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Primary thrust of the question is in the title
I'm designing encounters for my level 4, nearly level 5 party (monk, barbarian, bard, hunter, kenetist) and they're clearing out a mine that has been infested with slimes and rust monsters (mostly slimes)
Now the boss encounter is planned to be a pair of whip oozes and a modified large hag's eye Idd ooze (for flavor text it's one third of the reoccuring villain witch's familiar)
Unfortunately I've noticed that the encounter is very low on loot (containing one chunk of gems and a MWK great club and an egg for a rust monster so far)
Short answer: anything metal based that the last fool to fight it was wearing.
Slimes fall very much into a class of monster whose loot stems from its prey, with the placement of loot being completely incidental to the monster.
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Slimes fall very much into a class of monster whose loot stems from its prey, with the placement of loot being completely incidental to the monster.
This actually makes them an easy class of monsters to plant loot on - they pick stuff up as they squirm along, not noticing or caring, so the only limits on what an Ooze might be carrying are A) what do its enzymes NOT damage and B) where has it been, and what are the limits of what could hypothetically be found there?
If it's a gold mine the gold ingots polished by digestive enzymes.
I'll chime in for the "remnants of the previous fools" option as well - metal ingots and gems seem the most appropriate in a mine, but tools, armor, and weapons make sense as well. Perhaps some with hafts or handles rotted away, since the oozes' enzymes could probably break down wood.
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If you happen to have a ring of preciousness or something similar in your campaign, it's a great place to hide it - ESPECIALLY if it's a critical talisman of that sort. Be sure to roll some dice behind your DM screen before you hand it to them!
"Oh hey, guys, I got a lucky roll on this one! Here's your RANDOM LOOT off Inconsequential Monster #28195...hahahahahaha...."
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I paid insufficient attention.
Know what would be funny? Make it somebody's engagement/wedding ring. There's a superstition about seriously bad things happening if you drop the ring (as our dear pals A%#@&&+ Brad and Slut Janet can - and ultimately did - testify)...but what do you expect when the ring is all slimy?
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Ah good idea that, and given that it belongs to the slime witch nemisis to one of the players, this could even make sense
Each party member is or will get their own nemisisSo far we have a fire elemental assassin
The slime witch
Later the kenetist will face off with lord monochrome
Waaaaait...is there an enchanted nutcracker doll in your party?
Because that would be awesome (if you've never seen the 1977 TV Movie starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, try to - it enchanted me and influenced me when I was little)!
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Glad to help, Mr Clown in The Closet.
Hank you for helping me with this
If it helps spread the good feels around the setting is a modified adventure time setting
The party is a spider lady martial artist
A talking tree with the hunter class (his animal companion is a preying mantis with the brambled template)
A ranicorn kenetist who's flavortexted their powers as coming from deals made with the dark tapestry
A were polar bear (former) human (gasp) barbarian (or as we call him, the bearbarian)
And a bard shapeshifter in the form of a bunny (he will rip your face off though, and write a joyful tune about it afterwards)
Some kind of very fancy (art object) belt buckle or armor buckles...the leather got eaten away, but the metal parts remain. Or gem/fancy metal studs from studded armor.
Or perhaps a belt buckle that's still carrying the enchantment of a heavyload belt or some other such dainty, but needs the leather restored in order to become usable again? If you've got someone with item crafting feats in the party, it'd be a neat way to reward them, since they could repair it for half the cost of crafting a new one.
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It's a cursed ring of slime form (detects as Acid Resistance). The last wearer was the slime they just killed. When they transform into an unintelligent ooze, the ring melds into the body, but in this case it doesn't vanish, just floats around in the ooze's form without being expelled. Anyone brave enough to pluck it out can free the victim.
that's pretty funny actually
And fits with the character of the slime queen|
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Some kind of very fancy (art object) belt buckle or armor buckles...the leather got eaten away, but the metal parts remain. Or gem/fancy metal studs from studded armor.
Or perhaps a belt buckle that's still carrying the enchantment of a heavyload belt or some other such dainty, but needs the leather restored in order to become usable again? If you've got someone with item crafting feats in the party, it'd be a neat way to reward them, since they could repair it for half the cost of crafting a new one.
unfortunatly there are no crafters in the party
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If it helps spread the good feels around the setting is a modified adventure time setting
I know zilch about Adventure Time, save that the main character appears to be a buck-toothed kid with a creepy-looking dog who possibly flies, and a hat that makes The Tick's sidekick Arthur want to phone the Fashion Police, and that there's a very Evil lich somewhere in all of it, and that princesses function as living fusion reactors for generating ADVENTURE! energy.
unfortunatly there are no crafters in the partySome kind of very fancy (art object) belt buckle or armor buckles...the leather got eaten away, but the metal parts remain. Or gem/fancy metal studs from studded armor.
Or perhaps a belt buckle that's still carrying the enchantment of a heavyload belt or some other such dainty, but needs the leather restored in order to become usable again? If you've got someone with item crafting feats in the party, it'd be a neat way to reward them, since they could repair it for half the cost of crafting a new one.
A) It could still be valuable for gold
B) You might try to hire someone to make something with it for you (although that leads to the "Magic Items On Demand" paradigm, which I do NOT recommend unless the artisan is a rare and demanding fellow whose fees are more strange and complicated than mere gold)
C) It could serve as an Occult Implement, magical charm, or material spell component
This actually makes them an easy class of monsters to plant loot on - they pick stuff up as they squirm along, not noticing or caring, so the only limits on what an Ooze might be carrying are A) what do its enzymes NOT damage and B) where has it been, and what are the limits of what could hypothetically be found there?
Slimes fall very much into a class of monster whose loot stems from its prey, with the placement of loot being completely incidental to the monster.
Yes, even more so because they are a slime. A wolf doesn't like to swallow jewelry adn swords, because obviously, but a slime just doesn't care. This can be a strategy used on 'jonah' class monsters- ones that eat their prey whole, with no need to pick out the hard bits.
In fact, I would find that as an interesting bit of lore- maybe dragons have gizzards that grind up and melts any meat until it is paste, and only leaves newly polished jewels and gold coins behind. Thus, they can develop their hoard without any small considerations of corpse looting their lunch for those precious family heirlooms.
Slimes drop delicious jelly cubes, +10 morale bonus to all rolls for 24 hours. ;)
Bottle of air without cork, the slime is constantly bubbling and tries to make it stop, but wont abandon its treasure. It wont notice the characters until they attack it.
Cube of Force, lot of possible variations, especially with curses.
Any item giving Acid Resistance, because it wont stop people suffocating inside slime, though the slime wont understand why it haves difficulties to digest its meals.
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Slimes are their own reward.
Slimes are their own reward.
Beat me to it! That being said a Wizard, Alchemist or enterprising Rogue ect. should be happy to have a sample of slime or pudding as a reward.
Other gear could be found on the corpses of the slimes last meals the higher perception DC they beat the more choice gear they could find.
The mummified corpse of a millions-and-millions-of-years-old giant mosquito...with its last meal preserved inside?
Now THAT'S an Alchemist or Necromancer's idea of treasure....
And it appears that using the blood in the mosquito...you can REVIVE DINOSAURS.
Or you could just take a nice little vacation in the generic jungle areas. You would probably encounter plenty of dinosaurs anyway.
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Alternatively, put the ooze inside something large enough to completely contain it, but soft and light enough for the slime's motions to propel it across the ground.
DM: "You see a very nice-looking suit of leather armor scooting across the floor toward you."
PC: "Hey, wow! Look at that, guys! The treasure's just GIVING ITSELF to us now!"
DM: "Not exactly...."
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The mummified corpse of a millions-and-millions-of-years-old giant mosquito...with its last meal preserved inside?
Now THAT'S an Alchemist or Necromancer's idea of treasure....
And it appears that using the blood in the mosquito...you can REVIVE DINOSAURS.
Or you could just take a nice little vacation in the generic jungle areas. You would probably encounter plenty of dinosaurs anyway.
Yeah, yeah, sure dinosaurs are everywhere, who cares, right?
But millions and millions of years ago, there were...THINGS...!
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The mummified corpse of a millions-and-millions-of-years-old giant mosquito...with its last meal preserved inside?
Now THAT'S an Alchemist or Necromancer's idea of treasure....
And it appears that using the blood in the mosquito...you can REVIVE DINOSAURS.
Or you could just take a nice little vacation in the generic jungle areas. You would probably encounter plenty of dinosaurs anyway.
Yeah, yeah, sure dinosaurs are everywhere, who cares, right?
But millions and millions of years ago, there were...THINGS...!
Well the setting is a post apocalyptic earth that's at least a thousand years in the future plus any mosquito inside one of these slimes would be totally dead so there's that.
The again....
I'll chime in for the "remnants of the previous fools" option as well - metal ingots and gems seem the most appropriate in a mine, but tools, armor, and weapons make sense as well. Perhaps some with hafts or handles rotted away, since the oozes' enzymes could probably break down wood.
Hmm. So how about lots of mundane Dwarven armor and weapons along with two +2 Orc-bane swords, one +2 Orc-bane dagger, a ring of elemental command (fire), the remnants of a staff of the magi, and a ring of invisibility?
And remember that a SLIME is just a SMILE that has lost its way.
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Don't forget to have a slightly smaller ooze or jelly inside the big one of a completely different type that the larger one was trying to digest. If they slash or pierce it, the smaller ooze either jets out or it waits until the larger ooze is dead and not containing it, then it erupts out if anyone tries to reach into the larger ooze corpse to pull out any visible goodies. Depending on the color of both oozes, the smaller one may be noticeable as an odd striation or rusty smudge or smear, possibly mistaken for bodily fluids still being digested from previous prey.
I figure that the current encounter is hard enough as is, but I'll make sure to remember this for the next couple of times they encounter the witch's minions, it's a pretty good idea.
For those who don't know the factual science behind it, getting dinosaur blood from entombed mosquitoes is physically impossible. Dinosaurs existed and died out so long ago that any blood sucking vermin remains from that time period would have long since been fossilized, leaving behind only rock, not DNA.
It's a cute concept for a movie franchise though.
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For those who don't know the factual science behind it, getting dinosaur blood from entombed mosquitoes is physically impossible. Dinosaurs existed and died out so long ago that any blood sucking vermin remains from that time period would have long since been fossilized, leaving behind only rock, not DNA.
It's a cute concept for a movie franchise though.
might work in a pathfinder setting though, because magic
Significant quantities of gold dust and diamond dust.
Of course, the original containers have dissolved :P
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So that's one adamanite or mithril pick axe (picked up from an unfortunate miner, let's call him Tim)One adamantine or mithril pick axe head. The handle would have been wood and digested. Probably adamantine. I'm not aware of any advantage to a mithril pick axe.
Advantages of mithril pick axe
well for one, it's rust proof.For two it's lighter and harder than steal (which is in turn lighter than adamanite)
For three it's shiny
And the handle being devoured assumes it's not also made of that material, it could go either way, wood or metal
Just have whoever owns the mine reward them for clearing it out. Perhaps it is a dwarvish consortium that can now get back to business since the slimes are gone?
They could provide anything you would want that would be appropriate value as 'reward'.
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Along a similar theme to Dave Justus idea, give them the gift that keeps on giving... baby slimes!
You too can feel the joy only gained from raising your small, non sentient blob of jelly into a big, strapping non sentient blob of jelly that will love you forever and ever... (or maybe eat you).