Black Pudding, Lethe-Corrupted

Family: Oozes

Large ooze, neutral evil

Armor Class 8
Hit Points 75 (10d10 + 20)
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	7 (–2)	15 (+2)	1 (–5)	8 (–1)	1 (–5)

Damage Immunities acid, cold, lightning, slashing
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, prone
Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 9
Languages —
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Amorphous. The pudding can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
• Corrosive Form. A creature that touches the pudding or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 4 (1d8) acid damage. Any nonmagical weapon made of metal or wood that hits the pudding corrodes. After dealing damage, the weapon takes a permanent and cumulative –1 penalty to damage rolls. If its penalty drops to –5, the weapon is destroyed. Nonmagical ammunition made of metal or wood that hits the pudding is destroyed after dealing damage. The pudding can eat through 2-inch-thick, nonmagical wood or metal in 1 round.
• Spider Climb. The pudding can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

ACTIONS

• Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage plus 18 (4d8) acid damage, and the target must make a DC 13 Charisma saving throw or become supernaturally isolated. If the target fails its save by 5 or more, it is also stunned until the start of the pudding’s next turn. An isolated target cannot take the Help action and is not considered an ally of any other creature. This isolation lasts until the target finishes a short rest. In addition, nonmagical armor worn by the target is partly dissolved and takes a permanent and cumulative –1 penalty to the AC it offers. The armor is destroyed if the penalty reduces its AC to 10.

REACTIONS

• Failed Split. When the pudding is subjected to lightning or slashing damage, it moves up to 10 feet if it has at least 10 hit points. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.

ABOUT

Fiends of the Lethe legion often inflict stunning strikes in combat, but when free to torment their foes over a longer period of time, they enjoy inflicting feelings of isolation and despair. Creatures left behind by friends or family in lands controlled by the Lethe legion are particularly susceptible to corruption, as the self-destructive feelings of desperate loneliness already echo inside their minds. Once a corrupted creature has given way to these feelings and its descent into evil is complete, it passes those same feelings along to other creatures it attacks. Lethe-corrupted creatures are most often encountered alone and emanate a palpable sense of loneliness.

Lethe corruption

Lethe corruption grants the Isolating Strikes trait.

Isolating Strikes (1/Turn). A living creature hit by an attack from the corrupted creature must make a Charisma saving throw or become supernaturally isolated. If the target fails this save by 5 or more, it is also stunned until the start of the corrupted creature’s next turn. An isolated target cannot take the Help action and is not considered an ally of any other creature. This isolation lasts until the target finishes a short rest.

Arising from befouled, desolate swamps favored by the Lethe legion, Lethe-corrupted black puddings are mindless creatures that resemble a tarry sludge. Dissolving all materials other than stone, corrupted black puddings leave nothing in their wake. Their strikes similarly dissolve happy memories of friendship and camaraderie. This wide patch of tarry sludge appears to be a lonely shadow cast by no particular object.