Green Slime

[Blake_Alexander]

I'd like to hear the opinion of some of the members of this forum on the subject of green slime. I'm currently having a discussion with one of my players who seems to think that green slime would be "easy" to harvest and carry as a grenade like weapon. The player feels that ceramic or glass would be able to contain the slime, and I'm somewhat willing concede this point to him since both would be earth based containers (even though it doesn't actually say in any rulebook that I have found that the slime would not disolve clay or sand, just stone).

My arguement is that given the typical fantasy technology level it would be all but impossible to seal the ceramic/glass container (short of using magic to seal it). I'm sure that a simple cork would be history in moments, and even though wax holds up to acid, I personally don't think that it would resist the super corrosive nature of green slime. I'm sure the player could try to use dried clay to seal the vials, but this would be prone to chipping and cracking when it dried (I feel that baking the vial's clay cover would disappate the slime within given the immense temperature over an extended period).

Next, I appoached the subject of the delievery system itself. He aruges that a ceramic vial would burst easily, but I believe that it isn't a sure bet. Ceramic and glass don't always break when they fall, and if you create vails that are fargile enough that they will, then almost any physcial attack, grapple or fall will result in you vials breaking. Thus, I question how tought a ceramic vial would be...perhaps 1 point of hardness, and a single hp there after? In addition, how much damage does a vial take being thrown against something. I imagine it would vary depending on the object it was thrown against. For instance, stone would be hard and cause a greater change of breakage than wood, and wood would be harder than a forest floor, and the forest floor would be harder than sand. Thus, would the damage for a flask thrown against stone be 1d6, against wood be 1d4, against the forst floor 1d3 and sand 1d2?

Finally, an I being to hard on my player in respect to this subject, I don't want to be to restirctive, but I feel that something as powerful as a d6 Constitution damage is dangerous to the balanc eof the game and that it needs to be counter with rather heavy consequesnce for it's misuse.

[Jasper]

I see a few problems with his plan-

Number one is just the getting of the slime. You would need a glass alchemical sucktion pump to pull the slime up off the dungeon floor.

Number two is that the slime is a living creature and has needs of both air and food-both of which are cut off is placed in a sealed vial. The viability of the slime would only be a few days at best.

Number three is the miss chance. Say he throws the vial and he rolls a 2. While it dosn't break in his hands the vial is now shattered at his feat and he has a hungry and cranky green slime to deal with as well as the BBEG he was fighting.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Also recall that the slime has a limited ability to move. It could feezibly expand itself and put enough pressure against the inside of the container to shatter it.

I would suggest that you encourage the player to try this, but also to force him or her to solve the various problems.

A) Where to find the slime in the first place
B) Where to buy the materials
C) How to collect the slime
D) How to fight off the random encounters of other creatures that lurk in the area of the slime.
E) What to do when the slime breaks out of the container in the middle of the night.
Oh yes, just because the slime CAN get out, doesn't mean it will until a convienient time.
Let the PC get comfortable with the vial, even as the slime eats it over the course of hours. Then, when they least expect it....

[Fuzzball]

Green Slime is pretty volatile. I don't think it's unfair of you to deny your player the ability to make a weapon out of it.

I'd suggest that the player start taking levels in druid or cleric (13 to be exact) and learn to cast Slime Wave (Complete Divine/Spell Compendium). If you're feeling really nice you could design a lower level spell to summon a green slime (there might already be one but I don't recall).

[Jester of the FoS]

It can be done. Try and let them.

A ceramic jar with a nice, tight lid would do. Anything to hold the lid in place really. Slime is only semi-alive and, at least in 2E, couldn't move under it's own power. It's not the blob, it's goo that turns anything it touches into more goo. Assuming it has nothing to 'feed' on it shouldn't grow.

Harvesting isn't much of a problem. Make a nice solid jar and tight lid. Fill it full of organic crap like leaves and find a nice twig. Dip twig in slime and dip it into jar. Toss twig back in slime and seal the jar.
Of course, it take alot of care not to 'expose' yourself.
Now you're walking about with a small jar that can 'kill' anything it touches. Slowly.
Simple really.

Of course, if you have it on your person you better avoid tripping, stumbling or being knocked down. And every time you're hit there's a chance it breaks. Oh, and if it does survive and you actually hit someone the you have a dying person slowly turning into slime with nothing to lose. One charge and grapple check is all it takes to share the pain.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

I could have sworn slime had a very limited ability to move.
Doesn't slime have the ability to drop down from the ceiling onto prey?

[Fuzzball]

There is no specification for green slimes. They have no hit points, no base speed, and no saves.

Apparantly they're considered plants, at least for spell purposes. That seems kind of odd. The DMG places them in the same category as fungus and mold.

I'll see if I can find something in one of the other books...nope...hmmm...


I'll try to extrapolate from other oozes instead of treating it like a trap:

First problem is size. Is it small, tiny, or smaller? I'll go with tiny since it can't weigh 8 lbs, but it can cover a large area.

So Stats: Str 8-9 (-1), Dex 1 (-5), Con 16-17 (3), Int --, Wis 1 (-5), Cha 1 (-5)
HD: minimum one quarter of a d10 (4HP), max probably 1d10 (8HP)
To Hit: 1(BA)-1(Str)+2(size)=2
Damage: 1d3-1 (+1d6 Con damage)
AC: 10-5(Dex)+2(size)=7

Speed for oozes in the MM:
Gargantuan = 20ft
Huge = 20ft
Large = 10ft
Medium = 10ft
....
So I guess Tiny would be 5ft then? Maybe half that?

And Skills:
Hide - +8(racial)-5(Dex)+8(size)=11


That was probably more info than anyone wanted. Oh well. Have a nice day everyone

[Jester of the FoS]

Vibrations can cause them to fall.

[Blake_Alexander]

Thank you all for your comments and input on this subject.

I've been considering more about the green slime's use as a weapon and I have come up with an additional complication. Since the stats for Green slime in the DMG detail a patch of green slime 5' diamater, a vail of green slime is not going to fill the same space. In fact, a typical potion vial of green slime will only cover a space about 1 foot in diameter, perhaps two if a DM is being really generous (If anyone is good with math feel free to figure up the actual size if you want...math isn't my strong point) . Thus, a vial would not prove to be a very effective battlefield adjusting weapon.

How do you think this change the slime's effectivenss as a weapon...would the slime only deal a percentage of the Constiution damage equal to the percent difference in size? Thus would a 2 foot diameter sime only do 1d3 Constituation a round, and a 1 foot slime only do 1d2 points? Or, would a smaller patch of slime do the same amount of Constitution damage do to the very nature of the slime?

You thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

First, thanks for the info. I rechecked the DMG and you are rigth, slimes are listed as inanimate traps.

Second:
Gopod call, Blake. The ammount fo slime that could be contained in a vial would surely not cover five feet. Even if you assume slime to be as viscous as water, a single vial does not come close to coating a five foot square section - even under ideal spreadign circumstances.
In fact, depending on the thickness and viscosity of slime, it might well take a whole bucket to cover five feet. A vial might cover 1 foot square - so splash damage is right out.

There are other considerations - such as if a tiny volume of slime can manage to penetrate armor an clothing in an appreciable ammount of time.

I'd say increase time to burn through clothes, and the time between each damage roll, by a factor of five. Also decrease damage done by a 1/4.

[Fuzzball]

If green slime can't move then its usability as a splash weapon would probably be pretty impossible. If you're sneeky though it could be a usefull item to have, if for no other reason than to irritate people.

For Example, if you're running away from an enemy in a dungeon you could spill it on the floor behind you. People who are chasing very rarely mind the puddles! It might take a little while, but they can say "Bye bye" to their footgear (and probably "Ouch" if they don't notice until it reaches their feet.)

Or, you could use it for sabotage! Since it would grow as it consumes, it could be used to sink a ship, or destroy crops, or lay waste to whole buildings (assuming of course you were evil and wanted to do that )

[Blake_Alexander]

I just finished a phone conversation with a friend of mine who has a chemisty/biology/medical background. With a little figuring they estimated that a vial of green slime would cover about 5 inches if poured out or boken open, and that would only be if it had the consistance to flow over a surface. With this in mind, how difficult would it be to avoid a roughly half foot section of a 5 foot square...It seem tome that PCs manage to do this sort of thing rather often when taveling through square occupied by rubble. I think it has a greater change of slowing an enemy than actually infecting them unless it is directly thrown at an opponent.

In addition, it seem that even when taking part in a melee in the same 5 foot square as the slime that there would a a fairly good chance that the slime could be avoided. Perhaps a reflex save DC 10 to avoid getting affected while fighting within the square...(I figure that the base save for running through the square would be 5 due to the fact that is such a small section of the square...with the additional influence of the chaos of combat I figure there would be an increase of 5 to total DC of 10)

[alhoon]

So the Fig1 earth mephit I have decided for the next encounter to throw green slime on my PCs is going to need tons of the stuff?

And what about the old-time classic kobold trap that kobolds atop a bridge, cliff etc throw bucketfulls of green slime on intruders?

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Ah, but the buckets are different!
Buckets will contain much more slime than a vial.

Of course, the trap is hamstrung by the fact that the kobolds can only drop the slime when someone says: "I don't know".

[MatthiasStormcrow]

The whole discussion raises an interesting thought, though. What if you managed to get someone to unknowingly eat some green slime? Seems like even a teeny-tiny bit would almost certainly be fatal. Delivery system's a little tricky, but perhaps you could use your ceramic vial to put a dose of slime in someone's bowl of stew just before they ate it, or something like that...

As for sabotaging ships, that raises another interesting question - does green slime get diluted by water? Does it float? All sorts of questions like that. It could be pretty hard to get the slime to eat through the boat below the waterline, if it just gets diluted by oceanwater.