Warning: this post contains spoilers for the Saturday Bloody Bunch campaign. If you are invested in the story as a player, I recommend you don’t read beyond this point. You’ve been warned.
“Mother, can you hear me? It’s your greatest son, Nezznar. I am here, mother. I am warmed by your embrace. You dance in my memories. We are bound as one, son and mother.”
By experimenting on the slimes, jellies, and pudding that infest the depths of the Underdark, mind flayers created a special breed of ooze, the oblex–a slime capable of assaulting the minds of other creatures.
The greatest of oblexes, the mother, is a dangerous creature the size of a small town. The slime lurks below the town, creating hundreds of simulacrums crafted from the memories of its victims.
Ooze Nature. An oblex doesn’t require sleep.
Mother Oblex
Gargantuan ooze, lawful evil
Armor Class 17
Hit Points 234 (12d20 + 108)
Speed 20 ft
Abilities Str 19 (+4), Dex 16 (+3), Con 28 (+9), Int 25 (+7), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 22 (+6)
Saving Throws Con +15, Int +13, Cha +12
Skills Arcana +13, Deception +12, History +13, Nature +13, Perception +8, Religion +13
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, prone
Senses blindsight 120 ft. (blind beyond this distance), passive Perception 18
Languages Common plus seven more
Challenge 17 (18,000 XP)
Amorphous. The oblex can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
Aversion to Fire. If the oblex takes fire damage, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the end of its next turn.
Innate Spellcasting. The oblex’s innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 21). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
- At will: charm person (as a 5th-level spell), detect thoughts, hold person, telekinesis
- 3/day each: confusion, dimension door, dominate person, fear, hallucinatory terrain, hold monster, hypnotic pattern
Intuitive Defense. The oblex’s AC includes its Intelligence modifier instead of its Dexterity modifier.
Sulfurous Impersonation. As a bonus action, the oblex can extrude a piece of itself that assumes the appearance of one Medium or smaller creature whose memories it has stolen. The simulacrum appears, feels, and sounds exactly like the creature it impersonates, though it smells faintly of sulfur. The oblex can impersonate 4d8 + 2 different creatures, each one tethered to its body by a strand of slime that can extend up to 360 feet away. For all practical purposes, the simulacrum is the oblex, meaning the oblex occupies its space and the simulacrum’s space simultaneously. The slimy tether it immune to damage, but it is severed if there is no opening at least 1 inch wide between the oblex’s main body and the simulacrum. The simulacrum disappears if the tether is severed.
Actions
Multiattack. The mother oblex makes three pseudopod attacks and uses Eat Memories.
Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 32 (8d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage plus 9 (2d8) psychic damage.
Eat Memories. The oblex targets one creature it can see within 10 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 21 Wisdom saving throw or take 91 (14d12) psychic damage and become memory drained until it finishes a short or long rest or until it benefits from the greater restoration or heal spell. Constructs, oozes, plants, and undead succeed on the save automatically.
While memory drained, the target must roll a d4 and subtract the number rolled from any ability check or attack roll it makes. Each time the target is memory drained beyond the first, the die size increases by one: the d4 becomes a d6, the d6 becomes a d8, and so until the die becomes a d20, at which point the target becomes unconscious for 1 hour. The effect then ends.
When an oblex causes a target to become memory drained, the oblex learns all the languages the target knows and gains all its proficiencies, except any saving throw proficiencies.
Legendary Actions
The mother oblex can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The mother oblex regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Advanced Simulacrums (Costs 3 Actions). The oblex imbues up to three of its simulacrums with advanced properties. The advanced simulacrums use the same statistics as an adult oblex with the following changes:
- The simulacrum has 15 (2d8 + 6) hit points.
- The simulacrum loses its Innate Spellcasting trait.
- All saving throws and skills that it is proficient in are -1.
- When using its Sulfurous Impersonation trait, it can only impersonate 1 creature at a time and it is tethered to the mother oblex. If its tether is severed, the simulacrum dies.
- It loses its Multiattack and Eat Memories actions.
- Its attack bonus is +6.
- The advanced simulacrum’s challenge is 1/2.
The advanced simulacrums appear in unoccupied spaces within 30 feet of the mother oblex and remain until destroyed. Simulacrums summoned in this way roll initiative and act in the next available turn. The oblex can have up to three advanced simulacrums summoned by this ability at any time.
Attack (Costs 2 Actions). The oblex attacks once with its pseudopod.
Read Thoughts. The mother oblex magically reads the surface thoughts of one creature within 120 feet of it. The effect can penetrate barriers, but 3 feet of wood or dirt, 2 feet of stone, 2 inches of metal, or a thin sheet of lead blocks it. While the target is in range, the oblex can continue reading its thoughts, as long as the oblex’s concentration isn’t broken (as if concentrating on a spell). While reading the target’s mind, the oblex has advantage on Wisdom (Insight) and Charisma (Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion) checks against the target.
Telekinesis. The oblex uses its telekineses.
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Art by The Weirdlands of Xhuul.