Violet fungus
F violet fungus 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Attacks |
Touch 1d4 sticky |
| Base level | 3 |
| Base experience | 34 |
| Speed | 1 |
| Base AC | 7 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 100 |
| Nutritional value | 100 |
| Size | Small |
| Resistances | Poison |
| Resistances conveyed | Poison (20%) |
|
A violet fungus:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1440 |
A violet fungus, F, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The violet fungus (plural violet fungi) is the strongest monster of the fungus or mold monster class.
Violet fungi possess a sticky touch attack that deals damage and holds the hero in place for a short amount of time, with the sticking having no effect on monsters. Violet fungi possess poison resistance.
Eating a violet fungus corpse or tin has a 1⁄5 chance (20%) of granting poison resistance, and will always cause hallucination for the hero.
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated violet fungi are always created hostile.
Strategy
Violet fungi are not particularly threatening, though they can be annoying with their sticky attacks holding heroes in place. Violet fungi corpses are a possible source of poison resistance for a hero, but the hallucination warrants a reliable means of curing it (e.g. a unicorn horn) in order to make them safer to eat—shriekers have the same odds of granting the property without the risk of hallucination.
Pet herbivores such as horses do not gain hallucination from food, and so can freely eat violet fungi corpses.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
Monsters can gain intrinsics from eating corpses, so a violet fungus can be useful for giving poison resistance to a pet pony (e.g. as a Knight).History
The violet fungus first appears in Hack for PDP-11, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack. From this version to NetHack 2.3e, the monster is known as "violet fungi", with the "violet fungus" name used if the KAA compile-time option is set, and it uses the v glyph. NetHack 3.0.0 moves the violet fungus to the fungus or mold monster class, and establishes its current name and glyph.
Origin
The violet fungus originates from Dungeons & Dragons, where they debut in the 1st Edition Monster Manual. Violet fungi are large and human-sized mushrooms that possess a mass of root-like feelers, which support their bulk and grant them very slow mobility in order to find more favorable feeding spots; they also possess four leafy tendrils that emit a poisonous substance, and flail them in the direction of any moving beings that they sense
Violet fungi have a symbiotic relationship with the closely-related shriekers, to the point that in pre-Spellplague settings they bear a close resemblance. Both types of fungi inhabit the same dark underground environments, such as the Underdark, and often grow in the same patches; a shrieker's noise often attracts curious prey close enough for a violet fungus to poison and kill them, and both fungi would then feed on the decaying remains. Shriekers are also immune to the poisons of the violet fungus.
Message
- You smell mushrooms.
- A monster polymorphed into a violet fungus.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, violet fungi have a 9⁄10 chance of reviving from their corpses like other non-lichen fungi and molds.[1] A violet fungus has an overall 1.85% chance of generating from a corpse that reach 51 turns of age, is not acidic, and is not located within or on top of a square of water, ice or lava.[2][3][4][5]
Violet fungi can be generated in fungus farms.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, violet fungi can revive from their own corpses.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, violet fungi and other types of fungi and molds take extra damage from copper items. Similar to SLASH'EM, they can grow from old corpses, though with much lower odds.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, violet fungi and other types of fungi and molds take extra damage from copper items. Similar to SLASH'EM, they can also grow from old corpses.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, tame monsters can gain intrinsics from eating corpses, so a violet can be useful for giving poison resistance to a pet pony or other herbivore.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, violet fungi are slightly less likely to generate from old corpses due to the addition of some new fungi and molds. All other SLASH'EM details apply.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, violet fungi and other types of fungi and molds take extra damage from copper items. Similar to SLASH'EM, they can also grow from old corpses.
Monsters eating corpses functions as in EvilHack, allowing the hero to feed violet fungus corpses to applicable pets so they can potentially gain intrinsics.
Encyclopedia entry
"Fungus" and "fungi" both return this encyclopedia entry:
Fungi, division of simple plants that lack chlorophyll, true
stems, roots, and leaves. Unlike algae, fungi cannot
photosynthesize, and live as parasites or saprophytes. The
division comprises the slime molds and true fungi. True
fungi are multicellular (with the exception of yeasts); the
body of most true fungi consists of slender cottony
filaments, or hyphae. All fungi are capable of asexual
reproduction by cell division, budding, fragmentation, or
spores. Those that reproduce sexually alternate a sexual
generation (gametophyte) with a spore-producing one. The
four classes of true fungi are the algaelike fungi (e.g.,
black bread mold and downy mildew), sac fungi (e.g., yeasts,
powdery mildews, truffles, and blue and green molds such as
Penicillium), basidium fungi (e.g., mushrooms and puffballs)
and imperfect fungi (e.g., species that cause athlete's foot
and ringworm). Fungi help decompose organic matter (important
in soil renewal); are valuable as a source of antibiotics,
vitamins, and various chemicals; and for their role in
fermentation, e.g., in bread and alcoholic beverage
production.
