Black pudding

Depiction of a black pudding attacking an ogrillon from *D&D Monster Manual, 5th ed.*, p. 241.

## Biological Information

### **Vision**

Blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius)

### **Abilities**

* Amorphous
* Corrosive Form
* Spider Climb
* Split

## Sociocultural Information

### **Locations**

* Underdark beneath Kraghammer
* Aeorian ruin

### Environment

Underdark

**Black puddings** are a type of ooze that can corrode nonmagical objects and split into smaller oozes.

## **Appearance**

Black puddings appear to be large masses of a thick, oily, tar-like liquid that can squeeze into tight spaces. They smell acerbic, specifically acidic.

## **Abilities**

The following is taken from the *Monster Manual, 5th Edition*, page 241, but several abilities have been demonstrated on-stream:

* **Damage immunities**: lightning, acid, cold, slashing
* **Condition immunities**: blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, prone
* **Amorphous**: Can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing
* **Spider Climb**: Can climb difficult surfaces and hang on ceilings without an ability check
* **Corrosive Form**: Can eat through 2-inch-thick, nonmagical wood or metal in 1 round. Creatures that touch or perform a melee attack against the pudding take acid damage. Nonmagical weapons made of wood or metal that hit the ooze take a permanent, cumulative -1 penalty to damage rolls, and if the penalties add up to -5 the weapon is destroyed. Nonmagical ammunition made of those materials is destroyed after hitting the pudding.
* **Pseudopod** (action): Attack dealing bludgeoning and heavier acid damage. Nonmagical armor the target is wearing takes a permanent, cumulative -1 penalty to its AC, and if the AC drops to 10 the armor is destroyed.
* **Split** (reaction): When a pudding of Medium size or larger is hit with lightning or slashing damage and it has at least 10 hit points remaining, it splits into two puddings of one size smaller, each with half the hit points of the original.

## **History**

In Quen'pillar 810 PD, while on a mission in Kraghammer, Vox Machina heard from Foreman Hieris that slimes and oozes were among the mutated creatures to escape from the Greyspine Quarry. He reported that the oozes and slimes would mutate and rapidly change colors before spontaneously dissolving. When they ventured beneath Kraghammer into the Underdark, Vox Machina and Clarota ambushed a group of ogres transporting a mutated black pudding in a sealed glass container; when Vex'ahlia fired an explosive arrow in the dark cavern, she broke the container. The party then discovered what they had unsealed, and began to fight the ooze; Vex's *Lightning Arrow* against the pudding caused the creature to split. Clarota, who hadn't seen the initial lightning damage fail, tried *Lightning Bolt*, making matters worse.

    In 836 PD, the Mighty Nein delved into the "A5" Aeorian ruin in Eiselcross. There, a *Feather Fall*ing Veth Brenatto dropped into an icy cave and, in her curiosity, disturbed a pair of black puddings, prompting the rest of the party to come to her rescue. This time, it was Beauregard Lionett's Maelstrom Gloves that dealt lightning damage and caused the pudding to split repeatedly.

On the way out of the ruin, the party soon attracted the attention of another black pudding, but Caduceus Clay used *Antilife Shell* to keep the ooze at bay while he steadily burned the creature down with repeated *Sacred Flame*s.

## **References**

1. ↑ See "Under Timeless Ice" (2x116) at 2:45:57.
2. ↑ See "The Trick about Falling" (1x05) at 2:04:23.
3. ↑ See "The Trick about Falling" (1x05) at 2:22:22.
4. ↑ See "Under Timeless Ice" (2x116) at 2:46:48.
5. ↑ See "Under Timeless Ice" (2x116) at 2:56:59.
6. ↑ See "The Trick about Falling" (1x05) at 2:34:20.
7. ↑ See "Under Timeless Ice" (2x116) at 3:01:58.
8. ↑ See "Under Timeless Ice" (2x116) from 2:53:06 through 2:54:05.
9. ↑ See "The Trick about Falling" (1x05) from 2:06:04 through 2:07:30.
10. ↑ See "Into the Greyspine Mines" (1x02) at 28:37.
11. ↑ See "The Trick about Falling" (1x05) at 1:59:50.
12. ↑ See "The Trick about Falling" (1x05) at 2:04:23.
13. ↑ See "The Trick about Falling" (1x05) at 2:22:22.
14. ↑ Matt summarizes the encounter later, noting that the black pudding was "mutated".  See "The Throne Room" (1x07) at 0:21:00.
15. ↑ See "Under Timeless Ice" (2x116) at 2:47:06.
16. ↑ See "Under Timeless Ice" (2x116) from 3:20:00 through 3:22:33.
17. ↑ See "The Tortoise and The Dare" (2x117) from 1:14:05 through 1:17:13.

**Art:**

1. ↑ Depiction of a black pudding attacking an ogrillon from *D&D Monster Manual, 5th ed.*, p. 241. This page contains unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
2. ↑ Fan art of the Mighty Nein battling black puddings in the Aeorian ruin, by astrolunos (source). Used with permission.