Slime Folk
Slime Folk, or Slimes as they are commonly called are often seen as mindless creatures that ooze along caverns, dungeons, and the Underdark. However there are many, many types of slimes and not all of them are mindless. While intelligent slimes are rare, they are becoming more and more common as time goes on and they multiply. While they tend to take a humanoid shape to interact with others and are often friendly, they are still amorphous blobs at the end of the day.
Slime Ecology
Slimes are amorphous and can look like any shape they want. A slime with no intelligence tends to just stay as a big glob of goo, however slimes with intelligence and self will choose a form that they like. This often tends to be humanoid in shape in order to interact with the other races, but can essentially be anything. Even with their ability to tailor themselves to look like anything they want, slimes are very noticeable even if they try to mimic other races due to their gooey, dripping bodies and their core that drifts lazily inside their mass. Slimes come in a rainbow of colors, their color often matching what they're made of, where they come from, or the environment they grew up in. Once a slime reaches adulthood, their color stays.
Slimes have learned a concept of gender from mimicking and observing the other humanoid races. this includes general body shape. While a slime can hold nearly any form, they are most comfortable in their selected humanoid form or in a more puddle or blob like form. When sleeping, a slime can take either form depending on whats available. While changing forms, slimes will always have a small slime puddle at their base that they scoot on. While it is possible for slimes to move by walking, the lack of bones makes their 'walking' extremely awkward.
Slime culture is flexible and often dictated by their neighbors. Without influence from a neary trading partner or friendly neighbor, slimes will not develop much in the way of a caste system, tending to stay egalitarian with an elder slime that makes decisions for the tribe. With influence from neighbors, slimes can develop a caste system, nobles, and the like as they are shaped by the actions of their new 'friends'. However, no matter what, slimes still keep two things consistent within their culture and social structure. One, there is always an elder slime, and this is their leader. Two, Slimes follow the path of power through diversity. After all, its easier to get food when you have a slime who is really good at farming, one who can hunt near lava, one who can hunt in the dark, and the like.
Slimes are not as affected by things such as losing limbs or even their head as long as their core is fine and the injury doesn't make them lose too much mass or fluid, as they can just reform a new one if given enough time to heal and feed. Even so it'll take some time for the slime to regain their mass so such an injury will affect them for a few days at the least.
Intelligent Slimes still reproduce like their unintelligent counterparts, splitting if they are in a food rich environment into two nearly identical copies of the same slime. However they will prefer to get together with another slime or possibly even another race entirely if presented the opportunity as this leads to a different type of slime altogether.
Being a living thing, all the same things that work on humanoids work on them, such as healing magic, resting, and the Medicine skill. This wasn't discovered until Intelligent slimes became more commonplace, as it was very difficult to attempt to heal a slime who wanted to eat you for dinner.
Slime Personality
Slimes with intelligence are much rarer than common slimes and while their numbers are growing, they are both curious and apprehensive of the outside world. This disconnect from society as a whole and inherent curiosity makes their minds and ideals as malleable as their bodies.
Your average slime upon leaving to explore the world or sate its curiosity will tend to latch onto the first thing that is nice to it and learn from it. Adopting its ways of thinking and sometimes its mannerisms as the slime learns. A slime won't stick to one person too long though if they are either treated poorly or aren't stimulated by being in that person's company. Slimes love to hug people, usually for warmth which can get annoying for their adventuring parties at times.
All slimes have an underlying hunger and they love food. The fastest way to become a slime's friend is to offer it various types of food. Of course slimes aren't picky, and will gladly tag along with an adventurers group to try all the things they kill in their adventure.
Slimes usually have no interest in religion, more concerned with what they can see and taste. However slimes who spend enough time with a church can develop interest in religion itself just due to their natural curiosity. Likewise slimes born in holy or unholy regions have an interest in religion, having been born into it.
Slimes do not have an opinion one way or another about things such as slavery or other 'evil' acts, nor do they have much of an opinion of 'good' acts such as killing demons and other evil creatures. They only care about who is nice to them and who is mean to them and their family/friends. There is one race where slimes do have an opinion though, Mycanids. While these mushroom people are often seen as friendly to outsiders, Slimes see them as food. This misconception happens as unlike other races, Mycanids can't communicate well with slimes as their repore spores dissolve upon contact with a slime while slimes only see them as yummy walking mushrooms. Slimes can still learn to become friends with Mycanids, but this often requires outside assistance.
Slime Quirks
Slimes aren't without their quirks. This is usually dictated by where they are from and what type of slime they are.
- Boundaries? What are those? Everyone loves a hug!
- You like interacting with people, but still see corpses as food.
- You tend to give silly nicknames to everything based on what they look like or do.
- You don't understand clothes, why wear something that can't change with you?
- You're often told your curiosity will be the death of you.
- You feel bad for the other races, needing to use cosmetics to change how they look.
- You change your body shape based on your mood and are prone to emotional outbursts.
- Your very protective of the people you call friends.
Slime Names
Slimes, as they come in all shapes and colors, tend to value names highly as it helps you identify your friend who chose to look different that day. Even so, they tend to choose names based on their color and/or their favorite food, putting a little spin on the name so they don't confuse other slimes.
Slime Names: Cremie, Lyme, Oran, Nyana, Cherri, Whine, Spyce, Fyre, Delly, Pinkie, Plumpkin, Lenon, Cyan, Brownie, Cubert.
Slime Traits
Your Slime character has the following traits. Some give you a choice, this choice should reflect what kind of slime you are.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution is increased by 1, and one ability score of your choice is increased by 1.
Age. A typical slime can be anywhere from 5 years to many decades old. Slimes reach full size after a few years, however they must be born from other intelligent slime, a result of an experiment, a byproduct of an area of wild magic, or touched by a divine being to be more than just a blob that eats.
Slimes have no upper age limit, and can live to the end of time if they aren't killed. You are immune to magical aging.
Alignment. As a slime, your alignment is often dictated by what type of slime you are. However most slimes tend to lean Neutral as they are more concerned with their own survival over the fight of good and evil.
Size. Your size is Medium. To set your Height and Weight randomly, start with rolling a size modifier:
Size modifier 3d6
Height = 5" + 8 inches + your size modifier in inches
Weight in pounds = 210 + (4 x your size modifier)
Speed. You have a base walking speed 20 feet
Slime Biology. Slimes are one of the more common monsters adventurers run into as their goopy bodies can thrive in almost any environment. Your body is very different from other races.
- You are considered both Humanoid and Ooze for spells and effects.
- You are immune to Acid damage and Disease.
- You can breathe in any environment (Including a vacuum), but you're still susceptible to spells and effects like poisonous vapors, smells, and stink clouds.
- You are considered 1 size class bigger when calculating carrying capacity and how much you can lift/push.
- You can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings, while leaving your hands free. You also have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
- You have blindsight up to 10 feet.
However, slimes are notorious for their hunger. You require triple the amount of food.
Corrosive. As a slime, you have very potent acids that you excrete to use against your foes.
- When grappling a creature, you deal your Constitution Modifier in damage to the creature as Acid damage, (minimum 1), every round while grappling the creature at the start of your turn.
- Your unarmed attacks do 1d4 + Strength modifier (minimum 1) acid damage instead of bludgeoning.
- Non magical armor must be designed to withstand your acid or you can't wear it.
Amorphous. While you as a slime keep a more humanoid appearance to socialize with other races, you are still a sentient blob and have no real defined shape.
- You can move through any space as narrow as 1 inch without squeezing, and you can escape from nonmagical restraints or being grappled by spending half of your movement. However any nonmagical equipment that can't fit inside a space you're squeezing through or nonmagical armor if escaping a grapple or restraint will be dropped.
- You can change your form to look like another creature or shape that's the same size or smaller than you, although you keep your size of Medium and your shape must use all of your mass. You will keep your hair, body, and eye color and always look like a slime. Whatever shape you take will lack any solid non geometric definition, meaning if you try to look like someone else or another race, you'll lack any details of their form.
Liquid Dependency. As a slime, You must either soak in a body of water for an hour or drink 4 times the normal water rations each day or suffer 1 level of exhaustion.
You can recover from this exhaustion only through magic or by immersing yourself in water for at least 1 hour, removing all exhaustion levels caused by this effect. Alternatively, you can submerge yourself for at least 1 hour or drink a different liquid during the day to avoid exhaustion, risking additional side effects (DM's discretion).
Additionally you have Disadvantage against saving throws regarding Extreme Heat.
Language You can speak, read, and write Common and one Exotic language of your choice.
DM Notes
Starting armor for slime PCs is automatically designed to fit them. For other armors the player finds, any armorer that can reforge armor can reforge that armor to work for the slime PC at a cost.