Dying

For other uses, see Dying (disambiguation).

When you reach zero hit points, you die. Your possessions get identified, and you lose all the progress you made in that game. There is also the possibility of leaving a bones file.

Death in NetHack is permanent, you cannot go to an older save file. Doing so artificially - savescumming - is considered cheating.

In addition to zero hit points, there are several alternate causes of death:

• Genocide
• Starvation
• Level drained to zero
• Intelligence lowered by mind flayer attack
• Teleporting to a negative level without levitation or a means of flight: "You plummet a few thousand feet to your death"
• Suffocation

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