I don't have my books in front of me, so I can't verify their stats. Is the bloodbloater swarm intended to be fully aquatic - i.e., it only attacks PCs who enter the water - or does it follow them out of the water-filled pit? I want to say that it is fully aquatic, but since it could TPK my party in their current condition, I'm eager to make sure it's run properly.
Thoughts?
They're fully aquatic. They don't even have a land speed.
They're fully aquatic. They don't even have a land speed.
That's what I thought, but I didn't have my books in front of me. I'm sure my players will thank you. =)
They're fully aquatic. They don't even have a land speed.
According to my notes, despite being called an "aquatic ooze," they do have a land speed of 5 feet (1 square). So even though it might have a land speed, it hardly seems like it would be much of a threat out of the water.
Well, heck, I was so certain about that. I just ran that encounter a couple of weeks ago. Still... a land speed of 5? At the very least, they DO have the Aquatic subtype, and that means that unless they also have the Amphibious ability, then they can't survive out of water because they can't breathe air.
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If you look at the aquatic subtype in the back of the MM it simply means that they have a swim speed(for instance the draconic fingerlings in chapter 4 have the aquatic subtype but it says that they will leap out of the water after characters who are on land), but I think that without having amphibious also it is fair to say that they only breath water.
Actually thats a good question, they are oozes. Do they need to breath at all?
If you look at the aquatic subtype in the back of the MM it simply means that they have a swim speed(for instance the draconic fingerlings in chapter 4 have the aquatic subtype but it says that they will leap out of the water after characters who are on land), but I think that without having amphibious also it is fair to say that they only breath water.
Actually thats a good question, they are oozes. Do they need to breath at all?
Here's the SRD's full description of the Aquatic subtype:
"These creatures always have swim speeds and thus can move in water without making Swim checks. An aquatic creature can breathe underwater. It cannot also breathe air unless it has the Amphibious special quality."
The last two sentences were the basis of my previous post. The SRD also states that Oozes eat and breathe, but do not sleep. Since they must breathe, and are aquatic (meaning they breathe water and not air, unless they have the Amphibious quality and can thus breathe both), then the Bloodbloaters shouldn't be able to survive out of water for long; and with a speed of 5, they're not going far before they suffocate.
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You are right on both counts, I went and looked up oozes myself when I got back to my books. Funny, I had just looked up aquatic a few days before(had a player who was trying to explain to me that his fire domain cleric could turn aquatic creatures and I had to explain to him the difference between aquatic and water subtypes to him) and I hadn't remembered seeing that they breath water. Thanks for the info though.
My stupid party... got their hands on one of the wands and sure as heck wasn't going to go into a watery pit. So they lowered the water and had the guy in full plate walk on them, squish them to heck, and grab the next wand with his gauntleted fist.
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One of my players is all bitter about this still, simply because when they came to this point one of them fell in the pit trap and was immediately pulled out. One of the other party members announced that they should use one of the wands to lower the water to kill the oozes and the other shook his head and said 'We aren't wasting a wands charge on this, just go around the pit.'
After the chapter had ended and the flood was being held back by all the other wands I finally admitted to my players where the final wand had been. Now whenever the player who had made the suggestion to lower the water is overruled on something he has to glare around and bring up how they could have found all the wands. Its pretty amusing.