Health
Health is a measure of vitality in Starbound. When the health meter becomes empty, the player dies. Both monsters and players have health. Health does not passively regenerate, and is shown in red in the upper left corner of the screen.
Managing Health
Pressing the "I" key will bring up the player inventory screen, which lists all player stats, including Health. The default Health pool has a size of 100 points, which can be increased through Armor.
Armor
The Health Icon represents the value by which a specific piece of armor will increase the player's health pool.
Damage
Health is reduced when a target takes damage. This can be caused by combat, negative status effects, and hostile environments. Falling a large distance will also cause player damage. The damage that the player takes is increased by the distance they fall. This damage can be mitigated with items that allow gliding. It can also be eliminated entirely by landing in water that is at least 9 blocks deep.
A health bar will appear near the top of the screen if the player moves their cursor onto an enemy that is in sufficient light, which displays their remaining health.
Death
When the player's health meter is emptied, they will die.
The penalty for death is determined by the difficulty mode selected for the current character.
- In Normal mode, 10% of pixels are lost, but the player will be revived after death by respawning.
- In Survival mode, 30% of pixels are lost, and some of the player's inventory is dropped at the location of their death, leaving the Matter Manipulator in their inventory.
- In Hardcore mode, the current character is permanently disabled, and the player cannot play this character again.
Healing
There are a number of methods of regaining health, called healing. This can be done through consumables that restore health, like food or bandages, or the use of beds.