D&D General On the physiology of Gelatinous Cubes

[CleverNickName]

Condition Immunities Blinded, Charmed, Deafened, Exhaustion, Frightened, Prone

I guess that settles it at my table. (shrug)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Also significantly less dense than ... Jell-o.

Less than half as dense, in fact. Which makes you realize that, just maybe, the people that wrote the 3.5 MM did not, in fact, fully work out the possible density of the gelatinous cube.

It probably would have been harder to get the stats for a 10 x 10 cube of Jell-O back then, but it does seem like the baseline that I think many players/DMs would want to go by.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

It probably would have been harder to get the stats for a 10 x 10 cube of Jell-O back then, but it does seem like the baseline that I think many players/DMs would want to go by.

Huh. I always assumed that the research team at Hasbro would have expensed a big vat and a lot of Jell-o!

Oh, wait. That's not how it works?

 

[MarkB]

Huh. I always assumed that the research team at Hasbro would have expensed a big vat and a lot of Jell-o!

Oh, wait. That's not how it works?

Maybe it's the other way around. After one particularly wild weekend, Gary Gygax thought "okay, there's gotta be some way I can put this down as a business cost", and thus the gelatinous cube was born.

 

[Umbran]

There's a bit of a...discussion...going on in one of the related threads about the particular physiology of a gelatinous cube and how it functions.

So, ENWorld people. Does anyone have any thoughts on the physiology of a gelatinous cube and whether it's immune to certain conditions, whether it has a primary foot / face, whether it can climb walls...or be tripped.

Referring to its physiology is imposing real-world biology onto a fantasy creature whose very existence under those biological rules is... questionable.

Like, it doesn't have a circulatory system. By normal physics and physiology, that means oxygen cannot reach the center of the cube, and it should die.

Does the stat block say it is immune to certain conditions? Yes? Then it is immune. No? Then I'm not sure why we should create immunities for it.

Are some results then a little incongruous? Well, then I refer to you something that came from my first ever session of D&D, playing the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh that my brother ran for us younger ones. He was running with a critical fumble rule, and once had occasion to say:

"How does an ant drop it's mouth?"

In the end, the ant still missed, even though its mandibles were still attached. You roll with it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is an exceptional place to start playing D&D, although it could teach the strange lesson that most of D&D is actually a Scooby Doo adventure.

 

[Umbran]

Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is an exceptional place to start playing D&D, although it could teach the strange lesson that most of D&D is actually a Scooby Doo adventure.

Strange lesson? Seems like a pretty reasonable mode of play, to me....

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Strange lesson? Seems like a pretty reasonable mode of play, to me....

"Well, gang, it's time to take the mask off 'Vecna' and see who's really been 'haunting' the old castle!"

 

[Umbran]

"Well, gang, it's time to take the mask off 'Vecna' and see who's really been 'haunting' the old castle!"

"Old Man Elminster?!?"

 

[Gammadoodler]

Also significantly less dense than ... Jell-o.

Less than half as dense, in fact. Which makes you realize that, just maybe, the people that wrote the 3.5 MM did not, in fact, fully work out the possible density of the gelatinous cube.

I like to imagine that this is intentional, and dungeon designers use the GCs natural buoyancy to move the cube uphill when necessary.