Kaleid Ooze (3.5e Creature)
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KALEID OOZE
Kaleid Ooze | Coronovarma, Deific Kaleid Ooze | |
---|---|---|
Size/Type: | Huge Ooze | Colossal Outsider (Augmented Ooze, Extraplanar) |
Hit Dice: | 13d10+156 (227 hp) | 32d20+640+128 (1,408 hp) |
Initiative: | -5 (-5 Dex) | +1 (-3 Dex, +4 divine) |
Speed: | 20' (4 squares), fly 40' (perfect) | 90' (18 squares), fly 180' (perfect) |
Armor Class: | 16 (-2 size, -5 Dex, +13 deflection), touch 16, flat-footed 16 | 43 (-8 size, -3 Dex, +32 deflection, +4 divine, +8 natural), touch 35, flat-footed 43 |
Base Attack/Grapple: | +9/+27 | +24/+40 |
Attack: | Slam +17 melee (1d8+10 plus chroma) | Slam +68 melee (2d6+28 plus chroma) |
Full Attack: | 5 slams [can only use all slams against a Large or larger target with one full attack; up to 3 slams against Medium opponents, up to 2 on Small or smaller] | 5 slams [can only use all slams against a Gargantuan or larger target with one full attack; up to 3 slams against Huge opponents, up to 2 on Large or smaller] |
Space/Reach: | 15'/10' | 30'/20' |
Special Attacks: | Chroma, fascination (DC 23), sphere (DC 23) | Adjuration, chroma, fascination (DC 51), pounce, positive energy mastery (DC 45), spell-like abilities (CL 36, DC 31 plus spell level), sphere (DC 51) |
Special Qualities: | Blindsight 90', blurring, damage reduction unlimited/magic, mindless, ooze traits, prismatic fog (DC 23), physical resistance, resist acid 40, resist electricity 50, resist fire 30, spellforged, spell resistance 24, tremorsense 150' | Absorb acid, electricity, and fire, blindsight 450', blurring, damage reduction unlimited/epic, divine abilities, divine traits, elemental traits, mindless, ooze traits, positive energy acclimation, prismatic fog (DC 51), physical resistance, spellforged, spell resistance 46, tremorsense 750' |
Saves: | Fort +16, Ref +5, Will +10 | Fort +34, Ref +32, Will +35 |
Abilities: | Str 25, Dex 1, Con 34, Int --, Wis 11, Cha 22 | Str 50, Dex 5, Con 51, Int --, Wis 11, Cha 52 |
Skills: | — | — |
Feats: | — | — |
Environment: | Any | Positive Energy Plane |
Organization: | Solitary, pair (+1 EL higher than it'd normally be; see Spellforged) | Unique; solitary, draconic pilgrimage (self plus 1-2 old or very old radiant dragons [who consider Coronovarma sacred]) |
Challenge Rating: | 13 | 25 |
Treasure: | None | None |
Alignment: | Neutral | Neutral |
Advancement: | 14-17 (Huge), 18-25 (Gargantuan), 26+ (Colossal) | 33+ (Colossal) |
Level Adjustment: | — | — |
Along the ground you see a thick, smoky cloud made of every color of the rainbow, slowly churning and mixing into a beautiful if chaotic splash. It is dotted with glowing orbs that dance within, winking in and out at random like twinkling stars, also of every imaginable hue. The fog bank is about fourty or fifty feet high and wide and nearly painful to look at; so bright is it that the night sky is nearly abolished as if it were a star on earth. You can't be sure, but it seems to creep towards you.
[If its prismatic fog is dispersed.] Dozens of foot-wide, sun-like spheres orbit a pudding-like entity, its outline difficult to determine. It is partially translucent, but there is no difficulty at all in seeing it. The thing appears as an ambulatory, filmy globule, colors dancing on its surface and deep within with reckless abandon. Its surface drips and crackles minutely, and the grass it slimes over is burnt to cinders. It moves aggressively, swiping at anything that comes near, its pseudopods as waves dashing against stone -- though they always and instantly reform after a hit. At times it rises into the air like a stream following currents skyward, where it sails with surprising grace and quickness.
Also called a chromatic slime or prismatic pudding, the kaleid ooze is a dangerous monster not unlike a living prismatic spray spell. There are rumors of sentient kaleid oozes, but most are mindlessly adversarial. They do not eat, sleep, or breathe, but simply advance and destroy.
It isn't known where they come from or how exactly they're formed, but tea-sippers sitting on couches who fancy themselves "sages" (and not just old men with nothing else to do but read all the time) have many theories. They might be prismatic spells given flesh and form by fey or fell magics, the rare byproduct of a prismatic spell gone awry on a plane of wild magic, the rotted remains of a prismatic dragon or its wyrmling's egg shell, or the old stand-by: a creation of an evil wizard (possibly a drow) whose failure to craft a reliable bodyguard escaped and bred true like any ooze.
It can fly and hover in mid-air, though it almost always remains low enough to the ground that it can still "see" it with blindsight. For some reason they usually don't except in combat, perhaps because they wish to destroy even the ground.
Why kaleid oozes act even more vicious than owlbears is up to speculation.
A chromatic slime weighs about half as much as water due to its spell-like composition, with a height and width that varies between 3' and 18' based on its current activity. They never speak.
Combat
Like all mindless creatures, the prismatic pudding is relentless. It attacks any creature other than another kaleid ooze it can detect, and even strikes at inanimate objects at least as large as a halfling once or twice if nothing else is attacking it. Its danger comes mostly from its deadly prismatic effects that automatically occur to those close by, and by how difficult it is to kill. Two kaleid oozes try to remain within each other's auras, as they instinctually try to heal damage from light-based attacks.
If you wish to use the house rule that multiplies a creature's maximum hit points by one-tenth its CR once it reaches CR 11, a kaleid ooze would instead have 295 maximum hit points.
Attacks
- Chroma (Su): So charged with chromatic energy is the kaleid ooze that its natural attacks act as acidic burst, flaming burst, and shocking burst weapons: +1d6 acid, +1d6 fire, and +1d6 electricity with each hit; on a successful crit, an additional +1d10 acid, +1d10 fire, and +1d10 electricity. Anything it touches (scorching the ground wherever it goes), as well as any creature touching, grappling or being grappled by, or hitting with natural weapons or unarmed strikes take the same damage (wielded weapons, including reach weapons, instead take this damage) with every hit. If a creature scores a critical hit on the kaleid ooze, it or its weapon takes an additional +1d10 acid/fire/electricity as if the ooze critted them.
- Fascination (Su): All creatures who can see within 90' of the chromatic slime or the edge of its prismatic fog are mesmerized by the light show, fascinated if they fail a Will save (DC 23) so long as the kaleid ooze or its aura remain within sight. It does not break fascination if it sees the fog harming another, but it does if the fog harms the fascinated creature. Those that make the save cannot be affected by this or another prismatic pudding's Fascination for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma based.
- Sphere (Su): At-will as a full-round action, a kaleid ooze may use prismatic sphere with a CL of 18 (= HD, min 18). It can dismiss the effect with a free action. It uses this whenever it has taken significant damage in a single turn (30 or more) or it fails a saving throw that leaves it still able to act, and keeps it up for a round or until the beginning of its next turn, depending on how much it was harmed. Its prismatic fog is disabled while the sphere is up (visually its fog and light orbs are sucked in and solidify around the ooze, which bursts out in all directions when the barrier is downed). The sphere is always just large enough to encompass the ooze. All save DCs are Charisma based. If its prismatic fog is dispersed or dispelled, or not yet fully reformed, it cannot use this ability.
Qualities
- Blurring (Ex): Its form constantly glares with patternless motion, giving a kaleid ooze a 20% miss chance. True seeing negates this.
- Prismatic Fog (Su): Constantly surrounding the prismatic pudding in a 30' aura is a thick fog of dazzling, multi-colored mist. It is full of pulsing lights, about as bright as sunrods, floating about. This acts as solid fog (CL 13; = HD), and furthermore, each round a creature that begins its turn in the aura, or that enters the aura during its turn, is subject to one or more of the following effects based on the (randomly determined) color of light from the orbs around the creature.
1d8 | Color of Light | Effect |
---|---|---|
1 | Red | 10 points fire damage |
2 | Orange | 20 points acid damage |
3 | Yellow | 40 points electricity damage |
4 | Green | Poison (1d8 Con damage; Fort partial, take 1d4 Con damage instead) |
5 | Blue | Slowed for 1d4+1 rounds (Fort partial; slowed for 1d2 rounds instead) |
6 | Indigo | Confused for 1d4+1 rounds (Will partial, mind-affecting; confused for 1d2 rounds instead) |
7 | Violet | Dazed for 1d2 rounds (Will negates) |
8 | Special | At the junction of two colors: roll twice more, ignoring any "8" results. |
- As Solid Fog, a severe wind disperses the vapors in 1 round (but not the orbs, so creatures within the aura are still subject to the random effects), except it reforms in 5 rounds (round 3 it's equal to obscuring mist, round 4 it's as fog cloud).
- Even without the Solid Fog portion, the aura automatically dazzles any creature within, and the kaleid ooze gives bright illumination out to twice as far as the aura, giving shadowy illumination out to double this distance. This light is extinguished while its prismatic sphere is up (see above).
- Increase the aura's area by 15' for every size category it is above Huge.
- Physical Resistance (Ex): As an entity of its bizarre physiology, a kaleid ooze doesn't take damage like other creatures. Weapons (manufactured, natural, or otherwise) or other physical attacks that deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage or which could be reduced by DR always roll the lowest on the damage die roll; only the force behind the blow truly counts. Furthermore, any other source of damage that is not magical, spell-like, or supernatural always rolls minimum as well (halving any non-die damage, including bonus damage to the dice; this occurs before any saving throw is made).
- Spellforged (Ex): A kaleid ooze is as much a magical being as it is physical. It has a deflection bonus to AC equal to its hit dice, a resistance bonus to Reflex and Will saves equal to its Charisma modifier, all of its natural weapons have a +3 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls. All light-based or prismatic-based attacks or effects cures the ooze 2 points of damage per CL of the effect, die of damage it would normally deal, or HD of the attacking creature (whichever is highest). Any healing in excess of its maximum hit points become temporary hit points (which cannot exceed double its maximum hit point total), which go away after an hour. It cannot heal from its own prismatic fog, but can be healed by the prismatic fog of other kaleid oozes.
- Tremorsense (Ex): Increases by 50' for every size category it is above Huge.
Other
- Advancement: Its Charisma increases by 1 with every additional HD, and its Strength and Constitution increase by 1 with every two additional HD. Its speed increases by 5' and its flight speed increases by 10' with every size category above Huge. At HD 21, the X burst weapon properties in Chroma are replaced by acidic blast, fiery blast, and lightning blast; its DR becomes unlimited/epic; and it becomes immune to acid, electricity, and fire damage. Its prismatic fog increases in size by a cumulative 15' with each increased size category (even temporary); at gargantuan it's 45', at colossal it's 75', at titanic it's 105', and so on. Its range of fascination is always 3 times as far as the size of its prismatic fog, whether or not it's dispersed.
Coronovarma
Coronovarma is a miniature sun that orbits the furthest regions of the Positive Energy Plane, always in an area that is major positive-dominant. It is an advanced kaleid ooze with radiant and quasi-deity* templates. Perhaps it is the original prismatic pudding, or simply one that found its way onto the Positive Energy Plane and stayed there for so many millenia that it grew fat and powerful on the ceaseless bathing in purest solar energy. It could almost be considered a positive energy elemental.
Coronovarma typically ignores any creature that does not directly threaten it; many have done so, though, in ill-fated attempts to harness its destructive potential.
It is a living holy site for powerful beings who revere the power of light and of the sun (about the only who can reach it on purpose), such as high priests of Pelor, older radiant dragons, and younger prismatic dragons.
* Using the deity rules from Immortal's Handbook: Ascension, NOT Deities & Demigods; "traded" equipment and ability score increases for additional divine abilities (one was "traded" for Pounce). Some chosen divine abilities ignore prerequisites. Some traits of the template that wouldn't make sense, e.g. Grant Spells (Su), were dropped. Also chose not to give it Integrated Class Features as it's complex enough without deciding which class to add 16 levels worth of features from.
Combat
It almost always begins combat by using Adjuration to summon a mature adult radiant dragon or a very young prismatic dragon. After its hit points go below 800, it summons another (usually the kind it didn't already summon). Aside from this, it is about as straightforward and predictable as a normal kaleid ooze, except that it uses ranged positive energy attacks against opponents it cannot reach that round (it normally has Strike active), or its spell-like abilities. It is still mindless, though, and doesn't use its abilities with any tactical genius, just instinctually and reactively.
If you wish to use the house rule that multiplies a creature's maximum hit points by one-tenth its CR once it reaches CR 11, Coronovarma would instead have 3,520 maximum hit points.
Attacks
- Adjuration (Su): See divine abilities, below.
- Chroma (Su): +3d6 acid, +3d6 electricity, and +3d6 fire per hit. Instead +6d6 acid/electricity/fire on a crit.
- Positive Energy Mastery (Su): See divine abilities, below.
- Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): CL 36, DC's 31 plus spell level.
- At-will-- commune, dream, etherealness, geas/quest, greater dispel magic, greater teleport, magic jar, sending, tongues; 4/day-- wish; 3/day-- blur, color spray; 1/day-- freedom of movement, mirror image, prismatic sphere, prismatic spray, rainbow pattern, repulsion, scintillating pattern, searing light
Qualities
- Divine Abilities (Ex or Su): Coronovarma has the following divine abilities:
- Adjuration (Su): Each day, Coronovarma can summon up to 64 total hit dice in creatures. Each use of this ability is a standard action and it summons one creature at a time. No individual creature may have a CR higher than 18. Each creature remains summoned for 32 minutes.
- Acid Absorption (Su): Whenever it would be damaged by acid, it is instead healed for that amount.
- Divine Toughness (Ex): Has maximized d20's for all hit dice.
- Electricity Absorption (Su): Whenever it would be damaged by electricity, it is instead healed for that amount.
- Elemental Traits (Ex): Gain elemental traits.
- Eternal Freedom (Su): Immune to the following effects, spells and spell-like abilities: entangle, hold, imprisonment, paralysis, petrification, sleep, slow, stunning, temporal stasis and web. Also treated as if always under the effect of a freedom of movement spell.
- Fire Absorption (Su): Whenever it would be damaged by fire, it is instead healed for that amount.
- Gravitas (Su): Each round it affects the same opponent with the same ability or spell, the DC increases by 2, up to a maximum of +21.
- True Strike (Slam) (Ex): +20 bonus on attack rolls with slam attacks.
- Positive Energy Mastery (Su): Coronovarma can attack with positive energy damage (never heals; always damages, even against living or unliving creatures or even objects). See the following table for different uses and effects.
- Beam is a ray attack, Blast emanates the effect either centered on self (does not damage self) or at range, Blood happens automatically when struck and injured and the damage applies to the striking opponent if within melee reach, Breath is a breath weapon, Hand is a melee touch, Immolation is death throes (but can self-destruct as a standard action), Storm is an aura that is activated as a standard action and exists until dismissed (those caught in the area automatically take damage, but those who move outside the area can make a Ref save for half), Strike is activated as a free action and lasts until dismissed (adds listed damage to each attack), Wrath is a gaze attack that can be switched off as a free action but takes a full round to reactivate.
- Can use Blood and Immolation with other abilities, the others can only be used by themselves in a round (e.g. cannot use Wrath in the same round as Strike, Storm, Hand, Breath, Blast, or Beam).
Effect | Damage (normal) | Damage vs undead | Damage vs creatures especially vulnerable to sunlight e.g. spectres and vampires | Range/Radius | Action | DC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beam | 32d4 | 32d8 | 32d12 | 1,680' ray | Standard | - |
Blast | 16d4 | 16d8 | 16d12 | 420' radius burst; centered on Coronovarma or within 1,680' | Standard | Ref DC 45 half |
Blood | 8d4 | 8d8 | 8d12 | 20' (melee reach) | None (when injured) | Ref DC 45 negates |
Breath* | 32d4 | 32d8 | 32d12 | 105' cone or 420' line | Standard | Ref DC 45 half |
Hand | 48d4 | 48d8 | 48d12 | Melee touch | Standard | - |
Immolation | 48d4 | 48d8 | 48d12 | 420' burst centered on Coronovarma | None (when killed) | Ref DC 45 half |
Storm | 8d4 | 8d8 | 8d12 | 420' aura | Standard | None or Ref DC 45 half |
Strike | 8d4 | 8d8 | 8d12 | Bonus damage to attacks | Free action | - |
Wrath | 16d4 | 16d8 | 16d12 | 105' gaze | Full-round | Will DC 45 negates |
* Can be used every 1d4 rounds.
- Divine Traits (Ex): Coronovarma is effectively a quasi-deity and thus has a +4 divine bonus to: armor class; attack rolls; checks (ability checks, caster level checks, skill checks, turning checks); difficulty class (for any special abilities, spell-like abilities, spells); initiative; saving throws and spell resistance. Its senses are three times superior to that of normal kaleid oozes, is immortal (does not age, requires no air to breathe, no food or drink, nor sleep), and is unaffected by natural effects such as: ability damage, disease, natural elements (cold, drowning, fire, lava, lightning etc.), poison and so forth. It can still be affected by magical cold, magical disease, magical fire, etc. Coronovarma and all its abilities ignore all antimagic effects.
- Positive Energy Acclimation (Ex): Coronovarma is native to the Positive Energy Plane (or the closest thing to). It suffers no ill effects from minor- or major-positive dominant areas. Furthermore, it is immune to positive energy damage (but can still be healed or otherwise benefit from other positive energy effects).
- Skills: Coronovarma has a +4 racial bonus on Spot checks but a -8 racial penalty on Hide checks. Also has a +4 divine bonus on all skill checks (Divine Traits).
Sentient Prismatic Pudding
Certain chromatic slimes with an origin of a permanent Prismatic Wall or similar spell become fully aware and alive.
In an area of wild or distorted magic, such a prismatic spell begins to slowly melt after a few centuries until it becomes a pool as brilliant and deadly as the spell it used to be. Prophets have gained inspiration from reflections cast in the pool. Suicidal beings find them... attractive. Wizards and warlords have tried to tap their power, without success.
But all that reverence sometimes causes a reaction. As time marches on, as it absorbs ambient thought and emotion of hundreds of souls, it may grow sentient if not sapient itself. Finally, it extends a pseudopod, and begins to move. A prismatic pudding has formed, and leaves dazzling confusion in its wake.
People freeze and stare at the mesmerizing play of colors, then they dissolve, or turn to stone, or die from poison, go mad, flash as if fried by acid, fire, or lightning, or simply vanish when it inadvertently brushes these people. It eventually learns that its touch is deadly to other beings, but until then...
Inside, though, it still boils with the influence of the minds that touched it. Dreams of conquest and power, the screams of the dying or the wishes of the suicidal, the existential needs of seers. So it quests, unable to speak and gain temporal power, but endlessly curious about the varieties of death while dancing along the paths of destiny to find those who serve as the axis around which all the possible futures twist and shift. The prismatic pudding is attracted to the predestined, the fated. For instance, the PC's.
These enigmatic beings are a Prismatic Mist, Wall, Sphere or other such spell with the Living Spell template (see Monster Manual III pg 91 or Eberron Campaign Setting pg 293), but it has an Intelligence score (and thus skills and feats) equal to its Wisdom, and its CR 1 or 2 higher than it'd normally be on account of it not being mindless anymore. It probably has other abilities (such as those who look upon it must Will save or be fascinated).
Adventure Ideas
- Mid Level: A lord suffering dementia wants a kaleid ooze for a pet, because they're just so darned pretty. It's to be kept in a cage full of permanent gusts of wind so visitors can always be mesmerized.
- High Level: Several prismatic puddings over the past few weeks have been entering a mine. However, when the players arrive to deal with them, the nervous dwarven workers say the oozes ignored them (though the fog killed those who were too fascinated to flee) and went down the one tunnel leading to the underdark. What could the mindless beasts be doing? Are they attracted to strange magics deep below? And if so, what effect could it have on the workers? And could it attract other beings in desire for more power? Or maybe the slimes are being controlled? Anyone who could leash such dangerous monsters would have quite the bargaining tool for dealing with nearby rulers, or even force his way into planar politics.
- Low Epic: The player's patron, Me Jir (44-HD sharn ultimate magus lesser deity of darkness and magic), needs a battery of material components for many upcoming rituals. And the perfect source? Coronovarma. The god needs it alive and (mostly) intact. However, the Pelorite priesthood, as well as a handful of radiant and prismatic dragons, know of the god's plan. They have gathered to guard the sacred beast, and will harry any potential kidnappers to foil their plot, even if it means slaying Coronovarma themselves so it does not endure centuries of torture. Should the players succeed, they will forever be enemies of Pelor and dragons of light everywhere.
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