Shoggoth (dNetHack)
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|---|---|
| Difficulty | 25 |
| Attacks |
Touch 1d12 acid, Touch 1d12 sticky, Bearhug 2d12 suction, Passive 2d12 acid |
| Base level | 20 |
| Base experience | 743 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | 10 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | -5 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 4500 |
| Nutritional value | 1000 |
| Size | huge |
| Resistances | cold, shock, poison, acid, petrification |
| Resistances conveyed | cold, shock, poison |
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A shoggoth:
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- For the monster in SLASH'EM and its variants, see Shoggoth (SLASH'EM).
A shoggoth, b, is a type of monster that appears in dNetHack and notdNetHack. The shoggoth is an omnivorous blob-like monster that can pick up and collect items, favoring magic ones - it is also capable of swimming, and can follow you to other levels if it is adjacent. As indicated by the encyclopedia entry for that monster, the priest of Ghaunadaur is a shoggoth that has been called to serve Ghaunadaur, a god of fallen stars, slime, outcasts, and the discarded.
A shoggoth has two touch attacks, a fairly-unique suction attack with a variety of effects, and a passive acidic splash. Shoggoths also possess cold resistance, poison resistance, shock resistance, acid resistance, and stoning resistance. A tame shoggoth may turn traitor.
A shoggoth corpse is acidic to eat, but eating a shoggoth corpse or tin has a 1⁄3 chance each of conveying cold resistance, poison resistance or shock resistance, and also cures stoning.
Generation
Shoggoths are only randomly generated in Gehennom and the Neutral Quest. Randomly generated shoggoths are always created hostile.
A shoggoth may be one of the monsters generated within a magic item vault.
Several shoggoths are generated at level creation in the Lost Cities of the lower Neutral Quest - on the last floor, R'lyeh, two of the temple complexes contain three shoggoths each. A shoggoth will appear within one of the rooms in Demogorgon's lair if his dwelling appears as the third Abyss level.
Strategy
Shoggoths are probably best avoided if at all possible, due to their ability to suck away your armor and weapons, and can even instantly kill you if they managed to pull off your helmet during a previous round. If one is spotted, your best choice may be to flee immediately.
Suction attack
Each suction effect is rolled for and applied independently, so more than one can occur with the same hit unless otherwise specified. The rolls for each effects occur in the following order:
- If your HP is less than 100, you have a head, and you are not wearing a helmet, there is a 1⁄20 chance of your head being sucked off, instantly killing you. No further effects will be applied on that turn if this occurs.
- There is a 1⁄10 chance of both your legs being badly injured.
- There is a 3⁄20 chance of your weapon being sucked out of your grasp, which can be prevented with high strength.
- There is a 1⁄10 chance of your boots being sucked off your feet, unless they have the randomized appearance of buckled boots.
- There is a 3⁄20 chance of your gloves being sucked off your hands, unless you are wielding a weapon - high strength can block this completely.
- There is a 7⁄100 chance of your shield being sucked out of your grasp - high strength can help prevent this.
- There is a 1⁄4 chance of your helmet being sucked off of your head.
Origin
The shoggoth is a creature that originates from the works of H.P. Lovecraft, where they appear as massive and occasionally intelligent amoeboid creatures made out of iridescent black slime, with multiple eyes floating on the surface. An average shoggoth measures 4.5 meters (15 feet) across while spherical, though they can become much larger.
Encyclopedia entry
"... in the place of utter blasphemy, the unholy pit where
the black realm begins and the watcher guards the gate -
I saw a shoggoth - it changed shape ..."
It was a terrible, indescribable thing vaster than any subway
train -- a shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly
self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and
un-forming as pustules of greenish light all over the tunnel-
filling front that bore down upon us, crushing the frantic
penguins and slithering over the glistening floor that it and
its kind had swept so evilly free of all litter. Still came
that eldritch, mocking cry -- "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" and at
last we remembered that the demoniac Shoggoths - given life,
thought, and plastic organ patterns solely by the Old Ones ...
