Satiation is a simple concept in ADOM. Every turn your satiation level decreases slightly, and if it gets low enough you will eventually starve to death.
Increasing satiation[]
The main way of increasing your satiation level is by eating one of the plentiful types of food in ADOM. Other ways include reading a scroll of satiation, drinking almost any potion except potion of poison (especially potions of toughness or potential toughness), successfully 'a'pplying the Survival skill in the wilderness, praying to your deity, or wishing for "satiation" or "food".
If having difficulty collecting enough food, look at this page for some tips.
Decreasing satiation[]
Satiation naturally decreases with time. However, the rate at which satiation decreases depends on several things, including character type, some corruptions, and some worn items. Satiation rates are also affected by action type — movement is generally more costly than remaining stationary, particularly if the PC is encumbered, as shown in the table below.
| Effect | Satiation per turn if Stationary | Satiation per turn if Walking |
|---|---|---|
| None | 1 | 1 |
| Burdened | 1 | 1.5 |
| Strained | 2 | 2 |
| Strained! | 2 | 3 |
| Overburdened! | 3 | N/A |
- Trolls require an extra point of satiation per turn.
- The above effects are halved by being a Monk or level 12+ Farmer, so while an overburdened trollish Wizard would use 4 units of satiation per turn, an overburdened trollish Monk would only use 2.
- Mist elves require 0.5 fewer points of satiation per turn. This does not stack with the Monk or Farmer reductions.
- There is a 3 point satiation penalty for each item that grants invisibility. The spell and intrinsic invisibility are unaffected.
- There is a 1 point satiation penalty per two equipped artifacts. For crowned characters this is reduced to a 1 point satiation penalty per four equipped artifacts.
- There is a 15 point penalty for moving in the wilderness, which is doubled for trolls.
Certain food, such as corpses that cause vomiting, decreases satiation when eaten instead of increasing it. Stomacemptia is particularly notable for decreasing satiation dramatically; a cursed stomacemptia is basically guaranteed to bring the PC to starving status.
The acid spitting ability available to drakelings and those with sulphuric breath is a ranged attack with a cost of satiation.
Drinking too many potions may leave your character bloated for many turns, making traveling through dungeons more dangerous, and will also prevent you from eating corpses needed to raise stats. This can be rectified by traveling across the world map since it decreases satiation faster than traveling through a dungeon.
Satiation levels[]
At certain satiation values, different things are displayed on the status bar at the bottom of the screen.
| Value | Message displayed | Effects |
|---|---|---|
| 2501+ | Bloated | -10 Speed; cannot eat. |
| 1501...2500 | Satiated | -5 Speed |
| 250...1500 | ||
| -50...249 | Hungry | |
| -300...-51 | Hungry! | Total Strength, Learning, Willpower, and Dexterity are decreased by 14-50%. |
| -301 or below | Starving | Total Strength, Learning, Willpower, and Dexterity are decreased by 50%. Strength is lowered an additional 2 points. |
No food can be eaten while bloated, although potions can still be drunk and scrolls of satiation can still be read.
The exact turn of death seems to be when satiation value drops below -300-(Toughness *8) (14 instead of 8 for Farmers), with minor variations at some levels. In short, this means that for every point of Toughness the character has, their satiation can go 8 points lower below Starving status. Thus higher Toughness equals more time to find food to reduce starvation.
It has been proved possible for Satiation to overflow from Bloated to Starved by reading approximately 1.07 million blessed scrolls of satiation - 2.1 billion points of satiation. At this point, the player will die. So, take care not to read 1.07 million blessed scrolls of satiation, if at all possible.