First of all, the D&D Beyond page for gelatinous cubes states that they "consume living tissue while leaving bones and other materials undissolved", the first part of which I can understand. The rest, however, greatly confuses me. If they "consume living tissue", why not consume bones as well? After all, on a technicality, bones are also "living", in the sense that they are a part of the body in the same way anything else is. Blood passes through them, in fact, they produce it, and even if you rule the bone material itself to be along the same lines of keratin in hair and nails (which is, technically just dead organic tissue), would the marrow inside not be consumed, rendering the bones vulnerable to collapse or breakage from the general movements of the cube? Furthermore, there's inconsistency in the words used. The page specifies that the cube consumes "living" tissue. If that were actually the case, a layer of skin, nails, and hair would be left after all else is dissolved, though on all occasions these are left absent (as well as the clothes of victims, not including metal armour. Why are they gone?). On top of that, anything that dies within the ooze is then, obviously, dead. Does it just stop consuming and or dissolving them at that point? If it did, it would likely gain very little nutrients and starve, unless it was able to eat an enveloped creature very quickly, which we explicitly see it does not do, as creatures have several chances to escape (and as evidenced by the paragraph titled "Slow Death"). In theory, the obvious solution would be to say "well, let's just say it consumes organic material", though this in itself poses several dilemmas. This seemingly obvious explanation may present a reason for why the victim's clothing seems to be dissolved as well, but the loopholes of even this workaround are too many to ignore. If it ate all organic material, why is all wood in the dungeon not gone? Does it only eat certain types of organic material, and if so, what will it eat, and what will it reject? Why does it select these things? Is it physically incapable of consuming them (and if so, why?), or does it have preferences? If the latter is true, that suggests intelligence as well, which is also an issue, as oozes are supposed to be unintelligent and unthinking scavengers, consumers of all they can find and possessing unending hunger when not controlled by some sentient force. Hypothetically, could a cube be dyed? Would it be possible to inject ink into its body to render it more visible, or feed it shards of inorganic material that it has been proven not to consume, such as metal? Could you cast some spell on it, and if so, what one? Could you feed it a large metal cube only barely smaller than it, rendering it unable to engulf anything else, as all space is taken up, and, if so, would it starve, or be able to live by consuming small things that are minuscule enough to fit in the thin layer between the edge of the cube and the outside of the box placed within it. Does it not, over who knows how long spent sliding over dungeon floors, consume everything there is to eat until a new batch of living things stumble in, (furthermore, how does it not wear a trench in the floor with all its moving!?)? Anything entering a dungeon again could take centuries under the right situations. How does it not starve (does it have an extremely slow metabolism? That would account for it being able to survive if it spat out prey after death, but officially we see that this is not the case anyway, so it doesn't even matter to begin with. Does it consume its own mass, as other creatures do when starvation sets in, assuming its physiology even allows it to do so?)? Does it hibernate? One would think it might, awakening when it felt movement, but it has no tremorsense, which only adds to the mystery (does it, if it indeed hibernates, simply "see" constantly, as it has no eyelids to close? I mean, it doesn't even have eyes anyway!). It has blindsight, presumably its only sense, as no other sensory organs are present to suggest otherwise, but how? I see no eyes, or even eyespots, for that matter, which even the simplest of single-celled organisms possess. (Is it a single-celled organism, or a multi-celled one?) Is it simply magic? One would suspect so, as this creature is certainly not protected by the druidic circle, as are all other magical creatures if I recall correctly. How do they reproduce? Do they go through mitosis, as they seem to lack any other way of creating more of their kind. Are they created by are they all created by Jubilex and flung from the abyss into the material plane? (Furthermore, why is Jubilex a fiend and not an ooze, if his "offspring" are oozes? Why are oozes not fiends, if their "parent" is? I have a lot more questions about this, but that's for another post. (Which I might link here if I ever do post it.))
In conclusion: What the heck is up with oozes? They're inconsistent, the mechanics are weird, and nothing makes sense! Heck, I've probably even missed some serious questions even in this huge post! Even simply brushing away the obvious problems with the explanation of "it's just magic", there are some things that even the vast realm of D&D magic cannot be used to explain away without some serious mental gymnastics, or even at all. It makes my head hurt, and I need a nap and some aspirin already...
Edit: Things I forgot to mention.
Wouldn't it die like a turtle eating plastic once it gets full of metal/other debris unless it has some way to expel all of the junk? If so, how does it do so, and why wouldn't it do it immediately after eating, both to unclog and to ensure it is harder for potential prey to detect it, assuming it has the intelligence of a simple animal and can recognize patterns in behaviour (i.e clear = more food).
Edit two: I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to respond and address my questions! I'm forever grateful for the unending patience and kindness of this community! You're all the best! (:
Explanation: A clear 10x10x10 jelly isn't nearly as frightening as the same jelly with a skeleton, armor, or weapon suspended in it.
I mean, true, but wouldn't it be scarier if you couldn't see it? An enemy you may not notice until it's too late?
Plus, scare factor aside, it makes no sense anyway. I mean, why not just say it doesn't consume metal? That would still leave it with armour/weapons floating in it, if that's the whole point. And I already forgot to mention, how does it expel that metal? Eventually, it would get too clogged up to eat anything else, like a turtle eating plastic bags. Would it not starve then? Do they simply just die at that point?
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- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
Explanation: A clear 10x10x10 jelly isn't nearly as frightening as the same jelly with a skeleton, armor, or weapon suspended in it.
I mean, true, but wouldn't it be scarier if you couldn't see it? An enemy you may not notice until it's too late?
Plus, scare factor aside, it makes no sense anyway. I mean, why not just say it doesn't consume metal? That would still leave it with armour/weapons floating in it, if that's the whole point. And I already forgot to mention, how does it expel that metal? Eventually, it would get too clogged up to eat anything else, like a turtle eating plastic bags. Would it not starve then? Do they simply just die at that point?
Scarier for the characters, definitely. For the players though, something that has the same difficulty to see but which has evidence of past adventurers dying to it is far scarier. As for getting clogged up, some stuff will eventually get left behind on the ground instead.
Scarier for the characters, definitely. For the players though, something that has the same difficulty to see but which has evidence of past adventurers dying to it is far scarier. As for getting clogged up, some stuff will eventually get left behind on the ground instead.
Makes sense, though I suppose it depends on what your players want. Sometimes, the emotions a character feels are more important to the players than the feeling of "oh crap, my character might die because this thing has obviously killed others before". Plus, the latter wears off after a while, as a DM can put dead bodies around a low-level creature, implying it killed them. Still low level, no matter how many people it apparently slew, as those people are nothing but props, and had no chance to fight. A dead knight is the same as a rock if it's just there because it can be.
Also yeah, that makes sense. I'm probably overthinking that in particular, lol.
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- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
I’m only going to answer a little bit of your questions, as you wrote a lot. A little hint: bullet points and formatting can be your friend. If you’re on mobile you can rotate your phone horizontally to access all the formatting options.
Now, it would make sense that, based on the description given, that the oozes acids are strong enough to dissolve soft tissues but not hard tissues. Clothing may degrade at a much slower rate, but nothing in the description says that it would dissolve.
the description does say that a well-fed ooze is easier to spot than a poorly fed one. It also (probably) has the hunting instinct of an amoeba, and thus able to distinguish food from non-food items (like metal and wood items).
finally, oozes are not fiends because fiends, at their dumbest, are still smart enough to embody an evil alignment. Oozes are not (they are unaligned) and thus can’t be fiends (which are defined by their origin and alignment)
I’m only going to answer a little bit of your questions, as you wrote a lot. A little hint: bullet points and formatting can be your friend. If you’re on mobile you can rotate your phone horizontally to access all the formatting options.
Now, it would make sense that, based on the description given, that the oozes acids are strong enough to dissolve soft tissues but not hard tissues. Clothing may degrade at a much slower rate, but nothing in the description says that it would dissolve.
the description does say that a well-fed ooze is easier to spot than a poorly fed one. It also (probably) has the hunting instinct of an amoeba, and thus able to distinguish food from non-food items (like metal and wood items).
finally, oozes are not fiends because fiends, at their dumbest, are still smart enough to embody an evil alignment. Oozes are not (they are unaligned) and thus can’t be fiends (which are defined by their origin and alignment)
All really good points! Also, sorry about the text block, haha. I was going to use bullet points and then kinda went off on a rant... ;-;
Tbh the whole fiend thing was mostly a joke, to be honest but D&D taxonomy is still f*cked.
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- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
That's because D&D doesn't have taxonomy. Creature types are based on common traits that don't indicate how closely related they are to each other.
And critters in D&D are the result of being created by gods, archfiends, powerful spellcasters or similar, not evolution.
Shhhh let me science-
In all seriousness tho I'm currently trying to create a "scientifically accurate d&d experience", in which yeah the gods magic exist but it makes sense because I like sincesminence science and my brain cannot and will not rest until I make sense of everything :p
Stomach acid is pH 1 or 2, then it would fit that an ooze is a couple of points less. It's acidic but only on soft tissue and organic materials, it doesn't have the strength to dissolve bone or metal like stomach acid can. And that would account for it not dissolving stone floors. It might be able to handle wood but it would depend on the length of time the acid was applied.
Objects do pass through it, so swallowed metal or bone will be excreted, it's just a question of how long it takes. In the case of bone I would think you are correct in that the marrow would dissolve, and if left inside long enough may fall to pieces.
The blind sense could be any number of non-sight related organs, from heat, to movement, vibration or sound waves, quite possibly multiple such senses working in unison.
Stomach acid is pH 1 or 2, then it would fit that an ooze is a couple of points less. It's acidic but only on soft tissue and organic materials, it doesn't have the strength to dissolve bone or metal like stomach acid can. And that would account for it not dissolving stone floors. It might be able to handle wood but it would depend on the length of time the acid was applied.
Objects do pass through it, so swallowed metal or bone will be excreted, it's just a question of how long it takes. In the case of bone I would think you are correct in that the marrow would dissolve, and if left inside long enough may fall to pieces.
The blind sense could be any number of non-sight related organs, from heat, to movement, vibration or sound waves, quite possibly multiple such senses working in unison.
True, true...
Dang I feel really dumb now for not considering that and just going strictly off of wordage- ;-;
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- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
I always assumed that the density of metal and stone were such that they would not remain buoyant enough to stay afloat within the ooze/cube. They would sink and be left behind on the ground, whereas bones have a relatively low density and would float. This is why things like arrows would likely float as they are mostly wood.
You also have to remember that most of the clothes in D&D settings are either leather, wool, or a combination of those, both organic materials that will deteriorate when subject to even a high pH acid.
I also assumed that they either slide with goo or have trillions of tiny cilia that allow them to move to avoid wearing trenches in the stone floor.
Scratch the cilia, imagine an ooze scuttling around on a bunch of gooey baby hands...
I better write that down-
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- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
Some question pertaining to Gelatinous Cubes (AKA "Oozes make no sense")
Hello, again! Apologies for bothering, but I have some questions about gelatinous cubes in 5e D&D. I apologize in advance for all the writing!
Link to the D&D Beyond page for the Gelatinous Cube specifically, as most questions on this page pertain to it regardless of wording.
First of all, the D&D Beyond page for gelatinous cubes states that they "consume living tissue while leaving bones and other materials undissolved", the first part of which I can understand. The rest, however, greatly confuses me. If they "consume living tissue", why not consume bones as well? After all, on a technicality, bones are also "living", in the sense that they are a part of the body in the same way anything else is. Blood passes through them, in fact, they produce it, and even if you rule the bone material itself to be along the same lines of keratin in hair and nails (which is, technically just dead organic tissue), would the marrow inside not be consumed, rendering the bones vulnerable to collapse or breakage from the general movements of the cube? Furthermore, there's inconsistency in the words used. The page specifies that the cube consumes "living" tissue. If that were actually the case, a layer of skin, nails, and hair would be left after all else is dissolved, though on all occasions these are left absent (as well as the clothes of victims, not including metal armour. Why are they gone?). On top of that, anything that dies within the ooze is then, obviously, dead. Does it just stop consuming and or dissolving them at that point? If it did, it would likely gain very little nutrients and starve, unless it was able to eat an enveloped creature very quickly, which we explicitly see it does not do, as creatures have several chances to escape (and as evidenced by the paragraph titled "Slow Death"). In theory, the obvious solution would be to say "well, let's just say it consumes organic material", though this in itself poses several dilemmas. This seemingly obvious explanation may present a reason for why the victim's clothing seems to be dissolved as well, but the loopholes of even this workaround are too many to ignore. If it ate all organic material, why is all wood in the dungeon not gone? Does it only eat certain types of organic material, and if so, what will it eat, and what will it reject? Why does it select these things? Is it physically incapable of consuming them (and if so, why?), or does it have preferences? If the latter is true, that suggests intelligence as well, which is also an issue, as oozes are supposed to be unintelligent and unthinking scavengers, consumers of all they can find and possessing unending hunger when not controlled by some sentient force. Hypothetically, could a cube be dyed? Would it be possible to inject ink into its body to render it more visible, or feed it shards of inorganic material that it has been proven not to consume, such as metal? Could you cast some spell on it, and if so, what one? Could you feed it a large metal cube only barely smaller than it, rendering it unable to engulf anything else, as all space is taken up, and, if so, would it starve, or be able to live by consuming small things that are minuscule enough to fit in the thin layer between the edge of the cube and the outside of the box placed within it. Does it not, over who knows how long spent sliding over dungeon floors, consume everything there is to eat until a new batch of living things stumble in, (furthermore, how does it not wear a trench in the floor with all its moving!?)? Anything entering a dungeon again could take centuries under the right situations. How does it not starve (does it have an extremely slow metabolism? That would account for it being able to survive if it spat out prey after death, but officially we see that this is not the case anyway, so it doesn't even matter to begin with. Does it consume its own mass, as other creatures do when starvation sets in, assuming its physiology even allows it to do so?)? Does it hibernate? One would think it might, awakening when it felt movement, but it has no tremorsense, which only adds to the mystery (does it, if it indeed hibernates, simply "see" constantly, as it has no eyelids to close? I mean, it doesn't even have eyes anyway!). It has blindsight, presumably its only sense, as no other sensory organs are present to suggest otherwise, but how? I see no eyes, or even eyespots, for that matter, which even the simplest of single-celled organisms possess. (Is it a single-celled organism, or a multi-celled one?) Is it simply magic? One would suspect so, as this creature is certainly not protected by the druidic circle, as are all other magical creatures if I recall correctly. How do they reproduce? Do they go through mitosis, as they seem to lack any other way of creating more of their kind. Are they created by are they all created by Jubilex and flung from the abyss into the material plane? (Furthermore, why is Jubilex a fiend and not an ooze, if his "offspring" are oozes? Why are oozes not fiends, if their "parent" is? I have a lot more questions about this, but that's for another post. (Which I might link here if I ever do post it.))
In conclusion: What the heck is up with oozes? They're inconsistent, the mechanics are weird, and nothing makes sense! Heck, I've probably even missed some serious questions even in this huge post! Even simply brushing away the obvious problems with the explanation of "it's just magic", there are some things that even the vast realm of D&D magic cannot be used to explain away without some serious mental gymnastics, or even at all. It makes my head hurt, and I need a nap and some aspirin already...
Edit: Things I forgot to mention.
Wouldn't it die like a turtle eating plastic once it gets full of metal/other debris unless it has some way to expel all of the junk? If so, how does it do so, and why wouldn't it do it immediately after eating, both to unclog and to ensure it is harder for potential prey to detect it, assuming it has the intelligence of a simple animal and can recognize patterns in behaviour (i.e clear = more food).
Edit two: I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to respond and address my questions! I'm forever grateful for the unending patience and kindness of this community! You're all the best! (:
- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
Explanation: A clear 10x10x10 jelly isn't nearly as frightening as the same jelly with a skeleton, armor, or weapon suspended in it.
I mean, true, but wouldn't it be scarier if you couldn't see it? An enemy you may not notice until it's too late?
Plus, scare factor aside, it makes no sense anyway. I mean, why not just say it doesn't consume metal? That would still leave it with armour/weapons floating in it, if that's the whole point. And I already forgot to mention, how does it expel that metal? Eventually, it would get too clogged up to eat anything else, like a turtle eating plastic bags. Would it not starve then? Do they simply just die at that point?
- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
Scarier for the characters, definitely. For the players though, something that has the same difficulty to see but which has evidence of past adventurers dying to it is far scarier. As for getting clogged up, some stuff will eventually get left behind on the ground instead.
Makes sense, though I suppose it depends on what your players want. Sometimes, the emotions a character feels are more important to the players than the feeling of "oh crap, my character might die because this thing has obviously killed others before". Plus, the latter wears off after a while, as a DM can put dead bodies around a low-level creature, implying it killed them. Still low level, no matter how many people it apparently slew, as those people are nothing but props, and had no chance to fight. A dead knight is the same as a rock if it's just there because it can be.
Also yeah, that makes sense. I'm probably overthinking that in particular, lol.
- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
I’m only going to answer a little bit of your questions, as you wrote a lot. A little hint: bullet points and formatting can be your friend. If you’re on mobile you can rotate your phone horizontally to access all the formatting options.
Now, it would make sense that, based on the description given, that the oozes acids are strong enough to dissolve soft tissues but not hard tissues. Clothing may degrade at a much slower rate, but nothing in the description says that it would dissolve.
the description does say that a well-fed ooze is easier to spot than a poorly fed one. It also (probably) has the hunting instinct of an amoeba, and thus able to distinguish food from non-food items (like metal and wood items).
finally, oozes are not fiends because fiends, at their dumbest, are still smart enough to embody an evil alignment. Oozes are not (they are unaligned) and thus can’t be fiends (which are defined by their origin and alignment)
All really good points! Also, sorry about the text block, haha. I was going to use bullet points and then kinda went off on a rant... ;-;
Tbh the whole fiend thing was mostly a joke, to be honest
but D&D taxonomy is still f*cked.- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
That's because D&D doesn't have taxonomy. Creature types are based on common traits that don't indicate how closely related they are to each other.
And critters in D&D are the result of being created by gods, archfiends, powerful spellcasters or similar, not evolution.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Shhhh let me science-
In all seriousness tho I'm currently trying to create a "scientifically accurate d&d experience", in which yeah the gods magic exist but it makes sense because I like
sincesminencescience and my brain cannot and will not rest until I make sense of everything :pEdit: Autocorrect hates me :/
- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
Stomach acid is pH 1 or 2, then it would fit that an ooze is a couple of points less. It's acidic but only on soft tissue and organic materials, it doesn't have the strength to dissolve bone or metal like stomach acid can. And that would account for it not dissolving stone floors. It might be able to handle wood but it would depend on the length of time the acid was applied.
Objects do pass through it, so swallowed metal or bone will be excreted, it's just a question of how long it takes. In the case of bone I would think you are correct in that the marrow would dissolve, and if left inside long enough may fall to pieces.
The blind sense could be any number of non-sight related organs, from heat, to movement, vibration or sound waves, quite possibly multiple such senses working in unison.
True, true...
Dang I feel really dumb now for not considering that and just going strictly off of wordage- ;-;
- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
Scratch the cilia, imagine an ooze scuttling around on a bunch of gooey baby hands...
I better write that down-
- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
My pleasure!
- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist
Huh, Mr. Rhexxx hasn't been posted yet.
I'mma just leave this here. His whole shtick is combining info from across the editions of D&D.
https://youtu.be/55_mYPb2uQg
Oh hey, thas cool! Sorry if my responses ar e sorta inchoerent atm I'm sleepy as heckc and I haven't really eaten today lol so now I can see noises
- With all due respects, your friendly neighbourhood alchemist