Gray mold infection - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: resolve most of the commented stuff that's live in compat

2026-03-11T10:46:55Z

resolve most of the commented stuff that's live in compat

Umbire the Phantom: /* Prevention and cures */ update

2026-03-11T02:23:17Z

‎Prevention and cures: update

Umbire the Phantom: /* Sources */ detail revival

2026-01-31T16:31:18Z

‎Sources: detail revival

Umbire the Phantom: /* Origin */ finish origins, then double back...

2026-01-31T16:29:40Z

‎Origin: finish origins, then double back...

Umbire the Phantom: origin

2026-01-30T20:52:42Z

origin

Umbire the Phantom: copyedit

2026-01-29T15:12:40Z

copyedit

Umbire the Phantom: tweaks

2026-01-29T14:54:08Z

tweaks

Umbire the Phantom: adjustments

2026-01-29T14:48:27Z

adjustments

Umbire the Phantom: detail

2026-01-29T14:41:00Z

detail

Umbire the Phantom: /* Description */ bold + italic

2026-01-29T14:27:17Z

‎Description: bold + italic

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 ==Prevention and cures==
-A hero or monster will not have their throat (or equivalent) infected with gray mold if they have [[magical breathing]] or are unbreathing, and [[wearing]] a [[towel]], [[shemagh]] or [[bodyglove]] will prevent respiratory infection.<!--Wearing a bodyglove will also prevent skin infection, and on local only being polymorphed into an acidic or inorganic monster will prevent infections and abort any current infection.-->
+A hero or monster will not have their throat (or equivalent) infected with gray mold if they have [[magical breathing]] or are unbreathing, and [[wearing]] a [[towel]], [[shemagh]] or [[bodyglove]] will prevent respiratory infection. A hero [[polymorph]]ed into a monster that is inorganic, acidic or made of gray mold itself will prevent gray mold infections from affecting them and abort any infection that is currently present.
 Gray mold infections can be cured or removed by the following methods:
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 * Being hit by a [[thrown]] potion of acid will burn away all spores on the skin.
 * Quaffing a [[potion of booze]]&mdash;the spores are similarly vulnerable to alcohol, and blessed booze removes 50 spores in the drinker's throat, while uncursed booze removes 100, and cursed booze will remove all of them.
-* [[Polymorph]] into a monster that is inorganic, acidic or made of gray mold itself will abort any infection present. Polymorph into a monster that lacks a throat will shift those spores onto the skin if possible.<!--upcoming: poly into acidic monsters will clear the infection-->
+* Polymorph into a monster that is inorganic, acidic or made of gray mold itself will abort any infection present as mentioned previously, while polymorph into a monster that lacks a throat will shift those spores onto the skin if possible.
 * [[Buer (dNetHack)|Buer's]] Gift of Health ability can clear gray mold infections.
 * [[Applying]] a [[doll of good health]] will clear gray mold infections among many other afflictions.
 * [[Casting]] the {{+ of|full healing}} spell fully clears gray mold infections.
 * Successful [[prayer]] with any throat spores or at least 500 skin spores will clear all of the spores from the hero.
 * [[The Rod of Seven Parts]] can cure gray mold infection by [[invoking]] the [[artifact]] and using its ''Lex Rex'' command.

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 * Being hit by a [[thrown]] potion of acid will burn away all spores on the skin.
 * Quaffing a [[potion of booze]]&mdash;the spores are similarly vulnerable to alcohol, and blessed booze removes 50 spores in the drinker's throat, while uncursed booze removes 100, and cursed booze will remove all of them.
-* [[Polymorph]] into a monster that is inorganic or made of gray mold itself will abort any infection present. Polymorph into a monster that lacks a throat will shift those spores onto the skin if possible.<!--upcoming: poly into acidic monsters will clear the infection-->
+* [[Polymorph]] into a monster that is inorganic, acidic or made of gray mold itself will abort any infection present. Polymorph into a monster that lacks a throat will shift those spores onto the skin if possible.<!--upcoming: poly into acidic monsters will clear the infection-->
 * [[Buer (dNetHack)|Buer's]] Gift of Health ability can clear gray mold infections.
 * [[Applying]] a [[doll of good health]] will clear gray mold infections among many other afflictions.

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 * {{brightblue|g}} [[vegepygmy shaman]]
-These monsters also have a special [[vulnerability]] to [[acid]] damage, since it burns away the gray mold that makes up their bodies&mdash;this makes acid a potent cure for gray mold infections, as explained {{sa|Prevention and cures|further below}}. A hero that either dies of a gray mold infection or is killed while infected with gray mold and leaves [[bones]] will arise as a vegepygmy shaman if they [[cast]] spells using the [[wisdom]] [[attribute]], and will otherwise arise as a regular vegepygmy.
+These monsters also have a special [[vulnerability]] to [[acid]] damage, since it burns away the gray mold that makes up their bodies&mdash;this makes acid a potent cure for gray mold infections, as explained {{sa|Prevention and cures|further below}}. They can also [[revive]] from their corpses as well: a vegepygmy's corpse has a {{frac|9|10}} chance of reviving into a vegepygmy, and will otherwise turn into a vegepygmy shaman, while a vegepygmy shaman's corpse has the same chance of reviving into a vegepygmy shaman or else becoming a rusty-gray mold.
 The damage dice of 'gray mold' attacks determine how many spores infect the victim each turn if they are hit or stand within the clouds, e.g. a cloud of spores left by killing a vegepygmy will infect a hero or monster standing in the cloud with 1d2 spores each turn, while a cloud of spores from killing a gray fungal tower will infect the same hero or monster with 10d10 spores.

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 ==Origin==
-Gray mold in the context of dNetHack and its variants is based on "[[dnd:Russet mold|russet molds]]" from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]].
+Gray mold in the context of dNetHack and its variants is based on "[[dnd:Russet mold|russet molds]]" from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]. Russet mold is a very rare variety of underground fungal mold that is found in dark and moist areas like many other fungi: it has an irregular texture and varies in color from gold-brown to rust-red, often resembling a patch of rust from long-distance. The fungus is covered in short hair-like growths that stand upright and slowly wave back and forth, and it continually emits a cloud of spores in a 3-foot (91 cm) radius. Creatures that come into contact with the spores contract a paralyzing illness that is eventually fatal unless treated with with a spell of "cure disease".
 {{variant-343}}
 [[Category:dNetHack properties]]

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 * Successful [[prayer]] with any throat spores or at least 500 skin spores will clear all of the spores from the hero.
 * [[The Rod of Seven Parts]] can cure gray mold infection by [[invoking]] the [[artifact]] and using its ''Lex Rex'' command.
 {{variant-343}}
 [[Category:dNetHack properties]]

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 {{distinguish|gray fungus}}
 '''Gray mold infection''', or simply '''gray mold''', refers to two types of negative status [[properties]] in [[dNetHack]], [[notdNetHack]] and [[notnotdNetHack]].
 ==Sources==
 Gray mold infections are caused by monsters with "gray mold" attacks, including on-death [[passive attacks]], that use the '''<tt>AD_GMLD</tt>''' damage type flag. Monsters with "gray mold" attacks will inflict damage and cause gray mold spores to scatter on the target's skin, while monsters with "gray mold" passives will leave behind clouds of '''gray mold spores''' ({{gray|#}}) upon death&mdash;a [[hero]] or [[monster]] standing within clouds of gray mold spores will have them settle upon their skin, while a hero or monster that breathes in the spores will also have their respiratory system infected.
 The following "gray mold monsters" have active attacks and on-death passives that spread gray mold spores:
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 * {{brightblue|g}} [[vegepygmy shaman]]
-These monsters also have a special [[vulnerability]] to [[acid]] damage, since it burns away the gray mold that makes up their bodies. (As explained below, this makes acid a potent cure for gray mold infections.)
+These monsters also have a special [[vulnerability]] to [[acid]] damage, since it burns away the gray mold that makes up their bodies. (As explained below, this makes acid a potent cure for gray mold infections.) Dying of a gray mold infection will cause the dead hero to arise as either a vegepygmy shaman if they [[cast]] spells using the [[wisdom]] [[attribute]], or as a regular vegepygmy otherwise.
 Gray mold infections can be cured or removed by the following methods:

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 For example, a hero that has 10 spores in their throat has a 10 in 100 or {{frac|10}} chance (10%) of taking 1 point of damage each turn, while if they have 10 spores infecting their skin, they have a 10 in 1000 or {{frac|100}} chance (1%) of taking 1 point of damage each turn; if either hero takes damage from their infection, they have a {{frac|2}} chance (50%) of gaining another spore for that infection. A hero with 210 spores in their throat will always take at least 2 damage each turn and gain 0-2 spores, with a 10-in-100 or {{frac|10}} chance of taking 3 damage and gaining 0-3 spores instead.
-Healing via [[quaffing]] [[potion]]s '''does not''' cure gray mold infections and can in fact ''exacerbate'' them: a [[potion of healing]] adds 10 spores to the throat, while a [[potion of extra healing]] adds 100, and a [[potion of full healing]] adds 200. Severe enough infections of the throat (i.e. 400+ spores) will eventually cause a hero or monster to start suffocating, preventing them from [[eating]] or quaffing anything.
+Healing via [[quaffing]] [[potion]]s '''does not''' cure gray mold infections and can in fact ''exacerbate'' them: a [[potion of healing]] adds 10 spores to the throat, while a [[potion of extra healing]] adds 100, and a [[potion of full healing]] adds 200. Severe enough infections of the throat (i.e. 400+ spores) will eventually cause a hero or monster to start suffocating, preventing them from [[eating]] or quaffing in most instances unless they are ingesting acid or booze.
 A hero or monster will not have their throat (or equivalent) infected with gray mold if they have [[magical breathing]] or are unbreathing, and [[wearing]] a [[towel]], [[shemagh]] or [[bodyglove]] will prevent respiratory infection.<!--Wearing a bodyglove will also prevent skin infection, and on local only being polymorphed into an acidic or inorganic monster will prevent infections and abort any current infection.-->