Dungeon of oozes 3.5

[Froogleyboy]

Okay, I was thinking about dungeon ideas(shocking, I know ). when the idea came to me: What about a dungeon filled with oozes? like every creature be an ooze. but I really can't think of how it would work, fluff wise. How would you guys make it work if you were going to DM it?

[BRC]

Mad Wizard started making Oozes, got eaten by em.

[casper]

Ooses were walking through dungeons and accidentally got splitted by sharp rocks. New ooses were eating moss and grew up. Then got splitted again. Repeat during some centuries.

[Eloi]

There once was an evil wizard that plagued the town, until he was turned in to a gigantic ooze and broken into many oozes, escaping to the underground.

[Tam_OConnor]

Having tried the aforementioned 'dungeon of oozes,' and failed miserably at it, I offer the following advice, crunch-wise:

Oozes aren't really monsters. They're puzzles; as soon as you figure out their vulnerabilities and what splits them (and so long as your resources hold out), they simply aren't challenging, just a slog through a bunch of hit points. With that in mind, don't design the oozes as the threat as much as the dungeon environment itself. Wherever you'd normally put a trap, replace it with an ooze. Riddles or other kinds of puzzles might work out well, perhaps created by the ooze-loving/ooze-food mage. Give them XP for defeating the dungeon, not so much the oozes.

Fluff-wise:

There's a strange magical phenomenon in the dungeon that transforms ordinary monsters into hideous (delicious) gelatinous monsters. And people who don't know how to properly deal with the oozes are aggravating the problem. Soon, they may as well rename the local area 'the Barony of Oozes.' The party has to get in, find out what exactly is causing the transformation, avoid getting transformed themselves, and shut things down.

[Deth Muncher]

Are there any oozes that have an attack that turns you into an ooze?

[Mastikator]

Dungeon used to be filled with kobolds. Then an ooze got in and started eating them, grew bigger and split into more oozes. Eventually wiping out the kobolds.
Now it's a dungeon filled with oozes.

Or maybe it's just one really big semi-intelligent ooze that's spread thin over the entire dungeon. The water that's dripping on the stalagmites? That's the ooze, watching you...

[Deth Muncher]

Or maybe it's just one really big semi-intelligent ooze that's spread thin over the entire dungeon. The water that's dripping on the stalagmites? That's the ooze, watching you...

Heh. I could see that one being really funny.

"That random pool of water over there? OOZE. The ornate fountain that seems oddly out of place? ALSO HAS OOZE. You go to pee in the corner because you play a character that actually reflects real life? HOW DID THAT OOZE GET IN YOU?"

[Mastikator]

Maybe the ooze would use a first alone first kill strategy, or wait until they sleep.
It could be a very scary game, since you could tell the player they feel like they're being watched all the time but none of them have any idea where the "monster in the dungeon" is (they don't know it's an all-encompassing ooze).

[Drakevarg]

An ooze-filled dungeon is easy - make it a natural cave, and the oozes are essentially mobile cave mold. Watching the Planet Earth documentaries, it's not too far from reality...

[Eloi]

Heh. I could see that one being really funny.

"That random pool of water over there? OOZE. The ornate fountain that seems oddly out of place? ALSO HAS OOZE. You go to pee in the corner because you play a character that actually reflects real life? HOW DID THAT OOZE GET IN YOU?"

What Paranoia Fuel! And Nausea Fuel. Or Fetish Fuel if you are very, very odd.

[Deth Muncher]

Maybe the ooze would use a first alone first kill strategy, or wait until they sleep.
It could be a very scary game, since you could tell the player they feel like they're being watched all the time but none of them have any idea where the "monster in the dungeon" is (they don't know it's an all-encompassing ooze).

True. Say that a PC randomly got wet from a stalagwhatever dripping on them. Oops, turns out that piece of clothing is slowly becoming oozefood. You go to bed with that on? You wake up to being covered in ooze.

[Froogleyboy]

Hmm, this is good stuff. Our rogue would totally dig this kind of idea

[Maerok]

The dungeon itself is an ooze!

[Deth Muncher]

Really? Has no one else said this? I guess I'll have to...


Yo dawg, I herd u liek oozes, so I put an ooze in your ooze so you can be attacked by gelatinous blobs while being attacked by gelatinous blobs.

[Another_Poet]

Check the sewer campaign journal link in my signature for stats for my Volts Gels. They're like shocker lizards that are oozes! I believe they're on page 4.

Soon the journal will be up to the part where they meet the mad scientist who made the oozes... mmmm....

There are flamethrower oozes in that thread too, and some very clever tactics my PCs used to defeat a gelatinous cube.

[Deth Muncher]

There are flamethrower oozes in that thread too, and some very clever tactics my PCs used to defeat a gelatinous cube.

Did they eat a bowl of Jello menacingly at it? I feel that would give a hefty Intimidate bonus versus GCubes. "OHAI LOOK MR. JELLY CUBE, I EAT YOUR SMALL COUSINS FOR DELICIOUS SNACKS. OM NOM GELATIN."

[Cicciograna]

The dungeon is a temple to some Ooze divinity (maybe Juyblex or Ghaunadour), who hosted many oozes, kept under control by the clerics of the god: unfortunately, after the summoning of some demonic ooze of sort, everything went awry as the demo-ooze engulfed and killed the high cleric and began hunting the other cultists.
As ten demo-ooze is intelligent and capable of spellcasting, it freed and let loose all the oozes in the temple and summoned a host of ghaunadans (Monsters of Faerun) to help her into whatever plan it could have (maybe gather enough lesser demo-oozes to swarm in the countryside). Moreover, the demo-ooze began experimenting with oozes at "hands", trying to breed new oozes which do not have the ordinary weaknesses of normal oozes.

In the meanwhile, some cultists have found shelter in the deeper layers of the dungeon, and now are reorganizing and making plans to gain back control of the temple. They could use the help of a pack of adventurers and give them some support...or they could be completely mad, infected by some brain ooze, or so accustomed to oozes' habits to see anything that moves as potential prey.

[Another_Poet]

Did they eat a bowl of Jello menacingly at it? I feel that would give a hefty Intimidate bonus versus GCubes. "OHAI LOOK MR. JELLY CUBE, I EAT YOUR SMALL COUSINS FOR DELICIOUS SNACKS. OM NOM GELATIN."

So much worse. They ran from it and ran into another random encounter, the aforementioned fire oozes. These oozes jump onto your face and then burst into a geyser of flame with arc-welder levels of heat. So the PCs got out their shovels and started scooping up the fire oozes and hurling them at the gelatinous cube from across a sewer canal. They souffled my gelatinous cube. It was awesome. Really I should've said they all died from breathing nuked gelatinous cube fumes, but instead I gave them bonus XP.

[Jair Barik]

Perhaps it could be the base of the Darkness Given Hunger, servant to Jubilex the faceless lord who is creating an army of oozes that under his direction will spread across the land devouring all in a bid to collect souls of an upcoming blood war. Both the Darkness Given Hunger and Jubilex itself are intelligent Oozes coming out at CR18 and 20 respectively. Could be fun as they would make a plausible villain for an ongoing story arc/end of dungeon and it explains why on earth the would be oozes there in the first place. Dungeonscape has the sentry Ooze template that can be used to produce non mindless oozes and MM3 has a number of good oozes (arcane, Summoning and conflaguration all spring to mind).

[Drakevarg]

Did they eat a bowl of Jello menacingly at it? I feel that would give a hefty Intimidate bonus versus GCubes. "OHAI LOOK MR. JELLY CUBE, I EAT YOUR SMALL COUSINS FOR DELICIOUS SNACKS. OM NOM GELATIN."

I'm very tempted to sig that...

[Closak]

Sentient Giant Ooze says: I want you inside me, now!

Player: ...That could be taken in so many wrong ways.

DM: ...


That actually happened once.

[Froogleyboy]

Did they eat a bowl of Jello menacingly at it? I feel that would give a hefty Intimidate bonus versus GCubes. "OHAI LOOK MR. JELLY CUBE, I EAT YOUR SMALL COUSINS FOR DELICIOUS SNACKS. OM NOM GELATIN."

That has to be the funniest thing I've read in a long time. You've made my day

[Zeta Kai]

Welcome to the Elemental Plane of Flesh.

[The Glyphstone]

The dungeon itself is an ooze!

It's hard to make the dungeon an ooze, but you can make all the ceilings oozes (Lurkers Above), the floors oozes (Trappers), the walls oozes (Stunjellies), the air inside the passages and rooms oozes (Gelatinous Cube0, and I suppose Mimics for furniture.

[jiriku]

What Paranoia Fuel! And Nausea Fuel. Or Fetish Fuel if you are very, very odd.

I could link, but...no.


No, definitely not.


On-topic, characters that rely on precision-based damage (rogue, ninja, scout, swashbuckler) are at an extreme disadvantage against oozes. Monks also fare poorly, since they can't use unarmed strikes against the ooze without hurting themselves. If your PC group includes characters who rely on precision-based damage, I'd recommend seeding every encounter with several monsters that are vulnerable to precision-based damage so those characters have something to do. Monstrous vermin usually go well with oozes, as do certain types of outsiders.

It's hard to make the dungeon an ooze, but you can make all the ceilings oozes (Lurkers Above), the floors oozes (Trappers), the walls oozes (Stunjellies), the air inside the passages and rooms oozes (Gelatinous Cube0, and I suppose Mimics for furniture.

Room of Death! (Scroll about 2/3 of the way down the page to read the relevant section. It's just past the asswere; if you see the bowler and the sheet phantom you've gone too far.)

[Froogleyboy]

Welcome to the Elemental Plane of Flesh.

Now, that's cool, I don't care who you are, that's cool. Kudos!

[Deth Muncher]

I'm very tempted to sig that...

Do it. I promise you probably won't get cancer from it.

[The Glyphstone]

Room of Death! (Scroll about 2/3 of the way down the page to read the relevant section. It's just past the asswere; if you see the bowler and the sheet phantom you've gone too far.)

Well of course, that's where I got the idea from.

[Moogleking]

Do it. I promise you probably won't get cancer from it.

Don't worry, I have