Stats: Murder Jello in Four Flavors
We’ve got four of these guys to get through, so let’s get right into it. Buckle up; we’re gonna be here for a while.
A Black Pudding is tricky. While its AC is low, sitting in the single digits, its HP is nearly in the triple digits. Acid, cold, lightning, and slashing damage don’t do any damage to it whatsoever, and it’s immune to basically every condition. Killing this one is tricky.
Hell, even touching it is dangerous! With Corrosive Form, any creature it touches or who hits it with melee take 4(1d8) acid damage. Nonmagical weapons corrode upon touch, taking a permanent -1 penalty to damage rolls; should that penalty reach -5, it is permanently destroyed. Ammunition that strikes it is instantly destroyed. On top of that, it can eat through anything made of nonmagical wood or metal in 1 round, provided its only 2 inches thick.
Oh, and don’t even bother trying to escape. With Amorphous, the pudding can slip through spaces as narrow as 1 inch without squeezing. WIth Spider Climb, it can climb difficult surfaces without making an ability check; this includes crawling along the ceiling.
That… is horrifying.
Pseudopod, the black pudding’s primary – and only – attack, is a heavy-hitting blow, packing low bludgeoning damage and high acid damage. On top of that, it melts away armor, giving a permanent -1 penalty to nonmagical armor if struck. Should the penalty reduce the armor AC to 10, it is destroyed. If you want to put the fear of God into your party’s Fighter, this is the monster to go with.
Finally, we have its Reaction: Split. When struck with lightning or slashing damage, the black pudding splits into two new ones, provided it has a minimum of 10 HP at the time. These two have a combined total HP of the original pudding, rounded down, and they’re one size smaller; a large pudding splits into two mediums, and a medium into two smalls.
You get all that? Good. ‘Cause we’ve got three more of these guys to go.
In terms of defense, the gelatinous cube isn’t as durable as the black pudding. Its AC is even lower, though its HP is still solid. While it doesn’t have the damage immunities the last ooze had, it does still have the same condition immunities. No charming the murder jello.
Ooze Cube is this monster’s primary ability. It takes up the entire space it stands in, and anyone who enters its space is at risk of being hit by its Engulf action (more on that later). Anyone inside the cube has total cover, so that’s a plus… if you can ignore the constant acid damage. Anyone within five feet of it can make a Strength check to pull something free, but they’ll take a solid chunk of acid damage to even attempt it.
Also, it’s transparent, so you need to make a perception check to even notice it if it isn’t moving. So that’s neat.
Attack wise, it’s fairly weak. It has the Pseudopod attack, but it doesn’t melt through armor like before. Engulf is its primary action. This does just about what you’d expect; while moving, anyone in its path must succeed a dexterity save or be swallowed by the cube. While inside, they take a ton of acid damage, are restrained, and cannot breath.
That was the gelatinous cube. A simple beast, but extremely deadly and fun. Now, onto the gray ooze.
Of the four oozes, this one is the easiest to kill. Its AC is the highest so far, but its HP is by far the lowest of the four. It makes up for this by being immune to acid, cold, and fire damage, as well as being immune to conditions.
Alas, the rest is just a weaker version of the black pudding. It has all the same abilities. Amorphous, Corrode Metal, False Appearance, and Pseudopod. It’s all the same, just not as deadly.
Finally, we have the ochre jelly. It has the same AC as the gray ooze, but makes up for it by having higher HP. It’s resistant to acid damage, but completely immune to lightning, slashing, and charm.
Unfortunately, also like the gray ooze, this is just a weaker version of the black pudding. It has Amorphous, Spider Climb, Pseudopod (which has no armor melting properties, unlike the black pudding and gray ooze), and Split. It’s just the black pudding, only weaker and yellow.
And thus we finally reach the end. Overall, I’m split. The black ooze and gelatinous cube are fantastic, but everything after them is just a worse version of the black ooze. Even still, these guys all make for phenomenal fights. It’s just a matter of how challenging and terrifying you want them to be.
Also, how mad would your players be if you poured pudding over their minis and/or shoved their minis into jello. That’s an important thing to find out.
Placement
As a whole, the oozes are fantastic. Their lore isn’t much, but it more than makes up for it with fantastic designs and great stats. Some are clearly better than others, but they’re all still solid. They have clearly earned their place as a D&D staple!
With all that in mind, we’re going to place the Gelatinous Cube at #33, the Black Pudding at #41, the Gray Ooze at #63, and the Ochre Jelly at #64 on the Best of the Bestiary!
- Beholder
- Death Tyrant
- Mind Flayer
- Dragon Turtle
- Mummy/Mummy Lord
- Nagas (all three of ’em)
- Green Dragons
- Red Dragons
- Blue Dragons
- Black Dragons
- White Dragons
- Silver Dragons
- Couatl
- Behir
- Aboleth
- Sea Hag
- Lamia
- Bronze Dragons
- Brass Dragons
- Copper Dragons
- Gold Dragons
- Chuul
- Kuo-Toa
- Gibbering Mouther
- Kraken
- Intellect Devourer
- Chimera
- Death Knight
- Fomorian
- Bone Devil
- Dracolich
- Faerie Dragon
- Gelatinous Cube <—————-
- Lich
- Magmin
- Kobold
- Kenku
- Hobgoblins
- Night Hag
- Green Hag
- Black Pudding <—————
- Ankheg
- Hook Horror
- Oni
- Storm Giant
- Hill Giant
- Empyrean
- Efreeti
- Grimlock
- Minotaur
- Dao
- Cloud Giant
- Manticore
- Drow (all four of ’em)
- Shadow Demon
- Modrons (all five of ’em)
- Marilith
- Drider
- Aarackockra
- Azer
- Demilich
- Spectator
- Gray Ooze <————-
- Ochre Jelly <————
- Hydra
- Marid
- Harpy
- Werejackal
- Half-Dragon
- Cambion
- Fire Giant
- Nothic
- Animated Armor
- Banshee
- Basilisk
- Yochlol
- Bulette
- Cloaker
- Darkmantle
- Doppelganger
- Ghoul and Ghast
- Ettin
- Medusa
- Pit Fiend
- Erinyes
- Chain Devil
- Bearded Devil
- Barbed Devil
- Spined Devil
- Ice Devil
- Mimic
- Djinni
- Merrow
- Nalfeshnee
- Glabrezu
- Chasme
- Grell
- Barlgura
- Horned Devil
- Balor
- Shadow Dragon
- Myconids (all four of ’em)
- Werebear
- Lizardfolk
- Vrock
- Dretch
- Gnolls (all three)
- Goristro
- Hezrou
- Manes
- Frost Giant
- Weretiger
- Werewolf
- Duergar
- Quasit
- Dryad
- Flumph
- Goblin
- Nightmare
- Wereboar
- Wererat
- Githyanki
- Planetar
- Imp
- Ogres/Half-ogres
- Clay Golem
- Flameskull
- Displacer Beast
- Carrion Crawler
- Githzerai
- Grick
- Invisible Stalker
- Rug of Smothering
- Bugbear Chief
- Bugbear
- Flesh Golem
- Vine Blight
- Twig Blight
- Needle Blight
- Mephits (all six of ’em)
- Bullywug
- Hellhound
- Ettercap
- Gas Spore
- Cockatrice
- Lemure
- Homonculus
- Merfolk
- Solar
- Deva
- Gorgon
- Hippogriff
- Griffon
- Cyclops
- Centaur
- Ghost
- Fire Elemental
- Water Elemental
- Air Elemental
- Stone Giant
- Deep Gnome
- Dinosaurs (All six of them)
- Iron Golem
- Stone Golem
- Earth Elemental
- Galeb Duhr
- Helmed Horror
- Flying Sword
- Crawling Claw
- Violet Fungus
- Shrieker
- Gargoyle
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