Cold Damage

Cold damage is a non-physical, elemental magic, Damage Type available in Baldur's Gate 3. Cold damage is available through select Spells and Items. Targets in Baldur's Gate 3 may have Vulnerabilities, Resistances, and Immunities to certain Damage Types that affect how much damage they receive from such sources.

Cold damage has an association with conditions and effects that interfere with ground movement, particularly Ice Surfaces, that makes it valuable to disrupt moving Targets. The conditions and effects of Cold damage often run counter to those related to Fire damage.

Equipment

Gear that inflicts Cold damage

	Item Type	Base Cold Damage	Unlocks Spell	Special Cold Factors
Allandra's Whelm	Tridents	1d4 (1~4)		Enables Frigid Blade weapon action
Arrow of Ice	Ammunition	2d4 (2~8)		Creates Ice Surface
Cold Snap	Daggers	1d4 (1~4)		Enables Chilling Counter effect
Frost Prince	Amulet	2d6 (2~12) *	✓	Enables Level 1 cast Ice Knife once per Long Rest
Mourning Frost	Quarterstaves	1d4 (1~4) 1d8 (1~8) *	✓	Enables Heart of Ice effect Enables Insidious Cold effect Enables cast Ray of Frost cantrip
Snow-Dusted Monastery Gloves	Gloves	1d4 (1~4) * 2d6 (2~12) *	✓	Enables Chilling Strike effect Enables cast Ice Knife

* Damage is indicative of enabled spell/effects not the base gear

Gear that impacts Cold damage

	Item Type	Special Cold Factors
Coldbrim Hat	Hats	Enables Coldbrim Chill effect
Darkfire Shortbow	Shortbows	Gives Resistance to Cold damage
Icebite Robe	Clothing	Gives Resistance to Cold damage Enables Level 3 cast Armour of Agathys once per Long Rest
Robe of Summer	Clothing	Gives Resistance to Cold damage
Snowburst Ring	Rings	Enables Snowburst effect
Winter's Clutches	Gloves	Enables Winter's Clutches effect

Spells

Spells that cause Cold damage

	Spell Level	Base Cold Damage	Upcast Cold Damage	Concentration	AOE	Saving Throw	Special Cold Factors
Armour of Agathys	1	5	5				Damage inflicted upon being melee attacked
Chromatic Orb: Cold	1	2d8 (2~16)	1d8 (1~8)		✓		Creates Ice Surface
Cone of Cold	5	8d8 (8~64)	1d8 (1~8)		✓	Constitution: Halve	Creates Ice Surface
Fire Shield: Chill	4	2d8 (2~16)	N/A				Damage inflicted upon being melee attacked 10 Turn Duration
Glyph of Warding: Cold	3	5d8 (5~40)	1d8 (1~8)		✓	Dexterity: Halve	Inflicts damage upon contact with Hostile Target
Hunger of Hadar	3	2d6 (2~12)	N/A	✓	✓		Damage inflicted to Targets starting their turn in AOE 10 turn duration
Ice Knife	1	2d6 (2~12)	1d6 (1~6)		✓	Dexterity: Negate	Creates Ice Surface
Ice Storm	4	4d6 (4~24)	N/A		✓	Dexterity: Halve	Creates Ice Surface
Otiluke's Freezing Sphere	6	10d6 (10~60)	N/A		✓	Constitution: Negate
Ray of Frost	0	1d8 (1~8)	1d8 (1~8)				Inflicts Ray of Frost (Condition) decreasing Target Movement Speed Upcast damage unlocks upon reaching Spellcaster Level 5
Wall of Ice	6	10d6 (10~60)	N/A	✓	✓	Dexterity: Halve

Spells that impact Cold damage

	Spell Level	Concentration	Special Cold Factors
Protection from Energy: Cold	3	✓	Gives Resistance to Cold damage

Effects

Persistent effects that impact Cold damage

	Effect Description
Chilling Counter	When a Target misses you with an attack it must make a Constitution Saving Throw of be Chilled for 2 turns.
Chilling Strike	Your unarmed attacks deal an additional 1d4 (1~4) Cold damage.
Coldbrim Chill	Once per turn, any condition inflicted on a target also applies 2 turns of Encrusted with Frost.
Heart of Ice	When dealing Cold damage, the wielder deals an additional 1 Cold damage.
Insidious Cold	Dealing Cold damage with a spell possibly inflicts Chilled upon the Target.
Snowburst	When the wearer deals Cold damage, they also create an Ice Surface around the Target(s).
Winter's Clutches	When the wearer deals Cold damage, inflict 2 turns of Encrusted with Frost upon the Target(s).

Conditions

Chilled

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Encrusted with Frost

This condition causes Targets to role with Disadvantage on Dexterity Saving Throws, and when there are more than 7 turns remaining of 'Encrusted with Frost' the Target has to make Constitution Saving Throws to avoid taking Cold damage and becoming Frozen. This condition is useful to make targets more vulnerable to becoming Prone on Ice Surfaces.

Frostbite

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Frozen

[Placeholder] Frozen information to be added to the Wiki.

Wet

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Surfaces

Ice Surface

Ice Surface is the signature Surface of Cold damage being directly created by many Cold Spells with area effects. Ice Surfaces can also be created by Blood and Water Surfaces when they, or a target standing in them, are hit by a Cold damage or another Ice Surface is created that connects to them.

Ice Surfaces cause Targets to make Dexterity Saving Throws to avoid becoming Prone. Prone targets are more open to attack and attacks made within melee range role with Advantage.

Steam Cloud

Steam Cloud is a valuable Surface to inflict the Wet Status on Targets making it highly useful when dealing Cold damage. Steam Clouds can be created by igniting Water Surfaces with Fire damage. Water Surfaces naturally form from Ice Surfaces that melt after 2 Rounds or after being hit by Fire damage.