Any way to have a pet Ooze?

[Randel]

I've been thinking about playing a druid or a similar character, namely someone who has an interest in preserving nature and keeping everyone healthy. In particular, making sure there aren't disease-carrying dead bodies laying aorund, metal objects aren't littering the wild, and generally trying to keep things as neat and tidy as possible.

So I thought that if I had an ooze for an animal companion (or maybe a swarm of army ants) or something else that could follow me and eat all the dead bodies we run into then it would help keep things clean.

I know that clerics with the Ooze domain can turn/rebuke oozes as if they were undead but I don't know of any other ways to do this.

I suppose I could have a wizard/srocerer/spellcaster who regularly picks up dead bodies and cremates/disintegrates them reserve feat magics or whatnot but I think an animal companion would be cool as well.


Basic idea is a way to dispose of dead bodies so they don't spread disease/become undead and maybe clean up any other garbage or toxic residue we come across.

[Amnestic]

You should look into obtaining an Amulet of Ooze Riding (Arms and Equipment Guide under the 'Mounts' section). Then find a Gelatinous Cube and start...well, riding it.

[Veyr]

There's a prestige class that focuses on Oozes, too.

And I think there's an Ooze Domain that allows you to Rebuke Oozes.

[Cog]

Dragon 357 has the Spell Sovereign PrC, which gets you a living spell (type: ooze) as a familiar.

[The Glyphstone]

There's the Ooze Puppet spell in Spell Compendium.

[holywhippet]

You should look into obtaining an Amulet of Ooze Riding (Arms and Equipment Guide under the 'Mounts' section). Then find a Gelatinous Cube and start...well, riding it.

You've got to wonder what the arguments would be like with a DM over the mounted combat rules when you are trying to charge into combat on (well, in) your gelatinous cube.

[Darrin]

So I thought that if I had an ooze for an animal companion (or maybe a swarm of army ants) or something else that could follow me and eat all the dead bodies we run into then it would help keep things clean.


Easiest way would probably be the Leadership feat and picking up an intelligent ooze as a cohort. However, the main sticking point there is all oozes, even the intelligent ones, have no LA listed, so it's difficult to establish an ECL. You might be able to compare creatures with similar CRs and get a ballpark ECL that way.

The Sentry Ooze template in Dungeonscape can be added to any mindless ooze to give it the equivalent of animal intelligence (Int 2). From the fluff, you may be able to assume some forward-thinking dungeon sanitation engineer has done all the breeding already, and could be persuaded to sell some of his "sanitation crew" to like-minded individuals, or find an example with Split (Ex) and carve yourself off a new friend. In this case, a Leadership/Wild Cohort feat might not even be necessary: buy/acquire your ooze like any other animal, and use Handle Animal to "train" it (DCs for non-animals increase by 5).

There are a few oozes with higher Int: Summoning Ooze Int = 10, Cesspit Ooze Int = 7, Assassin Jelly Int = 10. Per the rules in the DMG, you'll need to use Diplomacy rather than Handle Animal, but assuming you can establish some sort of communication (anything with Int 3+ can understand Common by default) and find something it wants, you can just ask it to accompany you or pay it as a hireling. Charm/dominate monster could also work. Actually, a Summoning Ooze would be an absolute blast to have around: a mobile garbage disposal unit that can summon its own minions.

Otherwise, a custom wondrous item with a continuous ooze puppet effect would cost about... 6 x 11 x 2000 x 0.5 (24 hour duration) = 66000 GP, or maybe 6 x 11 x 1800 x 0.2 (1/day) = 26400 GP as a command-word item.

[Jack_Simth]

I know that clerics with the Ooze domain can turn/rebuke oozes as if they were undead but I don't know of any other ways to do this. Well, a one level dip into Contemplative (Complete Divine) and you too can have a domain as a Druid.
I suppose I could have a wizard/srocerer/spellcaster who regularly picks up dead bodies and cremates/disintegrates them reserve feat magics or whatnot but I think an animal companion would be cool as well.Do note that Druids also qualify for the reserve feats from Complete Mage. Fiery Burst is quite handy in that regards.

[Kansaschaser]

If you take the Leadership Feat and then you get a Druid companion that takes levels of the Master of Many Forms. They can Wild Shape into oozes.

[Cyrion]

You could also stash an ooze in a portable hole and dump things in from time to time. This could also be a good trap for the unwary- "Hmmm, a portable hole! I bet he's got some good stuff stashed in here! AAAACK!"

You just have to figure out how to not be a member of the unwary.

[Tvtyrant]

Greater Planar Bind a half fiend Ooze. Problem solved. :P

[Analytica]

Hmmm... ooze in a portable hole? May be hostile. Stuff corpses in there. Presumably it grows... Great idea either way. CthulhuTech garbage disposal unit, powered by ShoggothInside(TM).

I can also see clearly a druid with a flock of jackals, hyenas, vultures etc following them, doing the natural carrion eater thing...

[Jack_Simth]

You could also stash an ooze in a portable hole and dump things in from time to time. This could also be a good trap for the unwary- "Hmmm, a portable hole! I bet he's got some good stuff stashed in here! AAAACK!"

You just have to figure out how to not be a member of the unwary.
There's a Problem with this (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#oozeType):

Oozes eat and breathe, but do not sleep. (Emphasis added)

And, of course, with the Portable Hole (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#portableHole)
The only air in the hole is that which enters when the hole is opened. It contains enough air to supply one Medium creature or two Small creatures for 10 minutes.

So this won't work without a fairly hefty additional investment. Sorry.

[panaikhan]

CthulhuTech garbage disposal unit, powered by ShoggothInside(TM).

Can I sig this? Pretty please? :smallbiggrin: