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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 5746843" data-attributes="member: 57383">Hmm, do we need to say only wealthy creatures use them as treasure guardians? Non-wealthy creatures would be unlikely to have treasure worth guarding!I'd also like to mention their occasional use as "booby trap" tribute:While looking at The Wyrmskull Throne  I also rechecked the size and it clearly says a Slithering Hoard is a "20’ diameter sphere". Should we  change the size and weight? I think I'd rather modify the  description a bit so it switches between spherical and treasure-mound  forms.How's this:A huge mound of coins, weapons and bits of broken metal slithers across the ground. Gaps open between pieces of metal here and there, revealing the mound's interior is a translucent mass of living gel.  Slithering hoards are omnivorous oozes related to gelatinous cubes. A slithering hoard's gelatinous body exudes a sticky slime which it  uses to cover itself in coins, small weapons, armour pieces, and other  bits of metal. The hoard's outer coating serves as protective armor and as "teeth" to grind food. It will use other detritus if no metal is available (stones, bones et cetera), but  this may affect its armor bonus.The first slithering hoards were shaped from gelatinous  cubes by devious wizards. Most of their descendants live as wandering scavengers, devouring anything edible that comes within their reach. Slithering hoards are as at home underwater as they are on land. They can swim by assuming a manta ray like shape and flapping through the water.Unlike most oozes, slithering hoards possess a dim cunning and can learn (or be taught) very simple behaviors based on their instinct to avoid harm and acquire food. For example, hoards learn to hide in the places with the most prey, and will adapt their camouflage to the surroundings. Slithering hoards are occasionally used as guardians by wealthy creatures, from those same wizards to businessmen to dragons.An average slithering hoard weighs around 20,000 pounds, although much larger specimens are not uncommon. These amorphous creatures have no fixed shape. An immobile slithering hoard looks like a mound of treasure or scrap metal about 20 feet across and a yard thick. Such a hoard can expand itself into a 20 foot diameter sphere, which lets it move by rolling about, or spread into a manta-ray like shape with a wingspan of 30 feet or more. COMBATA slithering hoard attacks by lashing out with one or two pseudopods or engulfing foes in its body. It usually disguises itself as a mound of treasure and strikes at any opponent that comes within its reach. They are cunning enough to learn other ways to attack - such as swimming up beneath small boats and engulfing them.</blockquote>

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