Civilised Oblex Race
Race Details
By experimenting on the slimes, jellies, and puddings that infest the depths of the Underdark, mind flayers created a special breed of ooze, the oblex — a slime capable of assaulting the minds of other creatures.
In very rare cases, some oblexes, through the development of their hunting tactics or the suppression of their lust for knowledge and memories, end up living among humanoids as one of them.
Civilised Oblex Traits
Civilised oblexes tend to spend more time in the shape of one of their victims than their wild counterparts, but still retain most of their traits.
Ability Score Increase
Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age
Oblexes reach their form of adulthood after consuming enough knowledge and memories. However, they are ageless.
Alignment
Oblexes are oozes that have been granted intelligence and are driven by hunger. However, they need not give in to their instincts, and some develop their sentience enough to deviate form evil alignments.
Size
While in their copied shape, oblexes imitate the size properties of their past victims.
In their ooze shape, their size is medium as well. However, their density is similar to that of water, which is why civilised oblexes tend to avoid getting too big.
Example of size and mass
To illustrate why its more practical for them to restrict their size, let's use the example of an average civilised oblex: in their relaxed, not upright state they can usually be 30cm tall (1 foot) and take an area of 2.25 m2 (25sq.ft.). As mentioned, their density is similar to that of water, so this in this example, with them taking a volume of 0.3375m3, they would weight over 337.5kg (roughly 744 pounds) in their ooze shape.
Speed
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Ooze form: Your base walking speed in your ooze form is 20 feet.
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Humanoid form: Your speed corresponds to that of the race of humanoid you are imitating.
Languages
You can speak, read and write Common. You also gain the knowledge of some of the languages known by the humanoids you have memorised.
The number of languages you can add in this manner corresponds to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1). When you replace a memorised humanoid, you forget the languages you drained from them.
Senses
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Ooze form: Your have blindsight for 60 feet but are blind beyond that. As such, in this form you are immune to blinding effects.
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Humanoid form: Your senses correspond to that of the race of humanoid you are imitating.
Amorphous
While in your ooze form, you can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. While doing this you move at half your normal speed
At the DM's discretion, a powerful effect might split your form (e.g. a stone door closes on top of you). In that case you lose a portion of your current hit points proportional to the part you lost. You can use a bonus action when within 5ft of of said part to rejoin with it, recovering said hit points.
Considerations: The biggest of the pieces in which your body is split is considered your main body.
Your humanoid form seems to be wounded when damaged, but the amputation of a body part is too much to conceal. If a part of your humanoid form is amputated, your red ooze nature can be seen within instead of flesh and bone.
Memory Eating
As an action, you try and consume the memories of a foe.
When you use this ability, target one creature you can see within 5 feet of you and have them make a Wisdom saving throw. The DC for this saving throw is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier. On a failed save, the creature takes 1d8 psychic damage and becomes memory drained until the start of your next turn, but avoids both effects on a successful one. The damage increases to 2d8 at 6th level, 3d8 at 11th level and 4d8 at 16th level.
If a humanoid dies while memory drained, you can use a bonus action while no more than 5 feet away from it to drain their mind and commit the knowledge to your memory. After a minute has passed from their death, you can no longer do so.
As a civilised oblex you are able to memorise a number of humanoid forms and their memories. This number corresponds to half your proficiency bonus, rounded up. If you already have memorised the knowledge of your maximum number of humanoids, you may replace everything from one of them with the new information.
Aversion to fire
If you take fire damage, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the end of your next turn.
Sulfurous Impersonation
As an action you can take the appearance and voice of one of the humanoids you have memorised, but you don't gain any of their racial features except for their senses. Any clothing or equipment you may carry is not changed, and you can't replicate any equipment they had.
You stay in their form until you use an action to revert to your true form or you die.
Memory Access: While in a remembered humanoid's form, you have a notion of their personality and their recent activities. However, you do not gain immediate access to all of their memories or knowledge. You can spend a minute to try and delve deeper into the memories and knowledge of the past humanoid. The DC of this task depends on how complicated the knowledge was and how buried or protected the person kept it, so it is ultimately determined by your DM. Roll an investigation check for this task. If you succeed, you can spend 10 minutes learning about the information you were looking for. You can attempt to do this a number of times per short rest. This number is equal to your proficiency bonus.
You can also use this action to swap one of the languages you took from a memorised humanoid for another that you can obtain that way.
Dispelling effects: This transformation relies on your use of your inherent magical properties to instinctively adjust your consistency, feel and coloration to the appropriate ones. If subjected to effects that dispel magic, you lose these effects, appearing like an ooze in the shape of a humanoid. Where it applies, the DC to dispel them is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier.
The same hit point pool is shared across all your forms.
Nourishment
Civilised oblexes live on a lower energy diet than their wild counterparts. They can survive fine with the diet of an average humanoid and getting rest daily. Furthermore, their hunger for knowledge need not be sated by the consumption of memories, with conventional methods working as well.
However, predatory civilised oblexes may indulge their hunting instincts and consume humanoids for nourishment and memories. When they do this, they don't need to rest, eat or drink for that day, and during that time they gain a proficiency or language from their victim to be randomly determined by the DM. Alternatively, they can perform an investigation check for it like they would with the knowledge of a memorised form. A humanoid consumed in this manner can't be commited to memory.
When consuming humanoids in this manner, your sulphurous smell, which is usually very hidden in humanoid form, becomes easier to perceive when within 10 feet of you.
Example of being split
A civilised oblex in one of their humanoid forms is running through a corridor, trying to reach the end, while a giant falling stone slab is about to close the corridor not far from them. They make an athletics check of DC 18 and roll a 17. That should be a failure but the DM decides to do something different. The character doesn't manage to cross in time, even after sliding, and is trapped under the door. It is about to snap shut on them. They make a dexterity saving throw and succeed, shifting 60% of their ooze into the outside of the stone door. It finally crushes them, and they now look like a pair of legs with half a torso on top. Their current hit points are reduced to six tenths of what they were, and after returning to their true form, they manage to reform the humanoid shape, despite needing to stretch thin to do so. After having consumed a proper meal, or maybe an unfortunate victim, they rest, and recover their original mass and hit points.
