The stench of the sewers burned in the nose of the barbarian as he sloshed through its muck and grime, stepping into a high-ceilinged chamber. A gentle slope to the floor led to an immense drain that had been torn open, its metal bars bent back by monstrous strength. As the savage warrior approached, followed by his companions and the soft complaints of the sorceress about her ruined robes, a hand of mottled, iridescent liquid reached from the pit, grabbing its edge. It was joined by another and another and another until dozens of hands gripped the bars and rim of the pit, pulling and heaving a viscous mass from the drain. Pulling itself out of its pit, the creature’s form continually shifted in form and hue – limbs manifested and found purchase only to melt back into the formless fiend and be replaced by a new dripping limb. The ooze sloshed forward, dragging its incredible bulk across the floor as features swam into focus. Small, squinting eyes were perched above a deep scowl that opened to unleash an unnatural, warbling bellow erupted forth from it, launching spittle that reached the hesitant party.
Artwork by SethMonster
I’ve had the idea for a monster that is based around supporting companions rather than being a direct threat itself and I finally got to bring it to life with the mother mold! This is an ooze that defies a lot of classic design aspects both due to being an ooze and this concept that I was working with. It has an Armor Class below terrible and its Hit Points are double the high value for its level. Its attack and damage is low though it does have Improved Grab and a high Athletics bonus to make use of that. The core of the mother mold starts with Gruesome Growth, which has her gain spawn points. She can spend these spawn points with Spawn Slime to summon another ooze monster. The level of this summon is limited by her spawn points, which means that the GM needs to play according to their players for. This might allow the mother mold to summon creatures far beyond its level, but my main intent with both designing its level and giving it this ability is the abundance of oozes at sixth and seventh level for it to create with Summon Slime.
But how could the mother mold operate at a higher level? Well, through its ability to bolster its allies. The most basic form of this is Gurgling Growl, which is based on a bard's courageous anthem but is specific to oozes and as such bolsters their Engulf effects as well. Alternatively, the mother mold can toss slimes directly into combat with Hurl Slime, giving the slime a chance to Strike or, if it has the ability, Engulf creatures that it lands atop. I made this a single action because I wanted to use it in the same round that the mother mold uses Spawn Slime, and so I had to balance it by having it deal some damage to the thrown slime. Finally, the mother mold has a reaction to protect itself somewhat with Kill for Mother. This can't be used in conjunction with Hurl Slime, at least not for the same one, as it uses up the reaction of the other slime as well.
Pathfinder 2e:
Building the mother mold in PF1e was a bit of a struggle. I looked at other oozes of the mother mold's level, and their AC ranged from 4 to 18 without much reasoning. For spawn slime, I felt as though I had to make it a full-round thing for balance purposes. I also had to base it off of Hit Dice rather than just the level of the creature, which was also changed to be the limitation for gruesome growth. Where the gurgling growl is based on the bard's inspire courage, I looked at a similar level of bard and saw the effect would be at around +2 at this level.
Pathfinder 1e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Ooze From Beneath: While in a city, the heroes experience an explosion of slimes from a tenement. If they respond to the situation, they discover that a mother mold has broken through the bottom floor and is voraciously devouring everything it can get its pseudopods on. It has filled itself up on civilians, garnering a number of spawn points though it swiftly spends to summon its minions.
Slime and the City: The heroes are dealing with a cult that worships oozes. In a final confrontation, they find themselves led to the centerpiece of the cult - a mother mold that they have been feeding the vagrants of the city. It readily turns upon its tenders, but just as readily seeks to devour the heroes. This could be a larger scale adventure ranging a various levels - the spawn points of a mother mold could allow it summon a level 16 ooze and then bolster it, allowing the mother mold to hang at a higher level than it should otherwise be able to.
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Have a monstrous Monday!
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