.jpg)
No. Enc.: 1d6 (See Below)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 8
Attacks: 2 (2 pincers + shocks)
Damage: 1d10 + 3d6 / 1d10 + 3d6
Save: L4
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: None
XP: 4,060
With the aid of fantastic devices and wondrous starcraft, The Ancients explored the farthest reaches of the cosmos...
...UNTIL VICIOUS CREATURES RENDERED THEIR TECHNOLOGIES UNTO JUNK BY CONSUMING THE VERY ENERGIES THAT POWERED THEM!!!
...UNTIL VICIOUS CREATURES RENDERED THEIR TECHNOLOGIES UNTO JUNK BY CONSUMING THE VERY ENERGIES THAT POWERED THEM!!!
Slimenoids begin their life cycles as photosynthetic, protoplasmic blobs (ranging from a few inches in length to several feet in diameter) found on rogue asteroids, runaway comets, and crash-into-able planetoids. They grow innocuously on rock formations and in stagnant pools, and easily survive the rigors of space. But when in the presence of technology (landing craft, sensory equipment, environmental suits, etc), slimenoid globs covertly slither into whatever nooks and crannies will hide them. They lurk until taken back aboard starships...
...where they infest electrical systems and power sources, feeding and morphing into deadly, man-sized bipeds! These adult slimenoids sport one cyclopean eye and dozens of smaller ones, nigh-useless limb-stumps, and flailing, sparking pincers that generate such intense electrical jolts that the surrounding air fills with a 20' radius of obscuring smoke (inducing a -2 To Hit penalty by ranged foes). Those immune to electrical attacks only suffer clawing damage.
Like their larval forms, adult slimenoids can survive in the open void of space, and they cling to external spaceship / -station surfaces. They also leech electricity and power supplies, draining artifacts dry in 1d4 rounds and power plants, reactors, conduits, engines, etc. in 1d6 turns.
Clearing a slimenoid infestation is an extremely perilous situation, as the creatures reproduce via droplets of their own blood. Each 5 HP of damage done to a slimenoid births an entirely new adult in 1d4 turns. A single injured slimenoid can overrun a massive space station in hours.
Only cleansing fire prevents new slimenoids from manifesting...but every single spatter must be thoroughly burned away.
Mutations: Epidermal Photosynthesis, Reflective Epidermis (Electricity), Unique Mutation ("Hemo-Breeding")
AFGTD BONUS CONTENT!!!
This is the B-side to the original radio spot 45 record...which I happen to own, I say ever so smugly! (Ok, ok...it was released on a CD back in 1990 on an album that truly changed the course of my existence. Available here!)
I sought out this movie for some time, thinking it was the origins behind the D&D Green Slime, and was disappointed when it obviously was not. But it was a fun, classic, cheesy sci-fi film.
ReplyDeleteI finally found the true origins of D&D Green Slime in the Japanese movie, The H-Man. Oddly, a far more serious and not-cheesy film that one might have thought...
Thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteBut it makes me ask, have you hunted down the other "cinematic origins" of other D&D beasties? Is that a hobby? Because, snazzy! Gygax and Co. certainly owed a great deal to the likes of Harryhausen and Honda.
Actually, yes. For a while there it was a bit of a hobby of mine, ever since I rediscovered Ultraman and the effect it had on D&D... for example, the bulette, which is based on a strange little plastic critter from Hong Kong, is a knock-off of one of the monsters from Ultraman.
ReplyDeleteI often wish Gary (and Dave) had left "Appendix N"s of films that they used as inspirations. Dave's inspirations were mostly from Hammer Horror films and the Japanese Horror films. Gary's were mostly the Harryhausen and like films (though I think Gary was more influenced by literature than film, while Dave had a strong film influence).
Still one of my favorite late-night films!
ReplyDeleteYou're a person of distinction AND taste, ELTF177!
ReplyDeleteAnother great post on a favorite "Monster"
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly, Doctor! Always a pleasure when you drop in!
ReplyDelete