Oozes

[Lobo316]

How long do oozes live? Do they ever starve, if they don't get food? If you place an ooze into a pit, as part of a trap, and how long will it exist?

[Omote]

In my estimation, it would last as long as it had moisture, and a source of food (bodies deposited into the pit, for example). If that doesn't work for you may I suggest explaining it as a "magical ooze creature."

~O

[Fiffergrund]

What Omote said.

It's essentially a giant nasty culture of a specific type of organism. As long as it can feed and has moisture, bingo.

I did an Ooze Lair for the ill-fated Halls of Adventure. I attest that oozes are completely offensive to nature.

[Rigon]

Big O and Fiff nailed it. And I once used a gelatinous cube in a pit trap once. It was fun.

R-

[kreider204]

I once used a gelatinous cube in a pit trap once. It was fun.

If God didn't want us to put gelatinous cubes in pits, then why did he make them 10'x10'x10'?!

[Fiffergrund]

Nastiest trick I ever used with an ooze was a gelatinous cube in a hall of mirrors.

[Fiffergrund]

Of course, the worst hall of mirrors trick is the displacer beast, but since that's protected IP....

[Lobo316]

Cool, that's pretty much where I was going with that. Just thought I'd see what others had in mind for such "occasions" ;oD

[Sir Ironside]

Of course, the worst hall of mirrors trick is the displacer beast, but since that's protected IP....

So, I guess the worst monster would be Medusa.

[Fiffergrund]

Of course, the worst hall of mirrors trick is the displacer beast, but since that's protected IP....

So, I guess the worst monster would be Medusa.

Athena agrees with you.

[Captain_K]

Per the MT, they are "alive" and typically are subterranean in nature.. dank implies wet to me. Each of the three are "living acid". The Black is pretty no descript, but it supposedly feeds on trash and slime (I wonder if Green slime, an algae supposedly, is food for one? Might make a wonderful trap with characters trapped between the two "deadly enemies"?? The enemy of my enemy is not always my ally!). The grey is a colony of single cells. The Ochre is an Amoebas - a single giant cell.

You could have fun with this, think of colonies of molds and such that can dry out without water and quickly reconstitute with water present.. check this out for Amoebas "Microbial cyst: In environments that are potentially lethal to the cell, an amoeba may become dormant by forming itself into a ball and secreting a protective membrane to become a microbial cyst. The cell remains in this state until it encounters more favourable conditions. While in cyst form the amoeba will not replicate and may die if unable to emerge for a lengthy period of time."

That said, I'm in full agreement with the above comments need water and some sort of food. Multi-cell are theoretically very long lived since they are a colony and the colonies can keep going. The Amoebas would have a life span, if its giant is it's life extra long? They die without food, they split to reproduce, so life span is "infinite" with food?

You can fun with these guys. Change colors, same creature, total confusion. Give the pseudopod "arm" great reach or a quick whip like action and watch them run... more fun than a can of play dough!

[JediOre]

My group knows I love to use oozes as a CK/DM/GM but I hate them as a player. Give me undead over oozes! Nasty, nasty, monsters they are!

I'd say they would live a long time, simply going into a hibernation state if they dried out or was unable to acquire food. It would not take them long to re-animate once the conditions for them come back into play.

[Traveller]

Big O and Fiff nailed it. And I once used a gelatinous cube in a pit trap once. It was fun.

R-

Bluffside uses gelatinous cubes as a garbage disposal system in the Undercity. If I recall, one of the adventure hooks involves unclogging the garbage disposal.