The cube's transparency coupled with a dimly-lit dungeon gives it the element of surprise to engulf unsuspecting beings, and only an alert adventurer will notice the cube. Ecology Ī gelatinous cube looks like a transparent ooze of mindless, gelatinous matter in the shape of a cube. The gelatinous cube is fully detailed in Paizo Publishing's book Dungeon Denizens Revisited (2009), on pages 16–21. Under the ooze entry, the gelatinous cube appears in the third edition Monster Manual (2000), the 3.5 revised Monster Manual (2003), the fourth edition Monster Manual (2008), the Monster Vault (2010), and the fifth edition Monster Manual (2014).

The gelatinous cube appeared in second edition in Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989), and the Monstrous Manual (1993) under the 'ooze/slime/jelly' heading. 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. The creature was further developed in Dragon #124 (August 1987). The gelatinous cube appeared in first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the original Monster Manual (1977). The gelatinous cube also appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991). The gelatinous cube appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977, 1981, 1983). The gelatinous cube first appeared in the original Dungeons & Dragons 'white box' set (1974), and its first supplement, Greyhawk (1975). The gelatinous cube is an original invention of Gary Gygax, rather than being inspired by outside sources and adapted to the roleplaying setting, as were many mythological monsters such as the minotaur and dryad, all of which appeared in the 1974 Monsters & Treasure book of the original boxed set.īeing 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.

These fictional oozes may have been inspired by microscopic organisms such as amoebae, which, like oozes, can consume organic matter by engulfing it ( phagocytosis). Oozes are relatively common antagonists in fantasy fiction in addition to the oozes of Dungeons & Dragons, examples include the monster from the film The Blob, slime in Dragon Quest, and flan in Final Fantasy.

D&d 5e oozes