I beg to differ... Sure, they might not want to eat your brain or steal your soul to be drafted into some fiendish army or another, but never underestimate the value of a good Long Con. And these guys *very much* strike me as playing the Long Con. A race that wishes to make all other races part of themselves is still sinister to me (though maybe I'm just biased toward biodiversity and things with discernable body parts XD)
This might be the most dangerous species in the multiverse. They'll CONVINCE you that it's okay to lose your individuality. Like some kind of hyper-intelligent Juiblex. Utterly terrifying.
Shoth are good slimes Me: hey that’s a neat idea Who constantly work to convince others to join the slimes willingly Me: as long as it’s willing who cares You won’t remember much of your previous self and be turned into a worker drone Me: I mean it’s part of the process and they did it willingly They commit mass devastation destroying planets to convince the unwilling to join Me: This is just slavery with extra steps
Slavery by choice or genocide. Pretty nice gear pooped put for ya tho, heh? oh come on buddy. Ooze is great! you feel fine all the time, you don't have stupid bones, you're sticky. it's great!
Smart move moving to SubscribeStar. Patreon is not only a sinking ship, but a flaming one - A dimension of cheese, you say? [Sheogorath has entered the chat]
Split Slingshot - This modified slingshot has a gap in the pouch that would normally hold the projectile. The Shoth hardened part of itself, leaving a trail between it and the rest of the body through the gap in the pouch. The Shoth then shoots that part of itself against a target within 30ft which then adheres to the target. The Shoth can either pull the target towards itself or travel up the trail. The Shoth can easily use this method to travel around or over gaps or dangerous terrain.
Theoretically, the Shoth could bring intelligent undead back to life. Ghosts have bodies in the form of ectoplasm. They literally have a bit of mass (called soul stuff) So their spectral bodies could be dissolved in the Zolve in order to get another chance at life. If an intelligent undead (say a wight) were given the opportunity to enter the Zolve, it could be given a new body. And it would immediately become trustworthy (a total alignment shift) and adopt a new perspective to seek out others to transform but to never force a transformation on others
Item concept: Ooze lantern. Glows using bioluminescence and is usually intended to guide other life forms to the protein pool, but can be used for other tasks involving solid creatures if need be.
You know what'd be really cool? If there was another sub-species of Shoth that essentially can act like a Symbiote like Venom, and bond with another willing creature.
Like a pet. Or perhaps a specifically engineered creature or technology with a simple AI to get another creature more comfortable with an ooze body and craving is benefits. If it can help them change appearance like venom, then it could also be used to give them an "out" if the idea of looking like goo is a hangup for them.
I'm surprised this isn't right alongside the Tiefling, Aasimar, and Dragonborn. There should be a balanced playable race that resembles all the iconic monster typings. Now we nee a playable race based on an aberration.
They could easily be fit into the forgotten realms if you make it so Shoth is an aspect of Ghaunadaur 🤔 The "sacrifices offering themselves willingly to the oozes" fits so well with the shoth screed it's kinda scary. Ghaunadaur also being touched by the far realm fits quite well with shoths being aberrations.
@Mitch Lang I heart videos that I have read, so I can make sure I have seen them all Mitch, which would be plainly obvious if you didn't have your rhetoric spewing head shoved so hard up your own assumptions. Have a snickers dude.
Coral Worm Egg - A small, solidified coral worm egg. When broken the worm inside will undertake a unique defence measure by sending out a dozen streams of quickly hardening calcium that creates thick, branching, hedge-like obstacle in a 10 by 10ft area. The coral hedge impedes the movement for any small or larger creature to move through, requiring them to physically smash through. The Shoth however can move easily through the tangle and often deploy coral worm eggs to escape a fray.
Imagine this being a player character, it could make a sort of sense. The player is always trying to convince the other players to join in its oozyness while it helps them in their deeds.
So we have a planet sized sentient slime that wants to turn everything into slime...yeah someone call the Inquisition, we're going to need an exterminatus over here. Great video as always AJ. 🍻
I imagine large Shoth structures, such as "ships" and "colonies", utilizing vast networks of tiny circulatory system tubules as fast travel transport to move from place to place. With clever use of pressure differentials and precision control of their fluid surface tension they can move at tremendous speeds through these "pipes" with very little energy.
I wanna see an Elder Brain and a Droth fighting in the same pool. Maybe ships crash in too eachother or some teleportation goes awry, but imagine if they merged...
Nor is it to be thought...that man is either the oldest or the last of earth's masters, or that the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They had trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread. By Their smell can men sometimes know Them near, but of Their semblance can no man know, saving only in the features of those They have begotten on mankind; and of those are there many sorts, differing in likeness from man's truest eidolon to that shape without sight or substance which is Them. They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet may not forest or city behold the hand that smites. Kadath in the cold waste hath known Them, and what man knows Kadath? The ice desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones whereon Their seal is engraven, but who hath seen the deep frozen city or the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can he spy Them only dimly. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at your throats, yet ye see Them not; and Their habitation is even one with your guarded threshold. Yog-Sothoth is the key to the gate, whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall They reign again.
Hear me out, Shoth Patrons as a Patron option for Warlock. You gain some of the abilities, for instance instead of being fully amorphous you could at will become 1 size smaller than your normal size. And at 20th you would become a full Shoth. Also would probably be more mechanically like the Hexblade Warlock, a mix of Melee an magic, with you slowly gaining more of the natural features of the Shoth. Effectively making a warlock symbiote subclass.
The Black Truffle: This unassuming truffle looks and smells justs as any other black truffle would, with one major exception, once this one is eaten, it turns the eater into an ooze after a short time. Once injested, the eater must make a DC 18 con save or become poisoned until they take a long rest. Each day when the eater of the Black Truffle takes a long rest they can repeat the save. The save is made until the creature succeeds or fails 3 times, wichever comes first. Successes mean the creature returns to normal and is no longer poisoned. Failure means the creature transforms into a Black Pudding and act accordingly. Zom Case: Specially designed to protect the Zom from harm, this item protects the Shoth from critical hits and gives the Sloth +1 AC due to their greatest weakness being well protected. Very basic, but desired by all Shoth.
@@findantu came here to post that exact suggestion. The dralasites also got picked up for 3.5 and later D&D scifi world books so there are published rules for them in newer systems.
I'ved owned the Creature Codex over a year now, and did not know this monster was in there. Great Video on Kobold Press's Creature Codex. I can't wait to see more from them on your channel.
The Shoth Puff Packet: A gooey, hollow sphere that pulls gaseous waste from metabolic processes and pressurizes it. A small "air locked" opening can have objects stuck to it which are then propelled with infeasible force when the opening is depressurized. Mostly used by the Suze (spell check needed) to rivet metals, it can also be used as a weapon or propulsion device
My Spelljammer setting has three ancient races, long since destroyed. The earliest of these is the Shamash Collective, an ooze-based collective that fought alongside the Wind Dukes of Aaqa and celestial against the demon hordes (sort of like Roman Auxilia made up of foreign, less skilled fighters). In the current day there is only a single word of the Shamash Collective remaining, having been driven to extinction by the mindflayers, who find eating them like eating a delicious sentient pudding.
The most common magic item they use is the tentacle rod, which they can easily use to manipulate items and move between spaces with an air gap. They are also the creator race of gelatinous cubes, using them to create large structures by having them move into position and then hardening. Modern gelatinous cubes are their left over construction materials.
A slime torch could be a slimy orb containing naturally seperated bladders of diphenyl oxalate and hydrogen peroxide that they pop allowing the chemicals to mix when used.
Shoth item: insulating cloak. A sort of plastic like covering shoth envelop themselves in to protect themselves from the elements useful for traveling to desert or ice worlds as they explore the multiverse to keep their bodies from evaporating in the heat or freezing respectively
Honestly it would be great to bring back the non-neutonian property for Shoth shields; it's a liquid under little to no pressure such as when it's carried that instantly becomes a strong solid when hit with an attack.
I think he would try to subvert the Shoth collective and turn them all into his servants. Sounds like an interesting story: an expanding hivemind collective of good-humored slime folks need help fighting off the advance of the freaky ooze cultists.
Shoth item: Sooze-phone The Shoth, noting how reticent some otherwise willing participants were to lose their individual memories, created the Sooze-phone - a hinged silver sphere worn over the head during the dissolving process and would gently snap shut around the brain, etching its thought patterns onto the interior of the orb. This would allow a sooze, by pressing against the inside, to "remember" the thoughts and memories of the individual who came before it. That is, any of the Thoth could access these memories by jello-molding the brain into shape. For more collectivized Thoth who have no need of the individual, these are treated as books.
Someone needs to make these cute gooey goose into a playable character if they haven't already. I'm trying to right now and I have so many Back stories rolling around in my head.
Here's one I decided on. An oth sent ta meet a mind flayer that said they wanted ta join but captured her and broke her connection ta their shared consciousness she escapes and joins a group of adventurers ta help find a way back ta the collective. Now I just need ta come up with stats ta make her usable.
This can make for a random encounter in campaign set in the fringes of civilization. Maybe the DM wants to do a little SpellJammer. The party helps them repair a ship. In exchange they hand over a star chart.
Ah yes. The Cheese Dimension. A plane in which all broken character builds have been banished to in order to contain the sheer overwhelming jankiness that would spread through the Multiverse if they were allowed to remain in circulation. Everytime one escapes Mordenkainen himself gets involved. After all; each one is a terrible threat to The Balance.
Oozes and slimes were always one of my favorite monster types so these are cool af to me. I freaking loved that last artwork of the slime with the skeleton and wizard hat
So it actually makes more sense that collective entity/species would actually be pretty selective about who they let join, and the parameters wouldn't be knowlege or power....it'd be how well you get along, and want to be there. Consider how awful it'd be sharing a brain with a selfish person, or a judgemental person. Even if those traits don't bother you in friends...remember, you can all read each others minds. Antisocial traits would go over Pooooorly
Fuuuuuuu... Dood. That sounds amazing. Wait... What happens if someone is polymorphed into a form of Shoth? Do they immediately gain access to a library of knowledge?
i can see them having some sort of psionic generator like device of that ooze metal that could allow them to shift the density of their body, allowing their whole bodies to be basically able to be a weapon or shield as needed
Hmmm...how is juiblex not banging on their door like Karen after a manager? Also, safe to to assume they know of mind Flayers. But did they know about Aboleth?
@@Fgway if juiblex were a natural part of the Material plane then yes. But juiblex is a demon lord that came to existence with the abyss. There is no real cosmic balance with something outside of it. What naturally occurring evil Ooze does Shoth balance?
@@Fgway hell is not the Abyss. Demons are not Devils. Shoth is a prime material being and Juiblex is a demon lord. He was born from tharizdun planting the shard. Nothing Natural about it. I get your idea. But it's wrong because it needs the abyss/juiblex to be a Natural being. The only "natural" demons are the Yuguloths. Juiblex is not a Yuguloth.
@@Fgway so it works because you're juxtaposing the completely unnatural Abyss with natural thing. The shard and the Abyss are not Natural. There is no good cosmic reflection of the Abyss and (non yugoloth) demons because they shouldn't exist in the first place. The Abyss is a cancer eating the multiiverse. Nothing natural about it.
@@Fgway noooooo. Read up on the Blood war and Abyssal lore. That's entirely wrong. Devils fighting demons in the blood war is only reason they haven't won. And the cancer thing is more literal than metaphorically.
@@Fgway if you mean the original Obrynth invasion, it was infighting. Demogorgon killing the queen of chaos then the other demon Lords started fighting for control. With the dawn wars going on, the Abyss was more or less forgotten for a time
In d&d 5e, sloths have a cr 50. A Single normal sloth cast denigrate ray as a 1007th level spell as a bonus action an infinite number of times, which in the lore is said powerful to destroy an infinite number of universes, including all dimensions they contain. They are immune all types of damage but force and as a legendary action they can teleport to a universe you will never be able to reach.
I wish there was a DnD group similar to Critical Role that allowed people to vote for what characters they play for campaigns, its really unfortunate that all this cool lore exists but nobody uses it since humans and elves are so much more popular and homogenized...
Well it seems like it, but can you ever truly trust them to not lie to you about what goes on in the hivemind? Who's to say they aren't just amazing liars that have realized it is easier to assimilate whole races through coercion than through war.
I'd personally say Lawful Neutral with the opinion that being nice is the best way to get what they want. Being good isn't the point of their lawfulness
I know. I used a dying god trope in one of my Worlds. And it was So great that after the said world got destroyed (not the planet, but the only continent with Every living thing) i devided to let some People survive and travel throu space on a massive ship to my new world, where they populated one of the continents (which i used as a starting, learning location for my new players) And than cataclysm happened and the civilization dyed. And since the Carevna (empress was partialy devine, and Last avatar of trickster traitor Hero god was there and dyed as well, the combined devine energy started an age of Bohatýrů (heroes) For the 2 main continents.
But to the point. I think i might use this in my current world. So the God will unknowingly merge (He is hidden inside Human) And when He tries to get free. Both will get corrupted. And thus i will end up with a god that will be technically undead. And part of this creature that will become an anathema to its original. Destroying living things and knowledge. I do have zombies and such.... Necromancers in my world. But no undead is sort of spontaneosly created. All of them have a reason like curse, or unfinished bussiness, or serving necromancer as a way to repent for their sins. (in my world, necromancy is a dark art, but technically is not bad. You need to strike an agreement with the deceased, and you can animate only neutral or bad People.) There are Black Priests, from slavic folklore, Who cannot animate the dead, but use a lot of powers, which are considered necromantic. Like they can find Last things the deceased person saw. If they have a drop of blood they can use the same ability on living, but they will see only the Last moments that led to the blood being spilled. They can even track the original owner of things, if they had the thing long enough.
if the god willingly merges then i imagine youd get a second shoth like being that acts as an avatar or merges with the first. or we get a situation like elder brain vs a brain staler dragon
I love kobold press monsters! Looking forward to seeing more creature codex and tome of beasts (and soon to be TOB2) creatures if this becomes a norm on the channel. Personally want to see a video on the Skein Witch from TOB.
Christopher Vandenberg-Garcia the ghoul emperor is definitely a cool one, especially given its vast amounts of lore in the kobold press works. Some of my own personal favorites from TOB are the cambium and blood hag for their cool multi-option abilities which make them fresh, lore accurate, and diverse and I also love the paper drake above many others for it’s cool lore (love the part about being able to give it spells with runes, really makes it a wonderful pet/familiar for high level wizards). Honestly the skein witch is a fan made monster so I’m not sure if there’s much lore to be found from it outside the book, so I’d love to even have any lore on any of these three monsters. There are hella others I love for their lore and fresh mechanics especially these which I’d be elated to see lore videos on any of which: the eonic drifter, fear smith, eye golem, grim jester, red hag, heralds (blood and darkness), kot bayun, liosalfar, mask wight (this things ability is mind boggling), and the suturefly.
My favorite creature from the Creature Codex is a tie between the Light and Wasteland Dragons, it'd be great to see a video on them! The demons and devils are amazing as well.
Slime personal floatation device: two sacs that release a liquid compound that react to release a gas that fills a membrane like a life jacket. Make the gas lighter than air and place chitin scales on it with perhaps stabilizing buoyant arms hanging off like wings and you have a Shoth Cuirass of flight.
Fascinating. Strange and wonderful to have an intelligent, ooze-like race that might be benevolent to other creatures. Mechanically, would a Soth arcanist/paladin who is transitioning into a Droth retain its arcanist/paladin abilities?
I once got to play a monster-party campaign as a gelatinous slime with paladin class levels who's quirk was that it loved and adored everything to do with humans. Everything about the Shoth just reminds me of how scary an intelligent slime can be.
What I am curious about is what could force a seemingly well meaning society into doing such violence just to get the cooperation of their targets. The general feel of the Shoth is there are what they seem. A well intentioned people who want to save everyone they meet. I wouldn't really consider them slimes though. Slimes are generally simple creatures that have little to no mind of their own. The Shoth seem to more be beings that have learned how to create amorphous shells for their consciousness. A slime is still, to a degree, a natural living entity. The Shoth bodies are more of a technology and they just thought not being confined to set parameters was nifty.
My guess would be this only happens in extreme "greater good" scenarios. For example if they discover a civilization that's going to do terrible things to the world at large if they're left to their own devices, they might force them into the Shoth so that they can be "guided" by more altruistic aims. Or if there's some great threat out there and a particular civilization is the only one with the means to combat it, they might force them into the Shoth so that the Shoth can make use of that ability to save everyone else. Presumably after making a sales pitch for a voluntary collaboration first, of course.
SHOTH INSPIRED ITEM Distilled Biology Sage Pickett, after our last conversation regarding my upcoming trip beyond the sphere and the dangers I might face, I spent some time looking for evidence of some the beings you told me of here on Toril and within Realmspace at large. I found my first examples of one of these species surprisingly early on my precursory journey through Realmspace. Shortly after leaving Toril, I docked at the Leira Trading Center on Selûne, hoping to establish some sort of contract between the Leirans and the Thimbleminster Trading Company(under the guise of being from outside of the Sphere, as you had suggested). While waiting for my meeting with a representative of the Leiran Trade Commission, I spent some time exploring the different market areas and buildings of commerce to see what goods could be found there. After stopping at a small stand in one of the markets that was selling some sort of rotisserie rodent(which was delicious, by the way), I happened upon a member of the amorphous Shoth, one of the Droth variety, and decided to strike up a conversation. As luck would have it, Bob, which was not his true name but rather what he was called by the locals, was a researcher of sorts too, specializing in biological studies. After a somewhat lengthy talk about the nature of our respective endeavors and finding some amount of crossover between our work, we agreed to meet again after my meeting with the Trade Commission. The meeting went quite well and an agreement to arrange a trade contract was reached, however, as is common is business, it quickly turned into a month long deliberation of the terms of said contract. Though time consuming, it was fortuitous, as it allowed me more time to work with Bob and learn what knowledge or insight his people could offer. Eventually, we decided to pool our resources to work on a project of his which I found to be most intriguing. The Droth have the remarkable ability to “borrow” the natural abilities of other creatures they come into contact with, but only briefly. The goal of his project was to find a means of extending this ability. To this end, we began research into the mechanisms through which this ability functioned. After much research, we found a breakthrough in an experiment that involved having an already diminutive Saltkin Sandman* use a Ring of Minimalization* to become so small that he was imperceivable. After this the Saltkin* observed as Bob touched one of the other crewmen, taking detailed notes on their bodies interactions. Based on these observations, we have found that when the body of a Droth comes into contact with other living biological creature, which was a Halfling in the observed instance, micronic filaments of the Droth’s body extend through the creatures skin before quickly being retracted back into the Droth. During this brief intrusion, the filaments will each extract 5 to 9 “disks of blood”, as they were described, from the creature. These disks are then saturated with the Droth’s internal fluid and incorporated into the Droth’s body, before being converted into more of the internal fluid. In the time while these disks are a part of the Droth, but not fully dissolved and converted, the Droth gains access to whatever abilities the original creature would normally have. From here, we worked to prolong the conversion rate, conducting our experiments within Bob himself, but found it to be quite impossible to do in a living Droth, as the sheer amount of fluid would quickly overwhelm any amount of blood or alchemical agents we used in our attempts to do so. Next we experimented by extracting fluid from Bob and mixing it in controlled proportions with blood and various chemical components, and eventually, we found success. After a myriad of failed attempts, we found the correct ratios and components to suspend the process until after the mixture had been exposed to the internal acids of a Droth and slow the process once consumed, naming it Distilled Biology, though distillation was not actually part of the process. Upon further experimentation we discovered that the effects of our product were not exclusive to the Droth and allowed other Shoth and even non Shoth to use Distilled Biology to gain the abilities of other creatures temporarily. To show my unending appreciation of your help in this extra-spherical endeavor of mine, I have sent you one dozen, one pint shoth-bottles of each of the varieties of Distilled Biology I have made thus far, as well as a crate full of shoth-bottles of various sizes, from one quarter cup to one gallon. I will continue to send you back more of my creations and other interesting goods I find as I make my way through Realmspace, such that you may gain as much from my exploration as I have from your knowledge and advice. - Ivaldi the Experimentalist (Continued in Comments)
DISTILLED BIOLOGY POTIONS When consumed, a Distilled Biology potion grants the listed effect for 2 hours. These effects are not of a magical nature and thus cannot be dispelled or disrupted by antimagic, wild magic, dead magic, or any other effect that specifically targets magic. Unfortunately, due to the taxing nature of having one’s biology temporarily altered, when the effects of these potions end the drinker receives 1 level of Exhaustion. If a creature drinks a Distilled Biology potion while the effects of another Distilled Biology potion is still active on them, the effects of both potions are nullified and the creature takes 3d12 Acid damage, as well as suffering 2 levels of Exhaustion. Potion of Quickling Speed - Increases the consumer’s movement speed by 90 ft. Once during the time while this effect is active, the consumer can use their Bonus Action on their turn to take an additional Attack action(including Multiattack or Extra Attacks). Potion of Troll Health - Increases the consumer’s Hit Point Maximum by 10 and caused the consumer to regain 1 Hit Point at the start of each of their turns, so long as they have at least 1 Hit Point when their turn begins. The consumer does not regain Hit Points if they have taken Acid or Fire damage since the start of their last turn. Potion of Goliath Resilience - The consumer becomes immune to the effects of cold environments. Once during the time while this effect is active, the consumer can use the Goliath’s Stone’s Endurance trait. Potion of Elf Mind - The consumer becomes immune to magical sleep and gains advantage on saving throws against being charmed. Alternatively, if the consumer chooses to sleep immediately after drinking the potion, they will enter a Trance as Elves do, lasting for 4 hours and gaining the benefits of a long rest afterwords. Potion of Halfling Fortune - The consumer gains the Lucky trait. Once during the time while this effect is active, when the consumer is hit with an attack that would be a critical hit, they can spend their reaction to make the hit a normal hit. Potion of Trochil* Grace - The consumer gains advantage on all Dexterity(Acrobatics) checks. Once during the time while this effect is active, the consumer can spend 20 minutes resting, doing light activity at most, and gain the benefits of a short rest. Potion of Human Skepticism - The consumer gains advantage on Wisdom(Insight) checks made to tell if someone is lying. Additionally, all Charisma(Deception) checks made against the consumer are made with disadvantage. Potion of Dwarf Fortitude - The consumer gains advantage on saving throws against poison as well as resistance to Poison damage. Once during the time while this effect is active, when the consumer takes the Dodge action in combat they may also spend 1 Hit Die to regain Hit Points. Potion of Orc Survival - The consumer gains a bonus of +2 to their Constitution. Once during the time while this effect is active, if the consumer is reduced to 0 hit points, they instead drop to 1 Hit Point. Potion of Tabaxi Agility - The consumer gains a bonus of +2 to their Dexterity. Once during the time while this effect is active, at the start of their turn the consumer can choose to double their movement speed until the end of the turn. Potion of Kenku Tongue - The consumer mimic any sound they have heard within the past 24 hours. Potion of Displacer Hide - The consumer gains the Displacer Beast’s Displacement trait. Once during the time while this effect is active, if the consumer is subjected to an effect that allows them to make a saving throw to take only half damage, they can use their Reaction to instead take no damage if they succeed on the saving throw and only half damage if they fail. Potion of Lizardfolk Scales - The consumer gains Natural Armor, giving them an AC equal to 13 + their Dexterity modifier. SHOTH-BOTTLES These bottles are made from a material used by the Shoth and are extremely tough and unbelievably malleable. Their shape can be flattened as thin as ½ inch, though to attain such thinness they must be stretched to cover quite a large amount of surface area. This makes them ideal for the Shoth, who can move through spaces as small as 1 inch. The Shoth can use the inside of their bodies to shape these containers to the correct shape to match any space they themselves can fit through. These bottles are made from a material that is nearly impervious to damage. The only known way to damage one of these containers is to expose them to extreme cold. This will brittle the material and eventually cause it to shatter outright. They have proven quite useful to non-Shoth adventurers as well, since they can be shaped to fit into packs or hung from the exterior of them with practically no need to worry about them being damaged. A Shoth-Bottle has an AC of 10, 15 Hit Points, and is immune to all damage types except Cold. If reduced to 0 Hit Points, the bottle explodes, and all creatures within 5 ft. of it must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 Piercing damage. If the bottle is full when this happens, the contents may be spilled on to creatures and cause additional effects or may also be frozen and cause additional damage when it explodes(as the DM’s sees fit). * = Creature or Item from the Monster Mash on Discord.
Something like a bombardier beetle so they get something like dragon's breath spell. Can activate two reacting globules and "breath" a cone of elemental damage at target. Must hold equal numbers of each reacting globule.
@@davidpower5710 Well, intelligent oozes are still a threat, the Oblex is deceptive and manipulative, and also predatory. However, since it would not find the Shoth very edible, and being an intelligent creature, it might attempt to co-exist with them, perhaps even help them out. Who knows?
I love this species. They really are a social adept Borg. I wonder what species can not be dissolved ? I wonder Shoth's awareness Juiblex and interaction with oozes.
I wonder if genies or undead could be dissolved. I would think their bodies could be destroyed/ liquefied but I don't think they could become shoth. Genies are basically just elemental ghosts and they turn to dust when killed. So I don't know if they could assimilate with shoth. As for undead, most are mindless so they likely wouldn't interest shoth. Liches though... that'd be interesting since their soul is tied to their phylactery. So maybe? Could make an interesting story plot. Like perhaps the shoth will aid adventures because the undead can't be assimilated and thus all those turned into undead can never be part of shoth.
I would think that noncorporeal beings could not be dissolved, no body, no dissolving. Another potential that cannot be dissolved are fire based creatures, which would burn the slime before the Shoth can absorb it. I'd also think other intelligent slimes, controlled by Jubilex cannot be absorbed. Positive and Negative material creatures probably couldn't either. Creatures from the Far Realm probably can't either.
Anyone out there want to see the shoth go to war with Juiblex or is it just me laughing at the thought of 2 bowls of jello going into a holy war. On a serious note would it be possible to have rebel shoth?
Well they seem to have their own free will so its possible though unlikely since they only turn willing beings in most cases but yeah there could be a rebel sect
It could be possible for evil shoth to reject their Zoms and the unity of Shoth, becoming rebels and outcasts (though, the Shoth would probably be far more forgiving and take them back if they repented).
A good aligned slime that would love you to join it's collective, but if you don't, that's fine, too, they're just glad to be your friend.
Utterly alien but actually not malevolent- which is a refreshing change of pace.
I couldn't have put it better myself. My thoughts exactly. 👍
Shoth, " I love you. I will give you anything you need or want. Except freedom. "
Somethings aren't good nor evil, they just are
So, basically... Soylent Green is people?
I beg to differ... Sure, they might not want to eat your brain or steal your soul to be drafted into some fiendish army or another, but never underestimate the value of a good Long Con. And these guys *very much* strike me as playing the Long Con. A race that wishes to make all other races part of themselves is still sinister to me (though maybe I'm just biased toward biodiversity and things with discernable body parts XD)
Sounds like Shoth is just Juibliex taking his sweet time
This might be the most dangerous species in the multiverse. They'll CONVINCE you that it's okay to lose your individuality. Like some kind of hyper-intelligent Juiblex. Utterly terrifying.
So...this is when SPC-999 "grows up" and goes through a religious phase.
Shoth are good slimes
Me: hey that’s a neat idea
Who constantly work to convince others to join the slimes willingly
Me: as long as it’s willing who cares
You won’t remember much of your previous self and be turned into a worker drone
Me: I mean it’s part of the process and they did it willingly
They commit mass devastation destroying planets to convince the unwilling to join
Me: This is just slavery with extra steps
"We support large subsidies to the brain slug planet."
ohhh I forgot about the brain slugs thank you for reminding me
All glory to the Hypnotoad.
Slavery by choice or genocide. Pretty nice gear pooped put for ya tho, heh? oh come on buddy. Ooze is great! you feel fine all the time, you don't have stupid bones, you're sticky. it's great!
me: watching youtube
UA-cam: creepy lovecraftian jelly in D&D?
me: ok, you got my attention
He liked my comment ahhhhhhhhh
(Fangirl's enternal screaming)
Smart move moving to SubscribeStar. Patreon is not only a sinking ship, but a flaming one
- A dimension of cheese, you say? [Sheogorath has entered the chat]
Sounds like a fun time to try a Sooze warlock with Shoth as a patron.
Have you heard the sloshy news of That Which Lurks, The Elder Eye Ghaunadaur?
GLBGLBGLBGLBGLB!!
Maybe he’s prepping for the shoth vs Juiblex war
Okay a wonderful mixing of Lovecraft's Shuggoths with Dr. Seuss. I like it!
One of the very, very rare non malevolent abberations (along with flumphs)...
Split Slingshot - This modified slingshot has a gap in the pouch that would normally hold the projectile. The Shoth hardened part of itself, leaving a trail between it and the rest of the body through the gap in the pouch. The Shoth then shoots that part of itself against a target within 30ft which then adheres to the target. The Shoth can either pull the target towards itself or travel up the trail. The Shoth can easily use this method to travel around or over gaps or dangerous terrain.
Theoretically, the Shoth could bring intelligent undead back to life. Ghosts have bodies in the form of ectoplasm. They literally have a bit of mass (called soul stuff) So their spectral bodies could be dissolved in the Zolve in order to get another chance at life.
If an intelligent undead (say a wight) were given the opportunity to enter the Zolve, it could be given a new body. And it would immediately become trustworthy (a total alignment shift) and adopt a new perspective to seek out others to transform but to never force a transformation on others
Benevolent intelligent collective slime? Quite original! Thanks to you and Kobold Press for informing me.
Item concept: Ooze lantern. Glows using bioluminescence and is usually intended to guide other life forms to the protein pool, but can be used for other tasks involving solid creatures if need be.
The whole "willing to be dissolved" concept could easily be a warlock backstory.
Yessss! Another TMG drop! Great start to the week!
You know what'd be really cool? If there was another sub-species of Shoth that essentially can act like a Symbiote like Venom, and bond with another willing creature.
Like a pet. Or perhaps a specifically engineered creature or technology with a simple AI to get another creature more comfortable with an ooze body and craving is benefits. If it can help them change appearance like venom, then it could also be used to give them an "out" if the idea of looking like goo is a hangup for them.
I'm surprised this isn't right alongside the Tiefling, Aasimar, and Dragonborn. There should be a balanced playable race that resembles all the iconic monster typings. Now we nee a playable race based on an aberration.
So, benevolent friendly Space Slimes? Count me in!
Where my slime girls at?
They could easily be fit into the forgotten realms if you make it so Shoth is an aspect of Ghaunadaur 🤔 The "sacrifices offering themselves willingly to the oozes" fits so well with the shoth screed it's kinda scary. Ghaunadaur also being touched by the far realm fits quite well with shoths being aberrations.
Why would people thumbs down this video? Do they just not like learning something? Then do not watch lol
@Mitch Lang I heart videos that I have read, so I can make sure I have seen them all Mitch, which would be plainly obvious if you didn't have your rhetoric spewing head shoved so hard up your own assumptions. Have a snickers dude.
Coral Worm Egg - A small, solidified coral worm egg. When broken the worm inside will undertake a unique defence measure by sending out a dozen streams of quickly hardening calcium that creates thick, branching, hedge-like obstacle in a 10 by 10ft area. The coral hedge impedes the movement for any small or larger creature to move through, requiring them to physically smash through. The Shoth however can move easily through the tangle and often deploy coral worm eggs to escape a fray.
Imagine this being a player character, it could make a sort of sense. The player is always trying to convince the other players to join in its oozyness while it helps them in their deeds.
Join in the ooziness while helping do deeds.. So, Basically clerics.
So we have a planet sized sentient slime that wants to turn everything into slime...yeah someone call the Inquisition, we're going to need an exterminatus over here. Great video as always AJ. 🍻
I imagine large Shoth structures, such as "ships" and "colonies", utilizing vast networks of tiny circulatory system tubules as fast travel transport to move from place to place. With clever use of pressure differentials and precision control of their fluid surface tension they can move at tremendous speeds through these "pipes" with very little energy.
Excellent.
I wanna see an Elder Brain and a Droth fighting in the same pool. Maybe ships crash in too eachother or some teleportation goes awry, but imagine if they merged...
Nor is it to be thought...that man is either the oldest or the last of earth's masters, or that the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They had trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread. By Their smell can men sometimes know Them near, but of Their semblance can no man know, saving only in the features of those They have begotten on mankind; and of those are there many sorts, differing in likeness from man's truest eidolon to that shape without sight or substance which is Them. They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet may not forest or city behold the hand that smites. Kadath in the cold waste hath known Them, and what man knows Kadath? The ice desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones whereon Their seal is engraven, but who hath seen the deep frozen city or the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can he spy Them only dimly. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at your throats, yet ye see Them not; and Their habitation is even one with your guarded threshold. Yog-Sothoth is the key to the gate, whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall They reign again.
The way you described their methods of gaining new converts reminds me of Glootie from Rick & Morty.
yeah but Glootie commits genocide and steals their water, the slimes welcome you in with open arms and make you super intelligent immortal beings.
Yes more. Gimme the lore. Nom.
Nom
Love Kobold Press! Best independent book makers.
I could see them being galactic environmentalists that help save spiecies from extinction but they ask sentient ones to merge
Join the slime collective, resistance is goopy.
Shoth "cult of the lamb"-styled campaign!
"a dimension of cheese" is a phrase I'd never thought I'd hear come from the mouth of AJ Pickett
Really?!
The promised land of the ratfolk.
Sheogorath from the elder scrolls must have transcended dimensions.
It could also be a dimension of Chocolate and Candies and Baked Goods. Then it would be very hard to say no for quite some people.
Buncha amorphous hippies is what they are.
I now look forward to seeing the opening gimmick in the beginning.
Its like these guys came from the Warhammer dimension or something.
Except these guys are really nice.
its the final form of the tau empire
I can just hear my player cleric saying as one of these, "The power of Shoth compelles you!" XD
Hear me out, Shoth Patrons as a Patron option for Warlock. You gain some of the abilities, for instance instead of being fully amorphous you could at will become 1 size smaller than your normal size. And at 20th you would become a full Shoth. Also would probably be more mechanically like the Hexblade Warlock, a mix of Melee an magic, with you slowly gaining more of the natural features of the Shoth. Effectively making a warlock symbiote subclass.
The Black Truffle: This unassuming truffle looks and smells justs as any other black truffle would, with one major exception, once this one is eaten, it turns the eater into an ooze after a short time. Once injested, the eater must make a DC 18 con save or become poisoned until they take a long rest. Each day when the eater of the Black Truffle takes a long rest they can repeat the save. The save is made until the creature succeeds or fails 3 times, wichever comes first. Successes mean the creature returns to normal and is no longer poisoned. Failure means the creature transforms into a Black Pudding and act accordingly.
Zom Case: Specially designed to protect the Zom from harm, this item protects the Shoth from critical hits and gives the Sloth +1 AC due to their greatest weakness being well protected. Very basic, but desired by all Shoth.
Take a shot every time you hear anything that ends with “Oth” in this video.
this is why we have rules
Good thing Oths aren't related to the Yugoloths, otherwise I'd die before the last SHOTH.
Listen thief izntn such a funk wkskwowosmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmk
I'd love a playable ooze race, seems like fun.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dralasites
Might help a little.
@@findantu came here to post that exact suggestion. The dralasites also got picked up for 3.5 and later D&D scifi world books so there are published rules for them in newer systems.
Love the videos
I'ved owned the Creature Codex over a year now, and did not know this monster was in there. Great Video on Kobold Press's Creature Codex. I can't wait to see more from them on your channel.
A great way to start the day, love it! 👍🏻👍🏻
The Shoth Puff Packet: A gooey, hollow sphere that pulls gaseous waste from metabolic processes and pressurizes it. A small "air locked" opening can have objects stuck to it which are then propelled with infeasible force when the opening is depressurized. Mostly used by the Suze (spell check needed) to rivet metals, it can also be used as a weapon or propulsion device
My Spelljammer setting has three ancient races, long since destroyed. The earliest of these is the Shamash Collective, an ooze-based collective that fought alongside the Wind Dukes of Aaqa and celestial against the demon hordes (sort of like Roman Auxilia made up of foreign, less skilled fighters). In the current day there is only a single word of the Shamash Collective remaining, having been driven to extinction by the mindflayers, who find eating them like eating a delicious sentient pudding.
The most common magic item they use is the tentacle rod, which they can easily use to manipulate items and move between spaces with an air gap. They are also the creator race of gelatinous cubes, using them to create large structures by having them move into position and then hardening. Modern gelatinous cubes are their left over construction materials.
A slime torch could be a slimy orb containing naturally seperated bladders of diphenyl oxalate and hydrogen peroxide that they pop allowing the chemicals to mix when used.
So glow sticks
@@kyledorey9459 Yes, a biological glowstick. Well as biological as magic slime creatures get
Plane shift me now to the Dimension of Cheese!
ah yes the lawful good kind of evil my favorite
Shoth item: insulating cloak. A sort of plastic like covering shoth envelop themselves in to protect themselves from the elements useful for traveling to desert or ice worlds as they explore the multiverse to keep their bodies from evaporating in the heat or freezing respectively
Great!
@@AJPickett Thanks for the heart
Honestly it would be great to bring back the non-neutonian property for Shoth shields; it's a liquid under little to no pressure such as when it's carried that instantly becomes a strong solid when hit with an attack.
Good thinking!
I wonder what would happen if Juiblex
and its slimes ended up encountering the Shoth.
I think he would try to subvert the Shoth collective and turn them all into his servants. Sounds like an interesting story: an expanding hivemind collective of good-humored slime folks need help fighting off the advance of the freaky ooze cultists.
Oh, it would be all out war. We have no idea how powerful Shoth is by comparison... I imagine it is QUITE powerful.
I love these guys! Along with the shard minds, and the flumphs. Friendly/neutral aberrations are highly under utilized
IT'S LIKE YOU SENSED MY NEED FOR AN INTERESTING RACE!
Shoth item:
Sooze-phone
The Shoth, noting how reticent some otherwise willing participants were to lose their individual memories, created the Sooze-phone - a hinged silver sphere worn over the head during the dissolving process and would gently snap shut around the brain, etching its thought patterns onto the interior of the orb. This would allow a sooze, by pressing against the inside, to "remember" the thoughts and memories of the individual who came before it.
That is, any of the Thoth could access these memories by jello-molding the brain into shape. For more collectivized Thoth who have no need of the individual, these are treated as books.
That is a cool concept!
Someone needs to make these cute gooey goose into a playable character if they haven't already. I'm trying to right now and I have so many Back stories rolling around in my head.
Here's one I decided on. An oth sent ta meet a mind flayer that said they wanted ta join but captured her and broke her connection ta their shared consciousness she escapes and joins a group of adventurers ta help find a way back ta the collective. Now I just need ta come up with stats ta make her usable.
Your lore videos somehow always seem to brighten my day. Thank you and keep on trucking! ^_^
I've been playing since the late ,90s but this was the first time I've heard of these guys, thanks AJ!
This can make for a random encounter in campaign set in the fringes of civilization. Maybe the DM wants to do a little SpellJammer. The party helps them repair a ship. In exchange they hand over a star chart.
The star chart is sticky...
reminds me of the Changlings and their Great Link on DS9 thanks for the info!
Except Changelings are xenophobes. The Silver Bloods in Voyager may be a different story.
Could make a great patron for a warlock
Ah yes. The Cheese Dimension.
A plane in which all broken character builds have been banished to in order to contain the sheer overwhelming jankiness that would spread through the Multiverse if they were allowed to remain in circulation.
Everytime one escapes Mordenkainen himself gets involved. After all; each one is a terrible threat to The Balance.
Warlock+sorcerer go brrrrrrrrrrr
Also paladin+rouge go brrrr
@@dogdogdraws2352 warlock-paladin too haha
@@DCdabest so true, personally i love playing high level utility (bard/warlock/sorcerer)
Oozes and slimes were always one of my favorite monster types so these are cool af to me. I freaking loved that last artwork of the slime with the skeleton and wizard hat
I know, I could not leave that out... so cute!
So in another universe Flubber built space ship and flew around the universe helping people, cool😁.
man now i wanna play a shoth.
So it actually makes more sense that collective entity/species would actually be pretty selective about who they let join, and the parameters wouldn't be knowlege or power....it'd be how well you get along, and want to be there. Consider how awful it'd be sharing a brain with a selfish person, or a judgemental person. Even if those traits don't bother you in friends...remember, you can all read each others minds. Antisocial traits would go over Pooooorly
Seems like a non hostile type of Borg. Minus the hardware.
They are _soft_ ware UwU 👁w👁 Uw
I wonder how the Shoth view slime and oozes and juiblex.
Im just wanting to see a Shoth-Juiblex showdown
Fuuuuuuu... Dood. That sounds amazing. Wait... What happens if someone is polymorphed into a form of Shoth? Do they immediately gain access to a library of knowledge?
We all loose this war.
We had finally found venom in d&d
I'm getting some Odo & the Changelings from Star Trek: Deep Space 9 vibes too.
Here wuz Seamus
i can see them having some sort of psionic generator like device of that ooze metal that could allow them to shift the density of their body, allowing their whole bodies to be basically able to be a weapon or shield as needed
Oh, very good, so the vessel enhances all of them.
Imagine showing up to a party and having to introduce your shoth best friend
hey ladies, this is Bergalergl, he's got 4 tentacles and a soothing aura 😏
Slime girl.
Hmmm...how is juiblex not banging on their door like Karen after a manager? Also, safe to to assume they know of mind Flayers. But did they know about Aboleth?
@@Fgway if juiblex were a natural part of the Material plane then yes. But juiblex is a demon lord that came to existence with the abyss. There is no real cosmic balance with something outside of it. What naturally occurring evil Ooze does Shoth balance?
@@Fgway hell is not the Abyss. Demons are not Devils. Shoth is a prime material being and Juiblex is a demon lord. He was born from tharizdun planting the shard. Nothing Natural about it. I get your idea. But it's wrong because it needs the abyss/juiblex to be a Natural being. The only "natural" demons are the Yuguloths. Juiblex is not a Yuguloth.
@@Fgway so it works because you're juxtaposing the completely unnatural Abyss with natural thing. The shard and the Abyss are not Natural. There is no good cosmic reflection of the Abyss and (non yugoloth) demons because they shouldn't exist in the first place. The Abyss is a cancer eating the multiiverse. Nothing natural about it.
@@Fgway noooooo. Read up on the Blood war and Abyssal lore. That's entirely wrong. Devils fighting demons in the blood war is only reason they haven't won. And the cancer thing is more literal than metaphorically.
@@Fgway if you mean the original Obrynth invasion, it was infighting. Demogorgon killing the queen of chaos then the other demon Lords started fighting for control. With the dawn wars going on, the Abyss was more or less forgotten for a time
Can you do some vids on the alternate demon lords and arch devils from ToB and Codex
I would love to see his take on Rangda
For sure 🙂
@@AJPickett Hell yeah! I've been trying to figure out one to fit into my HB campaign setting.
Misread the title as sloth and was really confused by the thumbnail.
In d&d 5e, sloths have a cr 50. A Single normal sloth cast denigrate ray as a 1007th level spell as a bonus action an infinite number of times, which in the lore is said powerful to destroy an infinite number of universes, including all dimensions they contain. They are immune all types of damage but force and as a legendary action they can teleport to a universe you will never be able to reach.
I wish there was a DnD group similar to Critical Role that allowed people to vote for what characters they play for campaigns, its really unfortunate that all this cool lore exists but nobody uses it since humans and elves are so much more popular and homogenized...
So they are basically lawfull good mostly?
Wouldn`t have expected that.... at all.
Well it seems like it, but can you ever truly trust them to not lie to you about what goes on in the hivemind? Who's to say they aren't just amazing liars that have realized it is easier to assimilate whole races through coercion than through war.
I'd personally say Lawful Neutral with the opinion that being nice is the best way to get what they want. Being good isn't the point of their lawfulness
What if dying god, hid itslef into a mortal body, and would merge with shoth?
Unknown.. sounds like a good plot.
Thats a really neat idea for a campaign or something
I know.
I used a dying god trope in one of my Worlds. And it was So great that after the said world got destroyed (not the planet, but the only continent with Every living thing) i devided to let some People survive and travel throu space on a massive ship to my new world, where they populated one of the continents (which i used as a starting, learning location for my new players)
And than cataclysm happened and the civilization dyed. And since the Carevna (empress was partialy devine, and Last avatar of trickster traitor Hero god was there and dyed as well, the combined devine energy started an age of Bohatýrů (heroes)
For the 2 main continents.
But to the point. I think i might use this in my current world.
So the God will unknowingly merge (He is hidden inside Human)
And when He tries to get free. Both will get corrupted.
And thus i will end up with a god that will be technically undead. And part of this creature that will become an anathema to its original. Destroying living things and knowledge.
I do have zombies and such.... Necromancers in my world. But no undead is sort of spontaneosly created. All of them have a reason like curse, or unfinished bussiness, or serving necromancer as a way to repent for their sins. (in my world, necromancy is a dark art, but technically is not bad. You need to strike an agreement with the deceased, and you can animate only neutral or bad People.)
There are Black Priests, from slavic folklore, Who cannot animate the dead, but use a lot of powers, which are considered necromantic. Like they can find Last things the deceased person saw. If they have a drop of blood they can use the same ability on living, but they will see only the Last moments that led to the blood being spilled.
They can even track the original owner of things, if they had the thing long enough.
if the god willingly merges then i imagine youd get a second shoth like being that acts as an avatar or merges with the first. or we get a situation like elder brain vs a brain staler dragon
This sounds like a creature that would be fun to play as. Right alongside that one psychic ooz.
I love kobold press monsters! Looking forward to seeing more creature codex and tome of beasts (and soon to be TOB2) creatures if this becomes a norm on the channel. Personally want to see a video on the Skein Witch from TOB.
Or on the Ghoul Emperor. Teaching Drow what’s up.
I'll be bringing Kobold Press monsters on a regular basis.
Christopher Vandenberg-Garcia the ghoul emperor is definitely a cool one, especially given its vast amounts of lore in the kobold press works.
Some of my own personal favorites from TOB are the cambium and blood hag for their cool multi-option abilities which make them fresh, lore accurate, and diverse and I also love the paper drake above many others for it’s cool lore (love the part about being able to give it spells with runes, really makes it a wonderful pet/familiar for high level wizards). Honestly the skein witch is a fan made monster so I’m not sure if there’s much lore to be found from it outside the book, so I’d love to even have any lore on any of these three monsters.
There are hella others I love for their lore and fresh mechanics especially these which I’d be elated to see lore videos on any of which: the eonic drifter, fear smith, eye golem, grim jester, red hag, heralds (blood and darkness), kot bayun, liosalfar, mask wight (this things ability is mind boggling), and the suturefly.
Lovecraftian names and themes, yes please
My favorite creature from the Creature Codex is a tie between the Light and Wasteland Dragons, it'd be great to see a video on them! The demons and devils are amazing as well.
Slime personal floatation device: two sacs that release a liquid compound that react to release a gas that fills a membrane like a life jacket. Make the gas lighter than air and place chitin scales on it with perhaps stabilizing buoyant arms hanging off like wings and you have a Shoth Cuirass of flight.
Are you going to cover the entire codex? Cause that would be awesome
I mean... probably.
AJ... there's something outside you're window.
I expected it to be something related to Lovecraftian Yog Sotgoth or Soggoth. It must be the ‘oth’. 😀. Let’s see if I guessed right.
Fascinating. Strange and wonderful to have an intelligent, ooze-like race that might be benevolent to other creatures.
Mechanically, would a Soth arcanist/paladin who is transitioning into a Droth retain its arcanist/paladin abilities?
I once got to play a monster-party campaign as a gelatinous slime with paladin class levels who's quirk was that it loved and adored everything to do with humans. Everything about the Shoth just reminds me of how scary an intelligent slime can be.
You would think so, right?
What I am curious about is what could force a seemingly well meaning society into doing such violence just to get the cooperation of their targets. The general feel of the Shoth is there are what they seem. A well intentioned people who want to save everyone they meet.
I wouldn't really consider them slimes though. Slimes are generally simple creatures that have little to no mind of their own. The Shoth seem to more be beings that have learned how to create amorphous shells for their consciousness. A slime is still, to a degree, a natural living entity. The Shoth bodies are more of a technology and they just thought not being confined to set parameters was nifty.
My guess would be this only happens in extreme "greater good" scenarios. For example if they discover a civilization that's going to do terrible things to the world at large if they're left to their own devices, they might force them into the Shoth so that they can be "guided" by more altruistic aims. Or if there's some great threat out there and a particular civilization is the only one with the means to combat it, they might force them into the Shoth so that the Shoth can make use of that ability to save everyone else. Presumably after making a sales pitch for a voluntary collaboration first, of course.
Would be neat to see this as a playable race.
Could work as a template.
Just use the Sooze statblock. And the DM can drop-in an Oth and a Droth into the setting; somewhere nearby
SHOTH INSPIRED ITEM
Distilled Biology
Sage Pickett, after our last conversation regarding my upcoming trip beyond the sphere and the dangers I might face, I spent some time looking for evidence of some the beings you told me of here on Toril and within Realmspace at large. I found my first examples of one of these species surprisingly early on my precursory journey through Realmspace. Shortly after leaving Toril, I docked at the Leira Trading Center on Selûne, hoping to establish some sort of contract between the Leirans and the Thimbleminster Trading Company(under the guise of being from outside of the Sphere, as you had suggested). While waiting for my meeting with a representative of the Leiran Trade Commission, I spent some time exploring the different market areas and buildings of commerce to see what goods could be found there. After stopping at a small stand in one of the markets that was selling some sort of rotisserie rodent(which was delicious, by the way), I happened upon a member of the amorphous Shoth, one of the Droth variety, and decided to strike up a conversation. As luck would have it, Bob, which was not his true name but rather what he was called by the locals, was a researcher of sorts too, specializing in biological studies. After a somewhat lengthy talk about the nature of our respective endeavors and finding some amount of crossover between our work, we agreed to meet again after my meeting with the Trade Commission. The meeting went quite well and an agreement to arrange a trade contract was reached, however, as is common is business, it quickly turned into a month long deliberation of the terms of said contract. Though time consuming, it was fortuitous, as it allowed me more time to work with Bob and learn what knowledge or insight his people could offer. Eventually, we decided to pool our resources to work on a project of his which I found to be most intriguing. The Droth have the remarkable ability to “borrow” the natural abilities of other creatures they come into contact with, but only briefly. The goal of his project was to find a means of extending this ability. To this end, we began research into the mechanisms through which this ability functioned. After much research, we found a breakthrough in an experiment that involved having an already diminutive Saltkin Sandman* use a Ring of Minimalization* to become so small that he was imperceivable. After this the Saltkin* observed as Bob touched one of the other crewmen, taking detailed notes on their bodies interactions. Based on these observations, we have found that when the body of a Droth comes into contact with other living biological creature, which was a Halfling in the observed instance, micronic filaments of the Droth’s body extend through the creatures skin before quickly being retracted back into the Droth. During this brief intrusion, the filaments will each extract 5 to 9 “disks of blood”, as they were described, from the creature. These disks are then saturated with the Droth’s internal fluid and incorporated into the Droth’s body, before being converted into more of the internal fluid. In the time while these disks are a part of the Droth, but not fully dissolved and converted, the Droth gains access to whatever abilities the original creature would normally have. From here, we worked to prolong the conversion rate, conducting our experiments within Bob himself, but found it to be quite impossible to do in a living Droth, as the sheer amount of fluid would quickly overwhelm any amount of blood or alchemical agents we used in our attempts to do so. Next we experimented by extracting fluid from Bob and mixing it in controlled proportions with blood and various chemical components, and eventually, we found success. After a myriad of failed attempts, we found the correct ratios and components to suspend the process until after the mixture had been exposed to the internal acids of a Droth and slow the process once consumed, naming it Distilled Biology, though distillation was not actually part of the process. Upon further experimentation we discovered that the effects of our product were not exclusive to the Droth and allowed other Shoth and even non Shoth to use Distilled Biology to gain the abilities of other creatures temporarily.
To show my unending appreciation of your help in this extra-spherical endeavor of mine, I have sent you one dozen, one pint shoth-bottles of each of the varieties of Distilled Biology I have made thus far, as well as a crate full of shoth-bottles of various sizes, from one quarter cup to one gallon. I will continue to send you back more of my creations and other interesting goods I find as I make my way through Realmspace, such that you may gain as much from my exploration as I have from your knowledge and advice.
- Ivaldi the Experimentalist
(Continued in Comments)
DISTILLED BIOLOGY POTIONS
When consumed, a Distilled Biology potion grants the listed effect for 2 hours. These effects are not of a magical nature and thus cannot be dispelled or disrupted by antimagic, wild magic, dead magic, or any other effect that specifically targets magic. Unfortunately, due to the taxing nature of having one’s biology temporarily altered, when the effects of these potions end the drinker receives 1 level of Exhaustion. If a creature drinks a Distilled Biology potion while the effects of another Distilled Biology potion is still active on them, the effects of both potions are nullified and the creature takes 3d12 Acid damage, as well as suffering 2 levels of Exhaustion.
Potion of Quickling Speed - Increases the consumer’s movement speed by 90 ft. Once during the time while this effect is active, the consumer can use their Bonus Action on their turn to take an additional Attack action(including Multiattack or Extra Attacks).
Potion of Troll Health - Increases the consumer’s Hit Point Maximum by 10 and caused the consumer to regain 1 Hit Point at the start of each of their turns, so long as they have at least 1 Hit Point when their turn begins. The consumer does not regain Hit Points if they have taken Acid or Fire damage since the start of their last turn.
Potion of Goliath Resilience - The consumer becomes immune to the effects of cold environments. Once during the time while this effect is active, the consumer can use the Goliath’s Stone’s Endurance trait.
Potion of Elf Mind - The consumer becomes immune to magical sleep and gains advantage on saving throws against being charmed. Alternatively, if the consumer chooses to sleep immediately after drinking the potion, they will enter a Trance as Elves do, lasting for 4 hours and gaining the benefits of a long rest afterwords.
Potion of Halfling Fortune - The consumer gains the Lucky trait. Once during the time while this effect is active, when the consumer is hit with an attack that would be a critical hit, they can spend their reaction to make the hit a normal hit.
Potion of Trochil* Grace - The consumer gains advantage on all Dexterity(Acrobatics) checks. Once during the time while this effect is active, the consumer can spend 20 minutes resting, doing light activity at most, and gain the benefits of a short rest.
Potion of Human Skepticism - The consumer gains advantage on Wisdom(Insight) checks made to tell if someone is lying. Additionally, all Charisma(Deception) checks made against the consumer are made with disadvantage.
Potion of Dwarf Fortitude - The consumer gains advantage on saving throws against poison as well as resistance to Poison damage. Once during the time while this effect is active, when the consumer takes the Dodge action in combat they may also spend 1 Hit Die to regain Hit Points.
Potion of Orc Survival - The consumer gains a bonus of +2 to their Constitution. Once during the time while this effect is active, if the consumer is reduced to 0 hit points, they instead drop to 1 Hit Point.
Potion of Tabaxi Agility - The consumer gains a bonus of +2 to their Dexterity. Once during the time while this effect is active, at the start of their turn the consumer can choose to double their movement speed until the end of the turn.
Potion of Kenku Tongue - The consumer mimic any sound they have heard within the past 24 hours.
Potion of Displacer Hide - The consumer gains the Displacer Beast’s Displacement trait. Once during the time while this effect is active, if the consumer is subjected to an effect that allows them to make a saving throw to take only half damage, they can use their Reaction to instead take no damage if they succeed on the saving throw and only half damage if they fail.
Potion of Lizardfolk Scales - The consumer gains Natural Armor, giving them an AC equal to 13 + their Dexterity modifier.
SHOTH-BOTTLES
These bottles are made from a material used by the Shoth and are extremely tough and unbelievably malleable. Their shape can be flattened as thin as ½ inch, though to attain such thinness they must be stretched to cover quite a large amount of surface area. This makes them ideal for the Shoth, who can move through spaces as small as 1 inch. The Shoth can use the inside of their bodies to shape these containers to the correct shape to match any space they themselves can fit through. These bottles are made from a material that is nearly impervious to damage. The only known way to damage one of these containers is to expose them to extreme cold. This will brittle the material and eventually cause it to shatter outright. They have proven quite useful to non-Shoth adventurers as well, since they can be shaped to fit into packs or hung from the exterior of them with practically no need to worry about them being damaged.
A Shoth-Bottle has an AC of 10, 15 Hit Points, and is immune to all damage types except Cold. If reduced to 0 Hit Points, the bottle explodes, and all creatures within 5 ft. of it must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 Piercing damage. If the bottle is full when this happens, the contents may be spilled on to creatures and cause additional effects or may also be frozen and cause additional damage when it explodes(as the DM’s sees fit).
* = Creature or Item from the Monster Mash on Discord.
Something like a bombardier beetle so they get something like dragon's breath spell. Can activate two reacting globules and "breath" a cone of elemental damage at target. Must hold equal numbers of each reacting globule.
Love listening to your vids when I am drawing it petty calming. I was wondering what they think of other Slimes and the demon king of slimes
Well, slimes are justs unintelligent biological components or pests and infections to them.. livestock.
AJ Pickett even something like oblex
@@davidpower5710 Well, intelligent oozes are still a threat, the Oblex is deceptive and manipulative, and also predatory. However, since it would not find the Shoth very edible, and being an intelligent creature, it might attempt to co-exist with them, perhaps even help them out. Who knows?
AJ: Your creativity knows no bounds, nor does your madness! 😉
I love this species. They really are a social adept Borg. I wonder what species can not be dissolved ? I wonder Shoth's awareness Juiblex and interaction with oozes.
I wonder if genies or undead could be dissolved. I would think their bodies could be destroyed/ liquefied but I don't think they could become shoth. Genies are basically just elemental ghosts and they turn to dust when killed. So I don't know if they could assimilate with shoth. As for undead, most are mindless so they likely wouldn't interest shoth. Liches though... that'd be interesting since their soul is tied to their phylactery. So maybe? Could make an interesting story plot. Like perhaps the shoth will aid adventures because the undead can't be assimilated and thus all those turned into undead can never be part of shoth.
I would think that noncorporeal beings could not be dissolved, no body, no dissolving. Another potential that cannot be dissolved are fire based creatures, which would burn the slime before the Shoth can absorb it. I'd also think other intelligent slimes, controlled by Jubilex cannot be absorbed. Positive and Negative material creatures probably couldn't either. Creatures from the Far Realm probably can't either.
Anyone out there want to see the shoth go to war with Juiblex or is it just me laughing at the thought of 2 bowls of jello going into a holy war. On a serious note would it be possible to have rebel shoth?
I was just pondering if there was any lore behind the shoth's viewpoint Juiblex lol
I would imagine they would find Juiblex to be horrendously disgusting and Vile, and launch a holy crusade against it.
Well they seem to have their own free will so its possible though unlikely since they only turn willing beings in most cases but yeah there could be a rebel sect
No.. which is why Shoth are scary.
It could be possible for evil shoth to reject their Zoms and the unity of Shoth, becoming rebels and outcasts (though, the Shoth would probably be far more forgiving and take them back if they repented).