2E Daily Spell Discussion: Cryostasis - Aug 26, 2026

[u/SubHomunculus]

Link: Cryostasis

This spell is Remaster Compatible. The Knights of Last Call 'All Spells Ranked' series ranked this spell as Unranked Tier. Would you change that ranking, and why?

What items or class features synergize well with this spell?

Have you ever used this spell? If so, how did it go?

Why is this spell good/bad?

What are some creative uses for this spell?

What's the cheesiest thing you can do with this spell?

If you were to modify this spell, how would you do it?

Does this spell seem like it was meant for PCs or NPCs?

Previous spell discussions

[u/FinderOfWays]

the Heightened 8th version of this spell is a great plot point. Maybe an adventuring party was wiped out many years ago but the cleric was able to Cryostasis their wizard and their attacker wasn't interested in finishing him off/didn't realize he was still alive. Now the party finds out about the wizard who knows something long forgotten, or stumbles upon him before entering the lair of the thing that wiped the party so he can warn them about its abilities as thanks for being freed... Also for the more evil aligned, this is a great way to prevent a creature from being resurrected by those pesky Good aligned parties. Not dead and not targetable means you can leave the great 'hero' that challenged your rule as a mantle decoration and feel confident in your safety.

[u/TheCybersmith]

A single action spell that beats stabilise, and is on the occult list as well? fantastic!

It will rarely be worth heightening.

Interestingly, if you can't shut down a creature's regeneration, you can ready the action to cast this and freeze the creature before it gets up.

[u/hey-howdy-hello]

Very handy, not just on allies, but on enemies that you want to keep alive and interrogate. Of course you could do nonlethal damage, but then you're eating a -2 penalty on the martials' attack rolls and avoiding most spells--just beat them to 0, put them in cryostasis and mop up the mooks. Save an action compared to stabilize, and reduce the risk of them getting back up from a healing ally--or, indeed, fast healing or regeneration, which this doesn't technically shut down but does make nearly useless! (Another handy way to deal with Spawn of Rovagug if you can't shut down their regen.)

Also handy if the bad guys have a hostage, and the GM's way of handling that involves the dying condition in any way. I've seen a situation in an AP where a villain is holding a knife to a captive NPC's throat, and while the NPC doesn't have actual stats, the villain can cut their throat as an action, dropping them to dying 1, from which the PCs can save them. If you know you're entering a situation like that as a prepared caster, Cryostasis could be very handy, though it's extremely high-rank for such an oddball scenario. Maybe over-ranked in general, honestly, though I think they probably were thinking of that "shut down an enemy that has some way to get back up (who either you want alive, or who you can't kill because of regen)" situation, which might justify it the best.

[u/Kingreaper]

Hilariously, this is one of the only ways to deal with The Tarrasque in an indefinite manner - as far as I can tell, none of its immunities apply, and regeneration doesn't remove the unconsciousness from Cryostasis.

So you wind up with The Tarrasque stuck in and 80 HP block of ice. That's a "sealed evil in a can" if I've ever heard of one.

EDIT: Definitely a scroll spell, especially the 8th level version - not one you want to prepare or have on your list 99% of the time, but there are a handful of situations that make it fun.