Slugcat

Slugcats are both the primary protagonists and the main playable characters of Rain World. They are small creatures that can come in various colors, and with black or white eyes, thin arms, broad legs with small feet, broad-ended ears, and a thick tail that tapers at its end. The player must keep the Slugcat they play alive as they explore the world, confront strange Creatures, and take part in completing challenging Achievements. The Slugcats have a variety of movement abilities, which can be seen in detail on the Controls page.

Upon first starting the game, the player has the option of playing as two different Slugcats: the and the. After finishing the game as either the Monk or the Survivor, the player unlocks the ability to play as the, the , and the (The Gourmand, Artificer, and following Slugcats are all only available if the Rain World Downpour DLC is installed, and the More Slugcats mod is enabled). After finishing the game as either the Gourmand, the Artificer, or the Hunter, the player unlocks the ability to play as either the or the. Once both the stories of the Rivulet and the Spearmaster are finished, the will be unlocked.

=Gameplay Basics=

Food
In order to hibernate, Slugcats must find and eat enough food each cycle. This amount is represented by the food meter, which can be viewed alongside the current karma level by pressing and holding the map button.



The food meter is made up of several food pips: circles which fill up as Slugcat eats, and a vertical line that separates the food pips required to hibernate (all pips to its left), and the food pips that will be saved for the next cycle (all pips to its right). The amount of food required to hibernate varies between Slugcats. There are many different kinds of Food, however few Slugcats are able to eat everything. and eat mostly smaller creatures and fruit. They can also eat any size of Centipede, though larger ones need to have been killed prior. 's diet is more varied, as it also includes the corpses of most killable creatures, however, certain foods such as, , , and provide less value, and will only fill a quarter of a food pip when eaten. has an additional mechanic related to food. They are able to combine two food items into a meal, which gives a higher number than its constituent parts. is unable to eat food like the other Slugcats, instead having to throw spears that grow out of their tail at live prey to feed. has a more limiting diet compared to the other slugcats, being completely unable to eat any meat whatsoever.
 * Monk :
 * Survivor:
 * Hunter :
 * Gourmand:
 * Artificer:
 * Rivulet:
 * Spearmaster:
 * Saint:

Incapacitation & Death
While both death and incapacitation disable the player's input and make the game over text appear, the player is still technically alive when incapacitated, and is able to come back. Knowing when that is the case could potentially allow the player to continue on without the need to restart the current cycle. The two states can be differentiated between by looking at Slugcat's eyes (they are shut when incapacitated, but crossed out when dead) and listening for bass notes (incapacitation plays one, death plays two).

,, and , among other creatures, have an RNG-based kill system, which means that when bitten/grabbed there is a percentage chance that Slugcat will die. If this check fails, the player will be incapacitated, killed if brought into a den.

There are a few ways to get out of incapacitation. A creature is likely to let go if wounded, or attacked by something hostile towards it. Throwing or a  in the short period of time where inputs aren't disabled to stun the creature, or having a tamed Lizard or friendly  nearby are some of the more reliable methods to escape.

Graph of Slugcat Differences
[*] Saint can communicate with Iterators even without the mark.

[†] A full list of food and pips given can be found on Spearmaster's page.

[‡] Saint is unable throw Spears like other Slugcats, instead tossing them aside.

[§] Spearmaster is lighter than all other Slugcats, but is weighed down by their tail.

Trivia

 * All three vanilla Slugcats as well as the otherwise unused Nightcat are playable in the game's Arena modes, but they all handle similarly to how the Survivor does in Single Player.
 * Slugcats have a few different facial expression apart from the ones mentioned in the incapacitation and death section. For example, when throwing or swallowing an object, Slugcats briefly closes its eyes, and when regurgitating an object it keeps its eyes closed for a longer period of time. Slugcat also keeps its eyes shut when close to a threat. While idle, Slugcat has widened, circular eyes which blink occasionally.
 * Slugcats will actively move its tail away from threats, such as lizards, in situations that allow it (such as resting at the top of a pole).
 * When faced by a lizard, Slugcats may hold their hand out in an attempt to briefly stop the creature from biting it.