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big teej
2011-02-03, 12:14 AM
recently I came across Grey McBannert's signature

it mentioned Gelatinous cube carpet bombing


intrigued, I asked him to direct me to the thread the quote originated from.


much to my chagrin, the thread did not actually detail how to iniate such a process.


my challenge to the collective minds of the playground

work out a cost effective maner to achieve a feasible, workable method of carpet bombing with gelatinous cubes.

preferabbly something that doesn't rely on airships/eberron stuff.

the more generic the solution and the least splatbooks the better*

*everything is allowed, I'd just prefer to keep it simple and generic

Dragon Elite
2011-02-03, 12:18 AM
A large catapult.

/thread

However, a flying wizard with a gate spell cast on, say, his shoe, could let the cubes through.

Katana_Geldar
2011-02-03, 12:21 AM
Looks like someone needs to play Paranoia.

rayne_dragon
2011-02-03, 12:28 AM
I think this would be easier to do in 4e. Find a bunch of gelatinous cubes, corral them together with pushes (knock out the cubes instead of killing them to make it easier), then cast elemental maw and drop the whole lot anywhere you want within 100'. You could also get the gelatinous cube familiar, enlarge it with a ritual and use flight or teleport spells to get it to a decent height where you can drop it from.

In 3.x, the best I can think of is some sort of Time Stop/Teleport combination or using reverse gravity and clever timing... I've always been rough on the more esoteric spells though.

Noedig
2011-02-03, 12:32 AM
Find a way to breed said cubes. Cut the peak off of a mountain. Make the peak fly. Craft Portal on the underside of the peak. Craft a connecting portal where ever the cubes are. Move the peak about. Thats as easy as I could come up with.

Fizban
2011-02-03, 12:38 AM
There's a spell in Drow of the Underdark that creates a Gelatinous Cube (temporarily). Create auto-resetting trap, position as needed, carpet bomb.

big teej
2011-02-03, 09:22 AM
There's a spell in Drow of the Underdark that creates a Gelatinous Cube (temporarily). Create auto-resetting trap, position as needed, carpet bomb.

this sounds like the most feasible option ....

as soon as I get my hands on Drow of the Underdark that is

the gate idea I'm afraid is vetoed since you can't gate into the same plane (and I'm unaware of a plane consisting of oozes)

the mountian idea sounds a bit hard to get past a DM. :smallfrown:

the catapult idea is bunked ... largely because it seems that the other G-cube thread has established that they are VERY heavy.

any other suggestions?

Eldan
2011-02-03, 09:43 AM
The Paralemental of Ooze, conveniently, consists mostly of ooze, but also of Oozes :smalltongue:


Now, how to get it flying? You could, perhaps, build the trap into a wall, and let a big flying creature carry the wall.
Then build a pendulum underneath the wall and hang a small creature, say a rat, on the pendulum and swing it. Whenever it passes underneath the wall, thetrap goes off.

Darrin
2011-02-03, 10:43 AM
Start with a Flying Variable Sizing Riverine Buckler +1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10294124&postcount=5) (21465 GP).

Switch the buckler into a tower shield, increase the size to colossal, direct it to hover vertically over your target. This gives you a 15' x 30' floating platform upon which to summon your cubes. Cast engulfing terror (Drow of the Underdark p. 61, Dru/Sor/Wiz 3) three times to summon three cubes. It might be a good idea to put some food on the platform so they don't accidentally fall off the edge (prematurely, that is). Switch your platform into a fine-sized buckler, and anything underneath the cubes takes 20d6 falling object damage (no save). From there, assume the cube automatically Engulfs anything underneath it (while it is moving, it isn't technically using a move action yet).

I'm not entirely sure about the weight (since the errata changed the size from a 15' cube to the more traditional 10' cube), but if a 15' cube weighs 50000 lbs, then a 10' cube probably weighs around 14766 lbs.

Another method:

Max out UMD, and give your Raven familiar a wand of benign transposition. Cast engulfing terror, and then cast ooze puppet or use the Slime domain power on the cube (to treat it as a "willing creature"). Your Raven flies above the target and then uses benign transposition on itself/cube. Assuming the cube survives the fall, rinse/repeat.

Hmmm... "willing creature" may be a sticking point, even with ooze puppet. If you tie a rope between the cube and raven, you could use baleful transposition, so long as you can get the Will save DC up to 17 (cube's Will save is -4, so it fails even on a 20). 10 + 2 (spell level) + 4 (Int/Cha bonus) + 1 (Spell Focus) would work.

Otherwise, you'll need to give the cube some intelligence: maybe find/breed one with the Sentry Ooze template (Dungeonscape p. 114), or cast awaken ooze (Dragon #304). Fiendish/Celestial/Pseudonatural template would also work (minimum Int 3)... is there a spell that can grant the fiendish/celestial template?

Czin
2011-02-03, 11:17 AM
Have a bunch of big black/green/copper dragons lift the cubes and fly them over an elven settlement that peeves you off, drop your death jell-o on the pointy eared freaks and kick back and listen to the screams..listen...for that is the sound of their extinction...

Radar
2011-02-03, 11:41 AM
the catapult idea is bunked ... largely because it seems that the other G-cube thread has established that they are VERY heavy.
Not a problem for a typical Hulking Hurler/Warhulk - even if not optimised for max load.

You can also teleport G-cubes above your target.

Czin
2011-02-03, 12:10 PM
Not a problem for a typical Hulking Hurler/Warhulk - even if not optimised for max load.

You can also teleport G-cubes above your target.

The big problem with catapult/trebuchet usage to launch G-cubes is that their acid acts upon all organic matter, so even if you had a catapullt big enough for the job, the cube would just burn through staff sling (the part that holds the projectiles) long before you even got close to being ready to fire. Weight isn't that big a deal since any warlord/mage/mage warlord eccentric enough to seriously pursue this idea would have the resources to build a ungodly huge siege weapon to launch his odd projectiles.

The best idea in my opinion would be a large howitzer, the cube would be able to squeeze in so barrel width isn't an issue, the barrel just has to be long enough to house it. Once you load your cubes (preferably with featherfall casted on them so that they won't die from landing, though with a purely RAW interpretation of the spell it shouldn't affect their flight speed.)

Radar
2011-02-03, 12:27 PM
The big problem with catapult/trebuchet usage to launch G-cubes is that their acid acts upon all organic matter, (...)
Nothing Resist Energy can't fix - you can animate the catapult, so it would be a legal target for the spell and would help with reloading. :smallsmile:

Czin
2011-02-03, 12:34 PM
Nothing Resist Energy can't fix - you can animate the catapult, so it would be a legal target for the spell and would help with reloading. :smallsmile:

You'd probably need protection from energy to resist all the acid damage that results from full round contact with G-cubes, and you'd need to recast the spell each time it's burned out. My howitzer idea doesn't need magic, just some points in craft alchemy and craft weapon.

Uncertainty
2011-02-03, 12:36 PM
Step 1: Flying Carpet (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Carpet_of_Flying)
Step 2: Spell Clocks (http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/showthread.php/1708-Clockwork-Wonders-The-Spell-Clock) of Engulfing Terror (Summon Gcube)
Step 3: Permanent (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Permanency) Shrink Item (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Shrink_Item) on the Spell Clocks (Make them cloth).
Step 4: Sew the spell clocks into the bottom of the flying carpet.
Step 5: ???
Step 6: Profit!

Is it economical? No. Is the bad pun worth the price? Hell yes! Probably not.

Radar
2011-02-03, 12:46 PM
You'd probably need protection from energy to resist all the acid damage that results from full round contact with G-cubes, and you'd need to recast the spell each time it's burned out. My howitzer idea doesn't need magic, just some points in craft alchemy and craft weapon.
2d6 acid damage, so Resist Energy on CL 7 will be more then enough and will last over an hour.

Darrin
2011-02-03, 12:51 PM
Is this right? A Thrall of Juiblex 3 (BoVD p. 70) can use Summon Ooze (Sp) to conjure gelatinous cubes at will? No spell level for the summon monster is listed, just a caster level, and no uses/day listed either.

Czin
2011-02-03, 12:53 PM
2d6 acid damage, so Resist Energy on CL 7 will be more then enough and will last over an hour.

Of course, loading and readying the catapult (you need to get the torsion set up again/reset the counterweight, and the bigger the catapult/trebuchet the longer it generally takes to load) would take a lot of time. :smallwink:

For my howitzer you only need to put a G-cube in a shell, load it into breechloading cannon and fire. When the shell lands it will break apart and free the cube. Think of the headcrab shells from half life 2, it works like that.

big teej
2011-02-03, 02:25 PM
I approve of this thread greatly, and am absolutely giddy over having so many ways to pull this off

keep it up!!! :smallbiggrin:

satorian
2011-02-03, 02:53 PM
What's the propulsion mechanism on the howitzer? does it use gunpowder? delayed blast fireball? in any case, wouldn't the blast, whatever it is, kill the ooze?

arguskos
2011-02-03, 03:01 PM
Is this right? A Thrall of Juiblex 3 (BoVD p. 70) can use Summon Ooze (Sp) to conjure gelatinous cubes at will? No spell level for the summon monster is listed, just a caster level, and no uses/day listed either.
I see no Uses/Day listed, and it appears said ability received no errata. So, yeah, any character with ToJ 3 can summon endless GCubes. I love it.

Czin
2011-02-03, 03:52 PM
What's the propulsion mechanism on the howitzer? does it use gunpowder? delayed blast fireball? in any case, wouldn't the blast, whatever it is, kill the ooze?

The ooze would be contained within a metal shell that would break apart upon landing. As far as I know falling and blast damage does not apply if you're contained within an object.

Person_Man
2011-02-03, 04:25 PM
Spend several months manufacturing dehydrated gelatin. (Interestingly enough, you can do this with medieval technology, but wasn't popularized until the Victorian era). Fill a few dozen bags of holding with it. Cast Control Weather to create a major rain storm. Fly above the clouds, and dump the jello into them.

Honestly, I'm not sure why someone hasn't done something like this in the real world yet. Seems like it would be the ultimate Halloween prank.

Jair Barik
2011-02-03, 04:27 PM
Because people in the real world can't cast control weather (can't fly without technology either)