Delving Deeper - Brainslugs and Slimes as Player Characters

Note: The following has not been playtested, and is probably completely busted. Enjoy! 

I think a party of different coloured slimes slurping through the dungeon, all with different abilities, would be really fun. A blue slime could have healing powers, a grey one could dissolve metal, an ochre jelly could divide, etc.  

 



All of the following is designed to work with Devling Deeper v4b, which is available for free online at https://ddo.immersiveink.com/.

A slime fights and gains hit die as a cleric.  

Arms and Armour

A slime's pseudopodia act as natural weapons and have surprising reach.

Slimes can use their pseudopodia to manipulate objects, but adventuring equipment and complex tools are beyond their ability.

Armour is completely unusable by slimes given their semi-viscous nature. However, they are naturally resilient to crushing blows such as from hammers and staves, taking only half damage from these attacks.

Slime Nutrition

All slimes share a common nutritional need for gold. They don't consume rations like normal adventurers; instead, they must digest 5 gp per HD, daily, to sustain themselves. Silver and copper can supplement this diet at the usual ratio of 100 cp: 10 sp: 1 gp. The coin-purses of dead adventurers are a perfect source of food for those of a gooey persuasion. In addition, they need to consume a skin of water per day or become dehydrated and unable to rest or perform slime locomotion (see below). 

Slime Locomotion

A slime's amorphous nature and innate ability to cling to surfaces allows them to perform unique forms of locomotion as well as blend into the background of dank environments such as caves.

Across sheer surfaces and ceilings, a slime can move any direction at half normal movement rate. The following actions are accomplished with a throw of 3-6 on a six-sided die:

  • Squeezing through tiny openings including cracks in stonework and under doors,
  • Blending into stony and natural cave environments, hiding in plain sight. 

Variant Ability: Brainslug Domination

Brainslugs cannot squeeze through tiny openings due to their large, vulnerable brains.

Brainslugs have the ability to parasitically latch onto a monster's brain stem and dominate their will completely. The brainslug must be on the monster's head or otherwise have clear access to its central nervous system.

A brainslug's dominance rating is calculated by the throw of a number of six-sided dice, as shown below: 
  • Levels 1-3: 2d6 + HD
  • Level 4+: 3d6 + HD 
This is checked against the monster’s ego rating, equal to 2d6 points plus their number of HD, with an additional 1d6 points added for the presence of a helmet. If there is any difference in the brainslug’s favour, it gains control over the victim unless he or she makes a successful saving throw versus poison. If the difference is 6 or more no saving throw is allowed. 
 
These scores may be modified by other factors such as high intelligence, psychic interference, or other contextual factors. 
 
 -- UPDATE: I came across this extremely cool blog post, and noticed it included a set of rules for posession and ego. https://straitsofanian.blogspot.com/2014/10/we-are-eaten-forever.html This could work as an alternative to the above. 

-- end of update 

 

brainslugged

 

Worked Example 

For example, in the case of a level 5 brainslug that has successfully dropped onto a level 3 fighter: 

Brainslug 5: 3d6 + 4 + 1 modifier (high intelligence score, 15+)
Fighter 3: 2d6 + 3 + 1d6 modifier (helmet)

Assuming a 3d6 roll of 10, a 2d6 roll of 8 and a 1d6 roll of 2, the calculated values are:

Brainslug: 10 + 4 + 1 = 15
Fighter: 8 + 3 + 2 = 13

Thus the fighter must save versus poison or the brainslug will latch onto their brain stem and gain dominance over their will. 



I hope this brings a slime, er, smile* to somebody's face! 

Feirsteach 

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