Corpse

%
Name	foo corpse
Base price	5 zm
Nutrition	(depends on monster)
Turns to eat	(weight / 64) + 3
Weight	(depends on monster)
Conduct	(depends on monster)

A corpse is the body of a dead monster. It is a very common comestible. Some monsters never drop corpses, some monsters drop corpses occasionally, while others will always drop corpses except in special circumstances.

Even though all corpses are classified as comestibles, that does not imply that they should all be eaten. Some corpses are acidic, poisonous or hallucinogenic; some corpses will give you a property that you may not want; even worse, some corpses are deadly to eat. Normally, you should avoid those corpses unless you have the appropriate resistance or means of curing the condition that they cause. One way to learn which corpses to avoid is to watch which ones your pet eats; for example, a pet will never eat a poisonous corpse (unless the pet is poison resistant). However, there are exceptions to this rule; for example, domestic pets may eat corpses of cats, dogs, bats, violet fungi, leprechauns, nymphs, stalkers, tengu, and your race without adverse effects, and you do not want to eat those corpses unless you have a way of dealing with their negative effects.

Most corpses can be revived with a wand or spell of undead turning, and a few revive spontaneously.

Corpse generation odds

Most monsters do not always leave a corpse when they die. Monsters that normally would leave a corpse will never if killed by stoning, disintegration, or digestion. Corpseless monsters such as ghosts or yellow lights will never leave a corpse. Lizards and any monster that is larger than size Medium are guaranteed to leave a corpse when killed by normal means unless they were produced by cloning, and player monsters and the Riders will always leave a corpse; in particular, this means that trolls, whose corpses can be very annoying, will normally always leave a corpse. Golems are guaranteed to leave their special death drops (if applicable) when killed. As of 3.6.1, shopkeepers also always leave a corpse.

For all other monsters, there is a 1 in n chance that the monster will leave a corpse when killed, where n is generated as follows:

• n starts with a value of 2
• Add 1 if the monster is size Tiny
• Add 1 if the monster's generation frequency is "Very Rare", "Not randomly generated" or "Unique".

Monsters will never leave a corpse on the Rogue level. Undead on a graveyard level have 1/9 of the normal chance of leaving a corpse if killed by you, or 1/3 of the normal chance if killed by anything else, further reducing the above odds.

(In a similar vein, some monster types will get replaced when you bring them back to life, e. g. priest corpses become zombies.)

As of NetHack 3.6.0, monsters represented by P (gray ooze, brown and black pudding, green slime) leave globs instead of corpses. Globs can be eaten like corpses, but not sacrificed or revived. In earlier versions of NetHack, and variants based on earlier versions, these monsters leave corpses.

Special corpse behavior

• Lizard and acidic corpses cure stoning.
• Lizard and lichen corpses never rot away, and never cause food poisoning.
• Troll corpses (all T) come back to life 75% of the time.
• The Riders' corpses have a chance of coming back to life starting 12 turns after their "death".
• Acid blob corpses never cause food poisoning, they are safe (but damaging) to eat and are suitable for sacrifice until they rot away.

Aging

Corpses are generally most useful and safe when fresh, slowly rotting as the turns pass. In most cases, with increasing age corpses become unsuitable for sacrifice or for feeding your pet and become harmful, even deadly, for you to eat, until finally they rot away to nothing.

Corpses do not age while stored in an ice box, and age at only half the normal rate while lying on ice. A tinning kit is also handy for preserving corpses for later consumption, by converting them into tins.

Any corpse dug up from a grave will already be old, aged 100 turns. All mummies, zombies, vampires, and ghouls are undead — walking corpses already — so any corpse they leave will be the same age.

Your god regards a corpse as "fresh" up to a maximum age of 50 and will accept its sacrifice on an altar. If the corpse is too old, "Nothing happens." Even lizard and lichen corpses are subject to this limit, but acid blob corpses are an exception, suitable for sacrifice at any age.

Pets regard a corpse as "old" once its age reaches 50 turns. Most pets will refuse to eat old corpses, except for lizard and lichen corpses; however, ghouls eat old corpses exclusively.

When you yourself eat a corpse, the effect of age is more complex, as the corpse progresses through several degrees of rottenness:

• Lizard and lichen corpses are always safe for your consumption.
• For other corpses, rottenness is determined as age divided by random integer from 10 to 29, with a +2 bonus for being cursed or -2 for being blessed.
• If a rottenness is 6 or more, the corpse is considered "tainted" and will give you fatal food poisoning, expecting you to die in 10-19 steps. The corpse then rots completely, without any further effects (no nutrition or intrinsics conferred, no damage from poisonous corpses, etc.)
  • Acid blobs are never tainted.
  • Cockatrice, chickatrice, and medusa corpses are never tainted, unless you are petrification resistant. They petrify, not food poison, you.
  • If you eat a tainted corpse while being immune to sickness, you will not become sick, but the corpse still rots completely, conferring no nutrition, intrinsics, etc.
  • If you were sick already, and the new moment of death is later then the old moment of death, you bring forward your death by 1 move. For example, if you were expected to die from sickness in 5 moves, and ate a tainted corpse, you are now expected to die in 4 moves.
• Otherwise, if the rottenness is at least 4 ("old"), and you are not there, is a 20% chance that you "feel sick" and lose 1d8 HP.
  • If the rottenness is 6 or more but the corpse is not tainted, the chance is 100%.
  • You are completely protected from this damage if the corpse is poisonous, or you receive acidic damage from the corpse, or you are immune to sickness.
• In the absence of other negative effects, unless the corpse is a lizard or lichen, there is still a 1/7 chance of a corpse turning out to be rotten, in the same sense as non-corpse comestibles, with the associated consequences.
• Otherwise, you receive the full benefit of eating a fresh corpse.

All unrevived corpses except lizards and lichens eventually disintegrate, quietly disappearing from the game. This happens at an age of approximately 250 turns, with some random variation.

Poisonous and acidic corpses

Every corpse of a poisonuos monster has 4/5 chance of being poisonous. If you eat a poisonous corpse, while not poison resistant, you lose 1-4 points of strength and 1-15 hit points.

"Ecch - that must have been poisonous!" - you started to eat one. "You seem unaffected by the poison." - you started to eat one but are poison resistant.

Acidic monsters always leave acidic corpses. If you eat one, while not acid resistant, you lose 1-15 hit points.

"You have a very bad case of stomach acid." - you started to eat one while not being resistant.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, corpses sometimes get overgrown with molds. Knowing this fact, players may get extra resistances or lichen corpses. See Fungus.

Corpse benefits and dangers

Acidic and poisonous corpses do 1d15 points of damage. Old corpses sometimes do 1d8 damage. Corpses not said to have an effect in this article are neither beneficial nor harmful.

Gaining intrinsics

Most, though not all, corpse-eating effects are chances of gaining intrinsics. The chance of gaining an intrinsic from a intrinsic-providing corpse is based on the monster's base level and the amount of intrinsics it can provide. If a monster can provide multiple intrinsics, there is an equal chance of each being conferred, even if you already possess the intrinsic. Once one intrinsic is picked from the list, there is a level/15 chance that it will be conferred. Telepathy, teleportitis, and teleport control are exceptions; telepathy is guaranteed, teleportitis is level/10, and teleport control is level/12. Killer bee and scorpion corpses are also exceptions; their chance of conferring poison resistance is (level+5)/20.

Purely beneficial corpses and globs

The following corpses are purely beneficial, save for the few which are acidic.

• All elves confer sleep resistance.
  • Elf players suffer cannibalism from eating other elves, but don't need to being sleep resistant themselves.
• Wraith corpses provide a guaranteed level up (slightly different in SLASH'EM).
• All giants, titans, the Cyclops, and Lord Surtur provide an increase in strength.
  • Fire giants and Lord Sultur also confer fire resistance.
  • Frost giants also confer cold resistance.
  • Storm giants also confer shock resistance.
• Mind flayers and master mind flayers provide an increase in intelligence or confer telepathy.
• Floating eyes always confer telepathy.
• Blue, black, orange, red, and white dragons are all guaranteed to confer their associated resistance.
  • Gray, silver, and yellow dragons confer no intrinsics.
  • Green and chromatic dragons also confer intrinsics, but being poisonous do not belong to this section.
  • Baby dragons confer no intrinsics.
  • Ixoth confers fire resistance.
• All naga, except guardian naga, confer poison resistance. Red naga also confer fire resistance. Black naga are acidic.
  • Hatchling corpses have identical effects to their adult counterparts, but have a lower chance of doing so.
  • Guardian naga also confer poison resistance, but being poisonous do not belong in this section.
• All puddings confer cold, shock, and poison resistance, and are acidic.
  • Black puddings are not vegetarian, while brown puddings are but aren't vegan.
• Brown and red Molds confer poison resistance, cold resistance (brown), and fire resistance (red).
• Blue jellies confer poison and cold resistance.
• Gelatinous cubes confer fire, cold, sleep, and shock resistance, and are acidic.
• Gray oozes confer fire, cold, and poison resistance.
• Quivering blobs confer poison resistance.
• Electric eels confer shock resistance.
• Lizards cure stoning, lowers stun and confusion to two rounds, and don't rot.
• Unicorns confer poison resistance.
  • Killing unicorns of your own alignment massively lowers your Luck, but eating unicorns of the same alignment has no such effect.
• Cave spiders confer poison resistance.
  • Giant spiders also confer poison resistance, but being poisonous don't belong in this section.
• Centipedes confer poison resistance.
• Fire ants confer fire resistance.
• Pyrolisks confers fire and poison resistance.
• Flesh golems confers fire, cold, shock, sleep, and poison resistance.
• Hell hounds and their pups confer fire resistance.
• Ice trolls confer cold resistance.
• Winter wolves and their cubs confer cold resistance.
• Yetis confer cold resistance.
• Newts provide 1-3 energy, or increase maximum energy if already at max.
• Quasits confer poison resistance.
• Shriekers confer poison resistance.
• Tengu confer both teleportitis and teleport control, as well as poison resistance.

As a general rule, monsters with a fiery attack (red molds, red dragons, etc.) tend to confer fire resistance and monsters with a cold attack (brown molds, white dragons, etc.) tend to confer cold resistance.

Corpses that are both beneficial and harmful

This section lists corpses which both provide benefit beyond nutrition value, and are harmful beyong being acidic, or cause an effect which may be both beneficial and harmful.

The following corpses are poisonous but also confer poison resistance:

• green dragon (always confers)
• Chromatic Dragon (always confers one of: poison, sleep, fire, cold, shock, disintegration)
• cobra, pit viper, snake, and water moccasin (python neither poisons nor confers)
• giant beetle
• giant spider (cave spiders are not poisonous)
• scorpion and Scorpius (the latter always confers)
• gremlin
• guardian naga (hatchlings aren't poisonous)
• homunculus (also confers sleep resistance; only 7% chance for each)
• jellyfish
• killer bee and queen bee
• xan
• yellow mold (also causes hallucination; has only 7% chance of conferring poison resistance)
• Medusa (kills instantly by petrification; if stoning resistant, or saved by amulet of life saving, always confers poison resistance)

Some poisonous monsters are otherwise beneficial:

• quantum mechanic (always toggles Speed)
• salamander (confers fire resistance)

Finally, there are non-poisonous corpses which are good or bad:

• Eating a chameleon or doppelganger corpse will polymorph you. Doppelgangers are human, so beware of cannibalism.
• Eating a disenchanter corpse is generally bad. One of the following intrinsics is randomly selected: fire resistance, cold resistance, poison resistance, telepathy, invisibility, see invisible, speed, stealth, intrinsic protection, teleportitis, aggravate monsters. If you possess the chosen intrinsic, you lose it. Only 3 of these could be detrimental; teleportitis, aggravate monsters, and invisibility.
• Leprechauns and all nymphs confer teleportitis. Some players like it, especially if they already have teleport control.
• Master Kaen confers poison resistance, but being human (and Monks' Quest Nemesis), he's likely to trigger cannibalism.
• Nurses fully heal, and have a 73% chance of granting poison resistance. Nurses are human, so beware of cannibalism.
• Cockatrice and chickatrice corpses kill you instantly by petrification, but if you are resistant or saved by amulet of life saving, you may become poison resistant.
• Stalker corpses make you temporarily invisible for 50-149 turns. If you are already invisible, it will make you permanently invisible and grant see invisible. Eating one will also stun you for 60+ turns.
• Violet fungi cause hallucination for 200+ turns, but may confer poison resistance.
• Wizard of Yendor confers one of: fire resistance, poison resistance, teleport control, and teleportitis. He is a human, so beware of cannibalism.
• Giant zombies and mummies may increase your strength, but can cause food poisoning. Using a tinning kit will prevent the food poisoning, or cure the food poisoning after eating.
• Elf zombies and mummies may convey sleep resistance, but can cause food poisoning. See above for workarounds.

Corpses that are only harmful

The following corpses cause harm without any beneficial effect except nutrition:

• Eating corpses of your own race constitutes cannibalism. Unless an orc or caveman, you gain aggravate monster intrinsic, and lose 2-5 points of Luck. All @'s (except elves and werecreatures), all K's, and Doppelgangers are Humans. Other races are obvious.
  • Eating abbots also inflicts hallucination.
• Cats and dogs confer the aggravate monster intrinsic, unless an orc or caveman.
• The following are poisonous without beneficial effects: all kobolds, rabid rat, baby green dragon, vampire bat, and the worst, green slime globs, which are acidic and will sometimes slime.
• Bats and giant bats stun for 30+ and 60+ turns respectively.
• All mimics temporarily prevent movement.
• Eating Death, Famine, or Pestilence will kill you.
• All undead corpses can cause food poisoning.
  • Tinning undead corpses makes them safe to eat.
• Ettin corpses always cause food poisoning.

Acidic corpses and blobs

The following corpses and blobs are acidic without any other beneficial or harmful effects (nutrition value in parentheses):

• acid blob (10)
• yellow dragon (1500) and their babies (500)
• green mold (30)
• ochre jelly (20)

See also

• Death drops: items that sometimes appear when a monster leaves a corpse
• Glob: comestible left by some NetHack 3.6.0 monsters instead of a corpse

External links

• Eating Corpses for Food and Intrinsics - useful reference table of corpses, the intrinsics and effects they give when eaten, and other related information, for Nethack 3.4.3
• HiSPeed's NetHack Helper - contains, among other, the corpse attribute database from Eating Corpses for Food and Intrinsics in interactive form.

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It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.

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