Fog cloud
v fog cloud 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 4 |
| Attacks |
Engulf 1d6 physical (moisture) |
| Base level | 3 |
| Base experience | 38 |
| Speed | 1 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 0 |
| Nutritional value | 0 |
| Size | Huge |
| Resistances | Sleep, Poison, Stoning |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A fog cloud:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line856 |
A fog cloud, v, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is the weakest type of vortex and usually among the first that a hero will encounter. The fog cloud is also the only vortex monster that is amorphous, allowing it to pass through closed doors in addition to iron bars.
All vampires are capable of shifting into fog cloud form, and will resurrect into their base form if killed. Vlad the Impaler will not shift to fog cloud form while he has the Candelabrum of Invocation.[1]
A fog cloud has an engulfing attack that subjects the target to physical damage, but has no effect if they are amphibious or unbreathing and not fiery, and deals no damage in combat against other monsters.[2][3] Fog clouds possess sleep resistance, poison resistance and stoning resistance.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Fog clouds create a trail of vapor clouds as they move. When they are within any temporary cloud, even a poison cloud, they "maintain" it by extending its lifetime to about 20 turns.Contents
Generation
Randomly generated fog clouds are always created hostile.
Nine fog clouds are generated on the Plane of Air at level creation.[4]
Fog clouds do not leave a corpse upon death.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Per commit f720e1e5, the cloud room themed room generates a sleeping fog cloud on 1⁄4 of the room's squares.Description
With their incredibly low speed of 1, fog clouds are not a threat at all to a hero unless they fall victim to serious misfortune: surprisingly, they have the best AC of the vortices at 0, which can make hitting them tricky, though their lack of MR score leaves them vulnerable to magic. A crafty hero can use fog clouds to train specific weapons by allowing them to land their engulf attack: attacks by the hero against a monster engulfing them are guaranteed to hit, and the engulfing itself does not usually inflict serious damage due to the cloud's low speed.
Fog clouds can be an unexpected obstacle for pacifist play if a hero has their path blocked by one. A hero can also use them as an unorthodox means of informally identifying the amulet of magical breathing, by wearing the suspected amulet while the fog cloud is engulfing them.
History
The fog cloud first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0. From these versions to NetHack 2.3e, the fog cloud uses the f glyph, and when killed it can leave behind a dead fog cloud that gives 10 nutrition when eaten.[5]
NetHack 3.0.0 introduces corpses and their current mechanics, establishes the vortex monster class and moves the fog cloud to its current glyph.
Messages
- You are laden with moisture and can barely breathe!
- You were engulfed by a fog cloud and subjected to damage.
- You are laden with moisture and are smoldering out!
- As above, while you are in the form of a fiery monster.
- You are laden with moisture and find it mildly uncomfortable.
- As above, but you are unbreathing and take no damage.
- You are laden with moisture and feel comforted.
- As above, but you are amphibious and take no damage.
- <Foo> is laden with your moisture.
- You engulfed a monster while in the form of a fog cloud.
Variants
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the fog cloud gains doubled speed when engulfing the hero.
2⁄3 of monsters randomly generated in Elshava on the Mithardir Quest will be fog clouds.
Invoking Ehecailacocozcatl can summon a tame dust vortex.
The fog cloud and almost all other vortices (except for the yochlol's stinking cloud form) take halved damage from blunt, piercing and slashing weapons, making it even trickier for an early hero to deal with a fog cloud—monster combat mechanics combined with their damage resistances also enable fog clouds to potentially kill somewhat stronger monsters that lack damage reduction.
Encyclopedia entry
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
