COLONIALS This humanoid ooze appears roughly formed, like a man-shaped taper that has been left to melt,

and inside its translucent bodies, colorful organs can be seen shif ting and settling, each a cavity filled with a different sort of ooze, filling d ifferent roles within the complex ecology of the creature. COLONIAL CR 1/2 XP 200 NG Medium humanoid wizard 1 Init -1; Senses blindsight 30 ft.; Perception +1 DEFENSE AC 14, touch 9, flat-footed 14 (-1 Dex, +1 natural, +4 mage armor) hp 10 (1d6+7) Fort +3, Ref -1, Will +3; +4 vs. poison, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph and stunning. Defensive Abilities amorphous anatomy, ooze resilience, Damage Reduction DR 1 / slashing OFFENSE Speed 20 ft., 10 ft. climb Melee 1 slam -1 (1d6-1 or 1d4-1 with reach) Ranged Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with special slam attack) Special Attacks spellcasting Spells Prepared (CL 1, concentration +4) 1st mage armor, sleep (Will DC 14) 0 (at will) detect magic, mage hand, prestidigitation STATISTICS Str 8, Dex 8, Con 16, Int 17, Wis 12, Cha 11 -2 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Con Base Atk +0, CMB +0, CMD 9 Feats Scribe Scroll (B), Toughness (5) Skills Climb 0 (+7), Knowledge (arcana) 1 (+7), Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1 (+7), Knowledge (engineering) 1 (+7), Knowledge (nature) 1 (+7), Spellcraft 1 (+ 7); Racial Modifiers +8 Climb Languages Common, Colonial, Gnome, Terran, Undercommon SQ arcane bond, hive mind ECOLOGY Environment Quantium Organization solitary, pair, commune (3-6) Treasure standard SPECIAL ABILITIES Amorphous Anatomy (Ex) A colonial s anatomy affords it a 50% chance to avoid takin g additional damage from a critical hit and halves any damage taken from sneak a ttack dice. Able to see in all directions and having no distinct back or front, a colonial cannot be flanked, but adds its armor check penalty to any Perception c hecks, as its sensory organs encompass its entire body surface. A colonial weari ng light or no armor can squeeze as a creature two size classes below its own. I f wearing medium armor, a colonial squeezes as a creature one size class below i ts own, and if wearing heavy armor, a colonial squeezes as a creature of its siz e. A colonial can stand up as a move-equivalent action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Hive Mind (Su) A colonial can contact the hive mind to attempt an untrained Know ledge skill check as if you had access to a library, although this takes the usu al 1d4 hours. When it takes 10 on a Knowledge check with a trained Knowledge skill , it instead takes 12, and when it takes 20, it instead takes 25. A colonial treats al l Knowledge skills as class skills. Malleable Limbs (Ex) A colonial can make a slam attack as a primary attack that inflicts damage as a creature one size class larger (1d6 for a size Medium colon ial) and uses 1.5 times its Str modifier if it is the only attack made, or it ca

n choose to elongate a limb to increase its reach by 5 ft., but only inflicting normal slam damage for its size (1d4 at Medium) and 1x its Str modifier. The lim b snaps back to normal size immediately after this attack, and the colonial is n ot treated as having Reach for the purpose of attacks of opportunity. If a colon ial makes a weapon attack with an extended limb, it can only do so with a one ha nded weapon. Ooze Resilience (Ex) A colonial has a +4 to saving throws versions poison or sle ep effects, as well as effects that would paralyze, polymorph or stun it. Ponderous (Ex) Colonials have a base speed of 20 ft., but their low center of gr avity allows them to be treated as one size class larger when calculating CMB or CMD, adjudicating the effects of high wind, or determining the effects of a com bat maneuver or the grab, push or pull monster abilities. Colonials are misshapen humanoids, surrounded by a clear membrane that is leathe ry and moist to the touch. Within, clear cytoplasm and a network of veins and tu bules link small cavities in which a half dozen differently colored smaller ooze s are supported, combining functions to approximate those of a typical humanoid body and mind. The ooze sees, hears, smells and tastes through its entire skin surface, in additi on to having a particularly keen sense of touch, allowing it to feel its surroundi ngs even in total darkness, but all of its senses are blurred by heavy coverings , so that armor, in particular, reduces its ability to perceive its surroundings , as does particularly thick clothing (assume a -1 to Perception checks for ever y 3 full lbs. of a given outfit, unless the clothing is specially designed, alth ough some outfits, such as a cold weather suit, cannot be so modified without re ndering them useless at their intended function ). The outer layer of a colonial is coated with a greasy secretion that protects th e creature from drying out, but is also mildly acidic, significantly more so tha n humanoid sweat, and resulting in colonials preferring adornments of ceramic or noble metals that do not degrade or corrode, such as gold. Other substances, in cluding cloth, are often treated alchemically to prevent discoloration and prema ture wear, which doubles the cost of outfits purchased after character creation. (Each colonial starts play with one outfit that is both cut to accommodate its unique sensory needs, and treated to withstand its cloth-degrading sweat. ) Despite being formed by the massive hivemind ooze-colony of Oenopion from its ow n gelatinous mass, colonials are treated as humanoids, and lack many of the char acteristics of a true ooze, having been crafted with great deliberation and skil l to emulate the shape and functions of a humanoid creature, and being capable o f visual sight, speech, manipulating items with their sausage-like fingers, and participating in humanoid society in a way which their creator cannot. Their uni que language, Colonial, cannot be spoken by other humanoids, as it involves physic al contact and the transfer of chemical signals between two colonials, or a colo nial and the central colony in Oenopion, to which they return at least annually to download new information gleaned and sensations experienced in their travels. A colonial can shout in this language, to communicate a crude one-word message to a nother colonial within 30 ft., but other races will only perceive this communica tion as a sharp bitter smell. Colonial Characters Colonials are defined by class levels they do not possess racial Hit Dice. Colon ials have the following racial traits. +2 Intelligence, +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity: Colonials have powerful parallel -processing minds, and durable multiply-redundant bodies, but lack physical dext erity or the ability to react quickly to new situations. Ponderous: Colonials have a base speed of 20 ft., but their low center of gravit

y allows them to be treated as one size class larger when calculating CMB or CMD , adjudicating the effects of high wind, or determining the effects of a combat maneuver or the grab, push or pull monster abilities. Their malleable limbs and versatile bodily secretions also grant them a climb speed of 10 ft. Blindsight: Colonials possess blindsight out to a range of 30 ft., primarily as a result of their keen sense of tactile awareness. Tough Skin: Colonials have a +1 natural armor bonus and Damage Reduction 1 / sla shing. Amorphous Anatomy: A colonial s anatomy affords it a 50% chance to avoid taking ad ditional damage from a critical hit and halves any damage taken from sneak attac k dice. Able to see in all directions and having no distinct back or front, a colo nial cannot be flanked, but adds its armor check penalty to any Perception check s, as its sensory organs encompass its entire body surface. A colonial wearing l ight or no armor can squeeze as a creature two size classes below its own. If we aring medium armor, a colonial squeezes as a creature one size class below its o wn, and if wearing heavy armor, a colonial squeezes as a creature of its size. A colonial can stand up as a move-equivalent action that does not provoke an atta ck of opportunity. Hive Mind: A colonial can contact the hive mind to attempt an untrained Knowledg e skill check as if you had access to a library, although this takes the usual 1 d4 hours. When it takes 10 on a Knowledge check with a trained Knowledge skill, it instead takes 12, and when it takes 20, it instead takes 25. A colonial treats all Kn owledge skills as class skills. Malleable Limbs: A colonial can make a slam attack as a primary attack that infl icts damage as a creature one size class larger (1d6 for a size Medium colonial) and uses 1.5 times its Str modifier if it is the only attack made, or it can ch oose to elongate a limb to increase its reach by 5 ft., but only inflicting norm al slam damage for its size (1d4 at Medium) and 1x its Str modifier. The limb sn aps back to normal size immediately after this attack, and the colonial is not t reated as having Reach for the purpose of attacks of opportunity. Ooze Resilience: While lacking the many immunities of a true ooze, a colonial do es benefit from a +4 bonus to saving throws versus poison, paralysis, polymorph, sleep effects and stunning. Languages: Colonials begin play speaking Colonial and Osirioni. Colonials with h igh Intelligence scores can choose any of the following bonus languages; Aklo, C ommon, Dwarven, Gnome, Kellish or Vudrani. *(Setting Neutral version; Colonials begin play speaking Colonial and Common. Co lonials with high Intelligence scores can choose any of the following bonus lang uages; Aquan, Dwarven, Gnome, Terran and Undercommon.) Design thoughts; These guys have a ton of stuff going on, and much of it is a pr etty huge cutback on the traits an Ooze type would have given them. I got rid of acid completely. It was just too much. The various immunities were too much. No rmally blind, but with 60 ft. blindsight seemed problematic. The ooze colony tha t is pumping these dudes out must have figured out how to design their outer int egument to be photo-sensitive, so that they'd be better scouts and explorers and 'mobiles' for it. There was no reason to give them the Ooze type, since I was c hopping away much of what makes an ooze an ooze for balance and ease of play. It made more sense to make them humanoid, and give them just the oozy qualities I wanted, than to try and make them a crippled Ooze. Perhaps that was a 'cheat,' m aking the 'ooze PC race' not *really* an ooze, but the ooze type, IMO, wasn't wo rth the fight it would have taken to make it un-broken. Much like the 'living co nstruct' compromise that Keith Baker made with the warforged, not wanting to dea l with a 1st level PC having all of that construct-y goodness (and deal with the many odd interactions that would spring up thereby), I punted that 'ooze PC' do wn the road, and made something that captured some of the bits of 'ooze PC' I wa nted without actually using the Ooze type right out of the box.