Acid blob
b acid blob 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 2 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 1 |
| Base experience | 9 |
| Speed | 3 |
| Base AC | 8 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 30 |
| Nutritional value | 10 |
| Size | Tiny |
| Resistances | sleep resistance, poison resistance, acid resistance, stoning resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | temporary acid resistance, temporary stoning resistance, cures stoning |
|
An acid blob:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 5.0.0 - include/monsters.h, line 137 |
An acid blob, b, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The acid blob is a blob monster that is the first acidic monster many heroes will encounter, and will also likely be the first amorphous or amoeboid monster as well.
An acid blob has a passive attack that has a 1⁄2 chance of triggering when it is attacked in melee, dealing acid damage against attackers without acid resistance as well as abusing the hero's strength[1][2][3]—this can splash the attacker in acid even if the attack kills the blob.[4][5][6] Being splashed by the acid blob's passive acid can also subject the attacker's armor and weapons to corrosion, with worn armor having a 1⁄30 chance of corroding regardless of the melee attack type, while armor and weapons that are used to strike the blob (e.g. kicks with boots, punches with gloves, etc.) have a 1⁄6 chance of corroding.[7][8][9] Acid blobs possess acid resistance, poison resistance and stoning resistance.
An acid blob corpse is acidic to eat (but not its tin) and is also vegan-compatible as with all blob corpses.[11][12] Eating an acid blob corpse or tin cures stoning on the first bite and can also grant either temporary acid resistance or temporary stoning resistance for 3-18 turns if the hero does not have the given property, and these resistances will not expire while the hero is eating something that is acidic or causes stoning until that meal is finished.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Monsters will pick up acid blob corpses and may also eat them if they are subjected to stoning, though they will take acid damage and may die from that instead.[20]
Acid blob corpses are always fit for sacrifice, and similar to lichen and lizard corpses they will not become tainted from aging, though they will still rot away like other corpses.[21][22]
Contents
Generation
Acid blobs may generate as peaceful towards neutral heroes.
Reading any scroll of create monster while confused will create at least 13 acid blobs, and has a 1⁄73 chance of creating 14-17 acid blobs.[23]
Strategy
Hostile acid blobs will move towards the hero as any other hostile monster does, but are ultimately harmless due to lacking non-passive attacks—however, attacking them poses some threat to an inexperienced and/or low-level player, and their amorphous forms allow them to ooze under doors and block a hero's path. For some early heroes, it is best to dispatch hostile blobs from a distance with disposable projectiles like rocks, or else with non-corroding projectiles such as elven daggers. Wands and spells can work, but are better saved for more direct threats than an acid blob.
If you have enough HP to survive a few splashes of acid, then use a disposable or non-corroding weapon, attack it bare-handed, or simply kick them, and be mindful that this may still affect any corrosion-vulnerable armor. Heroes that encounter peaceful acid blobs blocking their path can displace them safely in most circumstances, though their pet will likely try to kill the blob and damage themselves in the process.
Past the early game, acid blobs are little more than a nuisance that can occasionally erode weapons and armor if a player is careless in dispatching them, and proper erode-proofing mitigates even that annoyance. However, acid blob corpses have some value throughout the game, both as long-lasting sacrifice fodder and a vegan means of curing stoning—acid blob tins can also cure stoning without causing acid damage like the corpses do, but the tins may take too long to safely open unless they are blessed and/or opened with an ideally-blessed tin opener.
Later in the game, the ability to gain temporary stoning resistance from eating acid blobs makes them more useful as emergency meals for facing stoning monsters: against the likes of Medusa, it may be more of a corner-case option compared to simply self-blinding or using reflection, though circumstances may vary due to conduct play (e.g. pacifist). Some other players may employ acid blobs as a defense by reading scrolls of create monster while confused to fill up an area with acid blobs and prevent especially dangerous hostile monsters from approaching—on rare occasion, this is also employed to completely fill the Astral Plane and try to stop the Riders from reviving.
History
The acid blob first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are both based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is part of the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0. From these versions to NetHack 2.3e, acid blobs use the a glyph. NetHack 3.0.0 establishes the blob monster class and moves the acid blob to its current glyph at b.
From its first appearances to NetHack 3.0.10, acid blobs are poisonous to eat rather than acidic, and their acidic passive attacks decrease the enchantment of the weapon used to hit them. NetHack 3.1.0 introduces corrosion and makes the passive attacks of acid blobs corrosive.
In NetHack 3.6.7 and previous versions, including some variants based on those versions, peaceful monsters cannot be displaced—a hero trying to move a peaceful acid blob out of their path will want to let their pet handle the dirty work instead if they are strong enough to, and can otherwise use safe-movement via m to try and nudge the blob into an open room. Angering a peaceful acid blob incurs the usual -1 penalty to alignment record, or a -5 penalty if you kill the blob without angering it (e.g. via force bolt for Wizards)—this can be a major detriment in the early game, so be sure to use the far look command on an acid blob to determine if it is peaceful.
NetHack 5.0.0 adds the ability to displace peaceful monsters via commit 2ee09b92. NetHack 5.0.0 also adds the ability for a hero to gain temporary acid resistance or stoning resistance from eating the corpse or tin of a monster with the respective property via commit 071d79dc, commit e96d4ea9 and commit 05cf9480.
Variants
NetHack variants created prior to NetHack 5.0.0 may not have the ability to gain temporary acid or stoning resistance from eating acid blob tins or corpses.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, acid blobs are primordials.
Fourteen acid blobs are randomly placed on the level containing the branch entrance to the Chaos Temple Quest (or "chaos1") if that branch is generated in the dungeon.
Encyclopedia entry
- See the encyclopedia entry for amoeboid.
References
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 5907: case for acid passive against hero
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 5914-L5918: check for acid resistance versus hero
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 5932: strength abuse
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 5892: per comment, cases below this line affect the hero even if the attack kills the defender
- ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1330: similar comment for monster v. monster combat
- ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1338-L1342: check for acid resistance versus monsters
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2786: corrosion of hero's armor from acid splash
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 5923-L5931: corrosion of hero's armor and/or weapons from acid splash
- ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1345-L1349: corrosion of monster's armor and/or weapons from acid splash
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1923-L1927: case for stomach acid in eatcorpse()
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1611: consume_tin calls cprefx(), but not eatcorpse() where stomach acid is handled[10]
- ↑ include/mondata.h in NetHack 5.0.0, line 233
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 486-L490: temporary resistances will not expire during a dangerous meal
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 859-L862: acidic corpses cure stoning
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 928-L935: corpses of acid and stone-resistant monsters can grant their respective resistances—acidic monsters are typically both
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 991-L997: monster level determines chance of temporary intrinsics
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1082-L1088: duration of temporary acid resistance
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1089-L1095: duration of temporary stoning resistance
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 3942-L3944: case for stoning in Popeye()
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 3952-L3959: stoned monster has chance to cure itself
- ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1843
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 58-L61
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1615-L1619
