Plant People and creatures in fiction have a lot of options for defending themselves: they've got Vine Tentacles, Bullet Seeds, Petal Powers, and that's just the tip of the iceberg lettuce. If you're a Mushroom Person or related creature, you don't have any of those nifty growths or weapons, but you do have a smoky surprise in store for your enemies: spores. This trope is when a character weaponizes their spores into projectiles, clouds of noxious fumes, or related forms of attack or defense.
A Spore Attack's appearance and effect depend on the work in which it appears, though in many cases, these options will partially or completely overlap:
- In Action Games, Action RPGs, Metroidvanias, and related video game genres, the spores usually work as an Area of Effect Hazard Attack that cloyingly persists in midair for some time after the initial blast.
- In turn-based and Mon-based Role-Playing Games, Spore Attacks tend to either be poison-element attacks, status-altering moves, or a combination of the two, with a wide range of possible ailments or conditions.
- In more fantastical and whimsical depictions, the spores might summon mushrooms to serve as barricades or jump pads, or even spawn more Mushroom Mooks.
- In spookier and post-apocalyptic stories, Spore Attacks might be depicted as horrifying biohazards. They might spread a Festering Fungus like an infection, or act as the vector for a fungal variety of Parasite Zombies.
- In Science Fiction and Superhero media, a Spore Attack can work for almost any superpowered effect. The spores might serve as tiny Tracking Devices that allow the generator to instantly know the target's location, or they might function as sources of Mind Control, allowing a character to inflict Mass Hypnosis on an infected population. Spores also make for an excellent smokescreen to disorient a group of enemies or conceal a daring escape.
While the typical user of these attacks in fiction is a mushroom creature, plant creatures and characters occasionally get in on the fun by using non-fungal pollen in a similar way. In fantasy and Mon-based Role-Playing Games, the pollen variant might also be used by bee- or butterfly-themed insect creatures, implied to be a side effect of their floral forays.
There's an extremely light touch of Truth in Television here, as breathing in excessive amounts of fungal spores or pollen in poorly ventilated areas can potentially have adverse effects. However, these effects are mostly relegated to allergic reactions and/or aggravating pre-existing respiratory conditions; while nothing to trifle with, it's nothing remotely close to the full-on poison gas or toxic fumes associated with this trope.
May overlap with Deadly Gas, Knockout Gas, Mind Control, or The Paralyzer, depending on the effects of the spores; certain characters may have access to some or all of these functions and be able to switch between them, depending on the situation. May also overlap with a fungal version of a Poisonous Person and/or Green Thumb (as fungi tends to get lumped in with plants in pop culture). Sister trope to Petal Power, which features a similarly hazardous cloud but with a floral theme. See also Mushroom Man, for the most common wielder of this trope.
Indexes: Abnormal Ammo, Breathing Index, Fantastic Flora, Shroomy Tropes, Toxic Tropes, Tropes of Nature
Examples:
- Naruto: White Zetsu of the Akatsuki can plant special spores on his opponents, where they form into masses and absorb the target's chakra. He can also use these spores as Tracking Devices, which is how Obito kept tabs on Sasuke for quite some time.
- Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition: The Circle of Spores Druid is a sort of fungal Necromancer that can generate magical spores. They are surrounded at all times by an aura of poisonous spores that can attack enemies who draw too close, and they gain access to a fungal Animate Dead ability that allows them to raise a slain monster as an allied Parasite Zombie.
- Hollow Knight: The Shrumal Warriors of the Fungal Wastes leave a trail of corrosive, orange spores as they move. The trail hangs in midair for a moment, so simply jumping over the Shrumal Warrior to avoid its rolling attacks can still be dangerous if the player doesn't jump far enough away.
- Plants vs. Zombies: Spore Attacks are the trademark of many of the mushroom plant types, such as Puff-shrooms, Scaredy-shrooms, Fume-shrooms, and Gloom-shrooms. While the spores of Puff-shrooms and Scaredy-shrooms function more or less like normal pea bullets, the spores of Fume-shrooms and Gloom-shrooms function more like a noxious cloud, and will pass right through the shields of Screen Door Zombies and Ladder Zombies with no reduction in damage.
- Pokémon: Since the very beginning of the franchise, moves like Poison Powder, Sleep Powder, and Stun Spore have been a trademark of Bug, Grass, and Poison-type Pokémon for inflicting status conditions and making their opponents miserable. When later iterations of the series added Pokémon Contests, these attacks often net bonus appeal points if used in conjunction with moves like Hex, Smelling Salts, and/or Sweet Scent.
- Shovel Knight Dig: Spore Knight is a boss enemy and one of the Hexcavators, the treasure hunters in the employ of Drill Knight. She can toss her magic spores to summon mushrooms as an attack, or call down a rain of drifting spores.