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Hello!
My (low level) party is about to face a Gelatinous Cube and, as the GM, I would like to know good tactics against such a foe. Reading its stats, I don't find it many weaknesses apart from being slow and easy to hit (but do you even *want* to get close to that thing?)
Why a Cube for such a party, you ask? Well, it's in a certain oldie-but-goodie module from Paizo ;)
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Use a spoon.
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I had a hilarious moment running PFS at a con with a gelatinous cube. PCs all fail knowledge checks but one metagaming player pipes up that they are screwed because "normal weapons can't hurt it". They throw acid at it, run around trying to light torches etc. and it is only after three of them are paralysed and/or engulfed that someone attacks it with a shrug of resignation. The remaining two characters kill it in two rounds.
It was so hard to keep a straight face.
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Actually, if you can seal them into a tunnel with no escape, they can be killed by a lack of oxygen.
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Giant Gelatinous Cube (Adv +3) CR6
XP: 3,200
N Huge ooze
Init +0; Senses blindsight 60 ft.; Perception +1
DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 8, flat-footed 17 (-2 size, +9 natural)
HP 82 (4d8+64)
Fort +17, Ref +1, Will +2
Immune electricity, ooze traits
OFFENSE
Speed 15 ft.
Melee slam +9 (1d8+8 plus 1d6 acid)
Space 15 ft., Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks engulf, paralysis
STATISTICS
Str 26, Dex 11, Con 42, Int -, Wis 13, Cha 13
Base Atk +3; CMB +7; CMD 23 (can't be tripped)
SQ transparent
ECOLOGY
Environment any underground
Organization solitary
Treasure incidental
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Acid (Ex) A gelatinous cube's acid does not harm metal or stone.
Engulf (Ex) Although it moves slowly, a gelatinous cube can simply engulf Large or smaller creatures in its path as a standard action. It cannot make a slam attack during a round in which it engulfs. The gelatinous cube merely has to move over the opponents, affecting as many as it can cover. Opponents can make attacks of opportunity against the cube, but if they do so they are not entitled to a saving throw. Those who do not attempt attacks of opportunity can attempt a DC 12 Reflex save to avoid being engulfed-on a success, they are pushed back or aside (opponent's choice) as the cube moves forward. Engulfed creatures are subject to the cube's paralysis and acid, gain the pinned condition, are in danger of suffocating, and are trapped within its body until they are no longer pinned. The save DC is Strength-based.
Paralysis (Ex) A gelatinous cube secretes an anesthetizing slime. A target hit by a cube's melee or engulf attack must succeed on a DC 20 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 3d6 rounds. The cube can automatically engulf a paralyzed opponent. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Transparent (Ex) Due to its lack of coloration, a gelatinous cube is difficult to discern. A DC 15 Perception check is required to notice a motionless gelatinous cube. Any creature that fails to notice a gelatinous cube and walks into it is automatically engulfed.
Bits of broken weapons, coins, and a partially digested skeleton are visible inside this quivering cube of slime.
One of the dungeon's most unusual and specialized predators, gelatinous cubes spend their existence mindlessly roaming dungeon halls and dark caverns, swallowing up organic material such as plants, refuse, carrion, and even living creatures. Materials the cube cannot digest, such as metal and stone, can eventually fill up the creature's mass with such detritus, and at times the creature may excrete some of this material out of its body. Often the treasure and possessions of past victims remain inside the gelatinous cube, leaving a ghostly impression of their material remains. Sages believe these creatures evolved as a specialized advancement of gray oozes. Some beings use gelatinous cubes as protectors of dungeons and underground fortifications, trapping the immense creatures in massive metal crates and transporting them through either slave power or magic to their final guard posts. They make particularly efficient waste disposal mechanisims as well-a tribe that can trap a gelatinous cube in a pit or other area that it cannot climb out of can use it as a midden or even a deadly trap, depending only on the ingenuity of the creatures who caught it. Gelatinous cubes are generally 10 feet to a side and weigh upward of 15,000 pounds, though subterranean explorers report larger specimens trawling the deepest caves and corridors. In locations with plentiful sources of food, gelatinous cubes can exist for hundreds of years, if not thousands. However, if denied organic material for more than 6 months, a gelatinous cube begins shrinking. Eventually this stresses its walls and the creature leaks rapidly evaporating slimy liquid until its body collapses and disappears completely.
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It can't climb and is cube-shaped. Find steps, walk up them and... yeah that's about it. Cube defeated.
It can't climb? It's got Strength 10, so a Climb bonus of +0. Admittedly I don't see it climbing a rope or even a rough wall, but regular stairs?
I'm really interested by this bit since I did have it slowly slide up some stairs at the end of the last session.steps through a circular hole
Wouldn't it squeeze through, though? If we're talking about a hole in the ground, I'd accept that it serves as a trap.
If you want to make the cube harder (...)
Oh dear no :) I'm actually trying to help the players come up with a solution!
Trip them and stab them in the back.
The players you mean? Sure, that'd solve my issue :p
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Honestly, what Shadowdweller said. It is nearly impossible for them to be faster than any PC, and even a commoner throwing a rock could kill one eventually (given the space). If you're worried it will be too easy (as it likely will), put it in its natural environment: a dungeon cooridor that is 10' tall and 10' wide. Also, they're trapped between it and a barred door (or something simmilar) with only 60' between them!
EDIT: the gelatinous cube is a dummy check to see who charges into melee with everything without thinking first. It's not hard at all if the players have any sort of tactical sense.
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Well a few months ago at a convention i was running a PFS scenario that has a Gelatenous cube in it. The PC in question, I believe had dumped his wisdom in favor of a higher Stregnth score, and this Half orc barbarian missed his DC 15 perception roll ( I believe he had negatives to the roll). As luck (for me) would have it this half orc barbarian ended his movement so that he was in the square adjacent to the Cube. The cube moved and engulfed him. I expected him to pull free....but he rolled a 1 on his fort save.....paralyzed.
Here is a link to the page I'm afraid you will have to scroll down quite a ways before you get to my photo from Miller Con. It is below a photo for the Race for the Rune Carved key.
Anyways we all had fun.
and Oh I almost forgot...I am sure it has been suggested up thread...I'll bet a pole arm would be very useful against a Gelatenous cube.
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Summon Bill Cosby.
Arrows and moving back each turn (provided there's enough room)
for hilarity, use a wall blade trap that dices it into a bunch of 1' cubes and sell them as familiars.
Dump pineapple into it.
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Arrows and moving back each turn (provided there's enough room)
for hilarity, use a wall blade trap that dices it into a bunch of 1' cubes and sell them as familiars.
This idea has merit.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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I once had a villain tossing potions into cubes during a fight. It lead to cubes with spider climb and arrow resistance. The villain also had an amulet that allowed them to "ride" inside a cube. I have never seen players freak out as much as that session.
How to kill a cube?
Don't stand next to it, keep a distance, and use reach weapons or long poles to find out if you keep failing the Perception check to notice them.
Great idea on the potions, as for cubes, they can be a perfect part of a trap, as in, huge magnet, with a cube that comes in from the top.
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In a dungeon a gelatinous cube is an adventurer's best friend. If they can lead it to other enemies, it will eat them. It disappoints me whenever I see an adventure with undead in the same general area as a gelatinous cube without explanation for how the cube hasn't dissolved them yet.
Best way to defeat a Gelatinous Cube? Have them find/buy Alkali Flasks from Ultimate Equipment.
Hot water...
Thanks for the answers. There are a few simple solutions after all. I guess I made it out to be something much more dangerous than it is, though it does depend on the environment/situation.
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Am I the only one who thinks the Perception DC 15 check to spot it is kinda easy?
I mean, walking into it is half the fun, but it's rarely gonna happen...
That's why you need to build an elaborate trap around it:
The PC's walk down a perfectly odrinary 10'x10' corridor, towards a door they don't yet know is barred from the other side, suddenly one steps on a well-hidden pressure plate, the ceiling opens and out drops a hungry cube.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Am I the only one who thinks the Perception DC 15 check to spot it is kinda easy?
I mean, walking into it is half the fun, but it's rarely gonna happen...
That's why you need to build an elaborate trap around it:
The PC's walk down a perfectly odrinary 10'x10' corridor, towards a door they don't yet know is barred from the other side, suddenly one steps on a well-hidden pressure plate, the ceiling opens and out drops a hungry cube.
No, you have a 10'x10'x100' deep pit with a Gelatinous Cube at the bottom. The round after that pit opens, a trapdoor in the ceiling opens dropping a second Gelatinous Cube into that pit, sandwiching our heroes between them.
No, you have a 10'x10'x100' deep pit with a Gelatinous Cube at the bottom. The round after that pit opens, a trapdoor in the ceiling opens dropping a second Gelatinous Cube into that pit, sandwiching our heroes between them.Am I the only one who thinks the Perception DC 15 check to spot it is kinda easy?
I mean, walking into it is half the fun, but it's rarely gonna happen...
That's why you need to build an elaborate trap around it:
The PC's walk down a perfectly odrinary 10'x10' corridor, towards a door they don't yet know is barred from the other side, suddenly one steps on a well-hidden pressure plate, the ceiling opens and out drops a hungry cube.
Flawless! I'll write that into the next level of the dungeon my party is currently in.
Like any land-based mob, barricades are used to slow down a creature.
Multiple barricades, falling back to the next one after ranged attacks are loosed, then repeat is an old tactic handling foot soldiers against cavalry.
Cubes are naturally slow, I assume it is at least difficult terrain to travel over the barricades to really slow them down depending on how it is built.
Other than acid, cubes can be burned with oil and fire.
Spread the oil on the floor, wait for the cube to come, light it and watch.
No, you have a 10'x10'x100' deep pit with a Gelatinous Cube at the bottom. The round after that pit opens, a trapdoor in the ceiling opens dropping a second Gelatinous Cube into that pit, sandwiching our heroes between them.
Old but good tactic, had done that sandwich pit combo when I GM'd AD&D over 20 years ago.
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No, you have a 10'x10'x100' deep pit with a Gelatinous Cube at the bottom. The round after that pit opens, a trapdoor in the ceiling opens dropping a second Gelatinous Cube into that pit, sandwiching our heroes between them.Am I the only one who thinks the Perception DC 15 check to spot it is kinda easy?
I mean, walking into it is half the fun, but it's rarely gonna happen...
That's why you need to build an elaborate trap around it:
The PC's walk down a perfectly odrinary 10'x10' corridor, towards a door they don't yet know is barred from the other side, suddenly one steps on a well-hidden pressure plate, the ceiling opens and out drops a hungry cube.
With a permanent anti-magic field at the bottom.
This also makes an excellent garbage disposal system.
I have a 80 foot long corridor in one of my dungeons that is sized just right for the Gelatinous Cube and the PCs walk into the Middle of it then get locked in with a Cube at both ends.
Summon Scooby Doo tell him its jello.
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Can you give the Gelatinous Cube Barbarian Levels? 15 movement rate seems pretty crappy... and a raging Gelatinous Cube sounds intriguing
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I think the 3.5 half-fiend and advanced templates gave them 3 int, but not anymore in PFRPG.
Hahaha... Someone should put up a 1/2 Fiend Advanced Barbarian Gelatinous Cube Stat Block
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Can you give the Gelatinous Cube Barbarian Levels? 15 movement rate seems pretty crappy... and a raging Gelatinous Cube sounds intriguing
isn't there a feat that lets you use natural attacks in a flurry of blows? Combine that with a 6th level monk half-fiend gelatinous cube. It'll have 40' speed and smash foes with its entire body three times a round when full attacking.
Your kidding right? Fire, cold, Magic Missle, any attack. It is only a DC 12 Reflex Save to avoid being engulfed. If someone gets engulfed it isn't that hard to pull them out either with their CMB. I don't recall ever having a party actually lose a character to one. Scorching Rays will do the most damage outright. With an AC of 4 if any monster screamed out for Power Attack it is the Gelatonous Cube. Now a Black Pudding that is to be feared!
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I'd stand on the other side of a normal 5ft wide door. Fought a couple Cubes in my youth. Bane of the low level PC. I was just talking about the war stories the other night. All of 2nd level PCs once saw a Cube and booked it and all ended up cramping into a single bathroom and swinging our swords at it through the door frame til it died.