Vortex

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The members of the vortex monster class will all engulf you and cause an appropriate type of damage, except dust vortices, which will blind you, and fog clouds, which will do physical damage.

Fog cloud

v fog cloud
Difficulty	4
Attacks	Engulf 1d6

v fog cloud
Difficulty	4
Attacks	Engulf 1d6
Base level	3
Base experience	37
Speed	1
Base AC	1
Base MR	0
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	Rare
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	0
Nutritional value	0
Size	Huge
Resistances	Sleep, Poison, Stoning
Resistances conveyed	None
A fog cloud: can fly. can flow under doors. does not breathe. has no eyes. has no limbs. has no head. is mindless. does not have a solid form. does not eat. (*) is neither male nor female. is normally generated hostile. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	monst.c#line937

Fog clouds offer a good opportunity for weapon training. Once engulfed you will hit automatically, avoiding the normal trouble non-warrior roles can have with the -4 Unskilled To-hit penalty.

Dust vortex

v dust vortex
Difficulty	6
Attacks	Engulf 2d8 blind

v dust vortex
Difficulty	6
Attacks	Engulf 2d8 blind
Base level	4
Base experience	55
Speed	20
Base AC	2
Base MR	30
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	Rare
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	0
Nutritional value	0
Size	Huge
Resistances	Sleep, Poison, Stoning
Resistances conveyed	None
A dust vortex: can fly. can flow under doors. does not breathe. has no eyes. has no limbs. has no head. is mindless. does not have a solid form. does not eat. (*) is neither male nor female. is normally generated hostile. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	monst.c#line945

Ice vortex

v ice vortex
Difficulty	7
Attacks	Engulf 1d6 cold

v ice vortex
Difficulty	7
Attacks	Engulf 1d6 cold
Base level	5
Base experience	75
Speed	20
Base AC	2
Base MR	30
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	Very rare
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	0
Nutritional value	0
Size	Huge
Resistances	Cold, Sleep, Poison, Stoning
Resistances conveyed	None
An ice vortex: can fly. can flow under doors. does not breathe. has no eyes. has no limbs. has no head. is mindless. does not have a solid form. does not eat. (*) is neither male nor female. is normally generated hostile. can be seen through infravision. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	monst.c#line952

Energy vortex

v energy vortex
Difficulty	9
Attacks	Engulf 1d6 shock, Engulf drain energy, Passive (level + 1)d4 shock

v energy vortex
Difficulty	9
Attacks	Engulf 1d6 shock, Engulf drain energy, Passive (level + 1)d4 shock
Base level	6
Base experience	102
Speed	20
Base AC	2
Base MR	30
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	Very rare
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	0
Nutritional value	0
Size	Huge
Resistances	Shock, Sleep, Disintegrate, Poison, Stoning
Resistances conveyed	None
An energy vortex: can fly. can flow under doors. does not breathe. has no eyes. has no limbs. has no head. is mindless. does not have a solid form. does not eat. (*) is neither male nor female. is normally generated hostile. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	monst.c#line960

The energy vortex is very dangerous monster to encounter if one lacks shock resistance. In addition to its shock attacks, it also has a special drain energy ability, which drains the power of the player. The drain energy ability can be protected against with high magic cancellation, but the other attacks cannot.

Note that the passive attack is only triggered by melee attacks - ranged attacks, even when engulfed, are perfectly fine.

Steam vortex

v steam vortex
Difficulty	9
Attacks	Engulf 1d8 fire

v steam vortex
Difficulty	9
Attacks	Engulf 1d8 fire
Base level	7
Base experience	113
Speed	22
Base AC	2
Base MR	30
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	Rare
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	0
Nutritional value	0
Size	Huge
Resistances	Fire, Sleep, Poison, Stoning
Resistances conveyed	None
A steam vortex: can fly. can flow under doors. does not breathe. has no eyes. has no limbs. has no head. is mindless. does not have a solid form. does not eat. (*) is neither male nor female. is normally generated hostile. can be seen through infravision. appears only in Gehennom. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	monst.c#line960

Fire vortex

v fire vortex
Difficulty	10
Attacks	Engulf 1d8 fire, passive (level + 1)d4 fire

v fire vortex
Difficulty	10
Attacks	Engulf 1d8 fire, passive (level + 1)d4 fire
Base level	8
Base experience	143
Speed	22
Base AC	2
Base MR	30
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	Very rare
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	0
Nutritional value	0
Size	Huge
Resistances	Fire, Sleep, Poison, Stoning
Resistances conveyed	None
A fire vortex: can fly. can flow under doors. does not breathe. has no eyes. has no limbs. has no head. is mindless. does not have a solid form. does not eat. (*) is neither male nor female. is normally generated hostile. can be seen through infravision. appears only in Gehennom. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	monst.c#line960

Body Parts

Vortex also refers to the grouping of body parts for the forms of vortices. It affects the messages referring to the appropriate body parts as follows:

Bodypart	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

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.

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