Health

Health is a very important hidden stat describing your character's overall well-being and body wellness. In general you want to be as healthy as possible, as health influences other mechanics, primarily healing. Healing rate scales up or down, depending on the current value of your health stat.

Default value: 0 | Min value: -200 | Max value: 200

How do I know if I'm healthy?

• Health is a hidden stat, so in normal circumstances you cannot learn its value directly.
• However, after sleeping you get an in-character reference to how you are feeling, hinting at your health value.
• The Self-Aware mutation or trait lets you see your current health level (use the [ mutations menu).

Inner mechanics

Internally health is handled as two different variables: health and health modifier. Most effects change the modifier, which is capped at -200 and 200. Modifier slowly influences actual health, tending towards its value, but at the same time it decays, so both values seek new equilibrium.

The actual health value is used for effects of health. Modifier doesn't directly influence any value other than health.

As a result, regularly consuming foods that have a positive health value in small quantities will work much better than health binges and occasional drug abuse will only result in serious health problems if it causes harmful addiction. Effects of bad health might not be noticeable until it is too late, when bad health stops all natural regeneration. Recovering from -100 health to 0 can easily take weeks, depending on conditions. This also means that any health modifier boost or debuff takes time to take effect on actual health value. In extreme cases (mix health, max modifier) it may take several hours to achieve new equilibrium.

How does it increase?

• Slowly builds up to 0 if negative
• Taking the Gamma globulin shot‎.
• By eating healthy food - Bread, Honey, Apple cider and other - if it's healthy in real life, it's also (probably) healthy in DDA.
• Certain mutations can boost health - having Roots and Rooter mutation boost health when rooted.
• Leukocyte Breeder System bionic will incrementally maximize your health value while minimizing your health modifier, making you dependent on it.
• Consuming Purifier, but not Purifier smart shot.

How does it decrease?

• Slowly decreases to 0 if positive
• Sleep deprivation
• Eating rotten food, drinking bleach and other chemicals not safe for human digestive system
• Doing drugs, drinking certain alcohol, consuming junk food (especially sugary or salty) - if it's unhealthy in real life, it probably also is in DDA
• Some addictions have negative effect on health by themselves
• Certain mutations, bionics (especially Leaky Bionic), traits and diseases (parasites) can drastically lower health in the long-term
• Being irradiated
• Consuming mutagens and serums.

Effects

• Protects against common diseases
• Affects healing rate - doubles at 100, completely negates at -100 (for a character with no regeneration-related traits and mutations).
• Gives bonus to odds of natural recovery of bite wounds and infected wounds
• Gives bonus that slows fungal infection progression
• Particularly strong effects (like adrenaline injector) can lower health directly, bypassing the usual mechanic (see above)