Health

This page was last verified for Vintage Story version 1.21.4.

The on-screen health meter.

Health gauges the amount of damage a player can receive before dying. Health is measured in health points (HP), which are represented by the red bar above the left side of the hotbar. Each visual subdivision in the bar reflects 1 health point. Receiving damage decreases health points, and reaching 0 health points results in death. Health points can be recovered through the use of healing items and natural regeneration.

Maximum health

The amount of health the player begins the game with is determined by their class . The player's maximum health can be increased by consuming a diet of varied nutrition . Each of the five types of nutrition will increase maximum health by 2.5 when fully satisfied, adding up to 12.5 maximum health with all five.

Class	Base health	Maximum health
Commoner	15	27.5
Hunter	15	27.5
Malefactor	12.5	25
Clockmaker	12.5	25
Tailor	13	25.5
Blackguard	20	32.5

The nutrition display in the character menu.

A health bar with the maximum commoner health of 27.5.

Taking damage

Taking a small amount of damage.

Various sources can inflict damage on the player, including:

• Falling more than 5 blocks. The longer the fall, the more damage is taken.
• Being attacked by an animal or hostile entity .
• Eating poisonous mushrooms or meals cooked with poisonous ingredients.
• Other players, if PvP is enabled.

Upon taking damage, the screen shakes, and the player receives knockback, the strength of which depends on how much damage was taken. If there is a great amount of health lost, a bloody overlay briefly appears on-screen. After the health is lost, that portion of the health bar will become a darker red, then slowly drain after a pause to allow the player time to assess how much damage was taken.

Hostile creatures typically deal damage by getting close to the player and performing an attack animation. Some enemies have projectile attacks. Taking damage can cause slight or major knockback, which can launch the player's character in the direction facing away from the damage source.

At low health, the player's view will begin to sway and lose color. This effect becomes more pronounced as the player gets closer to death.

Reeling from low health.

Severe reeling from very low health.

The blood overlay when taking a large amount of damage at once.

Preventing damage

Losing health can be lessened, or even negated, by wearing protective armor . Armor reduces incoming damage by a flat amount, then by a percentage of the remaining damage. Using stronger materials results in more protective armor that is more resistant and durable against stronger enemy types. Heavier armor types are more protective than lighter armor, but incur much larger penalties to movement speed, hunger rate, ranged accuracy, and healing effectiveness. Leaving an armor slot empty will leave a chance for that area to be attacked for full damage.

Raising a shield will reduce incoming damage by a significant amount, with a low chance of failing. Simply holding it in your hand has a small chance to reduce damage by a lower amount. Like armor, shields have a flat and percentage reduction.

Using both armor and a shield together yields the best chance of survival.

Healing

Health is slowly regenerated over time, at the cost of increased satiety consumption. Below 75% satiety, natural healing and its satiety drain start to slow down as satiety drops lower. The satiety consumption scales with the health regeneration speed setting.

Poultices and bandages are items that can be used to restore health at a faster rate. Materials for the basic reed-horsetail poultice are widely available, and are often easy to produce as needed while exploring. Using more expensive materials produces a better poultice. Bandages are made from linen , and can be improved by adding Aqua Vitae . Saguaro fruit also heals for a small amount when eaten.

Bandage
Stackable	32
Items

Poultice
Stackable	16
Items

Healing item	HP restored
Saguaro fruit	1
Horsetail poultice (from reeds)	2
Horsetail poultice (from linen)	4
Honey-sulfur poultice (from reeds)	4
Honey-sulfur poultice (from linen)	7
Clean bandage	3
Alcohol-soaked bandage	7

Crafting healing items

Poultices

Poultices are composed of a base material and a healing material. The base materials are reeds and linen . The healing materials are horsetail and honey with sulfur . Using linen or honey with sulfur produces a better poultice than using reeds or horsetail.

Ingredients	Crafting Recipe
4x Horsetail 2x Reeds

Ingredients	Crafting Recipe
4x Horsetail 1x Linen

Ingredients	Crafting Recipe
2x Powdered sulfur 1x 0.25L of honey 2x Reeds

Ingredients	Crafting Recipe
2x Powdered sulfur 1x 0.25L of honey 1x Linen

Bandages

Bandages can be made from linen or directly from twine . A select few clothing items can also be used to make bandages. A knife is not required when using twine.

Protip: Note that making clean bandages is less effective than linen-horsetail poultices if they are not soaked with alcohol!

Ingredients	Crafting Recipe
1x Knife 1x Linen

Ingredients	Crafting Recipe
2x Flax twine

Ingredients	Crafting Recipe
1x Knife 1x Tattered clothing

Adding 0.2L of aqua vitae to a clean bandage will create an alcohol-soaked bandage, increasing the amount of health gained from 3 to 7. The bandage will dry out after 1 in-game hour, or 2 real-life minutes with default settings. Because of how quickly they dry out, it is advised to prepare them as close to when they will be needed as possible.

Ingredients	Crafting Recipe
1x 0.2L of aqua vitae 1x Clean bandage

Trading

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Healing items may be purchased at Nadiya Village .

Both types of linen poultice can be purchased from Wall , the herbalist.

Alcohol-soaked bandages can be purchased from Tad , the surgeon.

Using healing items

Applying bandages and poultices in-game. The fastest healing occurs while multiple healing items are active at the same time.

A poultice or bandage may be applied by using it. All poultices and bandages take 3 seconds to apply. Wearing armor reduces healing effectiveness, increasing the application time.

Clean bandages can also be used to create linen pulp, for creating parchment .

The application time of a poultice or bandage is defined by the following equation:

AT = 3 + (7 × HE)

For example, each piece of gambeson armor reduces healing effectiveness by 0.17. With all three pieces equipped, the player's healing effectiveness would be 0.49, making the application time for a poultice 6.57 seconds: 3 + (7 * 0.51).

While nothing in the game can increase healing effectiveness, if done through modding , the following equation is used instead:

AT = 3 * (1 - (HE - 1))

For example, a healing effectiveness of 1.25 would result in an application time of 2.25 seconds: 3 * (1 - 0.25). The maximum healing effectiveness is 200%, at which point application time is 0.

Once applied, the player will receive a healing over time effect visible on their health bar. The healing received will be applied over the next 10 seconds, recovering 10% of the poultice's 'Health restored' every second. Additional poultices may be applied while others are still active, increasing the rate at which health is recovered, with each poultice working independently.

In multiplayer, a poultice may also be used to heal other players by using it CTRL + on them. This can also be used to revive a player who has been mortally wounded before they bleed out.

See also

• Satiety
• Alcohol brewing