Ring of slow digestion
A ring of slow digestion is a type of ring that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Wizards may have a ring of slow digestion as one of the two random rings in their starting inventory.[1]
Description
When worn, the ring confers the slow digestion property, which nullifies the ordinary consumption of one nutrition point per turn. Nutrition consumption from all other sources, including the ring hunger from the ring itself, is unaffected. Wearing two rings does not cause the effect to stack.
If a monster attempts to engulf and digest you while you are wearing this ring, you will be expelled immediately (i.e. the ring slows your digestion); wearing the ring while being digested will also cause that monster to spit you out. Metallivores and gelatinous cubes are incapable of consuming a ring of slow digestion, including you if you are in the form of one.[2][3]
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
White dragon scales and white dragon scale mail also provide slow digestion.Strategy
The ring of slow digestion is highly valued among most players, to the point of being worth a wish once all other parts of a standard kit are accounted for: A non-spellcasting character can go without being hungry twenty times longer than normal, while a character that casts regularly can do so without fear of emptying their stomach as quickly. For Wizards in particular, the ring of slow digestion a major boon to the point that many players consider start scumming until they begin a game with the ring. Players going for pacifist conduct and/or food-related conducts such as vegan or foodless will consider the ring a high-priority target, as will players engaging in any strategy that takes a long time, such as credit cloning or most forms of farming.
Wearing the ring prevents engulfing by purple worms and other digesting monsters, though if an attempt to digest you pulls you off a steed, that pet will be in danger of instadeath should the monster attack them next (unless they are too large to be eaten).
Identification
The ring of slow digestion is somewhat difficult to informally identify, as its effects are not obvious like some other 200zm rings; while you can identify a ring of slow digestion by its nutrition-cancelling property, the process is complicated slightly if you are extensively testing rings. Dropping it into a sink does not consume the ring, allowing you to reliably identify it and wear it immediately. The ring can also be formally identified by testing for it while inside a digesting monster, though this is much riskier.
One method to test a non-cursed ring for slow digestion involves watching your nutrition level crosses a visible threshold (i.e., the HUD no longer shows you as Satiated or you become hungry) - once it does so, put on the ring being tested and eat something that provides low nutrition, such as a fortune cookie. If you go a long time (e.g., as many as 800 turns for a fortune cookie) before crossing that threshold again, the ring is probably slow digestion.
Wearing multiple rings
Due to a bug, with two rings of slow digestion and good technique the player can go indefinitely long without losing any nutrition. The ring hunger for each hand is calculated on different turns - normally, this is counterproductive due to the higher nutrition consumption from multiple rings, since the effect does not stack; however, ring hunger for your left hand is calculated turn 4 (mod 20), while right hand hunger is calculated on turn 12 (mod 20). The idea is to wear both rings, but removing one of the rings for the turn that its hunger is calculated. There are no known ascensions that have made use of this trick alone to ascend with the foodless conduct intact.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
The dual ring of slow digestion trick no longer works, as ring hunger is now random.History
The ring of slow digestion first appears in NetHack 3.3.0.
Messages
- You get regurgitated! Obviously the <foo> didn't like your taste.
- You were engulfed by a digesting monster while wearing a ring of slow digestion.
- The ring is regurgitated!
- You dropped a ring of slow digestion into a sink. If unidentified, this will prompt you to name it.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, player vampires generally seek out a ring of slow digestion as soon as possible to avoid starvation.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, player vampires also seek out a ring of slow digestion as soon as possible, similar to SLASH'EM.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, the ring of slow digestion has no effect when worn by clockwork automatons and incantifiers; incantifiers can still drain the ring for energy as normal.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, monsters will wear the ring of slow digestion, which prevents them from being digested and instantly killed.
The ring is much more valuable as well, as dragons and shambling horrors are capable of digestion. Some of the stronger monsters in the game - such as Kas, Vecna and Kathryn the Ice Queen - are generated with a ring of slow digestion; some player monsters on the Astral Plane are also given the ring in order to weaken "purple rain" and other similar strategies for trivializing the level.
