Special ability

A special ability is a spell-like ability that certain monsters possess. Special abilities are genetic, which means only members of a particular species are able to use special abilities. Silence does not work on special abilities, but there are many monsters which possess normal spells that cannot be silenced either.

Some special abilities:

• The ability of some monsters to blink, such as crimson imps and Mara. Note that some monsters instead possess Blink as a spell.
• An eye of draining's MP-draining gaze.
• Giant eyeballs' ability to paralyze you.
• Some breath weapons are implemented as special abilities, while others are implemented directly as spells. This has little effect on the player, as none can be silenced.
• Draconians have breath attacks.

Players can acquire special abilities in a few ways:

• Play a race that gains special abilities as they become more experienced (such as tengu or demonspawn).
• Transform into a creature that has a special ability (Dragon Form and other transmutations).
• Mutate yourself via quaffing a potion of mutation, eating a mutagenic chunk, or by worshiping Xom or Jiyva.