Blob
The blob is a monster class that appears in NetHack, and is represented by the lowercase b glyph (b). Blobs are designated internally by the macro S_BLOB.[1]
The class contains the following monsters:[2]
Contents
Common traits
Blobs are neutral amoeboids that are unbreathing and lack body parts such as limbs, eyes or heads. Each blob is generally slower-moving than an un-hasted and unburdened hero, and they have a tendency to wander around while moving. Blobs that have non-passive attacks typically use touch attacks, and possess sleep resistance and poison resistance.
Generation
Randomly generated blobs are always created hostile except for the acid blob, which may generate as peaceful towards neutral characters.
History
The acid blob and quivering blob first appear in Hack 1.21, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, while the gelatinous cube appears in Hack for PDP-11, which is also based on Jay Fenlason's Hack. In Hack 1.21, the acid blob uses the a glyph, while the quivering blob uses the Q glyph; in Hack for PDP-11, the quivering blob uses the q glyph, the gelatinous cube uses the q glyph, and the acid blob retains its previous glyph.
All three are part of the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0. The blob monster class is introduced in NetHack 3.0.0, and all three monsters are grouped into it under the current glyph.
Variants
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM introduces a few new monsters to the monster class:
dNetHack
dNetHack introduces several new monsters to the monster class:
- b blob of preserved organs
- b crystal ooze
- b blood bloater
- b shoggoth
- b priest of Ghaunadaur
- b mothering mass
- b coiling brawn
- b deep blue cube
- b pitch black cube
- b perfectly clear cube
Encyclopedia entry
These giant amoeboid creatures look like nothing more than puddles of slime, but they both live and move, feeding on metal or wood as well as the occasional dungeon explorer to supplement their diet.
But we were not on a station platform. We were on the track ahead as the nightmare, plastic column of fetid black iridescence oozed tightly onward through its fifteen-foot sinus, gathering unholy speed and driving before it a spiral, re-thickening cloud of the pallid abyss vapor. 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 unforming 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.
