BX Monsters A to Z: Gelatinous cube

 And now, the most iconic monster in D&D history, the Captain of Team Ooze and Slime, the inspiration for the title of this very blog... the wonderful, wobbly, and weird gelatinous cube!

I've always had a bit of a soft spot (pun intended) for the slimes and oozes of D&D, and the gelatinous cube particularly captured my interest from the first moment I thumbed over its entry in the monsters chapter of the Basic Set. (I have a deep fascination with both transparent substances and polyhedral solids. Maybe it's an autistic thing.) I'm sure the gelatinous cube is one of, if not THE, first monsters to arise from the conventions of the game itself, specifically that of the 10'x10'x10' corridors seen on almost all dungeon maps. What better size and shape to roam those corridors scouring them clean of delicious organic detritus? So the head janitor of ruins and catacombs came into being.

As one would expect, gelatinous cubes are pretty squishy, with an Armor Class of 8, perhaps representing just a touch of spongy resilience over basic human flesh. Its 4 Hit Dice are fairly robust, though many a blogger has pointed out that it seems rather paltry considering the creature's 1,000 cubic foot volume. Of course, a monster's toughness is not necessarily a direct function of pure bulk. In this case, I imagine the monster's hit points to represent a tougher outer layer, like a rubbery cell wall, which when finally breached releases its inner contents, like syrup in consistency, and so the creature dies. Thus, it's not as tough to kill as its size might indicate, although still pretty stout for Basic-level parties. The creature gets only one attack per round, for a respectable if unspectacular 2-8 points of damage, plus paralysis for 2-8 turns unless a saving throw is made. It's worth noting that this places it far below the threat level of the carrion crawler with its eight paralyzing attacks per round. The gelatinous cube does have the advantage of surprising on a roll of 1-4 instead of the usual 1-2, but with that measly single attack, it's not likely to gain a whole lot of advantage by it. 

The description states that a gelatinous cube (you'll only ever encounter one at a time under normal circumstances) will attack any living thing it encounters, so no reaction roll necessary. Its Morale is 12, so it's also never going to give up or break off its attack. Fortunately, most parties can probably outrun it, with its movement rate of 60'(20')... assuming nobody's been paralyzed. 

The text states that the monster is vulnerable to weapons and fire, but immune to cold and lightning, which is supremely unlikely to come up at all during play, as nobody's going to waste a big spell such as ice storm or lightning bolt on one. In my experience, gelatinous cubes, with their one attack and poor AC, are usually pretty quickly dispatched using weapons alone.

Gelatinous cubes can't digest materials like metal and gemstones (except perhaps for things like pearls, which are just calcium carbonate, essentially the same stuff bones are made of) and in their scavenging may sweep up a few tidbits amounting to Treasure Type V. Not a loot bonanza by any means, but a chance of a few coins, a few gems, and maybe even a magic item. A transparent cube of jelly with a smattering of loose coins and gems suspended inside it is a pretty cool image.

I feel like gelatinous cubes are sorely in need of some strengthening. The most obvious target for that is the number of attacks per round. Instead of a single attack against a single target, the cube ought to be able to attack every target along its 10' leading face. If it gains surprise, it doesn't even need to make an attack roll, as the prey has run right into it like a spotlessly clean patio door... everybody in the front rank save vs. paralysis! It would make sense for the cube's rubbery flesh to be immune to bludgeoning weapons, so the clerics better just back off and get ready to un-paralyze their edged-weapon-wielding teammates with cure light wounds spells.It's also kind of a shame the number appearing isn't at least 1-2 or 1-3. Can you imagine the fun of having a party flee one cube, dragging a couple of paralyzed comrades, only to slam face-first into a second one coming from the opposite direction? Sounds like pure gold to me! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stuff you can do with an ascending AC and attack bonus-based combat paradigm

 Taking a break from the Monsters A to Z for some pondering on what you can do with some new old-school friendly combat mechanics. One of the strongest signs that Old School gaming is not simply about nostalgia is the extent to which old schoolers have embraced ascending Armor Class, in conjunction with class-based attack bonuses, over the old descending-AC-and-attack matrix or THAC0 system. It doesn't just streamline the math and eliminate a whole layer of fiddliness, though, as much as those effects are to be hailed. Within the ascending AC and attack bonus framework, you can do some pretty cool things that would have required some real mental gymnastics in the traditional system. The magic of this approach really lies in the use of an attack bonus stat rather than lines and columns in an attack matrix, which allows everyone to use the same target number for the same target.  To illustrate the point a bit more clearly, consider a 5th-level fighter and a 1st-level magic-user ...
Read more

What to do with treasure?

 In fantasy role-playing games, particularly those which link character advancement to recovery of treasure (of which practice, for the record, I am a fan and proponent), characters are going to accumulate a lot of silver, gold, and jewels over the course of an adventuring career. There is, unfortunately, a dearth of things on which to spend it in the rule books. At character creation and shortly thereafter, the focus is on the acquisition of basic adventuring gear. A newly-created PC may have to economize, especially on armor and weapons,but by second level, most of those concerns have been settled: a fighter who's accumulated enough treasure to gain his first level advancement has more than enough to purchase a suit of plate armor and his weapons of choice (if he hasn't already found magical versions) and probably a warhorse to boot. Mid-level characters may take interest in the "vehicles" section of the equipment roster, contemplating the purchase of ships or wagon...
Read more

Still beating

 I don't know if anyone has noticed my fairly long absence, but here's my excuse. In the wee hours of September 24th, I went to the emergency room with chest tightness and pains running down both arms to my inner elbows. It turns out it was a heart attack, and it was determined that two of my coronary arteries were more than 90% occluded, with another at 60%-plus blockage. It was decided I should undergo open heart surgery for a triple bypass, which was performed on the 29th.  My pre- and post-op hospital stay was about as good as one could expect under the circumstances, with a lot of wonderful nurses, CNAs, and other professionals looking after me around the clock. There were a couple stinkers, too, who had no compassion at all for my fragile mental health at the time, but let's not dwell on them.  I was discharged on October 5th (I think; time has become even more nebulous to my autistic brain than it normally is) and, after a brief readmission for pains that turned ou...
Read more