Some monsters possess a passive attack - it is used automatically in retaliation to a melee attack against the monster. They can be avoided by use of ranged weapons, pounding with a polearm or lance, or being resistant to the attack. Passive attacks are not affected by magic cancellation.
The most infamous example of such a passive attack is the floating eye's paralysis gaze - hitting a floating eye normally paralyses the player for a period of time, during which they are vulnerable to outside attack - a cause of numerous YASDs. Other well-known examples include the various jellies, puddings, molds and acid blobs.
A passive attack is denoted by AT_NONE in the source code[1].
List of passive attacks[]
Passive attacks against the player are handled in uhitm.c:passive()
. Monsters have at most 1 passive attack, which is defined separately from any other attacks they might have.
Acid[]
b acid blob, j spotted jelly, j ochre jelly, F green mold
- 50% chance of an acid damage. If this succeeds, there's a 1/30 chance that your armor is subject to corrosion
- 1/6 chance, independent of the above, that whatever you attacked with (boot, weapon, etc) is subject to erosion
- Your strength is abused
Stoning[]
c chickatrice, c cockatrice
- If you hit with a bare appendage, you turn to stone and die instantly (unless stoning resistant)
Rust[]
- If the monster is cancelled, nothing happens
- If you kicked it, your boots suffer the effects of a rust trap
- Otherwise, 1/6 chance that your weapon/gloves are subject to rust
Corrosion[]
- Exactly like the rust attack above, but with the more-powerful corrosion effect
Magic missile[]
@ Oracle (the source code comment is "wrath of gods for attacking Oracle")[2]
- If you have magic resistance, no effect
- Else, you are hit with a magic missile attack
Drain enchantment[]
- If the monster is canceled, nothing happens
- If you attacked with an enchanted weapon/boots/gloves, they lose 1 enchantment. Artifact weapons resist the drain 90% of the time, and ordinary equipment resists 10% of the time.
Paralysis[]
b gelatinous cube, e floating eye
- If the monster is canceled or dies from the blow, nothing happens
- If you have free action, "You momentarily stiffen"
- If it is a floating eye and you have reflection, you cannot see it, or it is blind, nothing happens
- Else, there is a 2/3 chance that you will be paralyzed
- Being frozen by a gelatinous cube abuses dexterity
Cold[]
j blue jelly, F brown mold
- If the monster is canceled or dies from the blow, or if you are cold resistant, nothing happens
- Else, there is a 2/3 chance that you suffer a cold attack
- The monster gains half its attack damage in HP, possibly increasing its max HP
- If the monster's max HP is now high enough, it reproduces
The self-healing makes blue jellies especially deadly to lower-level characters who can't reliably hit hard enough to offset the healing.
Stunning[]
- If the monster is canceled or dies from the blow, nothing happens
- 2/3 chance that you become stunned
Fire[]
v fire vortex, E fire elemental, F red mold
- If the monster is canceled or dies from the blow, or if you are fire resistant nothing happens
- 2/3 chance of fire damage
- If you are polymorphed into an iron golem, you heal by the damage amount, instead
Electricity[]
- If the monster is canceled or dies from the blow, or if you are shock resistant nothing happens
- 2/3 chance of shock damage
- If you are polymorphed into a flesh golem, you heal by 1/6 of the damage amount, instead (a reference to Frankenstein's Monster)
Sticky[]
m large mimic, m giant mimic
- If you walk into the mimic without knowing that there is a monster there, you are affected by their sticking attack, and cannot move away.
Slime[]
- Although the green slime has a passive slime attack defined, there is no code to handle it.