Need to make creatures oozes and vermin

[LaRayna]

Hi guys, so I'm running a dnd campaign and I'm focusing on vermin and ooze monsters since the players will be fighting obox ob and Juiblex eventually, but I have a problem. Been trying to find templates to make creatures vermin and oozes but I can't find any. Closest I've found are insectile creature and gelatinous creature but they both become aberrations which doesn't make sense to me. Any ideas?

[DrMotives]

Skitterhaunt turns a vermin into an ooze.

[LaRayna]

I'm familiar with that one, but more specifically, non vermin or non ooze into vermin and ooze

[Thurbane]

Looking here http://storm-shelter.minmaxforum.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=5gh3bs0u1pvsorqtgsgcpolo53&topic=124.0 seems like you're out of luck.

You could always just hand-wave Gelatinous Creature and Insectile to work the way you want them to...

[DrMotives]

I see no reason not to do that with gelatinous, but insectile is different. Vermin by definition have 0 for Int. That's why the watchspider is a magical beast, even though all it is is a big spider. It's smart enough to be trained as a watchdog, so can't be a vermin. You also might houserule a "vermin-like" subtype and apply it to non-vermin that fit the bill, ie insectile creatures, arachnid template creatures, watchspiders, various magical beasts & outsiders that are bugs of one sort or another. Then use this new subtype to make things work with vermin creatures. It'd be a bug counterpart to the dragonblood subtype. Do the same of oozes, although there's far fewer candidates for it out there.

[Nifft]

Living Spell is a template that creates an Ooze. There are a lot of spells, so you can create very interesting encounters.

IIRC there are some spells & items that allow a creature to ride an Ooze -- that sort of thing could be used to spice-up encounters which also feature prominent Oozes.

For the Vermin side, I dunno -- there's already a lot of vermin, with a moderate degree of flexibility. What are you looking for there?

[Malimar]

You can also Symbiotic Creature and Tauric Creature up some semi-vermins and semi-oozes, house-ruling them to keep the Vermin and Ooze types if you so desire.


I see no reason not to do that with gelatinous, but insectile is different. Vermin by definition have 0 for Int. That's why the watchspider is a magical beast, even though all it is is a big spider. It's smart enough to be trained as a watchdog, so can't be a vermin. You also might houserule a "vermin-like" subtype and apply it to non-vermin that fit the bill, ie insectile creatures, arachnid template creatures, watchspiders, various magical beasts & outsiders that are bugs of one sort or another. Then use this new subtype to make things work with vermin creatures. It'd be a bug counterpart to the dragonblood subtype. Do the same of oozes, although there's far fewer candidates for it out there.
There aren't any Vermin with Intelligence scores afaik, but the rules don't actually say there can't be:

Vermin possess the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature’s entry).
Mindless: No Intelligence score, and immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).

Also I'm not sure why you're drawing a distinction between Gelatinous and Insectile here, because Oozes have exactly the same clause:

An ooze possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature’s entry).
Mindless: No Intelligence score, and immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).

(I think there is at least one Ooze that has Intelligence -- Sentry Ooze, yes? And maybe some of the weird spellcasty oozes, too. So the precedent is there.)

[unseenmage]

The Amalgam template (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/amalgam-creature-cr-special/) from Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary could be useful. The linked one is the Pathfinder version but its almost identical to the 3.x version.

The Monstrous Lycanthrope template from the same book could be useful too. Were-Oozes sound horrifying. Just kind of ignore the template and use the normal lycanthrope template replacing any animal with any ooze. The template as is goes pretty far off the rails.

The Awaken Sand spell from the Sandstorm book turns a volume of dust or sand into an Intelligent, free willed, ooze-like Construct.
Use a pile of deceased fleas and it would look like a swarm, move like an ooze, yet be an intelligent opponent.
Not exactly what you're after but one supposes it could be useful.

Pathfinder has the Flesh to Ooze spell, which is basically just Baleful Polymorph but into an ooze.

This list of templates (https://web.archive.org/web/20170108052749/http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=12219.0) and what types turn into what could also help.

There's also an Awaken Ooze spell in one of the Dragon Magazines that could be helpful. It does what you'd expect IIRC. Just like Awaken, but for Oozes.

[ShurikVch]

Firstly: Obox-ob
For template: how about the Entomanothrope (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040621a)?
Fang of Lolth PrC (Song and Silence), actually, gives Vermin type at capstone (and doesn't required to worship Lolth)
According to Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss, Obox-ob rule over Zionyn - 663rd layer of the Abyss, populated by Ekolids -
http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/fc1_gallery/98448.jpg- which are worshipping Obox-ob

In the Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, Aspect of Obox-ob was accompanied by several Demonwasp Swarms (Abyssal version of Hellwasp Swarm (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/swarm.htm#hellwaspSwarm)), and Oculus demon:
http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/demonweb_gallery/103910.jpg

According to Demonomicon article in Dragon #359, Lord Lascer (https://wiki.greyparticle.com/index.php/Lascer) is a creation and agent of Obox-ob; among Lascer's subordinates, there are several Kelvezu demons, and Shadow Shoal - Lascer's pet cult (among cultists are several Soulreavers - Epic-level Assassins, who's can cast spells higher than 4th-level, have some special effects for their Death Attacks, and even able to harm the soul by cutting of a piece and sending it to Lascer)


Now, Juiblex
How about the Oozemaser and Thrall of Juiblex PrCs?
Monser Manual V have Spawn of Juiblex
Dungeon #132 have the "Caverns of the Ooze Lord" adventure; among the enemies, besides a human cleric of Juiblex, there are: one or two of Chaos Blight (Living spell of Chaos Hammer + Unholy Blight), Sickstone Elemental (Elite Huge Earth Elemental with some special abilities of Sickstone Golem (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20021123a)), and Slime Creatures:
https://image.ibb.co/fUi2Pw/Slime_Creature.jpg
Slime Creature is a result of infection from Olive Slime (or another Slime Creature); it's not a template - mechanically, all Slime Creatures are the same, and differ only by size; moreover, once the transformation is finished, "base creature" is a legal target for resurrection

[Blue Jay]

The Amalgam template (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/amalgam-creature-cr-special/) from Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary could be useful. The linked one is the Pathfinder version but its almost identical to the 3.x version.

The same source has the Ooze Creature (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/ooze-creature-cr-3/) template. It's LA +3 in 3.5e, and the fluff is both very ooze-like and also rather unique for oozes.

You could also take 10 levels of the Oozemaster PrC from Masters of the Wild (a 3.0 source): the capstone gives you the ooze type.