Oozy Goodness Part III: Gray Ooze

I confess, the gray ooze is probably my favorite of the oozles, though I'm not 100% sure why. I think it's because it such a great "Gotcha!" monster. To be clear, I try not to overuse gotcha tactics as a DM, but sometimes it's hard to resist. Gray ooze is hard to spot in a dungeon environment and once it hits, things can turn ugly fast.

Gray Ooze (from Moldvay)

AC: 8
HD: 3*
Move: 10' (3')
Att: 1
Damage: 2d8
No. App: 1 (1)
Save: F2
Morale: 12
Treasure: Nil
AL: N

Unlike the black pudding, this blob is somewhat fragile in the hit points area. It's also super-slow, which is why its camouflage is so important. It does decent damage, but the key takeaway from the gray ooze is its effect on gear.

Like the rust monster, the ooze's touch can demolish things like armor. Normal armor is instantly destroyed! Even magic armor is dissolved in one turn. Granted, most combats don't last a full turn, but imagine the fighter being dropped down a chute into a pit with one of these things. By the time  the party pries open hatches and lowers a rope, he and his +1 chainmail might be a puddle of goo. The ooze sticks to the skin after hitting and deals damage automatically every round, so you need to kill it to get it off.

To keep things interesting, the ooze's immunities are different than the cube's or the puddings. You hurt Blacky and Blocky with fire, but you need to zap the G.O. with lightning. It's always nice to keep the party guessing. Of course just smacking it works too.

I like using Gray Oozes in deliberately damp locations; water caves and the like are especially good. Wet stone that's slippery to walk on distracts the players from the possibility of that one slick patch might be something else entirely.