Fern spore (UnNetHack)
| e fern spore (No tile) | |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 2 |
| Attacks |
Explode 2d4 physical, On-death explosion 2d4 physical |
| Base level | 1 |
| Base experience | 0 |
| Speed | 3 |
| Base AC | 5 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 10 |
| Nutritional value | 10 |
| Size | Small |
| Resistances | Poison resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A fern spore:
| |
| Reference | UnNetHack commit 4b5df73 - src/monst.c, line 3899 |
A fern spore, e, is a type of monster that appears in UnNetHack. The dungeon fern spore is a form of sphere-like monster that is very similar to a gas spore and shares most of the same attributes—these spores serve to propagate dungeon ferns, and will target the hero and other monsters in the dungeon, while monsters that are not other ferns, fern sprouts or Devil's Snare have a mutual grudge and will attack the spores themselves to prevent ferns from spreading, per the encyclopedia entry.
Fern spores have two attacks: an explosion attack that deals physical damage to a single target and leaves behind a small group of poison clouds, and an on-death explosion that covers a 3x3 square centered on its former location and deals physical damage to any hero or monster caught in this range. These explosions are guaranteed to create a dungeon fern, with the type determined by the square that the spore exploded over—the fern created from this explosion also has a 1⁄6 chance of being a full-grown fern, and will otherwise be a fern sprout.
A fern spore's explosion will produce an arctic fern or fern sprout if it occurs over ice, a moat or a pool; a blazing fern or fern sprout if it occurs over lava; a swamp fern or fern sprout if it occurs over muddy swamp; and otherwise it has an equal probability of creating an arctic fern, blazing fern, swamp fern, or dungeon fern (or one of the appropriate sprouts).
Fern spores possess poison resistance.
Generation
Fern spores are not randomly generated, and normally-created ones are always hostile. They are not a valid polymorph form or genocide target.
Fern spores can only be generated by a hero or monster reading a blessed scroll of stinking cloud while confused, which will create up to 3 fern spores adjacent to the reader.
Fern spores never leave a corpse upon death.
History
The generic fern spore first appears in version 5.1.0 along with the other dungeon fern types minus the standard dungeon fern via commit f487c92, and commit f589b4a makes it possible for a scroll of stinking clouds to generate fern spores through aforementioned method, and makes the spores capable of creating all types of dungeon fern sprout and fully-grown dungeon fern.
Origin
Ferns are a group of real plants with characteristic leaves. They are primitive, having neither seeds nor flowers; they reproduce with spores, hence the spore attack in the game.
Encyclopedia entry
These dreadful weeds have been driven to extinction on the
surface, yet deep within the dark and damp of the dungeon
they still flourish. When it detects the motion of nearby
creatures, the dungeon fern releases a deadly, poisonous
spore, which quickly detonates to propagate the species.
Residents of the dungeon have learned how not to disturb
the dungeon fern, and will attack its spores on sight to
keep them from overtaking their home.
More than one variety of this plant is known to exist.
