Slime - Player Race
Design Notes
I designed this race upon request to homebrew a slime capable of absorbing memories from other creatures. The basic requirements were:
- Slime
- Looks like a round, transparent/translucent blob (“clear jello”)
- Can absorb memories from creatures it eats
- Can take on the form of other creatures
Slime
Through the never-ending engulfment of other creatures, the race of slimes not only evolved to absorb the physical nutrients of their prey but also developed the ability to consume their memories. As a result, these slimes have achieved something their more primitive cousins - oozes - could not: intelligence and sentience. How exactly the slimes learned speech and even magic remains a mystery. What is certain, however, is that a former species of round blobs of translucent goop has become a capable and civilized race with their own quirks and abilities.
Slime traits
Your slime character has the following traits:
Ability Score Increase Your Constitution increases by 2, and either your Dexterity or your Intelligence increases by 1.
Age Slimes physically mature rapidly, though their mental development depends a lot on the type of prey they consume and absorb memories from. The longest living slime is said to have been over 100 years old though the suggested average lifespan is close to 80 years.
Alignment N/A
Size While slimes can fit into various spaces, the mass of a full grown slime is similar to a human’s. A slime naturally appears as a round-ish blob but can also take on the form of a humanoid between five to six feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed As a blob or humanoid, your base sliding/walking speed is 30ft.
Languages Slimes speak Common and Primordial.
Absorb Memories As a blob, you may consume a creature of size Medium or smaller over the course of a short rest (or an equivalent amount of time) and peer into their memories as long as they had memories. As the creature's life flashes through your mind, you learn the most important memory from their life. You can also actively glean additional information; you may ask the DM one question, and the DM must answer truthfully though they may couch the answer in figurative language representative of the memory's qualities. Once you have used this trait, you may not use it again until you have taken a long rest.
Resilient Slime Body Your slime body has very few internal organs and is made mostly of adaptable fluid. When you are hit by an attack, you may use your reaction to gain resistance to all nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage until the start of your next turn including against the attack that hit you. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Malleable Form You are able to squeeze through spaces as narrow as one inch wide. You are considered prone as you do so. Any equipment or objects that you have in your internal pockets must be able to fit within the space you are moving through or be ejected from your body. You exit the space as a blob.
As an action, you are able to morph into the appearance of a medium-sized humanoid that you have seen or consumed. You are still translucent though you appear superficially anatomically correct. As a humanoid, you may wield weapons, use tools, and wear armor similar to other humanoids. You can also form in and out of any armor or clothes while morphing and ignore the time required to don/doff the equipment. You revert to your blob form as an action or if you are knocked unconscious. Doing so automatically forces you to exit and drop any equipment you are using that requires a humanoid body.
Slimes cannot wear traditional armor as a blob. You may have armor crafted/modified specifically for that form. As a guideline, DMs should consider at least twice the cost of traditional armor if purchasing from a normal smith.
Internal Pockets Slimes can form pockets within their gelatinous body to carry objects. While you can have several pockets within your body, they collectively have up to a volume of 1 cubic foot. For example, you can hold a single short sword or several small pouches or a handful of arrows or a pair of daggers. Another creature can attempt to wrestle an object from inside your body through an Athletics check contested by your Acrobatics or Athletics check. You may use this trait even as a humanoid though the objects must fit within your body.
Blob Pseudopods As a blob, you do not have versatile appendages and cannot use tools that require fine motor control or wield traditional weapons. However, you can quickly lash out with an ooze-like pseudopod to perform unarmed strikes. Your unarmed strike deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier unless otherwise determined (e.g. through class features or feats).
You may also cast spells using the movement of your pseudopods to mimic somatic components.
FAQ
Climbing as a Blob The slime blob form can still climb vertical surfaces/rope/etc. You follow the standard rules for climbing.
Potential changes
In the case that the race still feels too strong, here are a list of possible changes. You may choose to adjust these features individually or in combination as needed.
- Absorb Memories Change time needed from "a short rest" to "1 hour" explicitly.
- Resilient Slime Body Change "resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage" to "resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning damage only".
- Malleable Form Change "don/doff armor as an action" to "you may reduce the time needed to don armor by half or down to a minute, whichever is lower."
References:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/races/12259-slimefolk
Compendium of Forgotten Secrets (Slime Warlock Patron)
Oozes - Monster Manual
Legend Lore/Divination spells
Images:
https://tensura.fandom.com/wiki/Rimuru_Tempest
Change log
V 4.0
- Remove climbing speed nerf in blob form.
- Remove natural armor and death saving throw critical save from Resilient Fluids.
- Rename Wound Resistant back to Resilient Slime Body.
- Set shapeshift from Malleable Body to an Action instead of 10 minutes.
- Rename Malleable Boby to Malleable Form.
- State that shifting from humanoid to blob automatically drops items and armor if they are for humanoid forms.
- Set limit of internal pockets to 1 cubic foot (1x1x1 foot cube volume).
- Clarify pseudopod unarmed strike does 1+Str mod bludgeoning damage unless otherwise noted.
- Rename Pseudopod Strikes and Casting to Blob Pseudopods.
V 3.0
- Edit for readability.
- Edit wording for physical damage to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage.
- Reduce Absorb Memory questions to one question per use (from three).
- Add Resilient Fluids natural AC.
- Rename Resilient Slime Body to Wound Resistant trait.
- Rename Amorphous body to Malleable body.
- Remove Alter Self references and simply use "morph into humanoid" and humanoid form.
- Remove limit on morphing abilities.
- Separate Internal Pockets as its own trait.
V 2.0
- Settle on CON+2, Dex/Int +1 for ASI.
- Increase climb speed of blob form to 10ft from 5ft.
- Set Absorb Memories time to an hour or “time equivalent to a short rest”.
- Remove the following from Resilient Slime Body: “If you are knocked unconscious, you have advantage on death saving throws.”
- Buff Resilient Slime Body resistance to all physical damage.
- Nerf Resilient Slime Body resistance to 1/short rest.
- Add fluff and DM recommendation for armoring the slime’s blob form.
- Add explicit approval of use of slime pockets to the Alter Self form.
- Remove unarmed strike damage from Pseudopod strike.
- Add inability to use tools that require fine motor control while in blob form.
Other
- Conceptualized/Written by tmp_muffin
- Feedback from members of The Tavern and Discord of Many Things discord servers and r/unearthedarcana subreddit.