Eye or sphere - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: nh5 + some variant stuff

2026-06-20T09:50:50Z

nh5 + some variant stuff

Umbire the Phantom: start nh5 stuff

2026-06-20T07:39:25Z

start nh5 stuff

Umbire the Phantom: tweak

2026-02-02T18:33:51Z

tweak

Umbire the Phantom: tocright

2026-02-02T18:33:38Z

tocright

Umbire the Phantom: /* Common traits */ detail upcoming

2025-12-28T15:34:56Z

‎Common traits: detail upcoming

Umbire the Phantom: /* Variants */ word choice

2025-12-27T14:55:20Z

‎Variants: word choice

Umbire the Phantom: /* notdNetHack */ nndnh

2025-12-27T13:57:44Z

‎notdNetHack: nndnh

Umbire the Phantom: ndnh

2025-12-27T13:41:35Z

ndnh

Umbire the Phantom: un, update dnh

2025-12-27T06:01:08Z

un, update dnh

Umbire the Phantom: mention generation

2025-12-26T18:12:10Z

mention generation

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{tocright}}
-The '''eye or sphere''' is a [[monster class]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]'', and is represented by the lowercase [[e]] glyph ({{white|e}}). Eyes and spheres are designated internally by the macro '''<tt>S_EYE</tt>'''.{{refsrc|include/monsym.h|19|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}
+The '''eye or sphere''' is a [[monster class]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]'', and is represented by the lowercase [[e]] glyph ({{white|e}}). Eyes and spheres are designated internally by the macro '''<tt>S_EYE</tt>'''.{{refsrc|include/defsym.h|299|nethack=5.0.0}}
-The class contains the following monsters:{{refsrc|src/monst.c|300|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}
+The class contains the following monsters:{{refsrc|include/monsters.h|323|nethack=5.0.0}}
 * {{monsymlink|gas spore}}
@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 * {{monsymlink|freezing sphere}}
 * {{monsymlink|shocking sphere}}
-* Deferred monster:
+* [[Deferred]] monster:
 ** {{monsymlink|beholder}}
 ==Common traits==
-Eyes and spheres are round [[unbreathing]] monsters without limbs or a head that are capable of [[flight]]&mdash;except for the floating eye, all of them are [[mindless]], and they can all be seen via [[infravision]] except for the gas spore.
+Eyes and spheres are round monsters without limbs or a head that are [[unbreathing]] and capable of [[flight]]. The monster class has several traits apply to almost all of its monsters except for one or two:
 The three spheres use [[explosion attack]]s that cause them to self-destruct and cover a 3x3 square radius centered on their position, which deals 4-24 base damage to a [[hero]] or any other monsters caught in the explosion:{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|1617-L1622|nethack=5.0.0}} these explosions inflict elemental damage to the victims and can destroy vulnerable items that are in their inventories or on the ground within the explosion's range. Similarly, while gas spores do not actively attack, they [[On-death explosion|explode on death]] in a 3x3 square centered on their tile.
 ===Body parts===
-'''Sphere''' also refers to the grouping of [[body parts]] for the forms of bulbous creatures like the monsters in this monster class - this grouping is used primarily to maintain a sort of symmetry between spheres and other monsters, e.g. whenever the hero or a monster is transformed into a sphere while wearing certain items. It affects the messages referring to the appropriate body parts as follows:{{refsrc|src/polyself.c|1639|nethack=3.6.7}}
+'''Sphere''' also refers to the grouping of [[body parts]] for the forms of bulbous creatures like the monsters in this monster class&mdash;this grouping is used primarily to maintain a sort of symmetry between spheres and other monsters, e.g. whenever the hero or a monster is transformed into a sphere while wearing certain items. The appropriate body parts are referred to as follows:{{refsrc|src/polyself.c|2128-L2129|nethack=5.0.0}}
 {| class="prettytable"
-!Bodypart{{refsrc|include/hack.h|410|nethack=3.6.7}}!!Description
+!Bodypart{{refsrc|include/hack.h|128-L150|nethack=5.0.0}}!!Description
 |-
 |Arm||Appendage
@@ Line 72: / Line 73: @@
 ==Strategy==
-The gas sphere and floating eye are two of the bigger threats for an inattentive hero in the early game: the former can blast a starting character to death if the explosion deals enough damage, while a character frozen by the floating eye's [[paralyzing]] [[passive]] [[gaze]] has a high risk of dying to any nearby hostile or even [[starvation]] if they are paralyzed long enough.
+The gas sphere and floating eye are two of the bigger threats for an inattentive hero in the early game: the former can blast a weaker hero to death if the explosion deals enough damage, while a hero frozen by the floating eye's [[paralyzing]] [[passive]] [[gaze]] has a high risk of dying at the hands of any nearby hostile or even as a result of [[starvation]] if they are paralyzed long enough. Once a hero obtains enough HP and a blindfold or other means of blinding themselves at will, gas spores and floating eyes are annoyances at best, though the latter can still catch even late-game players off guard if they move too quickly and lack a source of [[free action]] or [[reflection]].
-The elemental spheres are quite annoying, but can be dealt with by quickly dropping or stashing vulnerable items before engaging one; they can also be put to [[sleep]] or immobilized, though the former option is preferable for a hero low on resources. Pets that attack spheres may end up being targeted by their explosions instead, which can make them effective guards. Be sure to check for spheres when entering a [[treasure zoo]], even if you have [[stealth]], and leave them until last if at all possible&mdash;the spheres' explosions will wake up most or all of the other sleeping denizens.
+The elemental spheres are quite annoying due to their 13 [[speed]] being slightly higher than that of a normal hero, as well as the destructive potential of their explosions, but there are several means to deal with them: they have no MR score and so can be put to [[sleep]] or otherwise immobilized, with the former option preferable for a hero low on resources; [[poisoned weapon]]s can make short work of them as well; and stronger [[pets]] can be used to attack spheres and cause them to explode before reaching the hero, though they may still end up caught in the resulting explosions and wake up sleeping monsters or waking nearby ones. [[Cancellation]] that hits through their mediocre 4 [[AC]] will reliably disable their explosive abilities and render them harmless.
-{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Shocking spheres are now considered a target for [[genocide]] due to the item destruction threat.}}
+More cautious or risk-averse players may consider targeting one or more spheres for [[genocide]], with shocking spheres being a particularly frequent target since their explosions can destroy valuable [[ring]]s and [[wand]]s. A hero that has a source of an extrinsic [[resistance]] property has a {{frac|99|100}} chance per item of preventing a sphere's explosion from destroying inventory, and in a pinch against flaming and freezing spheres they can quickly throw on a spare [[dwarvish cloak]] to have a {{frac|9|10}} chance of protecting their inventory.{{refsrc|src/zap.c|5685-L5689|nethack=5.0.0|name="prot_item"|comment=protection via extrinsic resistances}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|5691-L5695|nethack=5.0.0|comment=dwarvish cloak protection}}
 ==History==
@@ Line 83: / Line 86: @@
 [[NetHack 3.0.0]] introduces the eye or sphere monster class and moves the floating eye and freezing sphere to their current glyphs. The flaming sphere first appears in [[NetHack-- 3.0.10]], while the shocking sphere and gas spore appear in [[SLASH 6]], and all three make their vanilla ''NetHack'' debut in [[NetHack 3.3.0]].
-In versions up to [[NetHack 3.6.7]], including some variants based on those versions, the explosion attacks of elemental spheres target a single monster (or the square are believed to occupy if the target is [[invisible]] or has [[displacement]]): these explosions can miss and have no effect if directed at the wrong square, and the [[hero]] can also "duck" these explosions and take reduced damage based on their [[dexterity]], while a hero or monster blasted this way will take no damage at all if they have the appropriate resistance [[property]].{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|2060-L2071|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|2081-L2083|nethack=3.6.7|name="duckblast"}}
+In versions up to [[NetHack 3.4.3]], flaming and shocking spheres are capable of picking up items&mdash;this is [[Bugs in NetHack 3.4.3|bug C343-138]], and is fixed via {{commit|cbab68a4bb0abfa23e695d48bd17806c85e5974f}}.
-In versions up to [[NetHack 3.4.3]], flaming and shocking spheres are capable of picking up items&mdash;this is [[Bugs in NetHack 3.4.3|bug C343-138]], and is fixed via {{commit|cbab68a4bb0abfa23e695d48bd17806c85e5974f}}.
+In versions up to [[NetHack 3.6.7]], including some variants based on those versions, the explosion attacks of elemental spheres target a single monster (or the square are believed to occupy if the target is [[invisible]] or has [[displacement]]): these explosions can miss and have no effect if directed at the wrong square, and the [[hero]] can also "duck" these explosions and take reduced damage based on their [[dexterity]], while a hero or monster blasted this way will take no damage at all if they have the appropriate resistance [[property]].{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|2060-L2071|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|2081-L2083|nethack=3.6.7|name="duckblast"}} The current behavior of spheres is introduced in [[NetHack 5.0.0]] via {{commit|6b60618e0e662b35b8e9c31dc9c4baee5ae70932}} and {{commit|eb22a81088c220ba18c26a872d9087035c5c444d}}, with the explosion behavior adapted from [[xNetHack]].
 ==Variants==
-Many ''NetHack'' variants make the deferred beholder functional as part of adding new monsters to the monster class.
+Many ''NetHack'' [[variant]]s make the deferred beholder functional as part of adding new monsters to the monster class, and some variants created prior to NetHack 5.0.0 may or may not retain the behavior of spheres from previous versions.
 ===SLASH'EM===
@@ Line 96: / Line 99: @@
 * {{monsymlink|blinking eye}}
 * {{monsymlink|Beholder|variant=SLASH'EM}}
 ===GruntHack===
-[[GruntHack]] implements the [[Beholder (GruntHack)|beholder]] and gives it significant buffs.
+[[GruntHack]] implements the [[Beholder (GruntHack)|beholder]] and gives it significant buffs, while retaining all other monsters from NetHack 3.4.3. The spheres mostly behave as they do in NetHack 3.4.3.
 ===UnNetHack===
@@ Line 149: / Line 154: @@
 ==References==
 <references />
-{{nethack-367}}
+{{nethack-500}}
 [[Category:Body parts]]
 [[Category:Monster classes]]

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 Eyes and spheres are round [[unbreathing]] monsters without limbs or a head that are capable of [[flight]]&mdash;except for the floating eye, all of them are [[mindless]], and they can all be seen via [[infravision]] except for the gas spore.
-The three spheres use [[explosion attack]]s that target the defender's square, destroying themselves and inflicting elemental damage to the target: the [[hero]] can "duck" these explosions and take reduced damage based on their [[dexterity]], and will take no damage at all if they have the appropriate resistance [[property]].{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|2060-L2071|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|2081-L2083|nethack=3.6.7|name="duckblast"}} Gas spores do not actively attack, though they explode on death in a 3x3 square centered on their tile.
+The three spheres use [[explosion attack]]s that cause them to self-destruct and cover a 3x3 square radius centered on their position, which deals 4-24 base damage to a [[hero]] or any other monsters caught in the explosion:{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|1617-L1622|nethack=5.0.0}} these explosions inflict elemental damage to the victims and can destroy vulnerable items that are in their inventories or on the ground within the explosion's range. Similarly, while gas spores do not actively attack, they [[On-death explosion|explode on death]] in a 3x3 square centered on their tile.
 {{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Per {{commit|6b60618e0e662b35b8e9c31dc9c4baee5ae70932}}, spheres create 3x3 explosions with their attacks, which affects items and other monsters caught within the blast radius and can destroy items in the open inventory&mdash;this will not affect the inventory of a hero that is [[polymorph]]ed into a sphere and explodes with this attack. This is adapted from [[xNetHack]], and the spheres' [[Monster difficulty|base difficulty]] are also increased: the difficulties of the flaming and freezing sphere are raised from 8 to 9, while the difficulty of the shocking sphere is raised from 9 to 10.
@@ Line 83: / Line 83: @@
 [[NetHack 3.0.0]] introduces the eye or sphere monster class and moves the floating eye and freezing sphere to their current glyphs. The flaming sphere first appears in [[NetHack-- 3.0.10]], while the shocking sphere and gas spore appear in [[SLASH 6]], and all three make their vanilla ''NetHack'' debut in [[NetHack 3.3.0]].
-In [[NetHack 3.4.3]] and earlier versions, including some variants based on those versions, flaming and shocking spheres are capable of picking up items&mdash;this is [[Bugs in NetHack 3.4.3|bug C343-138]], and is fixed via {{commit|cbab68a4bb0abfa23e695d48bd17806c85e5974f}}.
+In versions up to [[NetHack 3.6.7]], including some variants based on those versions, the explosion attacks of elemental spheres target a single monster (or the square are believed to occupy if the target is [[invisible]] or has [[displacement]]): these explosions can miss and have no effect if directed at the wrong square, and the [[hero]] can also "duck" these explosions and take reduced damage based on their [[dexterity]], while a hero or monster blasted this way will take no damage at all if they have the appropriate resistance [[property]].{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|2060-L2071|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|2081-L2083|nethack=3.6.7|name="duckblast"}}
 ==Variants==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{tocright}}
-The '''eye or sphere''' is a [[monster class]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]'', and is represented by the lowercase [[e]] glyph ({{white|e}}). Eyes and spheres are designated internally by the macro '''S_EYE'''.{{refsrc|include/monsym.h|19|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}
+The '''eye or sphere''' is a [[monster class]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]'', and is represented by the lowercase [[e]] glyph ({{white|e}}). Eyes and spheres are designated internally by the macro '''<tt>S_EYE</tt>'''.{{refsrc|include/monsym.h|19|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}
 The class contains the following monsters:{{refsrc|src/monst.c|300|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:33, 2 February 2026
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	{{tocright}}
	The '''eye or sphere''' is a [[monster class]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]'', and is represented by the lowercase [[e]] glyph ({{white\|e}}). Eyes and spheres are designated internally by the macro '''S_EYE'''.{{refsrc\|include/monsym.h\|19\|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}		The '''eye or sphere''' is a [[monster class]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]'', and is represented by the lowercase [[e]] glyph ({{white\|e}}). Eyes and spheres are designated internally by the macro '''S_EYE'''.{{refsrc\|include/monsym.h\|19\|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 The three spheres use [[explosion attack]]s that target the defender's square, destroying themselves and inflicting elemental damage to the target: the [[hero]] can "duck" these explosions and take reduced damage based on their [[dexterity]], and will take no damage at all if they have the appropriate resistance [[property]].{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|2060-L2071|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|2081-L2083|nethack=3.6.7|name="duckblast"}} Gas spores do not actively attack, though they explode on death in a 3x3 square centered on their tile.
-{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Per {{commit|6b60618e0e662b35b8e9c31dc9c4baee5ae70932}}, spheres create actual explosions with their attacks, which cover a 3x3 area around them and affect items and other monsters caught within the blast radius&mdash;this affects the inventory of anyone blasted, but does not count the inventory of a hero that is [[polymorph]]ed into a sphere and explodes with this attack. This is adapted from [[xNetHack]], and the spheres' [[Monster difficulty|base difficulty]] are each also raised from 8 to 9.
+{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Per {{commit|6b60618e0e662b35b8e9c31dc9c4baee5ae70932}}, spheres create 3x3 explosions with their attacks, which affects items and other monsters caught within the blast radius and can destroy items in the open inventory&mdash;this will not affect the inventory of a hero that is [[polymorph]]ed into a sphere and explodes with this attack. This is adapted from [[xNetHack]], and the spheres' [[Monster difficulty|base difficulty]] are also increased: the difficulties of the flaming and freezing sphere are raised from 8 to 9, while the difficulty of the shocking sphere is raised from 9 to 10.
 Per {{commit|9942b65df78dd55a7806ec6ea2821693a7131c97}}, extrinsic elemental resistance properties protect the open inventory from damage by that element {{frac|99|100}} of the time.}}

@@ Line 139: / Line 139: @@
 ===notdNetHack===
-[[notdNetHack]] retains the monsters added in dNetHack and adds two other monsters to the monster class:
+[[notdNetHack]] and [[notnotdNetHack]] retain the monsters added in dNetHack and adds two other monsters to the monster class:
 * {{magenta|e}} [[Death Eye]]

@@ Line 137: / Line 137: @@
 * {{blue|e}} [[many-eyed seeker]]
 * {{magenta|e}} [[Axus]]
 ==References==

@@ Line 96: / Line 96: @@
 ===GruntHack===
 [[GruntHack]] implements the [[Beholder (GruntHack)|beholder]] and gives it significant buffs.
 ===dNetHack===
-[[dNetHack]] implements the [[Beholder (dNetHack)|beholder]] and changes it significantly, and adds several other monsters to the monster class:
+[[dNetHack]] implements the [[Beholder (dNetHack)|beholder]] and changes it significantly, and adds many other monsters to the monster class:
 * {{brown|e}} [[monoton]]
@@ Line 106: / Line 118: @@
 * {{brightmagenta|e}} [[quinon]]
 * {{orange|e}} [[ballistospore]]
 * {{black|e}} [[pursuer]]
 * {{magenta|e}} [[vexing orb]]
@@ Line 118: / Line 131: @@
 * {{brightmagenta|e}} [[ball of gossamer sunlight]]
 * {{brightmagenta|e}} [[eternal light]]
-* {{green|e}} [[dungeon fern spore]]
+* {{green|e}} [[Dungeon fern spore (dNetHack)|dungeon fern spore]]
-* {{magenta|e}} [[swamp fern spore]]
+* {{magenta|e}} [[Swamp fern spore (dNetHack)|swamp fern spore]]
 * {{black|e}} [[burning fern spore]]
 * {{blue|e}} [[many-eyed seeker]]
 * {{magenta|e}} [[Axus]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:12, 26 December 2025
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	Despite a lack of proper "limbs" to [[wield]] anything or [[wear]] items with, a hero in the form of any monster with sphere anatomy can still perform actions such as [[quaffing]], [[reading]], [[zapping]], and [[applying]] objects; though [[putting on]] items is restricted to [[amulet]]s, [[ring]]s that the hero wore in their previous form will remain worn if they turn into a spherical monster. In particular, this means that floating eyes are technically capable of using the defensive items that they generate with as [[intelligent monster]]s, though in practice a floating eye other than the hero will not quaff, read or zap anything.		Despite a lack of proper "limbs" to [[wield]] anything or [[wear]] items with, a hero in the form of any monster with sphere anatomy can still perform actions such as [[quaffing]], [[reading]], [[zapping]], and [[applying]] objects; though [[putting on]] items is restricted to [[amulet]]s, [[ring]]s that the hero wore in their previous form will remain worn if they turn into a spherical monster. In particular, this means that floating eyes are technically capable of using the defensive items that they generate with as [[intelligent monster]]s, though in practice a floating eye other than the hero will not quaff, read or zap anything.
		+
		+	===Generation===
		+	Randomly generated eyes and spheres are always hostile.

	==Strategy==		==Strategy==