Gelatinous cube
b gelatinous cube 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 8 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 6 |
| Base experience | 76 |
| Speed | 6 |
| Base AC | 8 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 600 |
| Nutritional value | 150 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | Fire, cold, shock, sleep, poison, acid, petrification |
| Resistances conveyed |
Fire (10%), cold (10%), shock (10%), sleep (10%) |
|
A gelatinous cube:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line157 |
The gelatinous cube, b, is an amoeboid monster in NetHack. Unlike the Dungeons & Dragons creature from which it is derived, it has no means to engulf the player; however, it still possesses the means to paralyze the unwary. The gelatinous cube possesses two different kinds of paralysis attacks: the paralyzing touch is a melee attack that can be protected against with high magic cancellation, while the other one is a passive attack that can be prevented by wearing a ring of free action or not engaging in melee combat.
Their corpses are acidic, but may also provide fire, cold, shock, or sleep resistance. Like all blobs, gelatinous cube corpses are considered vegan and can be eaten without breaking the conduct.
Gelatinous cubes are noteworthy in that, as they move, they will eat organic items they pass over and engulf most other items (exceptions being boulders or a punished player's iron ball and chain). The engulfed items are placed into the cube's inventory, making them useful for cleaning useless items out of a level. This also makes them the bane of stashes - if a cube eats a container, the container will be destroyed, though the items are recovered when the cube is slain.
Monster cubes will respect and not eat a scroll of scare monster, but you can eat one while polymorphed into a cube. Eating a scroll of scare monster, a scroll of mail, a scroll labeled YUM YUM, or any other paper item gives special messages, but no additional effect.
Messages
- You hear a slurping sound.
- You hear several slurping sounds.
- A gelatinous cube has eaten (more than) one thing somewhere out of sight on this level.
- The gelatinous cube engulfs <foo>.
- The gelatinous cube engulfs several objects.
- A gelatinous cube has engulfed - that is, picked up - (more than) one thing.
Variants
GruntHack
In GruntHack, gelatinous cubes are capable of hiding similar to piercers, and can additionally engulf targets in order to suffocate them. Combined with their paralysis, this will usually lead to a swift death, making gelatinous cubes a major threat once they start generating (typically from the mid-game on).
Use your best available ranged attacks and means of scaring to keep gelatinous cubes from engulfing you before you can kill them - gelatinous cubes respect Elbereth, and a source of warning can help you avoid being caught off guard by a hidden cube. A ring of free action will give you time to kill or break out of the cube if you are engulfed; zapping a wand of digging while engulfed will reduce their HP to 1 and release you, making killing them afterward somewhat trivial. An amulet of magical breathing or a breathless polyform will prevent the cube's suffocating from affecting you.
Gelatinous cubes can also be useful as a means of zombie disposal, as they can consume and dissolve the corpses with no ill effect - they do not possess sickness resistance, however. Their paralyzing touch and passive will also immobilize zombies that try to attack it, which you or another living monster can then dispose of them without fearing retaliatory bites.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, gelatinous cubes behave mostly the same as they do in GruntHack, though they lack the ability to hide. This makes it much less likely that you will be surprised by one, though you will still need to listen out for telltale slurping noises.
Encyclopedia entry
Despite its popularity (or perhaps because of it), the gelatinous cube is also widely known as one of the sillier role-playing monsters. It is something of a commentary on the ubiquity of treasure-laden dungeons in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, as the cube is a creature specifically adapted to a dungeon ecosystem. 10 feet to the side, it travels through standard 10-foot by 10-foot dungeon corridors, cleaning up debris and redistributing treasure by excreting indigestible metal items.
This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.1. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-361}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.
