Is it possible to eat corpses?
Corpse eating isn't entirely uncommon in roguelikes. In fact, I watched as some of my Troll allies in Brogue ate the bodies of my enemies. After eating will o' wisps, one started to fly while the other became immune to fire - they took this opportunity to dance around a lava bed and beat up a pixie with their newfound powers. I thought this was cool, but no matter how many future will o' wisps I beat down, nothing came of it.
Is it possible to eat corpses yourself? There isn't any item dropped by foes when my allies decide to chow down (but I have seen some, like Nagas, "look over the fallen" at times), and the only way to eat something is to apply it. Are corpses only for allies, or is there any way for you to eat one? Are there also only specific allies that will eat the fallen?
Some research online eventually yielded this (not very easy to find) thread on the subject matter on Brogue's official forums: http://brogue.createforumhosting.com/your-monkey-can-now-what-t73.html. The important part is Pender's post (the developer of the game), the sixth one from the top, which I'll paraphrase.
Allies gain experience based on your exploration. With enough experience, and by observing specific kinds of enemies in battle as they die, they eventually gain the ability to "absorb" the ability. In the case of Trolls, this is done by eating them. Within a few turns of the death of the enemy, your ally can go absorb the foe and gain a special ability possessed by that foe. As they level up, they eventually can choose to absorb new qualities.
The full list of abilities to gain are as follows. It can only gain abilities from enemies based on what that enemy can do - hover over an enemy with the mouse to check what options are possible:
- Invisibility (there is almost no positive to this, avoid it like the plague)
- Flying
- Immune to Fire (one of the most useful)
- Reflects Magic (very risky)
- Can cast Healing (it can only target you or your other allies)
- Can cast Haste
- Can cast Blink (another very useful one)
- Can cast Negation
- Can cast Lightning Bolt (there's no such thing as immune to lightning)
- Can cast Fire Bolt (one of the most dangerous enemies in the game is immune to fire)
- Can cast Slow
- Can cast Discord
If your ally is devouring something for an ability you don't want or if you would like to try a different beast, you can interrupt your ally by moving into its square while it is eating.
As of version 1.6, hovering over your ally will inform you if they are ready to absorb a new trait.
Your allies do appear to be able to lose acquired traits. While it happened off-screen for me, I'm pretty sure it happens due to being subject to a Negation effect such as by a scroll or spell.