PDA

View Full Version : [4E] Living Ooze - Player Race



Thajocoth
2009-06-14, 01:47 AM
I made this when I saw GreatWyrmGold's "A Weird Race Contest!" thread, but a 4e race is not within the bounds of the thread, so I'm posting this separately in case anyone cares to see it. I have no intent to actually ever use it.


Living Ooze


RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 4'9" - 5'3"
Average Weight: 320 - 350 lb.

Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Speed: 5 squares
Vision: Normal (Blindsight 5)

Languages: Telepathy 5
Skill Bonuses: +2 Stealth
Sticky Nature: Instead of storing items normally, you engulf them. Items you've engulfed are treated the same as a Warforged's embedded items with the exception that they must be drawn to be used. When you draw an engulfed item, you pull it towards your outer membrane. The object is then only partially engulfed and usable. It's treated similarly to a Warforged's attached items. This does not allow you any more equipment slots than normal, nor does this provide you with extra actions.
Gooey Resistance: You have resistance to acid damage equal to 5 + one-half your level.
Liquid Dreams: Instead of a bedroll, you use a large jar of some sort to "sleep" in.
Globular Shape: You have a bloblike shape, so you are considered a beast for the purpose of effects that relate to creature type.
Engulf: You have the Engulf power.


Engulf . Living Ooze Racial Power
You put your enemy is a very sticky situation
Encounter
Standard Action . Melee
Target: One enemy
Attack: Strength +2 vs Reflex, Constitution +2 vs Reflex, or Dexterity +2 vs Reflex
Increase to +4 bonus at 11th level, and to +6 bonus at 21st level.
Hit: The target is grabbed. The target takes a -2 penalty to escape checks to end this grab. Sustaining this grab is a free action. You have combat advantage against the target for the duration of the grab.
Special: When you create your character, choose Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity as the ability score you use when making attack rolls with this power. This choice remains throughout your character's life and does not change the power's other effects.


Creatures of ooze often appear in deep dark places and take a form that's adapted to their surroundings. It's believed that the Living Ooze is created if an ooze's appearance coincides with a group of adventuers clearing out the deep dark region it's from. Others believe they're a cast out experiment of Mind Flayers or Fomorians. Whatever the case, Living Oozes are far more intelligent than their kin and can live with humanoids assuming those humanoids accept them.


Play a Living Ooze if you want...
* to be globular, sticky, and strange.
* to scour cavers, ruins, and dungeons in search of organic matter to digest.
* to be a member of a race that favors the rogue, ranger, monk, and warlock classes.


Physical Qualities
Living Oozes don't appear much different from standard oozes. They might be green, colorless, black, grey, or many other colors, but they're always semitransparent.
They don't have eyes, hair or other distinct facial features, but a Living Ooze's exact hue is always unique, so it may be recognizable this way.
Living Oozes live for 100 years before losing their sentience. though some more intelligent Living Oozes have been able to hold out until 150 years. At that point, the Living Ooze doesn't die, but it does lose much of it's intelligence and begins to act like it's brethren, devouring anything it can and hiding in darkness.

Playing a Living Ooze
Living Oozes are almost always hungry. They explore the darkest reaches of the world in search of food. Being more intelligent than their brethren, they might devour in the name of a cause or for profit. Seeing their enemies as food, they rarely run in fear. Despite their insatiable hunger, they're able to befriend humanoids and keep themselves from going after potential food that might get them or their friends in trouble later.

Living Ooze Characteristics: Hungry, Fearless, Sticky, Strange

Living Ooze Names: Sclark, Plegl, Splop, Plark, Skilsh, Blug, Clorg, Sklarb, Gloog, Schlock

Living Ooze Adventurers
Three sample Living Ooze adventurers are described below.
Plark is a Living Ooze Avenger of Ghuaunadaur. He endeavors to topple mighty empires by devouring their rulers.
Gloog is a Living Ooze Rogue. He follows a band of adventurers on a secret quest to uncover a slave trading market. He plans to devour the slavers, freeing the slaves.
Blug is a Living Ooze Warlock. He uses dark forces to torment his food before he finally devours it.


Feats

Heroic Tier Feats

Slam!
Prerequesite: Living Ooze
Benefit: Your unarmed attacks are increased by one die size.

Body Slam!
Prerequesite: Living Ooze, Slam! feat
Benefit: Your unarmed attacks may target fortitude defense.

Footless Footwork
Prerequesite: Living Ooze
Benefit: When you shift as a move action, you may choose to shift two spaces instead of one.

Far Thinker
Prerequesite: Living Ooze
Benefit: Your telepathy is increased to 10.

Feeding Fervor
Prerequesite: Living Ooze
Benefit: When using your Engulf racial power, you may choose to target Fortitude instead of Reflex.

Sensitive to Shakes
Prerequesite: Living Ooze
Benefit: You gain tremorsense 5.

Ghaunadaur's Patience [Divinity]
Prerequesites: Channel Divinity class feature, must worship Ghaunadaur
Benefit: You can invoke the power of your deity to use Ghaunadaur's Patience.

Channel Divinity: Ghaunadaurs Patience Feat Power
Ghaunadaur blesses you to allow his unused wrath to devour his later foes.
Encounter * Divine
Immediate Reaction
Trigger: You or an ally drops an enemy to 0 hit points
Effect: Spend an encounter power. This encounter power may be used an additional time in the next encounter.

Paragon Tier Feats

Blindly Perceptive
Prerequesite: Living Ooze
Benefit: Your blindsight is increased to 10.

Extra Sensitive
Prerequesite: Living Ooze, Sensitive to Shakes feat
Benefit: Your tremorsense is increased to 10.

Swallowing Slam
Prerequesite: Living Ooze
Benefit: After a successful unarmed attack against an opponent, you may use Engulf as a free action against the same target hit by the unarmed attack if Engulf has not yet been spent this encounter.

Rainbownaga
2009-06-14, 05:10 AM
I really like the idea; reminds me of those cool Jells from the monster rancher videogames.

The only criticism was the use of the 'beast' type- isn't that more of a factor of intelligence than bodyshape? I've only got the basic 3 books, but all of the beasts seem to have low intelligence (much like animals in 3.5).

Ashtagon
2009-06-14, 05:17 AM
I think you should add Schlock (http://www.schlockmercenary.com) to the list of living ooze names.

Thajocoth
2009-06-14, 10:42 AM
I really like the idea; reminds me of those cool Jells from the monster rancher videogames.

The only criticism was the use of the 'beast' type- isn't that more of a factor of intelligence than bodyshape? I've only got the basic 3 books, but all of the beasts seem to have low intelligence (much like animals in 3.5).

There are 2 oozes in the MM1, 3 oozes in Dragon 367 and 5 oozes in MM2. All 10 of them are listed as "natural beast (blind, ooze)". Though, their int ranges from 1 to 4, so it's entirely possible that "beast" simply means "low int". At the same time though, they're not humanoid in shape... So what would they be?

Jair Barik
2009-06-15, 04:48 AM
Perhaps try making the race more like a slithering stalker or whatever that thing was called.
It was basically an intelligent ooze from 2nd edition and could be adapted to a race. Of all the oozes it was by far the most human actually having a human shape.

On a similar not whatever happened to the deadly puddings from 2e?

Thajocoth
2009-06-17, 01:00 AM
Perhaps try making the race more like a slithering stalker or whatever that thing was called.
It was basically an intelligent ooze from 2nd edition and could be adapted to a race. Of all the oozes it was by far the most human actually having a human shape.

On a similar not whatever happened to the deadly puddings from 2e?

I know 4th's MM2 has a Black Pudding monster. It spawns minions each time you hit it with a melee weapon.

This race is very smart for an ooze, but I purposely didn't make it humanoid to increase it's strangeness. I have, however, made a set of ooze creature racial feats for a humanoid race to become ooze-like through a ritual. Link: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114301

erikun
2009-06-17, 09:52 PM
Beholders and Dragons are both Beasts in 4e, so the type isn't limited by intelligence.

I do like it, especially the +2 Dex/+2 Con, as that really seems to fit the idea behind oozes (resilient and malleable). Stealth is unusual, but I can see where it comes from. Engulf looks kind of fun, although the Goo-in-a-Jar Liquid Dreams as a "racial power" looks kind of odd. :smallwink: Rather Odo, though.

Sticky Nature is a problem, and highlights the issues for non-humanoids. Specifically, considering that it doesn't have shoulders, the Living Ooze needs to use Sticky Nature to hold things... but then the distinction between "wielding" and "holding" gets blurred. If it is "wielding" one suit of armor but "holding" another, what's to stop them from switching between the two? What's to keep the Living Ooze from "holding" five different swords and swapping them out at will?

About the only other oddity I can spot is that you could make an Oozy Humanoid Living Ooze, and there would be no repetition of abilities. :smalltongue: Not necessarily bad, but it's kind of like a half-elf/half-elf who has all the elven abilities (for being half and elf) and all the half-elf abilities (for being a half-elf).

Owrtho
2009-06-17, 10:02 PM
I think you should add Schlock (http://www.schlockmercenary.com) to the list of living ooze names.

Why would they have the name of an ape man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlock_(film))?

Owrtho

Thajocoth
2009-06-18, 03:35 AM
Beholders and Dragons are both Beasts in 4e, so the type isn't limited by intelligence.

I do like it, especially the +2 Dex/+2 Con, as that really seems to fit the idea behind oozes (resilient and malleable). Stealth is unusual, but I can see where it comes from. Engulf looks kind of fun, although the Goo-in-a-Jar Liquid Dreams as a "racial power" looks kind of odd. :smallwink: Rather Odo, though.

Sticky Nature is a problem, and highlights the issues for non-humanoids. Specifically, considering that it doesn't have shoulders, the Living Ooze needs to use Sticky Nature to hold things... but then the distinction between "wielding" and "holding" gets blurred. If it is "wielding" one suit of armor but "holding" another, what's to stop them from switching between the two? What's to keep the Living Ooze from "holding" five different swords and swapping them out at will?

About the only other oddity I can spot is that you could make an Oozy Humanoid Living Ooze, and there would be no repetition of abilities. :smalltongue: Not necessarily bad, but it's kind of like a half-elf/half-elf who has all the elven abilities (for being half and elf) and all the half-elf abilities (for being a half-elf).

A person can have 5 scabbards with 5 swords. Impractical... But they can. You're right though, this section needs to be longer to be a little more specific to keep it from being overpowered. I've rewritten it. How does Sticky Nature look now?

As for Oozy Humanoid Living Ooze... Perhaps I should simply make "Humanoid" a prerequisite for "Oozy Humanoid". Granted... In my campaign, the players DID fight an Oozy Young Black Dragon who was modified by that same ritual. (Only actual changes: +2 stealth and some flavor.) So it feels almost hypocritical to do that.