Gelatinous cube

A gelatinous cube is a fictional monster from the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It is described as a ten-foot cube of transparent gelatinous ooze, which is able to absorb organic matter.

Creative origins

The gelatinous cube is an invention of Gary Gygax, and first appeared in the Monster Manual (1977),^[1] rather than being lifted from outside sources and adapted to a roleplaying setting, as were many mythological monsters like the minotaur and dryad.

Being a cube that is a perfect ten feet on each side, it is specifically and perfectly "adapted" to its native environment, the standard, 10-foot (3.0 m) by 10-foot (3.0 m) dungeon corridors which were ubiquitous in the earliest Dungeons & Dragons modules.

Publication history

The gelatinous cube first appeared in the original Dungeons & Dragons "white box" set (1974),^[2] and its first supplement, Greyhawk (1975).^[3]

The gelatinous cube appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977, 1981, 1983). The gelatinous cube also appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991).^[4]

The gelatinous cube appeared in first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the original Monster Manual (1977).^[5] The creature was further developed in Dragon #124 (August 1987).^[6] Published first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventures which included gelatinous cubes as adversaries that the player characters encounter included "The Ruins of Andril", published in Dragon #81.^[7]

The gelatinous cube appeared in second edition in Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989),^[8] and the Monstrous Manual (1993) under the "ooze/slime/jelly" heading.^[9]

The gelatinous cube appears in the third edition Monster Manual (2000), under the ooze entry,^[10] and in the 3.5 revised Monster Manual (2003).^[11]

The gelatinous cube appears in the fourth edition Monster Manual (2008), under the ooze entry.^[12] The gelatinous cube also appears in the Monster Vault (2010), under the ooze entry.^[13]

Other publishers

The gelatinous cube is fully detailed in Paizo Publishing's book Dungeon Denizens Revisited (2009), on pages 16–21.^[14]

Ecology

A gelatinous cube looks like a transparent ooze of mindless, gelatinous matter in the shape of a cube. It slides through dungeon corridors, absorbing everything in its path, digesting everything organic and secreting non-digestible matter in its wake. Contact with its exterior can result in a paralyzing electric shock, after which the cube will proceed to slowly digest its stunned and helpless prey.

Reproduction is through a form of asexual 'budding', in which a smaller, stub cube is left behind in a side corridor to grow into a full-sized cube, although these stub cubes run the risk of being absorbed by their own parent on its next trip down the corridor.

Gelatinous cubes typically live underground.

Alignment

Gelatinous cubes, being mindless, are always neutral.^{[citation needed]}

In other media

• In Ultima I a gelatinous cube is commonly encountered in the dungeon levels.
• Gelatinous cubes are one of the many types of monsters in NetHack and Ancient Domains of Mystery.
• Gelatinous cubes occur in EverQuest and EverQuest II, both as monsters and house pets.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Monster Manual
2. ↑ Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeons & Dragons (3-Volume Set) (TSR, 1974)
3. ↑ Gygax, Gary and Robert Kuntz. Supplement I: Greyhawk (TSR, 1975)
4. ↑ Allston, Aaron, Steven E. Schend, Jon Pickens, and Dori Watry. Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (TSR, 1991)
5. ↑ Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual (TSR, 1977)
6. ↑ Greenwood, Ed. "The Ecology of the Gelatinous Cube." Dragon Magazine #124 (TSR, 1987)
7. ↑ Melluish, Ian (January 1984). "The Ruins of Andril: An AD&D adventure for 4-8 characters, levels 8-11". Dragon (TSR) 8 (7): 41–56.  |accessdate= requires |url= (help)
8. ↑ Cook, David "Zeb", et al. Monstrous Compendium Volume One (TSR, 1989)
9. ↑ Stewart, Doug, ed. Monstrous Manual (TSR, 1994)
10. ↑ Williams, Skip, Jonathan Tweet, and Monte Cook. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2000)
11. ↑ Cook, Monte, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2003)
12. ↑ Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2008)
13. ↑ Thompson, Rodney, Bonner Logan, and Sernett, Matthew. Monster Vault (Wizards of the Coast, 2010)
14. ↑ Clinton Boomer, Jason Bulmahn, Joshua J. Frost, Nicolas Logue, Robert McCreary, Jason Nelson, Richard Pett, Sean K Reynolds, James L. Sutter, and Greg A. Vaughan. Dungeon Denizens Revisited (Paizo, 2009)