Stat zero
- "Brainless" redirects here. If you were looking for the monster intelligence category, see Category:Brainless intelligence.
When one of a character's primary attributes (strength, intelligence, or dexterity) is lowered to 0 or below, the character suffers crippling penalties until that attribute is raised above 0 again.
Contents
Effects
The following effects occur when any stat reaches 0:
- You immediately suffer 2-4 turns of paralysis, which ignores a Formicid's stasis.
- You are slowed until the stat completely recovers.
To remove the negative effects, you must increase your stats above 0 for a period of time equal to: 10 + 1d10 + the number of turns it was below 0 (Max: 200 turns).
The following effects are dependent on the specific stat which was drained to 0:
Collapse (Strength)
- You do not regenerate HP when monsters are in sight.
Brainless (Intelligence)
Clumsy (Dexterity)
- Your base EV score is set to
2 + size_bonus. - Your SH score is set to 0.
- Your stealth score is set to 0.
- You can't stab monsters.
Causes
The following sources of stat drain can all temporarily lower your attributes (Str, Int, Dex):
By 1 at a time:
- The Deterioration mutation.
- The melee attacks of certain monsters:
- 5
Quasit (dexterity only) - y
Ghost moth - W
Eidolon - &
Pandemonium lord (very rarely) - Note that these enemies may have faster speeds or multiple stat draining attacks, which can result in losing stats multiple times per turn.
- 5
- Decomposition from attempted mutation of an undead character.
By more than 1 at a time:
- Corrupting Pulse can give transient (temporary) mutations, which can include Reduced Attributes (-2 stat). This is technically not stat drain, but functions nearly identically (temporary stat loss that is cured through XP gain)
- Hell's mystical force can drain up to 5 stat points when you descend down a stair, and can also give transient mutations.
- Mummy death curses drain from 1-4 of a random stat.
- Quaffing an unidentified potion of degeneration drains 1-3 of each stat.
- Throw Klown Pie can drain 1-3 of each stat.
- Stepping on or being in view of a monster stepping on Zot traps, which could drain 1-5 stat points.
As you gain experience, you regain stats lost through temporary drain or mutation.
Stats can be more permanently lowered by the following means:
- Mutations (such as from Malmutate) which affect attributes. This lasts until the mutation is removed somehow.
- Equipment with negative stat modifiers. But, you can remove the equipment to restore the stat.
Precautions
Any character with a particularly low attribute should be aware of the dangers involved. Any attribute below 6 could conceivably be reduced to 0 by a single unfortunate effect, and below 11 are vulnerable to stat zero from repeated effects.
Specifically, Hell effects can reduce an attribute by up to 5 in a single go, while Zot traps, and mummy death curses reduce up to 4. You may wish to bring all of your attributes up to a minimum of 9 to guarantee that you can survive two worst-case scenario effects from the latter. All three happen reasonably late in the game, so early level ups should not take stat zero into account (unless you find a great stat-reducing artefact).
Outside of the extended game, stat zero only realistically happens to the extreme end of combinations, such as a Minotaur Berserker or Deep Elf Conjurer. A human, for example, is normally much less vulnerable to its effects.
History
- In 0.33, stat drain will be removed. All stat zero effects will be replaced with just permaslow.
- Prior to 0.28, zero intelligence only had an 80% chance to fail reading scrolls. Zero strength's -Regen was a flat regen/4 modifier.
- Prior to 0.19, sustain attributes existed which would halve stat damage. Hence, multi-point stat damage was roughly halved in 0.19.
- Prior to 0.17, taking further stat damage after a stat reached 0 would inflict HP damage.
- Prior to 0.15, items had mass, and strength determined your carrying capacity. Collapse seriously reduced this.
- Stat zero was added in 0.13, replacing stat death.
