A Philosopher's Ooze is a semi-transparent violet-grey ooze creature that can digest not only organic materials, but also metals. These oozes are the living embodiment of transmutation magic and live to endlessly transmute many substances into strange alchemical products. They were created by alchemists from grey oozes to serve as a kind of portable lab but due to their chaotic and difficult nature, they were not easily trusted to control their instinctive urges. Small oozes were more commonly used by alchemists as ingredients in creating Alchemy Jugs.
Even a small ooze can create a great deal of damage as they tend to eat both organic materials and metals of all kinds. It is not unheard of for these oozes to develop a taste for rare metals such as gold or adamantine, which they can easily consume as quickly as a living subject.
Philosopher oozes always leave a byproduct when consuming materials. This byproduct ranges in potency, from mundane salt, to alchemical oils and caustic acid.
One notable ooze in the fifth age went by the name of Plort.
Philosopher's Ooze[]
Tiny ooze, unaligned
Armor Class 8
Hit Points
Small 7 (1d8+ 3)
Medium 14 (2d8+ 6)
Large 28 (4d8+ 12)
Huge 54 (8d8+ 24)
Gargantuan 80 (16d8 + 48)
Speed 10 ft. climb 10 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2(-4) | 6(-2) | 16(+3) | 6(-2) | 6(-2) | 12(+1) |
Proficiency Bonus +2
Skills Stealth +2
Damage Resistance Acid, bludgeoning, cold, fire, and piercing and slashing from nonmagical weapons.
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, prone
Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 8
Challenge 1/2
Languages Speaks None, Understands Draconic
Abilities[]
Amorphous[]
The ooze can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
Transmute Nearly Anything[]
Any nonmagical substance besides stone, glass or gems, that touches the ooze dissolves. After dealing damage, the item takes a permanent and cumulative −1 penalty to damage or armor. If its penalty drops to −5, the item is destroyed. Nonmagical ammunition made of metal that hits the ooze is destroyed after dealing damage. The ooze can eat through 2-inch-thick, nonmagical material in 1 round. Inorganic substances are excreted moments later. Review table 1-1.
False Appearance[]
While the ooze remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an oily pool or wet rock.
Actions[]
Pseudopod[]
Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target. Hit: 1 (1d6 -2) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) acid damage, and if the target is wearing nonmagical armor, its armor is partly corroded and takes a permanent and cumulative −1 penalty to the AC it offers. The armor is destroyed if the penalty reduces its AC to 10.
Growth[]
The ooze can alter its size by consuming meat. Each size category it grows increases the oozes Hit Dice by 3, strength by 4 and constitution by 2.
| Substance | Effect | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Glass, stone, gemstones | Indigestible. | |
| Meat, flesh, etc. | Grows, equal in mass to the amount it consumes. | Size increase until damaged or starved. The ooze can reduce its size by one size category producing one of the following products. Review the table below.
Huge to Large, x10 amount Large to Medium, x6 amount Medium to Small, x3 amount Small to Tiny, x1 amount |
| Plants, wood, rope, cork, canvas, etc. | Converts substance instantly | Creates mundane sand equal in mass to the amount it eats. |
| Silk, fur, leather, etc. | Converts substances instantly | Creates mundane sand equal in mass to the amount it eats. |
| Bone, horns, scales, pearls, etc. | Converts substance instantly | A cool clear gel that provides resistance flame or heat attacks for a half hour.
Heals 1d6 points of burn damage if applied to burns within an hour. |
| Gold | Converts substance 1 gp per hour. | Violet Syrup, 1 vial per 5g.
Sweet edible syrup, slightly vanilla scented. Provides bonus to cooking checks. Flammable, as lantern oil. Eliminates the effects of ingested poisons/a hangover if ingested. Makes consumer vulnerable to Radiant damage for 1 hour. |
| Silver | Converts substance 100 sp per hour. | Creates one Dust of Sneezing and Choking 1 per 100sp. |
| Iron/Steel | Instantly converts substance into living flesh, equal in volume to the amount it eats. | Metal armor becomes living flesh armor which has the same stat block as leather armor.
Objects medium or larger have a 20% chance of being born a Flesh Golem. See stat block. The meat tastes fine, not great. |
| Platinum | Converts substance into Blue Grease, 1 dose per 3pp consumed | Rich, thick, bluish grey grease. Heats up and never burns. Provides bonus to cooking checks.
Extremely slippery. 1 dose can cover a 5 foot square. DC 20 acrobatics check to pass. Takes a full round to apply to eyes and grants low light vision. The low light vision lasts 10 minutes. The eyes become unnaturally sensitive to light for the duration of the effect, and bright sources of bright light (daylight spell etc..) cause disadvantage on all attack rolls or checks that involve sight. |
| Adamantine | The ooze must concentrate all effort to metabolize adamantine. | 1 pound converted into one dose of Xirang per day. |
| Mithril | ||
| Brass, zinc | FireStone, 1 stone per 10 inch cube consumed. | Small orange grenade-like weapon that bursts into flame, upon striking a hard object, dealing 1d6 fire damage within the 5ft square it lands in. Fires lit by a firestone burn normally. |
| Bronze, tin | ||
| Copper | ||
| Lead | Produces Dark Oil, one dose per 5 pounds. | Applied to a creature's skin, it makes the creature immune to the harmful effects of light and light sensitivity for one hour.
Contact poison. A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be Poisoned for 1 minute. The Poisoned creature acts as if under the effect of the Confusion spell. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Offensive and astringent smell. |