Chunk
Chunks are edible pieces of meat, more specifically carved from freshly slain corpses using the butcher (c) command. The number of chunks a corpse provides is somewhat random, but larger monsters generally provide more chunks. Most species can eat chunks only when hungry, carnivorous species can eat more often, and some species cannot eat meat at all (spriggans, which are completely herbivorous, vampires, which subsist solely on blood, and mummies, which are completely incapable of eating).
Some monsters leave "clean" meat that has no ill effects, but these are far more common in the early game than later on. Meat from creatures later on can be contaminated, poisonous, rot-inducing, mutagenic, or any combination of these. Regardless of type, chunks eventually begin to rot, which prevents most characters from eating them. Rotten chunks will eventually rot away completely.
Tips & Tricks
- Chunks are the main food source of most characters. Ghastly as it may be, taking advantage of them will allow you to stretch out your permafood and avoid starvation more easily.
- Contaminated chunks may cause Nausea, which prevents eating any kind of food unless Near Starving or Starving. The risk from contaminated chunks is greatly reduced for species with levels in Saprovore (trolls, ogres, hill orcs, kobolds), and eliminated entirely at Saprovore 3 (ghouls). Saprovore also enables the consumption of rotting chunks with an increased risk of nausea (though ghouls are a special case and will actually benefit from eating rotten meat).
- The Carnivore mutation or wearing an amulet of the gourmand will allow you to eat chunks even when not hungry and gain more nutrition from them. Note that ghouls, felids, and kobolds are all carnivorous, making these species easier for players who are having trouble keeping other species well-fed. Trolls, meanwhile, start with the gourmand trait as an intrinsic. Spriggans, being herbivorous, gain no benefit from the amulet.
- Remember that eating chunks from your own species is cannibalism, which is forbidden by certain gods. Zin forbids eating highly intelligent creatures (i.e. humanoids, player races, etc.) altogether.
- If your current weapon isn't sharp, the "cut" command will automatically switch you to an emergency knife for the duration of the butchery. (Prior to 0.9, this knife was not present, requiring characters to always carry an edged weapon.) Note that this does not work if your current weapon is cursed, which prevents you from unwielding it, or if your weapon has the distortion brand, which makes unwielding it extremely risky.
- Certain mutations allow characters to butcher corpses even if their weapon would prevent them from doing so -- Fangs 3, any rank of Claws, or the combination of a Beak and Talons will all work for this. Ghouls and trolls start with claws, felids and vampires start with fangs (though vampires cannot consume the chunks they butcher), and tengu start with talons and a beak.
- Certain spells and effects can directly generate chunks without the need of any sharp object, implicit or otherwise. Most useful is Animate Skeleton, which is very easy to cast and leaves chunks from any zombifiable monster with a skeleton, i.e. most living, corpse-leaving monsters other than ugly things and insects. Other effects that can leave chunks include the beam from a wand of disintegration, the high-level Conjurations spell Orb of Destruction, and the aftereffects of Inner Flame.
