Ochre Jelly

Oozes are a weird brand of monster. They are amorphous blobs of jelly (?) that slither in search of food. And that's it. They only want to eat and grow as big as possible. Doesn't sound the most fascinating, but just in Bestiary 1 there are four distinct types of them.

Today on the menu we have the Ochre Jelly. Outside of its color, what sets it apart? The fact that it only dissolves the flesh, leaving everything else intact. It also splits in two upon receiving slashing or piercing damage (that's a one-way ticket to your party finding themselves outnumbered very quickly).

There are many applications of both of these abilities, it's just the question of finding them. A necromancer making sure his skeletons are kept nice and clean? An artist working in bone using a pet slime to make sure he only has the best materials? Group of bandits using the ooze to kill people, taking advantage of the fact that it doesn't dissolve precious materials? I think we can easily see that particular critter finding its uses in great many scenarios, even outside of combat.

- Max

Hook 1 (Max) - Hunger in the Dark

Every culture has its customs regarding the burial of the dead. People of the Pale Orchard believe that flesh holds your soul down in the mud, thus in order to move on, your skeleton needs to be picked clean of its putrid meat.

Once a person dies, their corpse is taken by the Bone Clerks who throw their body into the Yellow Pit. It remains therein for some time before then being returned, clean and white, ready to be properly buried and on to the afterlife.

The thing is, with everybody fed to it, the Yellow Pit grows bigger.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - Heal or High Water

Gustav Olaf is a skittish cleric who has information that can bring down the corrupt regime in the Arthenian Grand Principality. Gustav is also extremely paranoid and is currently hidden in a faraway cave waiting for his contact. He has an incredibly devious plan to keep the information from falling into the wrong hands. Indeed, Gustav has written all of the information on his skin and keeps two other things with him in his hiding place: a box that contains single ochre jelly within and another box that holds at least two dozen healing scrolls.

Should anyone else but the designated contact appear, Gustav plans to release the ooze, at which point he will spend the rest of the combat healing any oozes that split apart. In practice, this means that instead of several splits during a fight with a single ochre ooze, this will prolong the combat until the battlefield is positively swarming with oozes, making combat—and survival—all but impossible.

Hook 3 (TJ) - Streetsweeper

Cleaning the streets of a bustling metropolis is a tall order. The city council in Aerilon has hired numerous companies that all end up falling short of keeping the city truly clean. Their newest hire has some- 

Unconventional methods. 

Ochre jellies, with their ooze-like acidity and ability to squeeze into cracks and crevices, have the city looking better than it ever has. Concerned citizens have voiced opposition to having oozes on the major thoroughfare, but the cleaning crews have repeatedly assured that they're harmless and under control. If that control ends up being more tenuous than they claim, it could spell disaster.

Gelatinous Cube

The Gelatinous Cube is a simple creature. It's just mindless block of ooze, shuffling around looking for something to eat. Some days I can empathize. In my mind, a gelatinous cube is more of a classic dungeon-crawling "gotcha" than really something interesting to encounter. Found usually for no good reason other than "you're in a dungeon," the gelatinous cube doesn't pose much threat to a prepared party. It's very slow, has nothing for a Reflex save, and despite having low AC, ooze immunities make it impossible to crit, removing the largest penalty PF2e would give it based on the crit rules. It's a sack of hit points that tries to eat you, nothing new here.

The mindless trait implies to me that gelatinous cubes are predictable; they will always move in the direction of food and will not make snap decisions about who is attacking them or what the biggest threat is. This means that gelatinous cubes might be best used either in groups or in service to a smarter beast that can exploit them. A maniacal wizard dropping gelatinous cubes from traps in the ceiling? Sure. A kitchen using a gelatinous cube as a primeval garbage disposal? Ship it.

This is also a great monster to make sure you understand PF2e's incapacitation trait. Any creature more than double the level of the gelatinous cube treats its saving throw against the cube's Paralysis ability as one degree of success better. This puts an upper limit on how effective the cube can really be when using it as a minion of sorts. You could also use it intentionally as a minor roadblock at higher levels, integrating it more fluidly with traps. Are the PCs mostly going to succeed their saving throws based on the Incapacitation trait? Sure. But critical failures still exist, and they might just show up at the most inconvenient time.

Hook 1 (TJ) - Secret Ingredient

The sous-chef of the Gilded Goose is in desperate need of some assistance. The regent of Haliford is making his bi-annual visit and will undoubtedly be stopping by for his favorite gelatin dessert. If you're willing to take a vow of silence and a bag of gold for your troubles, the sous-chef has the key for the cellar where the secret ingredient is kept. As long as you're confident you can subdue (but not kill!) the largest gelatinous cube you've ever seen, you'll have the sous-chef's gratitude, and perhaps an audience with the regent.

Hook 2 (Max) - Ancient Armory

In the old ruins south of the town, it's well known that beneath the keep is a small, dark chamber that once served as an armory. Most of the armaments lay in disrepair, though one set of beautiful armor remains untouched by the passage of time; an ornamental plate, pure black with golden embellishments. Its visor is up, revealing it empty. A keen eye, however, might spot a tinge of movement as if flowing water fills the ancient armor.

Hook 3 (Nemanja) - Labyrimpthian

While following an insane, teleporting imp, a group of demon-hunters reach a deviously crafted dungeon; a labyrinthine realm composed entirely of mirrors, expertly placed pit traps, and several roaming gelatinous cubes. The imp seems to know the realm like the back of his hand, but letting him escape is not an option. Luckily, he seems to be enjoying the hunt a bit too much...

Black Pudding

Oozes, ehh?

The Blambinken Museum of All That Was uses black puddings as a sort of a "living motion sensor". Essentially, when night falls, black puddings, locked in carefully crafted containers that let them attack but not escape are placed tactically around the most critical museum pieces. The museum's officials make this a known fact, as they've grown tired of cleaning the dissolved remains of would-be thieves from the floors. Nevertheless, a newly formed thieves guild has managed to snag a few pieces, and a group of orphans joining it needs to do the same as part of the initiation process.

During the dwarven festivity of Shableirgah, a black pudding is intentionally created from scraps of food discarded during the feast. Namely, a deep pit is dug in the middle of the encampment, and younguns are tasked with going around, picking up any leftover foodstuff (and there tends to be a lot) and pouring it all into the pit. As the festivity draws to a close, older dwarves ritually go over to the pit, shake their beards over it, releasing any food that got entangled in them. Finally, a bog priest arrives, pours fresh mountain goat blood into the pit as well, and then chants to animate the contents of it. The resulting ooze varies in shape, form and smell over the years, but particularly nasty ones are a point of pride for years to come. That is, of course, if the Chieftan-nominated champions manage to defeat it...

The last line of Gargathas the black dragon's sewer for defenses is a long corridor littered with black puddings. While anyone who got that far is certain to survive an encounter with the oozes, it is Gargathas's hope that at least a few swords and spears will be destroyed along the way.