Fungus or mold

The fungus or mold is a monster class that appears in NetHack, and is represented by the uppercase F glyph (F). Fungi and molds are designated internally by the macro S_FUNGUS.

The monster class contains the following monsters:

• F lichen
• F brown mold
• F yellow mold
• F green mold
• F red mold
• F shrieker
• F violet fungus

Common traits

All fungi and molds are neutral. They are unbreathing, inediate and mindless monsters that lack limbs, eyes or a head, and do not have any MR score; they all possess poison resistance except for the lichen and green mold, and cannot be seen via infravision except for the red mold. A hero that polymorphs into a fungus or mold gains immunity to sickness in addition to the monster's other traits. Fungi and mold corpses and tins are considered vegan food, and is acceptable for herbivorous and omnivorous monsters.

Fungi

The fungi consist of the lichen, shrieker and violet fungus, which all have the minimum possible speed of 1—the lichen and violet fungus use touch attacks, while the shrieker has no attacks at all and simply shrieks intermittently, which can wake sleeping monsters and cause other monsters to generate.

Molds

The molds consist of the brown, yellow, green, and red molds—they are all sessile and only possess a passive attack and intrinsic resistances that usually correspond to their color:

• Brown molds have a passive cold attack and possess poison and cold resistance. Eating their tin or corpse can grant either resistance.
• Yellow molds have a passive stun attack and possess poison resistance. Eating their tin or corpse can grant poison resistance, but the corpse is poisonous and both it and the tin always cause hallucination.
• Green molds have a passive acid attack and possess acid resistance and stoning resistance. Eating their tin or corpse does not grant either resistance, but can abort stoning (though the acidic corpse will also deal damage).
• Red molds have a passive fire attack and possess poison and fire resistance. Eating their tin or corpse can grant either resistance.

Generation

All randomly generated fungi and molds are created hostile.

Fungi and molds are generated in swamps.

Body parts

Fungus also refers to the grouping of body parts for the forms of rhyzomic life, with the following words and phrases in messages referring to body parts exchanged as follows:

Bodypart	Description
Arm	Mycelium
Eye	Visual area
Face	Front
Finger	Hypha
Fingertip	Hypha
Foot	Root
Hand	Strand
Handed	Stranded
Head	Cap area
Leg	Rhizome
Light headed	Sporulated
Neck	Stalk
Spine	Root
Toe	Rhizome tip
Hair	Spores
Blood	Juices
Lung	Gill
Nose	Gill
Stomach	Interior

Strategy

Most fungi and molds are not especially dangerous, unless an early hero is careless in attacking any of the molds: the most troublesome that monsters from this class can become involve situations where either a mold blocks a hero's path, or else a shrieker manages to summon an out-of-depth purple worm with its shrieking. Otherwise, even the weakest of heroes can typically handle any fungus or mold they come across; any form of ranged attack will suffice for dealing with the stationary molds in particular, even junk such as rocks or spare orcish daggers. Early pets may have trouble with molds due to lacking a ranged attack, and unfortunate ones may end up taking more damage passively than they can successfully deal.

Many fungi and molds have a low chance of granting useful resistances from eating their corpses or tins, making it a good idea for a hero to eat the safer ones, especially if trying to obtain poison resistance in particular; for vegetarian and vegan conduct, they make up about half of the suitable corpses that heroes can obtain resistances from. Fungi and mold corpses that are safe can also be used to feed herbivorous pets, such as the starting pony of a Knight.

History

The fungus or mold monster class is introduced in NetHack 3.0.0, which adds the four mold types.

From Hack for PDP-11, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack to NetHack 2.3e, violet fungi (known as the "violet fungus" if the KAA compile-time option is set) use the v glyph—NetHack 3.0.0 moves the violet fungus to the monster class and gives it its current name and glyph.

The shrieker is added to the monster class in NetHack 3.1.0, and the lichen is added in NetHack 3.3.0.

Origin

A fungus (plural: fungi or funguses) is any type of eukaryotic organism that has chitinous cell walls, but no chlorophyll or plastids, and may may be unicellular or multicellular—this includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. Once believed to be similar to plants, fungi are considered more closely related to animals as they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment. Fungi do not photosynthesize and instead use growth as a means of mobility, though they can also emit spores which may travel through the air or water as a form of reproduction. Fungi often serve as the principal decomposers in ecological systems.

Fungi all occupy single group of related organisms named the Eumycota ("true fungi") that share a common ancestor, which is strongly supported by molecular phylogenetics. This fungal group is distinct from the structurally similar myxomycetes (slime molds) and oomycetes (water molds). Fungi are abundant worldwide, and most are inconspicuous due to their small size and structure along with their presence in soil or on dead matter. They have long been used as a direct source of human food, including but not limited to the following: edible mushrooms and truffles; leavening agents for bread; and the fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy sauce. Fungi can break down manufactured materials and buildings, and become significant pathogens of humans and other animals. Losses of crops due to fungal diseases (e.g., rice blast disease) or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies.

A mold is a colored woolly or furry growth structure of tiny fungi that appears when organic material lies exposed to warm and moist air for a long time, and can also refer to any fungus that creates such growths. Some diseases of animals and humans can be caused by certain molds, e.g. from allergic sensitivity to mold spores, growth of pathogenic molds within the body, or from the effects of ingested or inhaled toxic compounds (mycotoxins) produced by molds. Molds cause biodegradation of natural materials, including food spoilage or damage to property; they also play important roles in biotechnology and food science in the production of various pigments, foods, beverages, antibiotics, pharmaceuticals and enzymes.

Messages

Something smells moldy.

A monster polymorphed into any fungus, other than a violet fungus or shrieker.

You smell mushrooms.

A monster polymorphed into either a violet fungus or shrieker.

Variants

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM adds two new monsters to the monster class:

• F disgusting mold
• F black mold

Various fungi and mold can generate in fungus farms.

Fungi and molds in SLASH'EM function differently from NetHack: First, any non-lichen fungus or mold that leaves a corpse (¹⁄₃ of the time) has a ⁹⁄₁₀ chance of reviving in the same manner as a troll. Secondly, corpses that reach 51 turns of age and are not acidic have a ¹⁄₂ chance of turning into a fungus or mold, provided they are not located within or on top of a square of water, ice or lava. This replaces the corpse with a random monster from the class, with a bias towards sessile ones:

Fungus	Likelihood
Brown	14.8%
Green	14.8%
Red	14.8%
Yellow	14.8%
Black	14.8%
Disgusting	14.8%
Violet fungus	3.7%
Shrieker	3.7%
Lichen	3.7%

As the lichen is the most nutritious fungus and one of the rarest generated from old corpses, farming for lichens is possible but somewhat impractical, and it is often better for a hungry hero to eat corpses while they are still fresh. Heroes that decide to try farming for molds in general should use smaller corpses while eating the larger ones, as the corpses of small monsters tend to give negligible amounts of nutrition; a Monk can use this to their advantage in order to obtain intrinsics and maintain vegetarian or vegan conduct.

SporkHack

SporkHack adds one new monster to the monster class:

• F gray fungus

UnNetHack

UnNetHack adds several new monsters to the monster class:

• F dungeon fern
• F dungeon fern sprout
• F arctic fern
• F arctic fern sprout
• F blazing fern
• F blazing fern sprout
• F swamp fern
• F swamp fern sprout

dNetHack

dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack add several new monsters to the monster class:

• F migo worker
• F migo soldier
• F migo philosopher
• F phantom fungus
• F migo queen
• F fungal brain

The Elder Elemental Eye is a ward that can scare fungi at any level of reinforcement.

Similar to SLASH'EM, any of the four NetHack molds have a roughly 1% chance to grow from old corpses, and fungi and molds that are not migo or lichen can revive from their own corpses.

Several fungi are generated on the locate level of the Drow Noble Quest at level creation.

Fourteen random fungi and molds are generated at level creation across the lair of Zuggtmoy, which is one of the possible first Abyss levels; fungi and molds also make up ¹⁄₃ (33%) of the monsters randomly generated on the level. While the hero is in Zuggtmoy's lair with Zuggtmoy herself present, roughly ~90% of corpses on the level will grow mold - if the hero is in Zuggtmoy's lair while she is absent, or else both they and Zuggtmoy are present on the same level outside of her lair, roughly ~50% of corpses on the level will grow mold.

xNetHack

xNetHack adds one new monster to the monster class:

• F black mold

Fungi and molds take extra damage from copper objects. Fungi and mold can grow from old corpses as in SLASH'EM, though with lower odds; acidic corpses can also produce mold, though only green mold will grow from their corpses.

xNetHack also ports and incorporates Malcolm Ryan's Brewing Patch, which allows the hero to dip fungi and mold corpses in potions of fruit juice to ferment them, turning them into other types of potions after a while:

• Green mold corpses turn fruit juice into potions of acid.
• Yellow mold corpses turn fruit juice into potions of confusion.
• Violet fungi corpses turn fruit juice into potions of hallucination.
• Brown mold corpses turn fruit juice into potions of sleeping.
• Red mold corpses turn fruit juice into potions of booze.
• Black mold corpses turn fruit juice into potions of sickness, as do any of the above corpses if they are cursed.

SpliceHack

SpliceHack adds several new monsters to the monster class:

• F volatile mushroom
• F screamer
• F brown moldier
• F yellow moldier
• F green moldier
• F red moldier

Fungi and mold can grow from old corpses similar to SLASH'EM, and copper items deal +d6 damage against them.

EvilHack

EvilHack adds two monsters to the monster class:

• F gray fungus
• F black fungus

SlashTHEM

SlashTHEM retains the monsters added in SLASH'EM, and adds two more monsters to the monster class:

• F gray fungus
• F creeping mold

Fungi and molds can generate from old corpses and within fungus farms as in SLASH'EM.

Fungisword is a lawful artifact long sword that has +10 to-hit and deals double damage against fungi.

Hack'EM

Hack'EM adds many new monsters to the monster class, including several from other variants:

• F screamer
• F gray fungus
• F black mold
• F volatile mushroom
• F brown moldier
• F yellow moldier
• F green moldier
• F red moldier
• F orange moldier
• F gray moldier
• F black moldier
• F dungeon fern
• F dungeon fern sprout
• F arctic fern
• F arctic fern sprout
• F blazing fern
• F blazing fern sprout
• F swamp fern
• F swamp fern sprout

Fungi and molds can generate within fungus farms, as in SLASH'EM.

As in xNetHack, fungi and molds can generate from old corpses and take extra damage from copper items. Fungi and mold corpses can also be used to create potions by dipping them in fruit juice, with a different list from xNetHack:

• Brown mold corpses turn fruit juice into potions of blood.
• Green mold corpses turn fruit juice into potions of acid.
• Yellow mold corpses turn fruit juice into potions of confusion.
• Violet fungi corpses turn fruit juice into potions of hallucination.
• Red mold corpses turn fruit juice into potions of booze.
• Gray fungus corpses turn fruit juice into potions of amnesia.
• Orange mold corpses turn fruit juice into potions of sleeping.
• Black mold corpses turn fruit juice into potions of sickness, as do any of the above corpses if they are cursed.

Encyclopedia entry

Fungus

"Fungus" and "fungi" both return this encyclopedia entry:

Fungi, division of simple plants that lack chlorophyll, true
stems, roots, and leaves. Unlike algae, fungi cannot
photosynthesize, and live as parasites or saprophytes. The
division comprises the slime molds and true fungi. True
fungi are multicellular (with the exception of yeasts); the
body of most true fungi consists of slender cottony
filaments, or hyphae. All fungi are capable of asexual
reproduction by cell division, budding, fragmentation, or
spores. Those that reproduce sexually alternate a sexual
generation (gametophyte) with a spore-producing one. The
four classes of true fungi are the algaelike fungi (e.g.,
black bread mold and downy mildew), sac fungi (e.g., yeasts,
powdery mildews, truffles, and blue and green molds such as
Penicillium), basidium fungi (e.g., mushrooms and puffballs)
and imperfect fungi (e.g., species that cause athlete's foot
and ringworm). Fungi help decompose organic matter (important
in soil renewal); are valuable as a source of antibiotics,
vitamins, and various chemicals; and for their role in
fermentation, e.g., in bread and alcoholic beverage
production.

[ The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia ]

Mold

Mold, multicellular organism of the division Fungi, typified
by plant bodies composed of a network of cottony filaments.
The colors of molds are due to spores borne on the filaments.
Most molds are saprophytes. Some species (e.g., penicillium)
are used in making cheese and antibiotics.

[ The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia ]