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Black Pudding 5e: Split, Corrosion and How to Kill One
A black pudding is a CR 4 Large ooze with AC 7, 85 hit points, a 20-foot climb speed and a pseudopod that deals 24 damage, 18 of it acid. It's immune to acid, cold, lightning and slashing damage. Hitting it with a slashing weapon or a lightning bolt doesn't hurt it at all; it splits it into two smaller puddings. Every nonmagical metal or wooden weapon that hits it corrodes, and nonmagical armor it hits loses AC. The 2024 pudding has 68 hit points and 10-foot reach, and it also splits when it becomes Bloodied, so any damage type can multiply it.
Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 8
Languages —
Challenge 4 (XP 1,100; PB +2)
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: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 18 (4d8) acid damage. 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
Split.When a pudding that is Medium or larger is subjected to lightning or slashing damage, it splits into two new puddings if it has at least 10 hit points. Each new pudding has hit points equal to half the original pudding's, rounded down. New puddings are one size smaller than the original pudding.
Stat block from the SRD 5.1 (2014 rules) by Wizards of the Coast, licensed under CC-BY-4.0. Check an encounter with this monster in the encounter calculator.
AC 7 and Dexterity 5 mean almost everything hits it and almost every Dexterity save fails. The problem is what happens when you hit it. Corrosive Form works three ways:
•Touching it hurts. A creature that touches it or hits it with a melee attack from within 5 feet takes 4 (1d8) acid damage.
•Weapons rot. A nonmagical metal or wooden weapon that hits it takes a permanent, cumulative −1 penalty to damage rolls. At −5 the weapon is destroyed. Nonmagical metal or wooden ammunition is destroyed after it deals damage.
•Armor melts. Each pseudopod hit gives nonmagical armor the target wears a permanent, cumulative −1 to the AC it provides. The armor is destroyed when that drops its AC to 10.
It can eat through 2-inch-thick nonmagical wood or metal in one round. A wooden door or iron portcullis buys a party a round or two, not a rest.
Black Pudding in the 2024 Rules
SRD 5.2.1 shrinks the pudding but makes it multiply more easily.
Amorphous.The pudding can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch without expending extra movement to do so.
Corrosive Form.A creature that hits the pudding with a melee attack roll takes 4 (1d8) Acid damage. Nonmagical ammunition is destroyed immediately after hitting the pudding and dealing any damage. Any nonmagical weapon takes a cumulative −1 penalty to attack rolls immediately after dealing damage to the pudding and coming into contact with it. The weapon is destroyed if the penalty reaches −5. The penalty can be removed by casting the Mending spell on the weapon. In 1 minute, the pudding can eat through 2 feet of nonmagical wood or metal.
Spider Climb.The pudding can climb difficult surfaces, including along ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Actions
Dissolving Pseudopod.Melee Attack Roll: +5, reach 10 ft. Hit: 17 (4d6 + 3) Acid damage. Nonmagical armor worn by the target takes a −1 penalty to the AC it offers. The armor is destroyed if the penalty reduces its AC to 10. The penalty can be removed by casting the Mending spell on the armor.
Reactions
Split.Trigger: While the pudding is Large or Medium and has 10+ Hit Points, it becomes Bloodied or is subjected to Lightning or Slashing damage. Response: The pudding splits into two new Black Puddings. Each new pudding is one size smaller than the original pudding and acts on its Initiative. The original pudding’s Hit Points are divided evenly between the new puddings (round down).
Stat block from the SRD 5.2.1 (2024 rules) by Wizards of the Coast, licensed under CC-BY-4.0. Check an encounter with this monster in the encounter calculator.
Two changes matter most. The 2024 pudding splits at half health no matter how you hurt it, so a party can't avoid splitting it by using only bludgeoning weapons. And the 10-foot reach lets it hit the caster standing behind the fighter. On the other hand, Mending now fixes corroded gear, which takes the sting out of the weapon damage.
How Split Works
Split is a reaction. The pudding needs to be Medium or larger and have at least 10 hit points when the trigger happens.
2014 example. A full-health 85 HP pudding is hit by a longsword (slashing). It takes no damage, because it's immune, and splits into two Medium puddings with 42 hit points each. A second slashing hit on one of them makes two Small puddings with 21 each. Small puddings can't split again. The most you can get is four Small puddings, and the total hit points never go up: the party is still chewing through about 84 hit points, but with four attackers instead of one.
2024 example. A 68 HP pudding takes 36 bludgeoning damage from a few hits and drops to 32. It's now Bloodied, so it splits into two Medium puddings with 16 each. Neither can split from being Bloodied again: treating 16 as each new pudding's maximum, it is Bloodied at 8 or fewer, below the 10 hit points Split needs. A slashing or lightning hit while one still has 10 or more will split that one into two Small puddings with 8 each.
Why it matters. Each new pudding gets its own pseudopod attack. Four Small 2014 puddings all deal 24 damage per hit. Splitting doesn't make the pudding tougher; it makes it four times as dangerous per round.
How the Black Pudding Fights
The pudding has Intelligence 1. It doesn't plan. It moves toward the nearest thing it can sense and hits it. Its strength is where it is.
Ceilings. Spider Climb lets it cling to a ceiling. Blindsight to 60 feet means darkness doesn't matter to it. A pudding dropping from a dark ceiling onto the party is the classic opening, and parties that light only the floor ahead walk right under it.
Narrow spaces. Amorphous lets it pour through a 1-inch gap: under doors, through drain grates, through arrow slits. It can come into a room the party has barricaded.
The damage. Against AC 18, a +5 attack hits on 13 or better (40%). That sounds low, but each hit also costs the target 1 AC, permanently in 2014 or until repaired in 2024. After three hits, the fighter in plate has AC 15 and is getting hit 55% of the time.
Pudding attacks vs a plate-armored fighter
Hit chance
Expected damage per attack
2014, armor still AC 18
40%
about 9.6
2014, after 3 hits (AC 15)
55%
about 13.2
2024, armor still AC 18
40%
about 6.8
Retreat. It doesn't. A pudding fights until it's destroyed, which makes it a good obstacle to leave in a corridor the party must pass twice.
Running a Black Pudding Encounter
The black pudding is worth 1,100 XP. Puddings created by Split don't add XP; you budget the original.
Party (4 characters), 2024 rules
Low
Moderate
High
One pudding is...
Level 3
600
900
1,600
High
Level 4
1,000
1,500
2,000
Moderate
Level 5
2,000
3,000
4,400
Low
Under the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter calculator), one pudding is Medium for four level 4 characters (1,000 to 1,500 XP). The book doesn't account for Split, so if your party leans on slashing weapons, treat it as one step harder.
Good matches:
•Level 4 to 6, as a dungeon hazard. Put it where the party has to cross, not where they can walk around it.
•Level 5 to 7, with allies. A pudding in a corridor plus two archers on the far side makes the party choose between rushing the pudding (and splitting it) or taking arrows.
•Higher levels, as attrition. It won't threaten a level 9 party's life, but it will eat their armor.
How Players Beat a Black Pudding
•Use fire, force, radiant, necrotic, thunder, bludgeoning or piercing. It's immune to acid, cold, lightning and slashing. Fireball (8d6, average 28) on a creature with a −3 Dexterity save is the cleanest answer.
•Never use lightning or slashing on it.Lightning Bolt and a greataxe both do zero damage and split it. Cone of Cold does zero damage too, though it doesn't cause a split.
•In 2024, burst it down. Because it splits at Bloodied, the best plan is to take it from 68 to 0 as fast as possible, or to push it past half and then kill both halves (17 hit points or fewer each) quickly with area spells.
•Swap to magic or improvised weapons. Corrosive Form only damages nonmagical weapons. A magic weapon is safe; a mace you don't mind losing is a fine backup. Clubs and quarterstaffs are wood, so they corrode in 2014 just like steel.
•Keep the wizard out of reach. The 2024 pudding's 10-foot reach means "standing behind the fighter" isn't safe.
•Fix gear with Mending (2024 only). One casting removes the penalty from one weapon or armor. In 2014 the damage is permanent.
•Don't try to grapple or restrain it in 2024. It's immune to both. The 2014 pudding is not immune to Restrained, so Entangle and similar effects can pin it while the party backs off.
Comparing oozes: a gelatinous cube engulfs, an ochre jelly also splits but is weaker, and a gray ooze is the cheap low-level version of the same corrode-your-weapon problem. The black pudding is the one that does all of it at full strength.
Black Pudding Encounter Ideas
The armory. A dwarven armory has been sealed for a century. Inside, a black pudding has eaten every weapon rack and suit of armor. It's twice as fat on iron as it should be, and the party walks in carrying the steel it wants. The treasure they came for is a magic shield, the only thing in the room it couldn't dissolve, half-buried in its body.
Slow drop. A sewer junction has a single ladder up to the street. A pudding clings to the shaft wall above it. Anyone who climbs passes within reach. A desperate party realizes the pudding is the reason the thieves' guild never uses this exit.
Split farming. An alchemist pays well for pudding samples. She wants Small puddings, alive, in iron-banded crates she has treated so they don't corrode. Getting there means splitting a Large pudding on purpose, then trying not to get killed by four of them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What CR is a black pudding in 5e?
A black pudding is CR 4 (1,100 XP) in both editions. It has AC 7, with 85 hit points in the 2014 rules and 68 in the 2024 rules.
What damage is a black pudding immune to?
It's immune to acid, cold, lightning and slashing damage in both editions. Lightning and slashing damage also make it split if it's Medium or larger and has at least 10 hit points.
How does a black pudding split?
When a Medium or larger pudding with 10+ hit points takes lightning or slashing damage (or, in 2024, becomes Bloodied), it splits into two puddings one size smaller. The original's hit points are divided between them, rounded down.
Does a black pudding destroy magic weapons?
No. Corrosive Form only affects nonmagical weapons and ammunition. In the 2014 rules only metal or wooden weapons corrode; in the 2024 rules any nonmagical weapon does, but Mending can fix the penalty.
Can you repair armor damaged by a black pudding?
Under the 2024 rules, yes: casting Mending on the armor removes the AC penalty. Under the 2014 rules, the penalty is permanent, and armor reduced to AC 10 is destroyed.
Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.