Special Conversion Thread: Finishing off the oozes

[Cleon]

I'm fine with a natural armor. I picture it "oozy" on the inside with a crusty series of plates on the outside. As a result, I'd suggest we note that unlike most oozes, they cannot thin out nearly as small and creep under doors, through holes, etc.

I also think we need an ability that allows them to "lock" with others of their kind to create a long wall. That way, a single ooze cannot be moved, squeezed past, etc. Thoughts?

I've been having exactly those thoughts too, including them locking together. I guess great minds think alike.

I imagine they would swing a few plates apart and shoot a pseudopod out of the gap, then spread them out farther to make room for swallowing a victim. It's probable they can soften, resculpt & recolour their exterior plates to match new surroundings, but I'm thinking it would take a few hours or a day to do.

Hmm... that would imply it has concealed openings on it like a secret door, my evil DM mind is now imagining a Rogue exitedly crying "hey, I think I've got this secret door opeaarrrrhhggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!".

How much would one weigh? A gelatinous cube weighs about 15 pounds per cubic foot (15' cube, 50,000 lbs = 14.81 lbs/cu'), so a 500 cubic foot Carnivorous Wall (10' by 10' by 5') would weigh ~7500 lbs assuming the same density. It's a Large ooze like the Ochre Jelly, which weighs 5600 lbs, and is about ten times heavier than a Gray Ooze, which has roughly the same area but is ten times thicker (10' dia, 6" thick, 700 lbs).

That looks OK.

 

[Cleon]

Come to think of it, the engulf should only do acid damage since the internal fluids only ignite when exposed to air. Also, the original text says it takes ten rounds to convert a dead victim into a burning zombie. Better amend my suggested text to:

Engulf (Ex): A carnivorous wall can engulf a grappled opponent of a smaller size than itself as a standard action by making a successful grapple check against that opponent. It automatically succeeds in engulfing a paralyzed opponent. Engulfed creatures begin to drown (see suffocation rules in the DMG) and are considered to be grappled and trapped within the wall's body. Engulfed creatures continue to be subject to the wall's paralyzing slime and take 2d6? acid damage per round from the wall's digestive processes. Creatures that die while engulfed are animated as burning zombies (see below) ten rounds after death and can then be expelled by the wall as a move-equivalent action. A Large carnivorous wall's interior can hold 2 Medium, 8 Small, 32 Tiny or 128 Diminutive or smaller opponents.

 

[Shade]

Updated.

Here's an attempt at the Lock ability:

Interlock (Ex): Two or more carnivorous walls can extend and join pseudopods and realign their plates to better mimic a solid wall. When interlocked, the carnivorous walls are considered one solid creature for purposes of creatures attempting to pass between them, share their space, etc. However, for targeted spell effects and other attacks, the carnivorous walls are considered individual creatures. Interlocked carnivorous walls gain stability (+4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground). This stability bonus improves by +2 for each additional carnivorous wall linked to the original pair (thus, 5 interlocked carnivorous walls would gain a +10 bonus).

We could modify the mimic's mimic shape ability to something like this...

Mimic Wall (Ex): A carnivorous wall can alter the appearance of its plates to resemble nearly any sort of natural or manufactured wall, complete with doors and other large features. Changing its appearance takes 1 hour. Anyone who examines the carnivorous wall can detect the ruse with a successful Spot check opposed by the carnivorous wall's Disguise check. Of course, by this time it is generally far too late.

Skills: A carnivorous wall has a +8 racial bonus on Disguise checks.

 

[Cleon]

Updated.

Here's an attempt at the Lock ability:

Interlock (Ex): Two or more carnivorous walls can extend and join pseudopods and realign their plates to better mimic a solid wall. When interlocked, the carnivorous walls are considered one solid creature for purposes of creatures attempting to pass between them, share their space, etc. However, for targeted spell effects and other attacks, the carnivorous walls are considered individual creatures. Interlocked carnivorous walls gain stability (+4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground). This stability bonus improves by +2 for each additional carnivorous wall linked to the original pair (thus, 5 interlocked carnivorous walls would gain a +10 bonus).

We could modify the mimic's mimic shape ability to something like this...

Mimic Wall (Ex): A carnivorous wall can alter the appearance of its plates to resemble nearly any sort of natural or manufactured wall, complete with doors and other large features. Changing its appearance takes 1 hour. Anyone who examines the carnivorous wall can detect the ruse with a successful Spot check opposed by the carnivorous wall's Disguise check. Of course, by this time it is generally far too late.

Skills: A carnivorous wall has a +8 racial bonus on Disguise checks.

Those both look good to me, although I suspect we may need to bump its racial bonus on Disguise checks up to +12. It has a low Cha and few skill points compared to a Mimic, so it may need a higher bonus to compensate. It could represent specialized camouflage like a lions' +12 Hide bonus in areas of tall grass and heavy undergrowth.

 

[Cleon]

Hold on, its Base Attack should be +6 (three-quarters of 8 HD), not +7.

Grapple modifier should be +12 (+6 base, +2 strength, +4 size).

 

[Echohawk]

Considering it pretends to be a solid wall, giving it a natural armour bonus would work.

Actually, in the adventure, the carnivorous wall doesn't pretend to be a normal wall. The objective of that encounter seems to be for the adventurers to make their way through the maze avoiding the carnivorous walls as much as possible. Judging from their depiction on the map, the carnivorous walls make no effort at stealth.

 

[Cleon]

Actually, in the adventure, the carnivorous wall doesn't pretend to be a normal wall. The objective of that encounter seems to be for the adventurers to make their way through the maze avoiding the carnivorous walls as much as possible. Judging from their depiction on the map, the carnivorous walls make no effort at stealth.

So they just need to find a route that avoids the obvious carnivorous walls? Doesn't sound terribly exciting compared to fighting/sneaking through them. Plus, if the threats are obvious what prevents the party just blasting the walls from a safe distance?

What level is the adventure for anyway? It's something in the 4th-8th level range isn't it?

 

[Cleon]

We need a good collective noun for the organization entry. I propose a bulwark of carnivorous walls.

Organization: Solitary or bulwark (2-12)

Incidentally, I like the idea of having a carnivorous wall being able to store zombies in its interior and vomit them forth when it attacks. I know it doesn't fit with the original text but as it stands it's unlikely to use the 'create burning zombie' power since it must kill one of the PCs, or somebody with them, first. That's one reason I propose giving it the ability to eject a burning zombie as a move-equivalent action.

Having it take ten rounds to animate the burning zombie makes things worse - the likelihood is the party will have killed the wall long before it will have finished killing & animating them. If they produce a zombie or two when they first attack then at least the players get to appreciate them.

If we give them that ability we'd need to modify the organization entry to include the number of burning zombies the walls contain.

To recap, I like the following for the Engulf text:

Engulf (Ex): A carnivorous wall can engulf a grappled opponent of a smaller size than itself as a standard action by making a successful grapple check against that opponent. It automatically succeeds in engulfing a paralyzed opponent. Engulfed creatures begin to drown (see suffocation rules in the DMG) and are considered to be grappled and trapped within the wall's body. Engulfed creatures continue to be subject to the wall's paralyzing slime and take 2d6? acid damage per round from the wall's digestive processes. Creatures that die while engulfed are animated as burning zombies (see below) ten rounds after death and can then be expelled by the wall as a move-equivalent action. A Large carnivorous wall's interior can hold 2 Medium, 8 Small, 32 Tiny or 128 Diminutive or smaller opponents.

 

[freyar]

I'm fine with potentially storing burning zombies, but I shortened 10 rounds to "immediately" just to get some out there if the wall manages to kill something...

 

[Cleon]

I'm fine with potentially storing burning zombies, but I shortened 10 rounds to "immediately" just to get some out there if the wall manages to kill something...

Yes, but that means the wall probably has to kill a party-member before producing a zombie, which is unlikely with strong PCs. If the wall can produce 'here's some I made earlier' zombies from storage as soon as it attacks, then it can 'get some out there' regardless of party casualties.