You feel

There are several messages starting with "You feel" that are associated with various features and attributes of NetHack. These messages are generated by means of the text output function You_feel in pline.c. If any of the events that a message is associated with occur while you are unconscious (usually when sleeping), the message will instead start with "You dream that you feel".

Intrinsic and extrinsic feelings

The following messages are associated with intrinsics and extrinsics.

Aggravate monster

You feel that eating <creature> was a bad idea.

You gained the intrinsic permanently by eating a cat or dog, unless you are an orc or Caveman.

You feel less attractive.

You lost the intrinsic due to a gremlin attacking you at night.

Disintegration resistance

You feel very firm.

You gained disintegration resistance from eating an appropriate corpse, e.g. that of a black dragon.

You feel totally together, man.

As above, while hallucinating.

Warning

You feel sensitive!

You gained the warning intrinsic after reaching the appropriate experience level (i.e. XL 7 as a Monk, or XL 15 as a Caveman, Healer, Priest, or Wizard).

You feel less sensitive!

You lost the intrinsic due to level drain.

Poison resistance

You feel healthy.

You acquired poison resistance from reaching XL 3 as a Monk, or from eating an appropriate corpse (e.g. quasit, killer bee); the former will add an exclamation point.

You feel especially healthy.

As above, but you had extrinsic poison resistance from another worn object.

You feel hardy!

You reached XL 20 as a Tourist.

You feel a little sick!

You lost the intrinsic due to level drain or a gremlin attack.

Fire resistance

You feel a momentary chill.

You gained the fire resistance intrinsic from eating an appropriate corpse (e.g. fire giant).

You be chillin'.

As above, while hallucinating.

You feel cool!

You gained the intrinsic by reaching XL 11 as a Monk, or XL 20 as a Priest.

You feel warmer.

You lost the intrinsic due a to a gremlin attack, eating a disenchanter corpse, or level drain (which adds an exclamation point).

You don't feel hot!

You were hit by a ray of fire (e.g. hell hound, wand of fire) with fire resistance.

The fire doesn't feel hot!

You were hit by a monster's fire-element melee attack (e.g. fire ant) with fire resistance.

You feel rather warm.

You zapped yourself with a ray from a wand of fire or fire horn with fire resistance.

You feel mildly warm.

You were hit with a passive fire attack (e.g. red mold) with fire resistance.

You feel mildly hot.

A monster engulfing you tried to do fire damage (e.g. steam vortex), but you have fire resistance.

You're enveloped in flames. But you resist the effects.

You were hit by a monster's fire spell while having fire resistance. The AD_FIRE monster spell type is deferred in vanilla NetHack, making this message impossible to see normally; you may see it in SLASH'EM as the result of fire vampires using the spell.

It seems quite tasty.

You quaffed from a sink and got scalding hot water, but you have fire resistance.

You are hit by molten lava.

A nearby boulder falling into lava splashes it on you, but you have fire resistance. Without resistance, this message has an exclamation mark instead.

Oh look, what a pretty fire in your <hands>.

You read a scroll of fire while confused, and you have fire resistance.

You feel a pleasant warmth in your <hands>.

As above while blind.

You aren't hurt!

Something in your inventory being destroyed (e.g. wand destroyed by lightning) does fire damage, but you have fire resistance.

Cold resistance

You feel full of hot air.

You gained the cold resistance intrinsic from eating an appropriate corpse (e.g. winter wolf, yeti).

You feel warm!

You gained the intrinsic by reaching XL 13 as a Monk.

You feel cooler.

You lost the intrinsic to a gremlin attack or level drain; the latter will add an exclamation point.

You don't feel cold.

You were hit by a ray of cold (e.g. winter wolf, wand of cold) with cold resistance.

The frost doesn't seem cold!

You were hit by a monster's cold-element melee attack (e.g. the touch attack of liches) with cold resistance.

You feel a little chill.

You zapped yourself with a ray of cold with cold resistance.

You feel a mild chill.

You were hit by a passive cold attack (e.g. blue jelly) with cold resistance.

You feel mildly chilly.

A monster engulfing you dealt cold damage (i.e. ice vortex), but you have cold resistance.

You're covered in frost. But you resist the effects.

You were hit by a monster's cold spell (i.e. Asmodeus) with cold resistance.

Sleep resistance

You feel wide awake.

You gained the sleep resistance intrinsic from eating the appropriate corpse (e.g. any kind of elf).

You feel awake!

You gained the intrinsic by reaching XL 4 as an elf.

You feel tired!

You lost the intrinsic due to level drain or a gremlin attack; this is not to be confused with the same message from a magic trap.

Shock resistance

Your health currently feels amplified!

You gained the shock resistance intrinsic from eating an appropriate corpse (e.g. electric eel, storm giant).

You feel grounded in reality.

As above while hallucinating.

You feel insulated!

You gained the intrinsic by reaching XL 15 as a Monk.

You feel conductive!

You lost the intrinsic due to a gremlin attack or level drain.

You feel a mild tingle.

You were hit by shock damage from a passive attack or engulfing monster (e.g. energy vortex) with shock resistance.

Invisible

You feel hidden!

You permanently gained the invisibility and see invisible intrinsics by eating a stalker corpse while already (temporarily) invisible.

You feel rather itchy under your mummy wrapping.

You attempted to become invisible while wearing a mummy wrapping.

See invisible

You see an image of someone stalking you. But it disappears.

You gained the see invisible intrinsic by quaffing from a fountain. Wisdom is exercised.

You feel very self-conscious. But it passes.

As above while blind.

You feel transparent.

As above while blind and also invisible.

Your vision becomes clear!

You gained the intrinsic from sitting on a throne.

You thought you saw something!

You lost the intrinsic to a gremlin attack.

You tawt you taw a puttie tat!

As above while hallucinating.

Protection

You feel vulnerable.

You lost intrinsic protection to a gremlin attack.

Searching

You feel perceptive!

You gained automatic searching from reaching XL 9 as a Monk, or XL 10 as an Archaeologist, Rogue, or Tourist.

Speed

You feel quick!

You gained intrinsic speed by reaching XL 7 as a Barbarian, Caveman, Knight, or Valkyrie.

Your quickness feels more natural.

You gained intrinsic speed from a wand of speed monster while wearing speed boots.

You feel slow!

You lost intrinsic speed as a result of level drain.

Teleportitis

You feel very jumpy.

You gained the teleportitis intrinsic from eating an appropriate corpse (e.g. any nymph).

You feel diffuse.

As above while halluncinating.

You feel less jumpy.

You lost the intrinsic due to a gremlin attack.

Teleport control

You feel controlled!

You gained intrinsic teleport control by reaching XL 17 as a Wizard or Monk.

You feel uncontrolled!

You lost the intrinsic through level drain.

You feel in control of yourself.

You gained the teleport control intrinsic from eating an appropriate corpse (e.g. tengu).

You feel centered in your personal space.

As above while hallucinating.

Telepathy

You feel a strange mental acuity.

You gained intrinsic telepathy from eating an appropriate corpse (e.g. floating eye).

You feel in touch with the cosmos.

As above while hallucinating.

Character properties

The following are associated with attributes and player traits.

Character stats

Strength

You feel <very> strong!

You gained one or more points of strength, e.g. from exercise, a potion of gain ability or eating a fresh giant corpse.

You feel <very> weak!

You lost one or more points of strength, e.g. as a result of abuse or sitting on a throne.

You suddenly feel weaker!

You were hit by the drain strength monster spell and lost strength. This is still displayed even if the stat loss is blocked through a ring of sustain ability.

You feel momentarily weakened.

As above, but you have magic resistance and are completely unaffected.

You feel weaker.

You lost one or more points of strength from quaffing a non-blessed potion of sickness.

Dexterity

You feel <very> agile!

You gained one or more points of dexterity, e.g. through exercise or a potion of gain ability.

You feel <very> clumsy!

You lost one or more points of dexterity, e.g. as a result of abuse or sitting on a throne.

Constitution

You feel <very> tough!

You gained one or more points of constitution, e.g. through exercise or a potion of gain ability.

You feel <very> fragile!

You lost one or more points of constitution, e.g. as a result of abuse or sitting on a throne.

You feel very sick.

You lost one or more points of constitution from quaffing a non-blessed potion of sickness.

Intelligence

You feel <very> smart!

You gained one or more points of intelligence, e.g. through exercise or a potion of gain ability.

You feel <very> stupid!

You lost one or more points of intelligence, e.g. as a result of abuse, mind flayer attack, or sitting on a throne.

You feel like a scarecrow.

You died of brainlessness from a brain-eating attack landing while your intelligence is 3 in explore or wizard mode, but chose not to die. This sets your intelligence to 5, minus up to 2 points from the successful brain-eating attack that would have killed you.

Wisdom

You feel <very> wise!

You gained one or more points of wisdom, e.g. through exercise or a potion of gain ability.

You feel <very> foolish!

You lost one or more points of wisdom, e.g. as a result of abuse or sitting on a throne.

Charisma

You feel <very> charismatic!

You gained one or more points of charisma, e.g. through exercise or a potion of gain ability.

You feel <very> repulsive!

You lost one or more points of charisma, e.g. as a result of abuse or sitting on a throne.

Skill

You feel more confident in your weapon skills.

You practiced a weapon skill enough, and can now enhance it.

You feel more confident in your spell casting skills.

You practiced a spell-casting skill enough, and can now enhance it.

You feel more confident in your fighting skills

You practiced a combat skill enough, and can now enhance it.

You feel more confident in your skills.

You gained a skill slot by gaining a level, and can now enhance a sufficiently practiced skill.

You feel you could be more dangerous!

After enhancing a skill, you can enhance it or skills further.

Statuses

Amnesia

You feel like you've been here before.

You entered a part of the dungeon that you have forgotten due to a scroll of amnesia or a successful brain-eating attack.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

This message may also occur when you enter a level where you left bones.

Confusion

You feel somewhat dizzy.

You were hit and confused by a thrown potion of confusion or potion of booze.

You feel confused.

You were confused from reading a cursed scroll of confuse monster, or read any such scroll while polymorphed into any non-​@, confusing your monster form).

You feel rather light headed.

You were confused as a result of rotten food.

You feel rather trippy.

As above while hallucinating.

You feel less confused now.

You are no longer confused.

You feel less trippy now.

As above while hallucinating.

Lycanthropy

You feel feverish.

You have contracted lycanthropy from a werecreature.

You feel purified.

You have been cured of lycanthropy.

Sickness

You feel deathly sick.

You have contracted sickness from food poisoning or a source of illness.

You feel sick.

You narrowly avoided sickness from food poisoning, and lost 1d8 hit points.

You feel even worse.
You feel much worse.

You were hit by a disease attack or contracted illness by other means when already sick, reducing your 'time to live' counter to half of its old value.

You feel somewhat better.

You cured food poisoning by vomiting, but are still suffering from illness. Your 'time to live' counter is doubled.

You are feeling mildly nauseated.

You developed nausea from eating a cursed tin, a rotten egg, a tripe ration (unless you are an orc or Caveman), or a clove of garlic while polymorphed into an undead form. This message prints when you have 14 turns of nausea timeout left.

You feel slightly confused.

As above, but with 11 turns left; you only actually become confused for 2d4 (more) turns when the timeout reaches 8, then 6.

You feel much less nauseated now.

You are no longer nauseated, e.g. after curing yourself with a unicorn horn.

Stoning

You feel limber!

You were cured of stoning, e.g. by eating a lizard corpse.

Stunned

You feel a bit steadier now.

You recovered from being stunned.

You feel less wobbly now.

As above while hallucinating.

Conducts and alignment

You feel like a hypocrite.

You attacked while over an Elbereth engraving. This only occurs as of NetHack 3.6.0; it carries a -5 alignment penalty and makes the engraving disappear.

You feel like an evil coward for using a poisoned weapon.

You hit with a poisoned weapon as a lawful character, which carries an -1 alignment penalty.

You feel like a despicable grave-robber!

As a lawful Archaeologist, you dug up a grave.

You feel guilty about damaging such a historic statue.

As an Archaeologist, you broke a historic statue.

You feel like a glutton!

As a Knight, you ate while satiated, incurring a -1 alignment penalty for violating the code of conduct.

You feel like a common thief.

As a Knight, you dug down while in a shop, and the shopkeeper was still alive.

Altars and sacrifice

You feel partially absolved.

You sacrificed a corpse at a co-aligned altar while your alignment was negative, increasing it up to a maximum of zero depending on the corpse.

You feel appropriately <your alignment>.

You sacrificed a cross-aligned unicorn at a co-aligned altar.

You feel you are thoroughly on the right path.

As above, but your alignment was at maximum.

You feel an urge to return to the surface.

You offered the Amulet of Yendor or its cheap plastic imitation on a co-aligned non-high altar.

You feel ashamed.

As above, but the altar was cross-aligned.

You feel homesick.

You were hallucinating in either of the above cases.

Unluckily, you feel the power of <your god> decrease.

You sacrificed a corpse at a cross-aligned non-high altar, but the altar was not converted; this abuses your wisdom and you lose a point of Luck.

You feel the power of <your god> increase.

As above, but you successfully converted the altar to your alignment.

Prayer

You feel in good health again.

You prayed successfully and restored one or more attributes that had been lowered.

Other properties

You feel self-knowledgeable.

You were enlightened, e.g. by using a wand or potion of enlightenment.

Dungeon features

The following are associated with dungeon featuress.

Traps

Anti-magic traps

You feel your magical energy drain away.

You stepped on an anti-magic trap and your energy was drained.

You feel momentarily lethargic.

As above, but your maximum energy was already 0.

You feel sluggish.

You stepped on an anti-magic trap, but had magic resistance and instead took damage that was less than ¹⁄₄ of your HP.

You feel very lethargic.

As above, but the resulting damage was at least ¹⁄₄ of your HP.

You feel unbearably torpid!

As above, but you were killed by the implosion from HP loss.

Magic traps

You feel rankled.

You triggered a magic trap and it created monsters around you after blinding and deafening you, but you were already deaf beforehand; the deafness is extended for 1d5 + 15 more turns.

You feel tired.

This is one of six "odd feeling" results from stepping on a magic trap, all of which produce different messages with no effect. It is distinct from the message given for losing sleep resistance (see "Intrinsic and extrinsic feelings" above).

You feel [oddly] like the prodigal son.

"Yearning for your homeland" is another "odd feeling", and you got it while already on the home level of your quest. Female characters feel "oddly".

You feel charismatic!

You stepped on a magic trap and gained a point of charisma. All adjacent tameable monsters are tamed, and non-tameable monsters are made peaceful; this ignores monster MR.

Polymorph traps

You feel momentarily different.

You stepped on a polymorph trap, but had magic resistance or were wearing an amulet of unchanging.

Doors, walls and corridors

You feel a draft.

A monster has tunneled through a secret corridor, or a secret door was detected on the Rogue level.

You feel like <enlisting/marching/protesting/fleeing>.

As above while hallucinating.

You feel an unexpected draft.

A monster has broken through a door.

You feel like you are 1-A/4-F.

As above while hallucinating.

You feel more claustrophobic than before!

You were in a shop while the shopkeeper magically repaired the wall, but you were blind.

Fountains

You feel a sudden chill.

One possible "no effect" message of dipping into a fountain.

You feel the presence of evil.

You summoned a water demon by quaffing from or dipping into a fountain while blind.

Sitting on thrones

In addition to the attribute loss messages and other previously mentioned throne messages, the following may also occur:

You feel a strange sensation.

You would have lost your money, but your wallet had no gold.

You feel much, much better!

Your HP is fully restored, which may also increase your maximum HP; this cures blinding, sickness and wounded legs.

You feel your luck is changing.

You gain a point of Luck; if your natural Luck is high enough, this effect is replaced with a wish.

You feel somehow out of place...

No effect.

You feel very comfortable here.

As above, but you are polymorphed into a queen bee, gnome king, dwarf king, ogre king or Elvenking.

Items

The following are associated with item usage.

Armor

You feel like sitting in a corner.

You put on a dunce cap, and your intelligence was greater than or equal to 6; the cap autocurses, fixes your intelligence and wisdom at 6, and prevents any changes to them. Removing the cap will restore those stat to their original values.

You feel giddy.

As above, but your intelligence was less than 6.

Potions

You feel completely healed.

You quaffed a potion of full healing.

You feel lackluster.

You quaffed a cursed potion of gain energy.

You feel lonely.

You quaffed a blessed potion of monster detection, but there were no other monsters on the level.

You feel a lack of something.

You quaffed a potion of object detection, and remembered objects that were on the map are now gone.

You feel a little strange.

You quaffed a potion of polymorph.

You feel a little normal.

As above, while hallucinating.

You feel rather tired.

You inhaled vapors from a potion of sleeping.

Potion of water

You feel full of awe.

You drank holy water and you were not polymorphed into a major demon or undead monster.

You feel quite proud of yourself.

You drank unholy water while chaotic, a demon, or undead.

You feel full of dread.

As above, but you were of a different alignment and not polymorphed into a demon or undead.

Scrolls

You feel charged up!

You read a non-cursed scroll of charging while confused.

You feel discharged

As above, but the scroll was cursed.

You have a feeling of loss.

You attempted to charge an non-chargeable item.

You feel very greedy.

You read a cursed scroll of gold detection, and there are traps on the level.

Tools

You feel rushing air tickle your nose.

You applied a tin whistle while deaf.

Wands

You feel vibrations.

A beam-type wand was zapped, but it was blocked by a door while out of your sight.

Other magical effects

Aggravate monsters

Note that this is different from the actual "aggravate monster" intrinsic; see that article for more details.

You feel that monsters are aware of your presence.

You quaffed a cursed potion of invisibility, or a nearby monster has cast the aggravate monster spell. This wakes up all sleeping monsters on the level, and there is a one-fifth chance that paralyzed monsters are unparalyzed. The Wizard of Yendor may also invoke this effect as a means of remote harassment.

You feel aggravated at the invisible <monster>.

A monster drank a cursed potion of invisibility; this will reveal its location to you.

Conflict

You feel like a rabble-rouser.

You invoked the Sceptre of Might and are now causing conflict.

You feel the tension decrease around you.

You invoked the Sceptre of Might (or it left your main inventory), and you are no longer causing conflict.

You feel a surge of power, but nothing happens.

You invoked the Sceptre, but you were already causing conflict by other means, e.g. a ring of conflict.

Curses

You feel like someone is helping you.

The phrase occurs with many instances of curse removal - this includes reading any scroll of remove curse, casting the spell of remove curse, and stepping on a magic trap and getting the remove curse effect, which is the same as an uncursed scroll. This applies even if no items were cursed.

You feel like you need some help.

You read a noncursed scroll of remove curse while confused.

You feel as if you need some help.

A monster has used the curse items spell against you, and attempted to curse something in your inventory.

You feel a malignant aura surround you.

The spell cursed at least one random item in your inventory.

You feel a malignant aura surround the magic-absorbing blade.

As above, but Magicbane caught and absorbed the curse; it will resist with a ¹⁹⁄₂₀ chance.

Genocide

You feel dead inside.

You genocided your original race or role while polymorphed into another form.

Healing

You feel better.

You quaffed a potion of healing or cast the healing spell at yourself.

You feel much better.

You quaffed a potion of extra healing, cast the extra healing spell at yourself, or had HP restored from prayer.

Phasing

You feel much slimmer.

As a result of prayer, you temporarily gained the ability to pass through walls. This happens if you were stuck in a wall, but there was no safe place to teleport you to.

You feel hemmed in again.

Your temporary phasing power wore off, and you are still stuck in a wall.

Polymorphing

You feel a change coming over you.

You are polymorphing as a result of eating a chameleon or doppelganger corpse, or stepping on a polymorph trap.

You feel rather <monster>-ish.

You tried to polymorph into a monster form that has been genocided.

You feel like a new <race>!

You polymorphed into your own race.

You feel like a new <monster>!

You polymorphed into a monster while already being that monster; this is treated as returning to your normal form, then immediately resuming your previous form.

You feel shuddering vibrations.

You polymorphed a pile of items (armor, corpses, gold and/or scrolls) with a wand or spell of polymorph.

Teleporting

You feel a wrenching sensation.

You stepped on a teleport trap or level teleport trap trap while magic resistant, sat on a throne and got the teleportation effect, or else failure to read a spellbook caused a teleportation effect.

You feel disoriented for a moment.

An attempt to teleport or branchport failed for some reason, e.g. interference from the Amulet of Yendor.

Monsters

The following messages are associated with various types of monsters.

Pets

You feel worried about <your <pet>>.

Your pet's nutrition is low enough that it is starving, and the pet is out of your sight; a starving pet becomes confused from hunger, its maximum HP is temporarily reduced to 1/4 of its current value, and it will die in 250 turns unless fed, which restores its maximum HP (but not its current HP) to normal.

You feel sad for a moment.

Your pet starved to death while out of your sight.

You feel guilty losing your pet like this.

You displaced your pet into a trap, killing it; this incurs a -15 alignment penalty and angers your god.

Foocubus encounters

You feel good enough to do it again.

You gained a point of constitution, also exercising constitution.

You feel restored to health.

You were healed to maximum HP, and strength is exercised.

You feel raised to your full potential.

You were restored to maximum energy, and your maximum energy was also increased by 1-5 points; constitution is exercised.

You feel exhausted.

You take 10-16 hit points of damage, and strength is abused.

You feel drained of energy.

Your maximum energy is decreased by 1-10 points, and your energy is set to zero; constitution is abused.

You feel out of shape.

You lose an experience level, unless you have drain resistance.

Werecreatures

You feel hemmed in!

A werecreature called for help while you were blind or already surrounded by monsters, and one or more of them spawned out of your sight.

The Wizard of Yendor

You feel vaguely nervous.

The Wizard of Yendor did not harass you during an eligible turn.

Corpses

You feel a mild buzz.

You gained energy or increased your maximum energy by eating a newt corpse.

You feel squirming in your backpack!

A troll revived from its corpse while it was in your inventory.

Other phrases with multiple sources

You feel threatened.

You failed to read a spellbook and woke up all sleeping monsters on the level, unparalyzing paralyzed monsters; sat on a throne and produced the aggravate monster effect; quaffed a non-blessed potion of monster detection when there were no other monsters on the level; or quaffed from a fountain and would have been shown monsters on the level, but there were none.

You feel guilty.

You ate non-vegetarian food as a Monk and incurred a -1 alignment penalty, killed a co-aligned unicorn and suffered a -5 Luck penalty, or else read a blessed scroll of punishment (which has no effect).

Miscellaneous

You feel besieged.

You are hemmed in by monsters during the Endgame.

Variants

SLASH'EM

You feel a strange sense of loss.

You were hit by a wand of cancellation and one or more of your items were cancelled.

References

This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.

It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.4. Information on this page may be out of date.

Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-364}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.