D&D 5E Baby Slime (homebrew monster) question

I dunno if this post belongs here, move it if it goes elsewhere.

So I made this creature using guidelines I found for monster creation, I was wondering if the CR is correct? But I think maybe its damage output per round might make it a higher CR? I'm not sure.

For its damage output, I'm assuming it wants average it can deal per attack pe rround? So I got 3.5 for the acid slam and 2.5 for the corrosive (I'm assuming at least one PC will strike it with melee attack) for a total 6 per round. Which is the only thing that would bump it to a CR 1/2 range, I think? But everything else I calculated made it CR 1/4. Does the damage really bump it to 1/2?

Thanks.

The corrosive form is the only thing that could bump it. I wold leave it at 1/4 since the low HP.

I can't read this without the song "Baby Slime" coming to mind, sung to the tune of "Baby Shark"

The corrosive form might be too much for 1/4 if you are looking for JPRG cute slimes.
I'd say that the ooze is too small and weak to automatically cause damage and corrosion. It would have to be a save for creatures and 50% chance for nonmagical objects.

Give it 12-16 HP and lower the AC to 10 then you are fine.

AC 14 is far to high for a creature with the softness and viscosity of a pudding. It should be easy to hit.
The movement should be lowered to about 15 to 20.

The damage resistance is also on the wrong side. Traditionally it should have resistance to piercing and slashing (and the ability to split when hit with slashing, but it is to small for that).
Bludgeoning should be about the only physical damage which really hurts these kind of monsters.
Also you could give it susceptibility to cold or sound to compensate a bit.

With AC 14 as given, combined with the ability to damage weapons, I would set the CR to 1/2 or 1, because that already is a medium AC.

Damaging weapons is dangerous, with lasting consequences, if in mid dungeon w/o possibility to replace or repair equipment.

Edit: and yes your post absolutely belongs here imho

If you look at the design of slimes and oozes in 5e, you can see that they follow a trend, with the ability to damage weapons and armour being reserved for the most powerful. However, if you have a plot reason for wanting to destroy something (e.g. you regret letting the fighter have full plate at level 1) go ahead and buck the trend.

The idea of 14 natural armor seems a bit odd - most slimes are easy to hit. Although my DM did come up with a superfast "gelatinous sphere" that had a high AC due to it's dex bonus.

I would ether lower it's AC and increase it's HP, or decide that it is superfast and it's AC is due to dex bonus.

And don't take the DMG to literally, it's just a guideline, think about how your monster will perform in play (with only 7 hp, it will probably not last until the end of the 1st round, even with resistances), and how much XP you want to give your players for killing it.

As it stands, I would say it is weaksauce but annoying. The standard grey ooze is fine for a 1st level party.

Without quibbling about the stats you've given it, and sticking strictly to CR evaluation, here's how I see it.

Defensive- 7 hp, AC 14. This puts its defensive CR at 1/8. I don't see any other traits that are significant enough to change this.

Offensive- I think its damage output comes out at 6 per round, with a +4 attack bonus (treating the corrosive body like an elemental body trait). This sits at an offensive CR of 1/2.

Therefore, you get an overall CR of 1/4. Looks to me like you're spot on.

I wanted it to be able to absorb impact, so resistant to Bludgeon made more sense. Slashing and Piercing actually work full against it.

I also wanted it to be nimble and dextrous and pretty tough to hit and take down for a little guy, but not overly powerful in combat. Hence the low hp, but the higher AC (which comes from +2 natural and +2 Dex).

A typical 1st level character has an attack bonus of +5, which means they will probably (55%) hit AC 14 on the first attempt, doing an average 7.5 points of damage (longsword), killing it outright. Bludgeoning damage isn't particularly common in 5e, since wizards are more likely to use firebolt than hit it with a staff, so it's unlikely the party will even notice it's resistance. If you intend to try and overwhelm the party with numbers, I would expect a typical party of four 1st level characters to kill at least two of these per round.

Mechanics aside, part of designing a good monster is that the players should be encouraged to suspend disbelief by the creature's stat block matching what they intuitively expect. Now, you can set out to challenge expectations, particularly if your players are experienced, but in that case it is best to only have one thing that is odd about your creature. Your creature is odd (for a slime) in FOUR ways - it has the wrong resistance, it has armour, it is fast and it can dissolve armour.

I would change it in the following ways: it is resistant to slashing and piecing damage as well as bludgeoning, it has no natural armour but it's dexterity is 18 (this will give it a bigger bonus to initiative, increasing the chance it will get an attack before it dies), it has a movement speed of 40' - if you want to make the point that it is fast it should be faster than the PCs. That would give it a CR of 1/2, but I wouldn't worry about it - a first level party should still win against three or four of these, as their damage is quite light.

Mistwell said:

I can't read this without the song "Baby Slime" coming to mind, sung to the tune of "Baby Shark"

Click to expand...

Yup, that's the first thing that came to mind when I read the subject...