincts take over, you begin losing points of intelligence and charisma (maximum -3 at 8th level), but you gain an extra boost to your physical ability scores for every point you lose that stacks with your other stuff. There's other stuff like gaining the scent quality and gaining low-light vision, though all of that is nothing compared to your shapeshifting powers. Lastly, your type changes to shapechanger and you gain DR 10/magic.
You have to burn feat slots on three crappy feats and you have to wait until level 9, but it's still damn good. Pick up one of those mouthpick weapons from Lords of Madness that Adam mentioned and then go to town.
Rating:
Good
Yet another class with witch in the name that is not restricted to female characters. The fluff is a bit more advanced than most classes, so I'll give you the short version. Short version is that some dude named Iborighu killed some bimbo named Hleid... except Hleid didn't actually die due to parts of her being fragmenting and scattering across the polar seas. These fragments became "rimefire eidolons," which are the beings that rimefire witches form a bond with to gain powers.
If you want to become a rimefire witch, you'll most definitely want to talk to your DM due to the requirement of needing an eidolon to visit you in a dream. It's an extremely specific scenario that probably won't happen unless you specifically mention that you want to take levels in this. Before we continue, know that you lose all of the supernatural and spell-like abilities from the class if your bonded eidolon dies for some reason. The eidolon will probably remain untouched unless your DM is a dick or you purposefully do something that results in its death (it can be revived anyways), but it's something to keep in mind.
Now, lets actually get into the class. It's intended for divine casters and, like the frost mage, you don't lose any caster levels. You can detect minions of Iborighu (I'm sure that will come up a lot), you gain a weak half-cold, half-fire ranged touch attack (the damage eventually being 3d6 + charisma modifier) that can only be used when in a snowy environment, and a few spell-like abilities. Two of your three spell-like abilities, Ice Skate and Word of Recall, are rather boring. The third one, Iceberg, is actually alright (it can potentially do 20d6 crushing damage to anything within a radius of 20 feet without allowing a saving throw), but it's only usable once a day. After reaching 10th level, your skin turns light blue. To be more specific, you become a fey with DR 5/cold iron and a +2 to your charisma score. Oh, and you won't lose your class features if your bonded eidolon dies.
Again, like the frost mage, rimefire witch isn't super flashy but at the same time it won't hurt you any if you decide to take levels in it.
Rating:
Good
Stormsingers are bards who would rather use their music to have power over the weather than play support. They're essentially the bard version of the stormcaster from Stormwrack. You don't lose any uses of your bardic music or any spellcasting progression, though you do lose ten levels worth of your actual bardic abilities like inspire courage. Fortunately, stormsinger is intended for bards who want to have a more active and direct role in combat so you won't feel the loss too much.
Starting at first level, you can burn uses of bardic music to fuel your "stormsong," which grants you some existing spells and some unique powers when used. You gain two thunderstrike attacks, one intended for a single target and one with a 60 foot line from the stormsinger, that do damage equal to your perform check and deafens anyone hit by it if they fail a saving throw. Being deafened won't affect any non-casters much, but it will screw over any caster attempting to cast a spell with verbal components by giving them a one in five chance of losing the spell.
As you level up, you can use stormsong to cast Gust of Wind, Control Winds, Control Weather, and finally Storm of Vengeance at level 10 (though it costs four uses of bardic music). Your caster level for these spells is equal to your ranks in perform to a maximum of 20 or 25 depending on the spell. Best part is that the saving throw for all your stormsong powers scales pretty well (10 + stormsinger level + charisma modifier) so all of these powers will still be viable in the end game.
Any bard that doesn't mind losing some support power and wants some druid-like abilities would do well to consider the stormsinger.
Rating:
Good
Winterhaunt of Iborighu
These guys are the evil counterpart of the rimefire witches - they're nothing more than cultists that worship Iborighu. Like the witches, Winterhaunts are intended for divine casters. Winterhaunt of Iborighu has much stricter entry requirements, however. You need three feats, may only be one of three alignments (chaotic neutral, neutral evil, and chaotic evil), and must craft a minor iceheart (an item that costs 24,000 gold and doesn't cost any XP). Yeah, it's kind of a pain to enter.
Similar to the witch, if your iceheart is destroyed or lost you lose the class features the class grants you if you don't replace it or find it within a week. Again, something like this probably won't happen unless you purposefully cause it to happen or your DM is a dick. At first level, you can cloak yourself in a sphere of cold multiple times a day that grants a +2 to will saving throws and charisma-based along with some bonuses to other features the class grants you. You get some minor features like a +2 to natural armor (+4 when cloaked) and a few extra d6's of cold damage when a creature is damaged by a spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability.
Any cold spell is automatically enhanced by the piercing cold metamagic feat with not change to the spell level at level 6. The next level grants the cold subtype, meaning immunity to cold and vulnerability to fire. At level 9, you can summon entombed, not to be confused with entombers from Libris Mortis, which are CR 10 undead encased in giant shells of ice. At last level, you transform into a being made entirely of ice and snow and your type changes to elemental with the evil subtype. You thus gain all the benefits of being an elemental (immunity to critical hits for example) along with the negatives (you can only be brought back from death with something like true resurrection or wish).
It's a very, very finicky process to set things up. That being said, if you can stand the annoying process and don't mind being limited to wish or true resurrection to be brought back from the dead after becoming an elemental, it's a fairly high quality class. If it wasn't so hard to enter, it'd be good.
Rating:
Decent
Tier List (Frostburn)
Tippy Tier: N/A
Amazing Classes: N/A
Good Classes: Disciple of Thrym, Frost Mage, Primeval, Rimefire Witch, Stormsinger
Decent Classes: Winterhaunt of Iborighu
Playable Classes: Frostrager
Garbage Classes: Cloud Anchorite, Cyrokineticist, Knight of the Iron Glacier
Truenamer Class: N/A
NPC Class (Fuck you Book): N/A
That's the end of Frostburn. Aside from two bad classes and a single atrocious one (CRYOKINETICIST IS PAIN), the classes are all well written.
On a totally unrelated note, here's a random fact: I only recently got into D&D 3.5, and tabletop in general, around May 2019 (less than a year ago). Although admitting this probably hurts my credibility I feel like it's important to bring it up for future reference. Nonetheless, we'll finish up the environmental series and cover both Dungeonscape and Cityscape in a single post as they only have 3-4 classes apiece.
Finally, the end is in sight...
