Vortex
The vortex is a monster class that appears in NetHack, and is represented by the lowercase v glyph (v). Vortices are designated internally by the macro S_VORTEX.[1]
The class contains the following monsters:[2]
- v Fog cloud
- v Dust vortex
- v Ice vortex
- v Energy vortex
- v Steam vortex
- v Fire vortex
Contents
Common traits
All vortex monsters are considered whirly, and are mindless, unbreathing, eyeless, headless, limbless, and capable of flight.[3] Vortices can travel through squares with iron bars, though only the fog cloud, energy vortex, steam vortex, and fire vortex are considered unsolid—of those, only the fog cloud is amorphous. The fog cloud is also the only vortex with a base AC of 0 and no MR score, compared to every other vortex having a base AC of 2 and an MR of 30.
Generation
All randomly generated vortices are created hostile.
Body parts
Vortex also refers to the grouping of body parts for the forms of vortices and elementals, and affects the messages referring to the appropriate body parts as follows:[4][5]
| Body part[6] | Description |
|---|---|
| Arm | Region |
| Eye | Eye |
| Face | Front |
| Finger | Minor current |
| Fingertip | Minor current |
| Foot | Lower current |
| Hand | Swirl |
| Handed | Swirled |
| Head | Central core |
| Leg | Lower current |
| Light headed | Addled |
| Neck | Center |
| Spine | Currents |
| Toe | Edge |
| Hair | Currents |
| Blood | Life force |
| Lung | Center |
| Nose | Leading edge |
| Stomach | Interior |
Strategy
Early encounters with faster vortices can prove annoying and potentially even fatal for a weaker hero, and the energy vortex in particular can wreak havoc even against much stronger and well-equipped heroes. The wand of slow monster, spell of slow monster and scaring tools such as a bugle or tooled horn can be a useful aid against vortices, and ranged attacks can often defeat a vortex before it has too many chances to engulf a hero.
Once a hero has the necessary resistances to survive vortex encounters, it becomes possible to use some of them as a means of transport by allowing them to deliberately engulf the character—this is a fairly common tactic for the Plane of Air, where many vortices are generated. Beware that they do not release you over lava or into the path of a black dragon's disintegration breath!
History
The fog cloud first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0. From these versions to NetHack 2.3e, the fog cloud uses the f glyph.
NetHack 3.0.0 establishes the vortex monster class, moves the fog cloud to its current glyph and adds the other vortices.
Variants
UnNetHack
UnNetHack included the anti-matter vortex in versions prior to 4.0.0.
Encyclopedia entry
Swirling clouds of pure elemental energies, the vortices are
thought to be related to the larger elementals. Though the
vortices do no damage when touched, they are noted for being
able to envelop unwary travellers. The hapless fool thus
swallowed by a vortex will soon perish from exposure to the
element the vortex is composed of.
