Oozes & Aberrations

An ooze is not undead, elemental, or planar, it is simply wrong: matter behaving without the structure matter is supposed to have. Glass Ooze is the only confirmed entry so far, a body that should not hold its shape and does anyway. This chapter is thin the same way Demons and Dim Creatures are thin, a start rather than a ceiling, and more aberrant, non-classifiable threats belong here as they are written.

At the table: an ooze's threat is usually attrition and corrosion rather than raw damage. Let equipment and terrain suffer along with the party, not just their Wound totals.

Glass Ooze

Role: Elite Hazard / Lurker Where It Appears: Alchemical ruins, glassworks, prism-drained sites, sealed laboratories.

What It Is

Glass ooze is nearly invisible until it moves. It digests mineral, flesh, and polish, leaving armor etched and bones slick as wet porcelain. Most form where alchemical runoff seeps through sand, powdered crystal, and old reagent waste. A few are deliberate laboratory creations meant to clean vats and dispose of evidence.

It is mindless, but not harmlessly stupid. A glass ooze follows heat, vibration, and the chemical taste of sweat. It spreads thin across floors, thresholds, and shallow pools, then rises when a boot or hand breaks its surface. In torchlight it can look like a slick of water. In darkness it can be nothing at all until the first scream.

Ecology and Behavior

Glass oozes thrive in sealed places where little disturbs them. They polish stone, dissolve mortar, and leave tunnels eerily clean except for etched metal and fused grit. They do not build lairs, but they create rooms that feel prepared: no dust, no insects, no leather straps left intact, and glassy streaks along low points where they have flowed for years.

They reproduce by shedding beadlike nodules that become new oozes when soaked in mineral-rich fluid. Alchemists prize those nodules and fear them for the same reason; a careless sample jar can become a hungry sheet of transparent acid.

Signs and Knowledge

Perception (Hard) sees distortion. Natural Philosophy (Average) identifies acid-etched glass trails.

Other signs include mirror-bright floor patches, boot soles eaten smooth, metal fittings pitted only near ground level, and skeletons with unusually polished bones. Sprinkled ash, flour, colored water, or dust reveals the ooze's edge.

Glass Ooze (Elite)

• Skills: Stealth 4 while still, Fortitude 5, Unarmed 3.
• Attacks: Dissolving Touch (Unarmed; Damage 8; Crit 4; Pierce 3); Shard Surge (Unarmed; Damage 6; Crit 4; Bleeding 1).
• Abilities: Transparent Body — Ranged attacks add 1 Bane unless the ooze is dusted, wet with colored liquid, or backlit.
• Abilities: Etch Gear — On 2 Banes from a defender hit by Dissolving Touch, one exposed nonmagical item is damaged.
• Soul: No claimable coin exists; at death canon does not specify (default).

Tactics

A glass ooze begins as terrain. It waits across a doorway, under shallow water, or on a floor where people must kneel to examine something. Once discovered, it tries to hold the center of movement rather than pursue at speed. It engulfs feet, dissolves straps, and makes the party choose between standing still in acid or stumbling into other hazards.

It is strongest when the room has bad visibility and valuable gear. Give players ways to reveal it: dust, spilled wine, lamp soot, colored chalk, or reflected light. Once revealed, the encounter becomes a positioning problem instead of a gotcha.

Harvesting and Trade

Variants

• Mirror Ooze: Reflective surface adds confusion in candlelight and may imitate nearby silhouettes.
• Bottle Ooze: Tiny version sealed in old lab glass; dangerous when thrown or broken.
• Prism-Fed Ooze: Takes on colored bands and can split light into dazzling flashes when struck by bright magic.