Syrup Guardians

[ftafp]

Plasmoid added a rather unprecendented ability in the form of its pseudopods, which can be up to 10 feet long. This pseudopod is obviously not limited to the plasmoid's space, which raises the question of how it interacts with aoe spells like spirit guardians that originate from the caster. per the phb, these spells originate from "you" rather than "your space", but whether your pseduopod can be considered "you" raises questions.

how would you rule it?

[Skrum]

No it does not trigger Spirit Guardians or other "entire the area of effect" effects. Whether it makes sense or not, I would not want to open that box. A character occupies a square, they can interact with other squares within their reach, but they still only occupy one square. And the spell triggers when the square they are occupying is affected by a spell. That's it. I think it would be introducing far too much complication to do otherwise.

[ftafp]

No it does not trigger Spirit Guardians or other "entire the area of effect" effects. Whether it makes sense or not, I would not want to open that box. A character occupies a square, they can interact with other squares within their reach, but they still only occupy one square. And the spell triggers when the square they are occupying is affected by a spell. That's it. I think it would be introducing far too much complication to do otherwise.

I'm not asking if sticking your pseudopod into the area of effect triggers the damage, I'm asking if a plasmoid who casts spirit guardians will have spirits radiating out from their pseudopod since it is technically them

[Skrum]

I'm not asking if sticking your pseudopod into the area of effect triggers the damage, I'm asking if a plasmoid who casts spirit guardians will have spirits radiating out from their pseudopod since it is technically them

Nope. Same answer xD. A medium character occupies one square, and that's the square the spell radiates from.

[AdAstra]

Can think of it akin to Unarmed Strikes. You can make one into a space that you yourself are not considered to occupy, and generally aren't affected as if you've "entered" the space for the purposes of spells like Spirit Guardians (though presumably say, an Anti-Magic Field might suppress a magic item that attacks something inside the field, and physical barriers would block attacks). And similarly, sticking your arm into an adjacent space doesn't extend the area of a spell that originates from you.

[ftafp]

It seems plasmoid as a race is pretty much completely without practical application.


Amorphousness seems airtightly designed to open locked doors from the other side and break out of restraints and nothing else, but puts you at severe risk of harm without a highly specialized build since you leave behind all your equipment and will need at least 10 rounds to get back into your armor
the pseudopod is just mage hand, but with a 10 foot reach and the issue that you're still sticking your actual hand in the goatman statue's mouth or using it to open the curse-warded grimoire
advantage on grappling and escaping grapples is somewhat useful, but significantly less so than the widely maligned traits the giff had in the original ua
the ability to turn into a limbless blob as an action has no real advantage, and if we interpret the plasmoid as a shapeshifter then it's actually a weakness, as it means you're vulnerable to moon beam and can't benefit from polymorph


I wish they gave this race enough to salvage it

[Dork_Forge]

It seems plasmoid as a race is pretty much completely without practical application.


Amorphousness seems airtightly designed to open locked doors from the other side and break out of restraints and nothing else, but puts you at severe risk of harm without a highly specialized build since you leave behind all your equipment and will need at least 10 rounds to get back into your armor
the pseudopod is just mage hand, but with a 10 foot reach and the issue that you're still sticking your actual hand in the goatman statue's mouth or using it to open the curse-warded grimoire
advantage on grappling and escaping grapples is somewhat useful, but significantly less so than the widely maligned traits the giff had in the original ua
the ability to turn into a limbless blob as an action has no real advantage, and if we interpret the plasmoid as a shapeshifter then it's actually a weakness, as it means you're vulnerable to moon beam and can't benefit from polymorph


I wish they gave this race enough to salvage it

You're overlooking the resistance to acid and poison damage, which I suspect eats a fair amount of their design space. I'd like to disagree that the first point requires a 'highly specialized build' though:

-two classes have unarmored defense as a core feature
-Wizards, Sorcerers, and some Warlocks will be under Mage Armor and not care (and can provide it for others)
-Any Dex-based build will only be mildly hindered by it
-Druids have Barkskin

The lack of armor is really not an issue for a lot of characters, and if you're going to be focused on using medium or heavy armor, then may want to reconsider playing a plasmoid at all. Lack of equipment is a slightly bigger hurdle, but also easily mitigated, it's not really a bad thing if you need to account for your class choices to lean into such a specialized race feature.

[Segev]

Plasmoids also interact interestingly with disguise self. "The same basic arrangement of limbs" is a lot bore flexible for them. The warlock invocation to give that spell at will may be very worth it for them, especially since there is ample room to allege that they have greater control over pitch and tone of voice due to creating the sound chambers consciously out of flexible protoplasm.

[ftafp]

Plasmoids also interact interestingly with disguise self. "The same basic arrangement of limbs" is a lot bore flexible for them. The warlock invocation to give that spell at will may be very worth it for them, especially since there is ample room to allege that they have greater control over pitch and tone of voice due to creating the sound chambers consciously out of flexible protoplasm.

Believe me, I'm aware of that interaction, I was one of the first people to point that out back when the UA came out. It didn't change the fact that mimic builds are extremely situational. Players are almost never in a situation where they are the ones laying a trap, hence why most of my attempts at thieve's tools optimization have focused on portability and the ability to be triggered by the player rather than the target


You're overlooking the resistance to acid and poison damage, which I suspect eats a fair amount of their design space. I'd like to disagree that the first point requires a 'highly specialized build' though:

-two classes have unarmored defense as a core feature
-Wizards, Sorcerers, and some Warlocks will be under Mage Armor and not care (and can provide it for others)
-Any Dex-based build will only be mildly hindered by it
-Druids have Barkskin

The lack of armor is really not an issue for a lot of characters, and if you're going to be focused on using medium or heavy armor, then may want to reconsider playing a plasmoid at all. Lack of equipment is a slightly bigger hurdle, but also easily mitigated, it's not really a bad thing if you need to account for your class choices to lean into such a specialized race feature.

there's a lot I'm not sure I agree with here, but the biggest issue is ultimately how often do you run into a locked door your other party members can't pick or kick down?

[Segev]

Imam less saying the OP's concerns are invalid and more just examining what I think could be fun with them.

Definitely want to look into a portable hole they can invest and open up at will. Solves the problem of bringing stuff with them through narrow openings.

I wonder how many DMs would let a character whose concept is pacting with a Patron to gain increasing shape shifting powers would let them start as a changeling at level one, and change to a plan did at level 2 when they pick up disguise self.

[Dork_Forge]

there's a lot I'm not sure I agree with here, but the biggest issue is ultimately how often do you run into a locked door your other party members can't pick or kick down?

I see it more as getting in to where you don't have easy access to a door, but to answer your question not every party has a strong character and someone with Thieves' tools.



Definitely want to look into a portable hole they can invest and open up at will. Solves the problem of bringing stuff with them through narrow openings.


This made me think of an interesting interaction, the Genie Warlock's vessel can be a ring that would fit through any gap the Plasmoid would. Allowing them to take their stuff, or the entire Warlock/party.

[Ogun]

I seriously love the idea of playing an ooze but a reskined bugbear or Thri-kreen would be more fun to play than the plasmoid we got.
The bug bear has the reach the squeezing through small spaces and the sneakyness.
The Thri-kreen has natural durability, multiple limbs that can actually wield weapons, telepathy and camoflage.
The plasmoids extra arms, squeezing and stretching are all weak sauce.
If they could see around corners via their pseudopods or belch acid, or have an extra dimensional stomach I could forgive the other stuff.

[Phhase]

It's still your hand though. You could use it to deliver melee spell attacks or at the very least, could use it to deliver touch spells like cure wounds.

[Segev]

I seriously love the idea of playing an ooze but a reskined bugbear or Thri-kreen would be more fun to play than the plasmoid we got.
The bug bear has the reach the squeezing through small spaces and the sneakyness.
The Thri-kreen has natural durability, multiple limbs that can actually wield weapons, telepathy and camoflage.
The plasmoids extra arms, squeezing and stretching are all weak sauce.
If they could see around corners via their pseudopods or belch acid, or have an extra dimensional stomach I could forgive the other stuff.

I mean, thanks to the (really stupid, in my opinion...or at least really lazy for an actual professionally-released product's main half-breed mechanic) rules for half-breeds in the latest UA, you can play a half-bugbear, half-plasmoid that has bugbear stats and looks in every way like a plasmoid.

[Pooky the Imp]

Plasmoid added a rather unprecendented ability in the form of its pseudopods, which can be up to 10 feet long. This pseudopod is obviously not limited to the plasmoid's space...

Given the title, I read this far and thought you were about to ask if a plasmoid could force-feed itself to an enemy. :smallbiggrin: