Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

This post is part of a series! Click here to see the others.

I’m not sure if these are from a specific adventure or if they’re original. This is the first time I saw them. They are mostly generic monsters, but there’s a couple of Vale-specific hooks here.

The Lore

Bloodfire oozes are created by evil rituals which mix the blood of sacrificial victims with the blood of demons. The resulting creatures emit dangerous levels of heat and like most oozes are always on the hunt for more organic material to digest. They are able to recognize and avoid attacking their creator, and if fed regularly are tame enough to be used as guards. They’re usually placed near stone and metal traps or paired with other creatures that have a high resistance to fire.

Bloodfire uses are rumored to prowl the Temple of the Yellow Skull in the Ogrefist Hills area, and some of them were also found by dwarven miners under Nenlast in the Old Hills. The latter were stored inside a giant iron statue of a demon, and spilled out when the miners began dismantling it.

The Numbers

Bloodfire Oozes are Large Elemental Beasts with the Ooze keyword, and level 7 elite brutes with 196 HP. They project a Bloodfire Aura (2) that deals 10 fire damage to any creature caught inside, and their Demonic Fire fire makes all of their fire damage ignore the first 10 points of fire resistance possessed by the target. As oozes, they suffer none of the usual penalties for squeezing through tiny spaces. They are immune to fire and vulnerable 10 to cold.

The oozes attacks are the traditional slam (this time dealing fire damage) and a Fiery Eruption (recharge 5+) that attacks all creatures in a Close Blast 3 to deal light fire damage and ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends).

The ooze can also form faces on its surface, usually the faces of the victims sacrificed to make it. These spew a Sulphuric Breath as a minor action once per round, attacking all creatures in a Close Blast 3 and dealing poison damage.

When the ooze is first bloodied, it immediately recharges Fiery Eruption and uses it as a reaction.

Many of the monsters we saw through our readings have selective auras and area attacks. The bloodfire ooze does not, which limits the selection of allied monsters. Unless you want lots of, er, friendly fire to happen in your encounter you need something with more than 10 fire resistance, and immunity is preferred. As mentioned above, the most likely encounter is a pair of oozes plus a hazard or two in the battlefield.

Final Impression

One more ooze type. They’re thematic for infernal or abyssal cults, and might be a nice surprise to spring on players who load up on acid resistance when they hear the word “ooze”.

For added fun, you should run with the demon statue idea and stick a pair of these things inside that one statue from the 1e PHB cover, making them jump out as soon as the PCs pry out its gemstone yes.