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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shade" data-source="post: 4503545" data-attributes="member: 287">This one may not actually end up being an ooze, but it is the most horrific of the remaining ones earmarked as possible oozes.Black SlimeCLIMATE/TERRAIN: Ocean surfaceFREQUENCY: RareORGANIZATION: ColonyACTIVITY CYCLE: AnyDIET: OmnivoreINTELLIGENCE: Non- (0)TREASURE: NilALIGNMENT: NeutralNO. APPEARING: 1-4ARMOR CLASS: 9MOVEMENT: 0HIT DICE: 2THAC0: 19NO. OF ATTACKS: 0DAMAGE/ATTACK: NilSPECIAL ATTACKS: See belowSPECIAL DEFENSES: See belowMAGIC RESISTANCE: NilSIZE: S (1'-4')MORALE: Average (10)XP VALUE: 175Also called oil slime, black slime is an aquatic version of the colony creature known to subterranean explorers as green slime. Looking much like a small oil slick, black slime floats on the top of the ocean, attacking creatures with which it comes into contact. It has no means of self-propulsion, moving about only at the whims of the winds and the waves.Combat: Like both green and olive slime, black slime attacks all living matter that it touches, absorbing it into itself and creating more slime in the process. Any living creature, whether plant or animal, that brushes against the black slime colony finds slime adhering to itself. Within four rounds, that creature turns into slime. However, unlike both green and olive slime, black slime has a limited ability to change its basic shape-it can form strands that float below the surface of the ocean.  These strands act like the tentacles of a jellyfish, allowing the slime to adhere to any fish that might pass beneath it.Black slime attacks anything touching its upper surface as well. A swimmer bumping into a floating patch of black slime finds himself coated in the stuff, as does a sea bird landing in it.If a victim can scrape the slime away quickly, he can save himself.  Unfortunately, it's much more difficult to scrape black slime off of one's body while in the water than it is to scrape green slime off while on land, as scraped-off patches usually float right back into contact with the victim's skin, and a person in the water doesn't always an object with which he can scrape off the slime.Black slime is a form of plant life and is subject to spells affecting plants, although even some of those are virtually useless. A hold plant spell, for instance, does not prevent black slime from moving, for the movement is a result of wave action, not any intention on the slime's part. Black slime is immune to cold-based attacks but burns readily upon contact with flame (another reason for the name "oil slime"). Cure disease spells instantly destroy a black slime colony, but the creature is immune to most other spells. and weapon attacks cause it no damage.Habitat/Society: Black slime is a colony creature but has no intelligence of its own. Like other slimes, it has a limited awareness of the world around through its ability to sense vibrations, which allows it to target prey. As the colony absorbs other creatures, it grows in size, eventually splitting into two approximately equally-sized colonies, each with the creature's original Hit Dice. Several colonies are often found together, but this is merely the result of the tides. Every once in a while, several colonies drift together and form an extra-large patch of slime floating on the ocean, but these do not stay together long, nor do they merge into a single creature--once separated, black slime does not unite together again.Ecology: Unlike green slime, which also eats through metals and wood, black slime dissolves only living matter. For this reason, many sailors and pirates actively harvest the stuff. The slime, when carefully poured into a glass vial, can be stoppered and stored for 4d4 days (until the isolated slime starves), then used as a weapon against enemy ships. The vials are catapulted onto enemy ships to break and splash all over the enemy crew, or can be sent hurling at the enemy with a flaming wick attached, creating an organic version of the Molotov cocktail.Black slime vials are treated as flasks of oil when used in this fashion; consult Table 45: Grenade-like Missile Effects on page 63 of the DUNGEON MASTER Guide (see also "Incendiary Attacks" in Of Ships and the Sea, pages 41-43) for details.Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #250 (1998).</blockquote>

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