Green slime

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A green slime, P, is a seemingly innocuous monster that appears in NetHack. It is a slow and omnivorous pudding-like creature.

A green slime has a single touch attack that causes sliming, which can turn you and other afflicted monsters into green slimes. The green slime also has a sliming passive attack coded into its attack set, but the code in uhitm.c only has a case for handling you using the "active" sliming attack against another monster.[1] The attack still contributes to the experience points you earn for killing the green slime.[2]

Green slimes are acidic and poisonous to eat.

Generation

Randomly generated green slimes are always hostile, and are only randomly generated in Gehennom. Hostile green slimes can be generated by the summon nasties monster spell.

Killing a green slime leaves a glob of green slime in lieu of a corpse - the glob is safe to touch, but causes sliming when eaten.

Strategy

Fighting back against green slimes isn't difficult on its own—they possess quite low speed and unimpressive AC, and they have 0 MR as well. While a green slime only has one attack and moves at half the speed of an average hero, it is still extremely dangerous—sliming is a delayed instadeath that leaves you with nine turns to cure it (or four if you engulfed one) before you are fully turned into a green slime yourself. As such, avoid remaining within melee range of the monster if at all possible—many types of ranged attack can dispatch them effectively.

If you have no choice or else are pinned close to one (e.g., as part of a group of summoned nasties), be sure to have at least one or two cures ready to go immediately if you get slimed—successfully casting cure sickness will cure sliming, for example, and a spare wand of fire can be just as effective at damaging them as it is at curing you of your sliming. Green slimes respect Elbereth, and prayer is sufficient if you lack any other means of removing the sliming—but neither method will work in Gehennom. To avoid being left helpless while near a green slime, other monsters with immobilizing abilities should also be treated with the utmost caution.

Sliming will instantly turn most monsters, including pets, into a green slime, except for fiery monsters. Monsters will pick up the leftover globs from killed slimes as a potential stoning cure, but only salamanders will actually eat them, as they are the only fiery monsters able to pick up and use such items.

History

The green slime is introduced in NetHack 3.3.0. From this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on these versions, green slimes left normal corpses like most other monsters; eating a green slime corpse has the same effect as its glob that was introduced in NetHack 3.6.0.

Origin

Green slimes are one of the many monsters imported from Dungeons & Dragons, and appeared in the initial bestiary for the first editions in 1974. Prior to the 4th edition, green slimes are typically portrayed as immobile, ooze-like plant growths found in subterranean places that slowly grow by feeding on various substances. Green slimes drop down on passersby to attach itself to living flesh, turning the victim into green slime within a short time; the slime can be removed through a few methods, with the most effective being the spell of "cure disease" (which can also kill the slime itself). Burning is also effective for removing infection and killing slimes, hence the NetHack green slime's lack of fire resistance.

Variants

Some variants based on NetHack 3.4.3 have green slimes drop corpses instead of globs, while others implement the unused passive attack in the green slime's code.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, the green slime's chance of its sliming attack succeeding is reduced to 14. They also drop normal corpses instead of globs.

Green slime corpses can be found in fungus farms.

GruntHack

In GruntHack, green slimes have their passive sliming touch implemented, making them very dangerous to engage in melee. Their difficulty is also lowered to 7.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, three green slimes appear within one of the rooms in Demogorgon's lair if his dwelling appears as the third Abyss level.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, green slimes are given an engulfing attack that induces sliming, and their passive attack is enabled. Eating a glob of green sliming can confer acid resistance, but will still induce sliming.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, the green slime retains its traits from GruntHack and has an engulfing attack that induces sliming similar to xNetHack - the engulfing attack also suffocates its victim unless they have a means of becoming breathless.

Encyclopedia entry

See the encyclopedia entry for amoeboid.

Reference