Hred
 This page is needs images. Help plz. |
| Hred | ||
|---|---|---|
| Inverted Cold Iron Spear | ||
| Aliases | Snow Maiden | |
| Alignment | Lawful Evil | |
| Divine Rank | Intermediate God | |
| Pantheon | Anglo-Saxon | |
| Portfolio | Winter, Cold | |
| Domains | All, Elemental (Water, Air), Healing (Reverse Only), Protection, Sun (Reverse Only), Weather | |
| Home Plane | Material Plane | |
| Worshippers | Anglo-Saxons, Winter Wolves, Cryomancers, Wizards, Witches | |
| Favoured Weapon | Spear | |
Hred is the Anglo-Saxon God of Winter in Dungeons & Dragons. Like the rest of her pantheon, she was introduced to the D&D multiverse in the article "Hearth & Sword" in Dragon Magazine #263 for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition.
Hred appears as a pale-faced woman of advanced years, with whiter-than-snow eyes and piercing blue eyes, clad in either robes of ice or wolf hides. She may also appear as a gigantic Winter Wolf or a blistering snowstorm.
She is the bringer of the snows and frosts, the final slayer of the new life that arose in the spring. A merciless killer, this malevolent goddess is the antithesis of Eostre, for the two preside over opposing ends of the life-death cycle. She is shunned and hated by all of her fellow deities apart from Woden, for magic is stronger during winter and thus he finds reason to be thankful for her dominion.
For obvious reasons, this makes Hred a very unpopular deity, and true dedicated priests of the Snow Maiden - known as Ice Witches - are extremely rare. Instead, she is mostly worshipped by the priests of the collective Anglo-Saxon pantheon, who seek instead to appease her wrath and keep her at bay. This is exemplified by the divergence in rites during her sacred time of Hred-monath; the Ice Witches pray for the coming of the next winter, whilst the rest of the Anglo-Saxons are praising the winter for ending and thanking Hred for letting them live.
Dogma[edit | edit source]
The cold of winter is sacred, and lives claimed by it belong to Hred. The ultimate goal of Hred and her minions is to return the world to an eternal winter.
Propitiation[edit | edit source]
During the winter months, priests of the Anglo-Saxon pantheon engage in nightly prayers to Hred that she will spare their community, and must perform a weekly animal sacrifice to ensure her mercy.
The Ice Witches[edit | edit source]
The rare specialty priest of Hred has no daily duties, beyond dedicated themselves to finding ways to bring about an era of eternal winter. They wear white robes, trimmed in wolf fur, and decorative jewelry of iron either engraved with or fashioned in the form of her holy symbol. When adventuring, they wear either iron armor, or hide/leather armor reinforced with iron, wield iron spears, and bear white cloth or wolf-fur robes and cloaks.
Mechanically, this specialty priest kit has the following requirements and abilities:
- Constitution 12+, Wisdom 9+
- Alignment: Any Evil
- Can wield any non-bludgeoning weapon, but must take proficiency in Spear.
- Can wear any Iron or Iron-Reinforced armor.
- Major Domains: All, Elemental (Water, Air), Healing (Reverse Only), Protection, Sun (Reverse Only), Weather
- Minor Domains: Combat, Divination, Necromantic
- Magical Items: As per Cleric, but cannot use items that use heat or fire.
- Required Proficiencies: Survival, Weather Sense
- Special Abilities:
- All Cold-based Spells can be cast with one parameter (range, damage, number of targets, area of effect) doubled.
- +1 to saves vs. cold-based attacks.
- Cold-based attacks against the Ice Witch inflict -1 point of damage per die.
- Ice Witches can learn the following Wizard spells as if they were Cleric spells: Chill Touch (1st level), Ice Knife (2nd level), Ice Storm (4th Level), Wall of Ice (4th level), Cone of Cold (5th level), Otiluke's Freezing Sphere (6th level)
- From 5th level, an Ice Witch is immune to natural cold-based attacks.
- From 8th level, an Ice Witch is immune to magical cold-based attacks.