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Thirst is a derived statistic in Fallout 4's Survival mode and Fallout: The Roleplaying Game.

Fallout 4[]

Characteristics[]

Thirst occurs if the Sole Survivor does not drink water after a long enough period of time, whether dirty or purified. Thirst accumulates slowly at all times. Increased levels modify SPECIAL stats. Higher thirst levels induce Fatigue, at which point Action Points will become affected. Ultimately, damage will be taken, reducing Hit Points. Most types of hydrating drinks will reduce thirst by some amount, although certain drinks and soups are more effective than others. Chems and healing aids are known to increase thirst.

Stages of thirst[]

There are five stages of thirst that span in-game hours. It doesn't appear that the thresholds are linear. For example, it takes about 4 to 5 hours to go from hydrated to parched to thirsty, then 9 hours to go from thirsty to mildly dehydrated. The following table shows the approximate times that it takes for a character to go from completely satisfied to the listed condition in each area. In-game time is expressed in "hours" and real-time is expressed in "minutes."


Hydrated Parched Thirsty Mildly Dehydrated Dehydrated Severely Dehydrated
Effects Intelligence -1 -2 -4 -8 -10
Perception -1 -3 -5 -7
Luck -1 -2 -3
Fatigue ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
Health points -???/???s
Duration In-game, Awake 4 hours 9 hours 18 hours 30 hours 45 hours
Real-time, Awake 12 minutes 27 minutes 54 minutes 1 hour, 30 minutes 2 hours, 15 minutes
In-game, Asleep 1 hour 2 hours, 15 minutes 4 hours, 30 minutes 7 hours, 30 minutes 11 hours, 15 minutes

The In-game / real-time data in this table are approximations only. The time expressed is not truly accurate. This table may be incomplete.

Notes[]

Consider getting rid of all dehydration levels before turning in the faction quests. This ensures that all Intelligence points are available, in order to get the full amount of experience points needed for leveling up.

Fallout: The Roleplaying Game[]

Getting enough to drink can be just as much a challenge as getting food.— pg. 191

Thirst is a survival statistic that must be tended to by drinking sources of hydration. All character origins (with the exception of Robots) must hydrate themselves or risk increasing their thirst states and incur fatigue points. All sources of hydration, even rainfall, draw from contaminated sources and must be purified or else risk radiation.

Any kind of strenuous activity or hot conditions can speed up this process. This includes combat or similar intense activity, which each immediately move a character down one step at the end of a scene. Hot weather from the exposure rules halves the amount of time listed on each step.

Drinking anything moves a character up one step from their current thirst stage. Drinking purified water moves two steps.

States of thirst[]

States Quenched Hydrated Thirsty Dehydrated
Effects After an hour of being quenched, become hydrated. After two hours of being sated, become thirsty. After four hours of being thirsty, gain 1 Fatigue and become dehydrated. Every eight hours spent dehydrated, gain 1 Fatigue.

Soups[]

Soups, stews and similar foods contain a lot of water, and can be a good way of keeping both thirst and hunger at bay. Consuming a food item with soup or stew in the name counts as both eating and drinking something, improving both Hunger and Thirst states by one step each.

See also[]

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