One of the more mundane parts of Nethack is that you need to keep your character fed. There are eating conducts, which annoy the hell out of me so I won’t talk about them here. If you are a Monk, or otherwise want to be vegan or vegetarian, read the above link on the conduct and stock up and only eat those foods.
For the rest of you eating is very important, and unless you find a good crop of food (usually Food Rations) early you will need to do what you can to keep your player fed.
First up I’ll note that wearing rings or amulets, pushing boulders, casting spells, as well as a few other things have a hunger penalty. This is good to be mindful of for both making sure a hungry character doesn’t starve, but a character who has eaten plenty might soon be hungry again.
When you get hungry first your status will be changed to “Hungry” which is nothing more than a warning, then “Weak” where your character will lose strength temporarily, then “Fainting” where you will black out frequently, and if you aren’t killed in your helpless state by roving monsters, you will then starve to death.
On the flip side, overeating you will become satiated. Eat too much above this and you will choke to death. (Choking can be avoided by an amulet of magical breathing)
So outside of traditional food the most common thing to eat will be corpses of monsters you’ve killed. Most of these are considered meat so they will spoil vegan and vegetarian conducts. Caution must be used when eating corpses, they spoil quickly, and spoiled corpses can lead to food poisoning. Do not confuse food poisoning with ingesting poison. Poison damages you and has a chance of lowering your strength, and in the case of attacks, potions, or traps a chance of killing you instantly, food poisoning simply means you must cure your illness soon or die. So if you kill a monster you wish to eat, eat it quickly, put it in a tin, or put it in an ice box, or just let it rot. Undead creatures are already considered stale corpses, so if you desire to eat one of them you better do it within the next turn, or be prepared to stave off food poisoning. Tinning rotted corpses can also provide fresh meat.
Poisonous corpses will never instantly kill you, but they will still damage your hit points as well as your strength. Things like Kobolds, Yellow Molds, and killer bees are poisonous to eat. Most poison corpses have a chance of conveying poison resistance….tho not Kobolds, do not eat them until you have poison resistance. Kobold Zombies and Mummies should never be eaten, they’re just not worth it, and are the frequent death of many new players.
An easy way to learn if a corpse is generally safe to eat is to see if your pet cat or dog will eat it. Obviously you won’t be able to eat that corpse, but if you see your dog mow a dead jackal, you’ll know next time that jackals are safe to eat.
There are also corpses that will cause other unpleasant effects. Things like bats, will be quickly devoured by cats and dogs, but will cause you to be stunned, meaning you won’t be able to easily control which direction you move or do actions. Bats are for pets to eat! Yellow Molds and violet fungi are hallucinogenic. Much like ingesting real hallucinogens, it can be really fun and interesting, but also VERY dangerous as you will have difficulty keeping track of monsters in the dungeon, and may find yourself approached by a dangerous creatures without your knowledge, or find yourself killing your pets, or attacking shop keepers.
Eating Werecreature like wererats or werejackals will not only count as eating a human (Canibalism) but will also turn you into a werecreture yourself which is never a good thing. If you find a sprig or wolf’s bane, keep it handy in case you are bitten and turn into a were-form.
Things like Leprechauns, Tengu, and Nymphs will sometimes give you the message “You feel jumpy” this is Teleportitis, which means from now on you will randomly teleport from time-to-time. This is VERY annoying, and potentially deadly if you do not have teleport control either from a ring, or an item. Best to avoid eating these corpses until you have teleport control. Once you do, teleportisis is VERY useful, and I recommend seeking these creatures out. Also the tengu can also grant teleport control from eating it, but it can also give you teleportitis…so its best to avoid or tin their corpses until you have teleport control. If you get the message “You feel in control of yourself.” you can free up a ring finger for other tasks.
I could go on for ages about intrinsics from corpses and tins all day so I’ll leave that up for you, and might talk about them when relevant to other clinics. I will say the big killer is Giants, they ALWAYS give your a strength point or two when eaten…but they are huge so eating one when not hungry could be deadly. This is where rings of regeneration, rings of hunger, and spellcasting hunger penalties come in VERY handy. You can eat one giant, then cast spells like crazy (which will help you level up your casting ability) while wearing rings and amulets to quickly get you out of “Satiated” so you’ll be ready for your next meal, and bonus! Again you may also wear an amulet of magical breathing, where you can safely collect the bonus and puke up the excess corpse. Gross, but nethack ain’t pretty! 🙂
Things like tripe rations are solely there for feeding or taming pets. More on this in a future clinic.
Fortune Cookies, pancakes, candy bars, and fruits are good for snacks, and are also very useful for pets, they also are sold for cheap in shops.
Tins also sell for very cheap, and even without knowing the contents are VERY useful overall. If you have money BUY THEM, as they may contain monsters that grant intrinics. They also may contain spinach which will give strength bonuses like giant corpes, but also are VERY nutritious. Best to only eat unknown tins when hungry or weak to avoid choking. Still use caution as it may have werecretures, or humans, or hallucinogenic corpses, or creatures like cockatrices or chickatrices which will instantly turn you to stone.
Lembas is nice to keep handy as they give the same nutrition as food rations but are quarter of the weight.
If you find yourself weak with hunger, but have no food, #pray-ing will be your best salvation (more on dealing with your god on a later clinic).
So eat well, and eat safely, and happy ‘hacking!
re eating giants: You can also tin them. Tinned giant meat doesn’t fill you up nearly as much, but gives you the same strength boost as a whole giant.
Tinning kits are all kinds of awesome!
I get distracted by food – always trying to eat things that will give me intrinsics. Floating Eye corpses, invisible stalker corpses, acid blob corpses, giant corpses, royal jelly, etc. Ive only recently learned about praying – which works well assuming you arent in a bad location.
There is just sooo much to this game.
If you are still mulling over ideas for more nethack posts, how about a high level one – how likely are you to be able to ascend with any start? What makes any particular game click in your head as promising ? What tricks or exploits do you try and always use ?
I think I’ll be making a LOT of these posts for a while yet!