# How do you kill a Black Pudding?



## daemonslye (Oct 30, 2002)

Question says it all.  Lets say you are not
totally immune to acid (but maybe have a
protection from elements). Assume a party
of four level 7 good guys (fighter, wizard, cleric,
rogue combo).

Any cheap magic help out? Spells?

Also assume you cant run from it (forever).

Ideas: Are a monk's unarmed attacks viewed
as "weapons"?  Would a monk take 2d6 acid
per strike?

I suppose the wizard and cleric could try
blasting it with spells but with 120hp, how far
will they get at 7th level (assuming they did not know
they were fighting a BP that day)?

Thanks.

~D


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## Caliban (Oct 30, 2002)

daemonslye said:
			
		

> *Question says it all.  Lets say you are not
> totally immune to acid (but maybe have a
> protection from elements). Assume a party
> of four level 7 good guys (fighter, wizard, cleric,
> ...





Yes, a monks unarmed attacks are weapons.  The monk would take acid damage with every strike. 

*



			I suppose the wizard and cleric could try
blasting it with spells but with 120hp, how far
will they get at 7th level (assuming they did not know
they were fighting a BP that day)?

Thanks.

~D
		
Click to expand...


*
Basically the only way to kill it is with energy damage.  Fire, cold, electricity, sonic, or pure magical energy. 

One way is to hack it into tiny puddings using stone weapons, and then using one area affect spell to kill them all at once.  

The black pudding in the MM has 115 hit points. 

One hit = two 68 hp puddings
two more hits = four 34 hp puddings
four more hits = eight 17 hp puddings. 

You should be able to kill all eight with one fireball, or several magic missile spells, etc.


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## mzsylver (Oct 30, 2002)

hmm... bullrush it off a really high cliff several times?


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## Someone (Oct 30, 2002)

It´s very slow IIRC, don´t have ranged attacks and can´f fly. So outrun it of fly over it and shot it.


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## Caliban (Oct 30, 2002)

Someone said:
			
		

> *It´s very slow IIRC, don´t have ranged attacks and can´f fly. So outrun it of fly over it and shot it. *




It won't take any damage from the arrows, but it will cause it to split. 

So the wizard can really kill it all by himself using his crossbow and two spells: 

Cast Fly, then shoot it  8 times (16 puddings, 9 hp each), and then fireball it.


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## Xaynar (Oct 30, 2002)

I had a party encounter a black pudding not too long ago. The fighter attacked it with a weapon he didn't too much care for splitting it into two 68 hp puddings. Then, the Sorceress who was hasted cast 2 fireballs at it. Black puddings have a real bad reflex save (-2 I think) and it failed both saves....end of pudding.


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## Piratecat (Oct 30, 2002)

I recently sicced an advanced black pudding on my party, tacking on the fiendish template and a whole lot of buffing spells cast by enemy clerics and wizards. The thing was a terror, almost killing two 16th lvl PCs.  It didn't help any that they fought it at 3 am, woken up from sleep, with most of their spells already exhausted.  (Details in my Rogue's Gallery thread, and on my story hour if anyone's curious. The links go directly there.)  A black pudding with reach is going to engulf any monk who approaches it; the results are nasty.


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## FlimFlam (Oct 30, 2002)

How do you kill a Black Pudding?  Make sure you have Bill Cosby in your group.


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## hammymchamham (Oct 30, 2002)

FlimFlam said:
			
		

> *How do you kill a Black Pudding?  Make sure you have Bill Cosby in your group. *




Thats much more clever than what I would have posted...

How do you kill a Black Pudding? Very carefully


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## AuraSeer (Oct 30, 2002)

Caliban said:
			
		

> *
> It won't take any damage from the arrows, but it will cause it to split.
> 
> So the wizard can really kill it all by himself using his crossbow and two spells:
> ...



You've got a math error in there. Firing 8 times will give you 9 fragments of assorted sizes. In order to get 16 fragments, you need to shoot 15 times.

The first time you hit the pudding, it splits into 2 halves. The second time you shoot, you hit one of the halves, so now you have 3 fragments total (2 quarters and 1 half).  And so on like that.

Meanwhile, all those mini-puddings still have the same stats as the big pudding, but they get more total attacks because there are more of them. If the wizard has any friends still on the ground, they may be a bit upset with him. 

I don't know if I have a better idea though. Lacking enough magic to kill the thing outright, I might try to buy some time and build a bonfire. Throw hot coals or flaming sticks at the pudding, to do fire damage without splitting it. Alchemist's fire would work faster, but few parties carry 120 hp worth of the stuff.


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## daemonslye (Oct 30, 2002)

AuraSeer,



> "all those mini-puddings still have the same stats as the big pudding"




I assume you dont mean hit points here just
bonuses to hit and such. Correct?

Do split puddings have reach?

~D


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## Caliban (Oct 30, 2002)

daemonslye said:
			
		

> *AuraSeer,
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I think they would lose their reach once they get small enough, since reach is a primarily function of size (with a few exceptions).


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