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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Vaultbreaker Ooze

Though many oozes hunt among the dreary confines of underground caverns, dungeons, and abandoned ruins, others seek to quell their hunger in areas well-trafficked by civilized creatures. The aptly named vaultbreaker oozes exhibit a mindless compulsion to feed on and digest precious metals. When near precious metals, the ichor exuded from their metallic plasm tarnishes black and forms small, jagged crystals that dot the oozes' surface. Like a strange biological compass, these crystals point vaultbreaker oozes to their next meal.

Though mindless, these strange oozes exhibit an innate instinct for picking and bypassing locks to reach their meals by inserting a gelatinous pseudopod into a keyhole and then hardening the appendage into solid metal, forming a tool similar to a skeleton key.

Vaultbreaker oozes can often be found in cities where tectonic instability has created fissures and cracks, allowing them to infiltrate basements, vaults, and underground chambers that may contain treasure. When rumors of vaultbreaker ooze sightings surface, banker consortiums, Abadaran priests, and even local thieves guilds offer hefty sums to have the dangerous oozes destroyed—though some might instead offer a bounty for their capture.

Recall Knowledge - Ooze (Occultism): DC 24
Unspecific Lore: DC 22
Specific Lore: DC 19

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Changes from being Weak are marked in red below.
NOTE: The -2 damage penalty to non-strike offensive abilities (-4 if the ability is limited, such as spells) is NOT factored in.

Weak Vaultbreaker OozeCreature 5

Legacy Content

Uncommon N Large Mindless Ooze 
Source Pathfinder #158: Sixty Feet Under pg. 87
Perception +10; motion sense 60 feet, treasure sense (imprecise) 30 feet
Skills Thievery +15
Str +4, Dex +2, Con +7, Int -5, Wis +0, Cha -5
Motion Sense A vaultbreaker ooze can sense nearby motion through vibration and air movement.
Treasure Sense The vaultbreaker ooze's metallic plasm alerts it to the presence of metals with the precious trait (including gold and platinum) within 30 feet.
AC 11; Fort +15, Ref +8, Will +6
HP 130; Immunities acid, critical hits, mental, precision, unconscious, visual
Metallify [reaction] (manipulate, polymorph, transmutation) Trigger A creature Strikes the vaultbreaker ooze; Effect The ooze's outer plasm hardens into a protective shell of precious metals. Until the start of its next turn, it gains resistance 5 to physical damage (except adamantine), it has a –5-foot penalty to its Speed, and its pseudopod Strikes gain the versatile S or P weapon trait.
Speed 20 feet, climb 10 feet
Melee [one-action] pseudopod +15 [+10/+5], Damage 1d8-2+8 bludgeoning plus 2d6 acidEngulf [two-actions] DC 21, 2d8+9 acid, Escape DC 21, Rupture 14 (19 when using Metallify)Form Tool [two-actions] (manipulate, polymorph, transmutation) The vaultbreaker ooze instinctually shapes its pseudopod into a key, lockpick, or tool required to bypass a locking mechanism; it uses this pseudopod as thieves' tools to Pick a Lock or Disable a Device.

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Tracking a Vaultbreaker Ooze

A vaultbreaker ooze that has recently fed on precious metals leaves behind a faint trail of smeared, molten leaf of what it ingested (often gold or silver). A character who succeeds at a DC 21 Perception check can detect the strange trail, though following the ooze using this residue requires a successful DC 24 Survival check to Track. A trail of metal leaf left by a vaultbreaker ooze flakes away after 1d4 days.

All Monsters in "Ooze"

NameLevel
Amoeba Swarm1
Black Pudding7
Blood Ooze4
Carnivorous Blob13
Chromatic Ooze18
Crawling Slurry16
Gelatinous Cube3
Giant Amoeba1
Gray Ooze4
Ooze, Gunpowder14
Id Ooze7
Living Tar7
Ochre Jelly5
Ooze, Pyronite10
Rust Ooze3
Sewer Ooze1
Slime Mold2
String Slime3
Tallow Ooze11
Tomb Jelly5
Vaultbreaker Ooze6
Verdurous Ooze6
Yeast Ooze2

Ooze

Source Bestiary pg. 254
Slimes, molds, and other oozes can be found in dank dungeons and shadowed forests. While not necessarily evil, some grow to enormous sizes and have insatiable appetites.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Amoebas Large and Small

Giant amoebas and amoeba swarms are usually found near each other, as the two oozes are part of the same life cycle. When a giant amoeba grows large enough, it can spontaneously split apart into two separate amoeba swarms, and when an amoeba swarm feeds enough, its individual components can fuse together into a single creature.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Oozing Acid

Many oozes have acidic attacks that can quickly degrade flesh, wood, and even stronger materials. Some believe that oozes are the result of alchemical or magical experimentation run amok, while others postulate that they simply emerged from the natural processes of evolution.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Other Oozes

Many varieties of these nearly mindless predators exist in the world. Some are mere variants, with different colored puddings, jellies, and oozes with little to differentiate them from those presented here other than their habitat. Others are more specialized, or even dangerously intelligent. The shoggoth is one such example, but another variety of deadly and powerful ooze is the thankfully rare blight, a creature composed of protoplasm and eyes that curses entire regions with its presence.