How broken is the Gelatinous Cube?

[SangoProduction]

Specifically the racial class, as given in the 2016 April Augmented book by Dreamscarred Press.

Even more specifically, having paralysis as a rider effect to a Slam attack (and Engulf).

A save or be paralyzed for 1 round seems fine. Especially since you are stuck with a 1d4 slam, and no arms to wield literally anything else.

And most (non-Spheres) casting is inaccessible... unless you take the Form Figure feat, which grants you a humanoid-shaped body (I imagine like Zac from League of Legends). But doing that kinda takes away the whole "I'm playing a gelatinous cube" deal.... But pseudopod does grant a "hand" while being a cube...

Anyway! With casting being inaccessible, and capping out the damage at 2d6 total damage (with only 1d6 being weapon damage), and it being a natural weapon, thus no iterative attacks...

Are the level 3 and level 4 improvements to 1d6 and 2d6 rounds of paralysis absurd? How absurd?

[Beni-Kujaku]

How broken? Good sir, the gelatinous cube cannot be broken. Dissolved, at most, but you can't break what isn't solid.

More to the point, could you link the stats of the cube (I'm sorry, but I don't want to pay 3$ to look once at an april fools class, as good as it may be)? Are they exactly the same as the pathfinder monster with 4 RHD and no LA? If so, that is hardly broken. No hands is not really the problem for spellcasting, since amorphous creatures can just move their body for somatic components, and you can just put a metal component pouch inside the cube. No, the problem is the inexistent mental stats. But if the racial class has no hit to intelligence, this might actually make a decent wizard. +16 Con is absolutely nothing to scoff at (even if awful everywhere else). About the paralysis effect itself, it's undoubtedly strong, but a non-scaling melee rider effect that you can use only once per round and that costs you 4 levels of progression is still not that good, even if it is a save-or-lose with high initial DC. If you can put it on every hit for a monk, then it is much much better, but I still think it might be a bit lackluster at higher levels.

I'm not familiar with SoP, so there might be ways to scale the DC, or use a slam attack from a distance instead of melee, in which case a monk gelatinous cube would possibly be a bit stronger than an equal level martial character, but I don't think it will ever be "broken" per se. There are lots of ways to get a save-or-lose, even at early levels, and some not requiring both an attack roll and a failed saving throw. Monks have stunning fist, Wizards have Web and Sleep, a spherecaster can Create a cage, which has a similar effect most of the time at low levels.....

[SangoProduction]

How broken? Good sir, the gelatinous cube cannot be broken. Dissolved, at most, but you can't break what isn't solid.

More to the point, could you link the stats of the cube (I'm sorry, but I don't want to pay 3$ to look once at an april fools class, as good as it may be)? Are they exactly the same as the pathfinder monster with 4 RHD and no LA? If so, that is hardly broken. No hands is not really the problem for spellcasting, since amorphous creatures can just move their body for somatic components, and you can just put a metal component pouch inside the cube. No, the problem is the inexistent mental stats. But if the racial class has no hit to intelligence, this might actually make a decent wizard. +16 Con is absolutely nothing to scoff at (even if awful everywhere else). About the paralysis effect itself, it's undoubtedly strong, but a non-scaling melee rider effect that you can use only once per round and that costs you 4 levels of progression is still not that good, even if it is a save-or-lose with high initial DC. If you can put it on every hit for a monk, then it is much much better, but I still think it might be a bit lackluster at higher levels.

I'm not familiar with SoP, so there might be ways to scale the DC, or use a slam attack from a distance instead of melee, in which case a monk gelatinous cube would possibly be a bit stronger than an equal level martial character, but I don't think it will ever be "broken" per se. There are lots of ways to get a save-or-lose, even at early levels, and some not requiring both an attack roll and a failed saving throw. Monks have stunning fist, Wizards have Web and Sleep, a spherecaster can Create a cage, which has a similar effect most of the time at low levels.....

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/179672/April-Augmented?src=slider_view
It's pay what you want. Literally 0, without needing payment information.

But to summarize: It's a race with mostly drawbacks, and 4 racial levels that can be taken, gradually gaining the full powerset, including 1d6 acid, 2d6 rounds of paralysis (con-based save DC), +16 Con, -10 dex (can that bring it to 0?), engulf, etc, etc.

[Beni-Kujaku]

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/179672/April-Augmented?src=slider_view
It's pay what you want. Literally 0, without needing payment information.

But to summarize: It's a race with mostly drawbacks, and 4 racial levels that can be taken, gradually gaining the full powerset, including 1d6 acid, 2d6 rounds of paralysis (con-based save DC), +16 Con, -10 dex (can that bring it to 0?), engulf, etc, etc.

Okay, that's pretty interesting. I will remain on my position: for 4 levels, this is not brokenly strong. Strong, definitely, and it would probably warrant at least a LA+1 somewhere (especially since you don't lose mental stats like the regular monster), but it will not scale that well, and it should not outshine a well-built character too much.

However! This is a savage progression. And as such, you are not required to take any level in the class (except the first, it seems from the special rules of dreamscarred). And as a race, +4 Con, -4 Dex, a natural weapon, Ooze immunities (like mind-affecting, poison, paralysis, flanking and precision damage), freaking blindsight, all at the cost of one aberration level and a feat to wield weapons? That, that is definitely broken. There are not many races that lose a caster level that could make viable wizards, and yet this one seems like it. And on a barbarian, or just an initiator, this can become very very strong pretty fast.