Homebrew Half-Ooze (Star-Song of Planegea) Species Details

Sometimes, in dark caverns or cruel forests, a hapless forager or hunter meets an untimely end at the creeping pseudopids of an ooze sire. Usually catching wanderers while asleep, the sire slies into a mortal’s ears, nose, and mouth — and once it’s inside, it’s too late. What awakes from that slumber is a new creature, a half-ooze, half-humanoid being that is aware of only three things: its strangely malleable body, the dim memories of its past life, and an overwhelming hunger.

Is That You?
Half-oozes wear the outside form of the creature that died when the ooze sire took their life, although they are a little more pale, and clammier to the touch. Their skin tends to have an unusual tint, depending on the type of ooze that sired them. Half-oozes usually exist in dark and dangerous places, and are typically dressed in ragged wraps that let them stretch their limbs when occasion calls for it.

So Hungry
When a mortal meets its end at the touch of an ooze sire, that creature ceases to exist. Half-oozes can, with great effort, recall some dim shreds of the memory of the creature that died to bring them into being (called the ooze dam, regardless of gender). But although they wear the outer face and form of their dam, they are entirely a new creature in their thinking. Half-oozes usually come to consciousness in dark places, alone, without any knowledge of how they got there—only the need to eat. More often than not, the dark and lonely origins of half-oozes, and their voracious appetites, leads them to a life of murder and villainy. They tend to fall in with the desparate, doing whatever they need to do to stay alive.

Born in Darkness
Nobody knows how the first ooze sires came to be. Most think they crept from the Venom Abyss, others believe them to be the trick of some dark god, still others that it’s something that leaked through from a more distant and unsettling plane of existence. Still, regardless of their origin, ooze sires and their off spring are a fact of life grudgingly accepted by those at the edges of dark and eerie places.

Appetite for Adventure
Half-oozes all come into existence with ravenous hunger, and that appetite continues to drive them throughout their life. Most half-oozes will give the same answer to anyone who asks them why they did something—they were hungry. The rare half-ooze who can find a constant food supply might seek to better itself for its short life, in learning or building something, or in seeking to make the world a better place. There have even been half-oozes who sought out the families of their dams and tried to make restitution for whatever was broken in their last life... as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the next meal.

A Bad Beginning
Your half-ooze adventurer has arisen from unpleasant circumstances. Use the tables below to find out a few details, or sort it out yourself.

Dam
d6 The creature who your sire infested was...
1 A lost forager who stumbled into the wrong cave
2 A mighty hunter on a critically important journey
3 An explorer trying to find unknown places
4 An outcast hiding from execution
5 A spellskin trying to learn more about ooze sires
6 You don’t know

Awakening
d6 You woke up in...
1 A deep, dark cave, far below the sunlit surface
2 A forest considered to be cursed by those who live at
its edge
3 The prison-cave of a powerful warlord
4 The sanctum of a spellskin
5 A wrecked catamaran at the edge of a stormy coastline
6 A battlefield strewn with bodies

Survival
d6 You've managed to make my way so far because...
1 When I stumbled into the sunlight, a kind forager had pity on me and took me in
2 I got in trouble with a nearby clan immediately, but they established me in my background as a path to redemption
3 I watched the locals from hiding for some time before sneaking in amongst them
4 Hunters found me in the darkness and brought me to the nearest clan, setting me on my current path
5 I was mistaken for my dam and I’ve never corrected the error
6 Nobody’s ever given me anything—everything I have, I fought for, tooth and nail

Half-Ooze (Star-Song of Planegea) Traits

Your half-ooze character has a number of qualities in common with other half-oozes.

Age.

Half-oozes don’t last long, since their bodies begin on borrowed time. They usually live out about half their dam’s original lifespan, if the dam was young when the half-ooze was sired. A half-ooze with an elvish dam might live for a hundreds of years, where one with an orcish dam might die of old age after only a couple of decades.

Ability Score Increase.

Your Constitution and Dexterity scores increase by 1.

Alignment.

Half-oozes are, more than anything, hungry. This constant need to consume renders them either neutral, or somewhat evil—although if they can get the food they need through good and lawful means, they may do so.

Size.

Half-oozes range in height from under 4 feet to over 6 feet tall, depending on their Dam. Ooze sires don’t usually prey on smaller races such as halflings or gnomes, as they’re not suitable for their life cycle. Your size is Medium.

Speed.

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages.

You can speak, read, and write Common, and can understand one other language of your choice, but you can’t read, write, or speak it.

Hunger of the Ooze.

You must eat every day, or suffer 1 level of exhaustion. When eating, you require twice as much food as other Medium humanoids.

Pseudopodic Limbs.

As an action, you may extend either your arms or legs to twice their normal length. When doing so, your AC decreases by 1. If you extend your legs, add 10 feet to your speed on foot. If you extend your arms, any melee weapon you’re weilding is considered to have the Reach property. If a weapon already has the Reach property, it does not gain additional range, as it’s too awkward to handle at that length. You may end the effect as a bonus action. Your arms and legs cannot both be extended at the same time.

Rubbery.

Your ooze origin makes you able to fit through small spaces. Your body can fit through openings normally suitable only for Small or Tiny creatures. Depending on the size of the opening, our armor and equipment may not fit through.

Echoes of the Dam.

You have the faintest memories from the life of your dam. Gain one skill proficiency, gain one weapon proficiency.