Dissecting the 5E D&D Ooze Creature Type

February 3, 2022

Salutations, nerds! I’ve been waiting to donk around with this fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons creature type because while I’ve already covered my favorite creature type — fey — this one is my spouse’s favorite. I’m referring to oozes of course. Slimy, lurchy, squishy and rolly, there are not a lot of these available in 5E D&D (there is really only so much you can do with them) but they are unique enough to merit their own creature type.

Ooze creatures in 5E D&D

Oozes have no bones. They digest things through submerging them within their body and dissolving them. Ooze creatures are asexual, not in the way people are asexual but in the way amoebas are asexual, reproducing by splitting their body into an exact copy of itself.

There are people called cubists who keep gelatinous cubes as pets as covered in a Kobold Quarterly article regarding the Care and Keeping of Gelatinous Cubes that made my spouse absolutely fall in love with oozes as a creature type and there’s a lot of fascinating ideas in there. Highly recommend giving it a read if you can get your hands on a copy.

Basically oozes in 5E D&D are exactly what they sound like — living ooze! [Insert maniacal laughter here]

“Oozes are gelatinous creatures that rarely have a fixed shape. They are mostly subterranean, dwelling in caves and dungeons and feeding on refuse, carrion, or creatures unlucky enough to get in their way. Black puddings and gelatinous cubes are among the most recognizable oozes.” — from the 5E D&D Monster Manual

Things Oozes Do

This is where I explore why a subsect with only 26 creatures currently representing its own creature type. Oozes do a lot of things to justify this and make them a challenge to lower and higher level parties alike.

First of all they can squeeze through spaces and get into places normal barricades would keep most creatures out of. Those spikes you set up? Yeah, they’re nothing to an ooze. It’s gonna menace you in your sleep anyway.

Second, a lot of them will morph around you and try to drown you in them. Or dissolve you. Or drown and then dissolve you, which is probably the best order in which this can happen.

Third, a lot of oozes split if you hit them with a lightning spell or deal slashing damage. And yes, I do mean like with a sword. You know, the most common damage type in the game. It’s a good idea to have a blunt instrument on you in case you run into an ooze. There’s at least one ooze that eats through metal as well. As you can tell they’re a big pain in the butt and even with a party that deals enough damage to handle one easily it isn’t simple.

Five Oozes of Note

Black Pudding. These things are a pain in the butt. They deal acid damage and corrode your gear. They split when hit by slashing attacks. They’re immune to a buttload of damage types. If you pass within 60 feet of one it knows you’re there and wants to eat you.
Elder Oblex. This is both the highest challenge rating ooze (tied with the unique White Maw found in Tales from the Yawning Portal’s Dead in Thay adventure) and the one I’m grabbing from something other than the 5E D&D Player’s Handbook. This thing takes people, swallows their memories and then sends copies of them out to trick their friends. It’s got an Intelligence of 22 and innate spellcasting because what we needed in this world was an ooze who hunts proactively without leaving its home.
Gelatinous Cube. Name a more iconic D&D ooze. I’ll wait.
Gray Ooze. At CR 1/2 this is one of the easier oozes to fight and it will still eat your weapon if it isn’t magical. Also if it’s holding still it looks just like one of the rocks in that pile over there. [NERDITOR’S NOTE: One of my most memorable character deaths came at the pseudopods of a gray ooze!]
Ochre Jelly. You’ll often find this cunning ooze hanging out on the ceiling and waiting to drop onto an unsuspecting adventurer.

Oozes! Slimes! They’re fun, and some of the best 5E D&D gaming sessions I’ve taken part in have made use of them. How do you use your oozes? Love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Please tell me all about it in the comments below and of course, stay nerdy!

[NERDITOR’S NOTE: Among our many 5E creations over the years there’s a few ooze creatures in the mix. Right here on the website we’ve got the Blood Rime, a nasty ooze monster that absorbs Hit Dice before splitting in two! You can also find the Booze Ooze family of monsters inside Secrets of the Vault: Monster Menagerie Vol. 1.]

*Featured image — A selection of ooze creatures from 5E D&D. [Composite images courtesy Wizards of the Coast]