D&D MONSTER RANKINGS - OOZES

[Music] [Applause] welcome welcome welcome i'm glad to be back with a new monster ranking for 5th edition dungeons and dragons this time we are going to look at the slimy mucky goopy blobs of the d d world [Music] oozes the unfortunate truth is that 5e values the ooze creature type so little there are a mere four ooze creatures in the monster manual and all are found under the generic ooze heading there are some other oozes in other books but this creature type is the least utilized in the game which i consider a real missed opportunity as there are some fantastic oozes throughout the editions that really deserve to make a comeback now i can admit that this creature type is somewhat more limited and so it will never have as many entries as say monstrosities or undead or humanoids and i'm totally fine with oozes remaining a forever underdog but by the squelching scrotum secretions of jublex oozes deserve more entries in the official bestiaries of 5e the origins of ooze creatures in games and media is a bit difficult to trace back as it is not typically a creature that you would find in say mythologies or religions or old tales which those are the roots of fantasy along with sci-fi horror and other such genre fiction there was no great slime of samaria or a cursed goo in ancient greece beowulf and king arthur and saint george didn't do battle against an amorphous pseudopod wielding sludge creature the closest thing i found is the new pepo from japanese lore which first appears in texts in the 1600s though probably had folk or oral tellings before that it was a yokai which in japanese folklore and the shinto religion are essentially spirits or ghosts or otherwise strange supernatural beings the nupepo isn't really an ooze though it's a somewhat blob-like creature but it does have limbs and a heavily wrinkled face now there is slime in the real world of course from animals that produce slime all over their bodies like snails and slugs and frogs and octopuses to actual slime molds such as the false puffball and dog vomit these critters have certainly contributed to some degree of influence on the ooze monsters that we know and love slime also makes us think of mucus and other grotesque bodily fluids also putrefying corpses and also various kinds of foods that have different degrees of appeal from kitchen mishaps to jelly and gel i also thought of the brothers grim fairy tale the juniper tree in which a woman chops up her stepson cooks him into a black pudding and feeds him to her husband among other atrocities although i found out that this traditional black pudding dish is actually a kind of blood sausage not really like a pudding so there are certainly elements to draw from for slime monsters in uh bodily fluids and the culinary arts when we get into the 1900s things finally take off for the oozes creators begin concocting slime creatures of different kinds from writers like hp lovecraft and robert e howard in the 20s and 30s to the movie the blob from 1958 [Music] and its much superior remake in 1988 there is the episode of the original star trek called devil in the dark from 1967 in which they face a sort of blob type creature as well as the oil slash slime monster from 1987's creep show 2 which was a far inferior movie to the original creep show there was the monster blood book from the wildly successful goosebumps children horror books slimes are a core monster from the massively popular dragon quest aka dragon warrior as i knew it growing up the video game series i could go on and on there really is no shortage of ooze monsters in modern day media and you can bet that dungeons and dragons plays a part in contributing to the popularization of this gloopy kind of creature so oozes are not the deepest or most complex sort of creature and 5e for whatever reason has majorly neglected them so this ranking is going to be something of a shorter one but i as a lifelong lover of monsters will always hope to see them around or underneath or in between the cracks or whatever other little nook that they can squeeze into before we delve into the entries i want to take a quick moment to mention something you may or may not know this but i have come back to creating narrated adventures yes after years of hiatus i have released a new series called trials of the neophyte if you haven't checked this out yet make sure to do so there is a link down in the video description this is a different approach to dnd and role-playing it's not a group playing d it's a module focused in 100 on the game on the art the maps the minis the soundtrack the dice rolls shown in the subtitles there's no table chatter there's no delays it's just pure immersion and you the viewer influence the character's decisions with your comments like a vote so this is truly a living adventure experience where even i the creator don't know exactly what's going to happen the setting is brand new it's called labyrinthine gardens and it is a unique blend of ancient plus an almost sci-fi fantasy with an element of post-apocalypse in there it feels like classic d d but with a twist you just have to see it for yourself so enjoy trials of the neophyte it is a traditional tabletop rpg gaming in its purest form combined with an innovative almost audiobook type presentation now let's descend into the dank and mouldering cavern where sticky and slimy things slug about hungry to devour everything in their path i expected to find an ooze or two in f-tier but actually there are none i attribute this to the fact that there are just so few ooze monsters in 5e but hey no f tier entries is sort of a good thing so we actually start things off in low d tier with the oblek spawn which is part of a larger cycle of ablex ooze creatures when i first saw the artwork i recognized it from third editions monster manual five that's right 3e slash 3.5 had five monster manuals plus the fiend folio and some other books that had a bunch of monsters in them such as libris mortis sandstorm storm rack fiendish codex one and two oriental adventures and others so this artwork is actually recycled from three e's monster manual five the monster graveyard sludge which is a real shame because the graveyard sludge is a really cool monster so getting back to oblexes they are some of the most complex and intelligent oozes in the game where did they come from well well mind flayers that's right the mind flayers are at it again they keep experimenting upon and warping creatures who then often escape and get away gethyanki githzerai quotoa quagoths intellect devourers mind witnesses and more oblek's oozes are known for absorbing personalities of their victims when an adult obleks cannot hold any more absorbent personalities it splits off a little chunk that becomes a new oblect spawn a tiny sized ooze creature so i'm taking that as meaning once the adult is at full capacity on personalities every single new intelligent creature it slays causes it to spawn another oblique spawn i think i'm not sure though the lore really doesn't specify the lowly oblique spawn is not capable of absorbing personalities yet so it functions really just as a simple ooze with an amorphous body and a pseudopod slam that deals both bludgeoning and psychic damage like all ablexes it has an aversion to fire and if it gets burned it has disadvantage on attack rules and ability checks until the end of its next turn that's really all i can say about the oblique spawn it's connected to some good lore and an interesting monster cycle but it is far simpler and lower tier than its older counterparts which we'll get into later on ochre jelly in mid-deter we kick off the first of the four oozes from the monster manual is a fairly simple and straightforward creature it's a slime that gloops along looking to eat its natural acid dissolves flesh but nothing tougher its speed is a paltry 10 feet so it makes it quite a slow creature and being just a blob it's incredibly easy to hit with attacks it can stick to walls and ceilings and if subjected to lightning or slashing damage it splits into two small sized ochre jellies there isn't much to say about this monster it's a mindless glob of living snot gross and cool enough for what it is the monster manual lumps all of the ooze lore together which does give us a few details to take inspiration from such as the ooze's niche in a dungeon or cavern ecology the lore also drops the name of the demon lord jublex aka the faceless lord who some scholars believe is responsible for the ooze monsters in general in the d d world responsible is a loose term more like he spawned those monsters whether inadvertently or intentionally this catch-all origin is debated by scholars on both sides of the issue but one thing that is for certain is that jublex is one of the few beings in existence that can readily command and control oozes at will which otherwise are just too mindless to be commanded without employing some kind of special magic or some supernatural ability i mean spells like charm monster and dominate monster they're very powerful they don't affect most oozes so you need something special to be able to command them at best npcs and intelligent monsters usually just come up with clever ways to corral or cage in or slightly train oozes as crude dungeon guardians and waste removal grey ooze a very simple medium-sized ooze that is just a basic stony grey color it is amorphous it's extremely slow and attacks with an acidic pseudopod its natural acid is strong enough to corrode even metal weapons that strike it become corroded and when it hits a creature wearing non-magical metal armor it corrodes the armor so it has a bit of natural camouflage and this metal equipment corroding effect that certainly will impact the character's tactics but it is a very slow creature and extremely simplistic in the area of role playing it fills a niche as a very low level dungeon bottom feeder or almost like a terrain hazard in a way but don't expect much more from it that is unless we are talking about the psionic grey ooze variant which we'll find a bit higher in the ranking oh and i should also mention the huge grey ooze from the dungeon of the mad mage it is essentially the same as the grey ooze except it is much more powerful it's huge size and it has two additional abilities it can temporarily enlarge itself to gargantuan size which doubles the damage it deals and it can turn invisible similar to the invisibility spell once per short rest or long rest so i would consider that one actually a little bump up higher than the baseline grey ooze inkling mascot an upper deed here is the inkling mascot a floating tiny sized ooze from the strix haven setting which is dungeons and dragons take on the magic the gathering setting that is inspired by harry potter in the whole hogwarts and wizarding world thing it it is what it is folks gone are the days of d and d embracing gritty swords and sorcery settings now we get things inspired by harry potter anime marvel video games will the game come back around to more serious and mature themes well considering d d earned a record-breaking 1.3 billion dollars in 2021 i don't see that they have any incentive to do so my sympathy goes out to the white beards the old guards the history buffs and the lovers of adult fantasy sorry guys but mainline d d left this camp a long time ago i'm staying mostly in this camp though because i love the darker deeper more traditional fantasy so hopefully my contributions make some kind of difference for you i suppose this is a perfect moment for a quick segue i also created an inky ooze creature sometime back the ink of pain the official version of this creature is found in my book esper's emporium of esoterica which is now available in both hardcover and pdf when adventurers first encounter this ooze they typically believe it to be a black pudding if they engage the slime in combat they quickly discover that the creature absorbs their assaults rather than suffer damage it invigorates moving more swiftly the inky monster seems unstoppable all the more horrifying is how the creature emulates the shapes and sounds of creatures in agony a veritable mockery of all those the ooze has consumed throughout its existence other oozes in the book include the horrific flesh ooze the carcass-wearing doozle dog the mage consuming spell drinker oohs and the gargantuan soul-trapping zymokra taurus if you're curious about these and the loads of other content for both players and gm's found in the emporium check out the link down in the video description back to the inkling mascot these tiny black ooze things are summoned by professors who are creating writing workshops and by students who want company as they stay up late studying the inklings body serves as an endless source of ink which i imagine would have quite the economic implication considering how valuable ink is in a medieval slash renaissance type setting the inkling is unlike many oozes not just because it has a funny cartoon face but because it floats yes it has a flying speed of 30 feet and can hover it also is smart enough to understand a language but it cannot speak maybe it just writes its melee blot attack deals psychic damage and once per day it can attempt to blind a creature with ink for one round oh and due to its dark coloration it can attempt to hide in darkness or dim light as a mere bonus action if you're looking for a cutesy ooze familiar for your cartoon hogwarts game the inkling mascot is perfect for you moving on to sea tier we're going to find creatures now that have a balance of downsides and upsides this is the type of tier that we typically find a lot of entries in technically i can say the same holds true for the oozes though there just aren't a lot of entries in general due to there not being many uses in 5e at this point so we now look at the psychic grey ooze which is a variant of the baseline gray ooze it has dwelt long enough near psionic telepathic creatures such as mind flayers that it develops a supernatural sort of mind and limited scionic powers the example psychic ooze given in the monster manual has an intelligent score of 6 which is just a hair above the typical ogre though it does not have any kind of language or telepathy and it has a psychic crush ability that deals psychic damage with the target making a dc-10 intelligence saving throw for half it's still quite a simple creature but with a modicum of personality and intelligence that gives it a layer of depth beyond the typical grey ooze i think a lot more could have been done with this concept but alas it just didn't get much space or attention in the monster manual black pudding one of the mere four ooze entries in the monster manual the black pudding is pretty cool for being such a simple creature its strong points are its mechanics and its grotesque atari inky aesthetic like most oozes it is an amorphous hungry blob that lurks in the dark of dungeons slugging along the floor or clinging to walls or ceilings blending in with the shadows creatures that strike it find its acid splatters onto them and even worse damages and corrodes weapons eventually destroying them in a like manner when the ooze strikes a creature it damages the target's armor similar to what we saw already with the grey ooze another curious trait of the black pudding is similar to the okra jelly in that if it is struck by lightning or slashing damage instead of being hurt it splits into two oozes of half the size but with the same offensive capabilities it begins as large size then can split into two medium oozes each of which can split into two small oozes i think one of the best ways to use this ooze would be in combination with a flesh golem that heals when it is exposed to lightning and some other creature that produces lightning bolts like a spell caster npc or even a living lightning bolt alas a cool style and a few unique traits are about all this ooze has going on in the end it's just a mindless blob of slime that creeps along trying to prey upon whatever it can if adventurers can keep it at bay it is so slow and with such a low ac that it is doomed to be quickly dispatched gelatinous the gelatinous cube skirts the line between goofy and cool and if you ask me it falls onto the cool side sure some artistic renditions of the monster make it look like a giant cartoon block of jello but others keep it in the realm of grim pulp fantasy something i really like about art from older d d editions is that it often showed the monsters putting adventurers in real peril or even seizing upon them 5e has moved away from this style and the monsters are either these neutral case study poses or the characters are these ultra badass superheroes who are all confident yet the gelatinous cube is an exception even in the 5e monster manual it shows the ooze with the skeletal remains of a warrior suspended inside it it has two main features a transparency trait and an engulf ability the transparency makes it nearly invisible until it starts moving and attacking there's nothing quite like an unsuspecting adventurer bumbling straight into a gelatinous cube and the engulf ability does what you would expect trapping the characters or other prey inside its 10 foot by 10 foot slimy body it deals a surprisingly high amount of acid damage for just a cr2 monster that is assuming it can keep a character engulfed and said character doesn't just escape or get pulled out by an ally it functions almost like a cross between a monster and a terrain hazard or a trap and i actually love that the ooze is so slow and with such a low ac that if a character does get away they're gonna outmaneuver it and slay it at a range really easily like with many oozes its downsides are that it is a super simple creature with no personality or motivations or storytelling that is okay not every monster needs to do those sorts of things i think it can be eerie and creepily effective to have a monster that is nothing but a crawling hungry slime like a terrifying force of nature uh well the gross underbelly of nature there's nothing wrong at all with a monster being simplistic in the area of social interaction and persona and such but it will always hold it back in these rankings when we compare it to things like vampires mind sphinxes and dragons speaking of dragons our next creature is the dragon blood ooze this creature is an ooze that comes into being from dragon's blood in an arcane laboratory or an alchemist workshop perhaps as an accident perhaps spontaneously or perhaps as a result of mad experimentation it is a simple creature it does what oozes do best it's glooping along attacking with its own slimy body even trying to hold the shape of a dragon at times and spewing acidic gel instead of a true breath attack its pseudopod attack grapples automatically on a hit and the grab creature takes ongoing acid damage as long as it remains in the caustic clutches all in all this is a fairly simple straightforward ooze monster with a touch of a draconic theme now we're going to be moving up to b tier where as always things make a shift into more pros instead of cons more upsides instead of downsides there is unfortunately only one entry here but it is a really good one slithering into low b tier is the slithering tracker this creature actually has some interesting lore it comes into existence when a person undergoes a ritual performed by a lich a hag or some other dark spell caster the subject must willingly be transformed into this watery slime monster why would someone choose this well typically for revenge once the person is changed into the slithering tracker it can flow upon the ground along walls and ceilings and even swim all much faster than a usual ooze can it is a highly sneaky monster and it has expertise in stealth and survival also known as the tracking skill and it can appear as a mere puddle of water its stealth is even better when it's in water gaining advantage and being able to hide as a bonus action it grabs on to a victim restrains the target and simultaneously drowns it and drains its blood as a fantastic defense property while attached to a target whenever the slithering tracker takes damage the restrained creature takes half of that damage this creature has a much better ac in speed than most oozes and it retains its intelligence and understanding of language though it cannot speak and after years of being trapped in a silent slimy form it may very well fall onto a madness and indiscriminate killing spree due to its bloodthirsty nature and that's it for b-tier one creature though as i mentioned a quite a worthwhile creature moving up to eight here we find a creature that is even better still it's in high aid here that we come across the adult oblaks and the elder oblaks they have come a long way since the meager oblek spawn now possessing amazing mechanics and some of the most unique features i've ever seen in the news ablexes are drawn to highly intelligent creatures most of all so uh wizards beware the sharper and more robust the mind the more nourishing the target some oblexes still serve illithid masters so if characters entangle with them there is chance that illithids will end up getting involved as well unlike most oozes the oblexes have proficiency in a few saving throws and skills representing their strong minds and the types of knowledge they have gained from absorbing the personalities of sapient creatures the adult oblex has some innate spells fifth level charm person third level hold person color spray and detect thoughts these spells really fit this oozes theme and they have good potential both in and out of combat as a bonus action the adult obliques can create a copy of a creature whose memories it has stolen it makes this simulacrum from its own slimy body and this sort of puppet can move up to 120 feet away from the ooze it remains connected by a minuscule trail of slime that needs at least one inch of space to fit through and a faint smell of sulfur emanates from this clone this slime puppet can alter its shape color and texture so well that it really appears just like the person or the creature the oblex is imitating now when i say puppet keep in mind that this imitation creature actually is the oblex literally just part of its own body that it has extended and reshaped it's creepy and it's awesome in many ways again useful for role-playing type scenes in which the ooze impersonates someone and speaks to the characters or even in battle with the oohs occupying two different spaces up to 120 feet apart from each other actually it can be even in more spaces than that simultaneously a typical adult oblex can have up to one d4 plus one impersonated creatures for an attack it can make a slam with a pseudopod which deals bludgeoning and psychic damage like we saw with the lower spawn version and it can combo the slam with eat memories its other signature feature the target of eat memories must make a wisdom saving throw and on a failure it takes psychic damage and becomes memory drained this imposes a 1d4 penalty to the target's ability checks and attack rolls with this penalty die increasing in size by one step each additional time the creature is affected by eight memories so it goes to d6 d810 d12 and if the penalty die reaches 1d20 the target falls unconscious after eating a subject's memories the oblex learns all languages the subject knows and gains all proficiencies it has except for saving throw proficiencies the elder obleks is just as good as the adult even a tiny bit better really they are quite similar just the elder has more options and is bigger and stronger its baseline stats are higher as it is a cr-10 monster compared to the cr5 adult it can cast even more innate spells on top of the ones that the adult has it also has confusion dimension door dominate person fear hallucinatory terrain hold monster hypnotic pattern and telekinesis most of these spells are enchantment or illusion magic which is quite fitting for the oblex and they are some fantastic spells for a variety of reasons the elder ablex can have up to 2d6 plus 1 sulfurous impersonations extended from its huge size body and its melee attacks and eat memories feature all do substantially more damage than the adult oblex there are sadly no oozes in s tier so the oblex is the reigning king as of this moment and coming into this ranking i basically knew the oblex would be the top ooze as it has that wonderful mixture of stylish thrilling abilities it's great for role playing it's lore really is not bad it can have so many identities and personalities which make it a very versatile and variable kind of creature though it is held back from the highest score in versatility because ultimately it is still just an ooze that wants to eat you or in this case eat your memories so it's never going to have the highest wealth of different motivations and goals like a truly top score versatility creature has i also appreciate how the adult and elder ablex's dc's are sufficiently high and will definitely challenge the characters there are a lot of 5e monsters whose spell and special ability dc's seem like they're two or maybe even three points too low and that really works against how challenging they're supposed to be a cr3 mummy's dreadful glare is only dc11 that would be like playing a fifth or sixth level wizard with a spell dc of only 11. the cr7 ooni's spell dc is 13 me the beholder which is the monster icon from the monster manual of 5e has an ira dc of 16. it's not a bad dc for challenge 13 monster but it isn't great either it really should be like 18. the beholder's ira dc is based on intelligence like a wizard's spell dc it has an intelligence score of 17. again that's pretty good but it's not quite what it should be a first level character can pretty easily have a 17 in their main ability score imagine being a 20th level spellcaster your intelligence is only 17 your spell dc is only 16. a 20th level spellcaster is probably going to have a spell dc of like 20 or 21. i don't mean to go down a rabbit hole with this but the point is i really appreciate the oblex having appropriately good dc's with the cr5 adult obliques having dc-15 and the cr-10 elder obleks having dc18 i have to say this is one of the best and most interesting ooze creatures i've ever seen i love it and i applaud the designers here actually there is a bit of real world lore that goes along with the creation of the oblex in 2017 a boy named nolan whale sponsored through the make a wish foundation met with the designers who were working on mordenkainen's tome of foes the creative young nolan provided the concept for the oblex which turned out as quite a success you can also see his character balthran irhart on page 82 of the book i wish balthran would have been mentioned or quoted in the lore of the oblex that would have been great so that brings us to the end of uses a lamentably underutilized creature type in 5e i like all the uses even the simple low tier ones they all have their place in the overall ecology of the game i just wish there were more but until we get them i'm happy to make my own oozes when i have the time i can only speak for myself but i think there are lots of things that can be done with oozes to create all kinds of strange and wondrous monsters maybe i'll do a bard stream where we conceptualize and ooze monster together until then watch out for slimy doom and as always may your adventures be minnie [Music] you

Channel: Esper the Bard

Views: 38,626

Keywords: d&d, dungeons & dragons, dungeons and dragons, dnd, breakdown, analysis, best, top, review, ranking, ranked, tiers, 5e, 5th, dm, rating, ratings, strongest, abilities, monster, monsters, monster manual, volo’s guide to monsters, volo, volos guide, mythology, dungeon master, mordenkainen, tome of foes, ooze, oozes, gelatinous cube, black pudding, gray ooze, ochre jelly, oblex, slithering tracker, slime, slimes, inkling

Id: cZWsV4sL60g

Length: 35min 56sec (2156 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 31 2022