Breathless

Breathlessness is a property in NetHack that makes a monster amphibious, allowing them to travel underwater.

The only item that grants the property is the amulet of magical breathing - various monsters also have the property intrinsically, which is governed by breathless(ptr) in the code.

Description

While breathless, you can breathe while underwater without drowning by any means, though your inventory will be subject to water damage as usual - you are also protected from the effects of sleeping gas traps and the engulfing attacks of fog clouds, and poison clouds will not damage you regardless of poison resistance and are not a major trouble for prayer, though they can still blind you. Protection from sleeping gas and poison clouds also applies to breathless monsters.

You cannot choke from eating too much food while breathless: you will always "vomit voluminously" instead and lose 1000 nutrition, though you still abuse constitution. Breathlessness protects from the effect of eating an amulet of strangulation, but does not protect from a worn amulet of strangulation unless the player is also mindless, since the amulet is also crushing your neck.

List of breathless monsters

The following monsters are breathless:

• All undead: LMVWZ 
• All jmvyFP'
• All e, except floating eyes
• b acid blob
• g gargoyle
• g winged gargoyle
• E earth elemental
• X xorn
• the @ Wizard of Yendor
• @ Charon (deferred)
• & mail daemon

Messages

You are laden with moisture and find it mildly uncomfortable.

You are breathless and engulfed by a fog cloud.

You sink like a rock. But you aren't drowning. You touch bottom.

You fell into the water while breathless.

You choke, but recover your composure.

You were saved from choking by breathlessness.

You stuff yourself and then vomit voluminously.

You were saved from overeating by breathlessness.

Variants

dNetHack

In dNetHack, the spirit Astaroth confers breathlessness while bound.