Beggar

Beggars are a group of randomly occurring NPCs in the game. There are a total of 8 types of beggars, each requesting different donations. Isaac can donate pennies, keys, hearts, or bombs by simply walking into them. With each donation, the beggar has a chance to drop various pickups and trinkets. Sometimes, the beggar will drop an item and disappear. The rate of drops isn't influenced by luck.

Beggars can be destroyed by bombs, causing them to drop a few pickups. If destroyed in Chest or Dark Room they will drop an item, with the exception of the Shell Game who still drops pickups.

Normal Beggars, Devil Beggars, Key Masters, Bomb Bums, and Battery Bums can be spawned using XX - Judgement.

Beggar[]

Beggars ask for coins. For every donation received, they have a chance to drop a random pickup, card, or a pedestal item. After spawning a pedestal item, the Beggar will disappear and can no longer be donated to.

When spawning a pedestal item, beggars have:

a 50% chance to spawn one of the following hard-coded items:
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Dessert
- Breakfast
- Rotten Meat
a 50% chance to spawn an item from the Beggar item pool.

The hard-coded items can be spawned if encountered or even collected before during the run.

Notes[]

Bombing a normal Beggar increases the chance for the Angel/Devil Room to open for the floor by 35%, and donating to a normal Beggar until it spawns an item increases the chance to get an Angel Room for the floor.
The chance for paying out depends on whether the game is in hard mode or not.
- On hard mode, the first time the Beggar pays out will always be after at least six donations, with a high chance of paying out at six. After the first payout, any subsequent payout will take at least three donations.
- On other modes (Normal, Greed and Greedier), Beggars may pay out after any amount has been donated, it is unclear whether there is a limit, but it is very rare that they take six or more donations before paying out.

Devil Beggar[]

Devil Beggars ask for hearts. For every donation received, they have a chance to drop a card, pill, trinket, or an item from the Devil Beggar item pool. After spawning a pedestal item, the Devil Beggar will disappear and can no longer be donated to.

Notes[]

Bombing a Devil Beggar increases the chance to get an Angel Room for the floor and donating to a Devil Beggar until they spawn an item decreases the chance to get an Angel Room for the floor.
Similar to a Blood Donation Machine, Devil Beggars will take Eternal Hearts first, then Red Hearts. If Isaac only has half a Red Heart remaining, they will then take Black Hearts and Soul Hearts. It is possible to die in this manner.
- Devil Beggars ignore eternal hearts when taking hearts. Unless Isaac only has half a heart and an eternal heart, at that point the beggar will take the eternal heart instead of the half heart.
- The Devil Beggar will take the last Half Red Heart before Blacks Hearts and Soul Hearts.
Until The Womb/Utero floors, the donation will only be 1/2 a heart. Once Isaac reaches chapter 4, it will be a whole heart. This can be mitigated by The Wafer, Cancer or Percs, which cuts it back down to 1/2 heart.
The donations activate damage effects, such as Celtic Cross.
Activating Devil Beggars while using an item that grants invincibility, such as the Book of Shadows or Rune of Algiz, will not lower Isaac's health, but will still cause the beggar to spawn items. Holy Mantle is ignored, though, so The Lost will be killed instantly.
- It is possible to exploit the invincibility frames after taking damage to donate twice for the price of one donation. Blind Rage doubles the invincibility frames, thus allowing to activate the Devil Beggar even more times in that period.
- Bone Hearts will not be broken by donating to a Devil Beggar, and can drain multiple Bone Hearts without breaking them.
Devil Beggars always drop two Spiders when killed by a bomb.
The chance for paying out depends on whether the game is in hard mode or not.
- On hard mode, the first time the Devil Beggar pays out will always be after at least 6 donations, though it very rarely takes more than 6. After the first payout, any subsequent payout will take at least three donations.
- On other modes (Normal, Greed and Greedier), Devil Beggars will pay out randomly between donations 1-7, with increasing odds and a guaranteed payout after 8 donations. The chances of getting subsequent payouts are slightly higher than the chances of getting the first.

Key Master[]

Key Masters are rare and ask for keys. For every donation received, they have a chance to drop a random chest, an item from the Key Master item pool, or the Paper Clip. After spawning a pedestal item or the Paper Clip, the Key Master will disappear and can no longer be donated to.

Notes[]

If found inside the Secret Room on Dark Room or Chest, the chest payouts will contain items.
Possessing a Golden Key will not affect the Key Master in any way.

Bomb Bum[]

Bomb Bums ask for bombs. For every donation received, they have a chance to drop 1-2 Bombs or an item from the Bomb Bum item pool. After spawning a pedestal item, the Bomb Bum will disappear.

Bomb Bums pay out with 1-3 coins or a random heart pickup instead of bombs. Item payout is unchanged.

Notes[]

Bomb Bums are rarer than other beggars.
It is possible that the Bomb Bum will "pay out" by spawning a Troll Bomb underneath itself.
Possessing a Golden Bomb will not affect the Bomb Bum in any way.
Bomb Bums are immune to bombs, and will respond to an attempt to destroy them by spawning several troll bombs, similar to XVI - The Tower.
- Bomb Bum can still be destroyed by certain types of explosions:
  - The exploding damage from the death of Dark Esau
  - The shockwave from Mama Mega!
- Having Safety Scissors allows the player to acquire infinite bombs by bombing the beggar repeatedly.

Battery Bum[]

Battery Bums ask for coins. Each coin donated has a chance to give 1 to 3 charges on Isaac's active item, these charges can go above the charge cap, being full up to a maximum of two full charges. On top of that, Battery Bums have chances to drop a Micro Battery, a Lil Battery, a Watch Battery, a AAA Battery, or a pedestal item.

When spawning a pedestal item, the item is chosen from the Battery Bum item pool and the Battery Bum will disappear.

Has a chance to drop random pickups, a pill or a trinket when blown up.

Notes[]

Bombing a Battery Bum increases the chance for the Angel Room/ Devil Room to open for the floor by 35%.
This is the counterpart to the Electrifier in Antibirth.
When playing as Tainted Forgotten, to charge the held item Isaac must throw Tainted Forgotten at the Battery Bum. If Tainted Soul touches the Battery Bum, the item won't gain a charge.

Bug!	Touching a Battery Bum while it is giving Isaac's active item a charge will grant another charge. Multiple additional charges can be gained this way.

Bug!	Will not payout correctly when trying to gain charges as Bethany.

Rotten Beggar[]

Rotten Beggars ask for coins. Every third (rarely fourth) coin donated to them will either have them spawn Blue Flies, Blue Spiders, drop a Bone Heart, a Rotten Heart, the Fish Head, Fish Tail, Rotten Penny, or Bob's Bladder trinkets, a pedestal item, or fart. After spawning a pedestal item, the Beggar will disappear and can no longer be donated to.

When spawning a pedestal item, they are chosen from the Rotten Beggar item pool.

Has a chance to drop Rotten Hearts when blown up, as well as spawning small maggots.

Unlocked by: Defeat Mega Satan as Tainted Apollyon. Will be replaced with a Key Master if not unlocked.

Shell Game[]

Shell Game beggars can sometimes be found in the Arcade; they also have a small chance to spawn elsewhere. After giving the beggar a coin by bumping into them, they will lift a skull, revealing a Penny, Bomb, Red Heart, or Key. The beggar will shuffle the skulls around and wait for Isaac to bump into 1 of the 3 shells. In return, the beggar will spawn either 2 of the pickups or an Attack Fly.

If the pickup was a coin and the player wins, the beggar will spawn 2-3 coins.

Notes[]

The shell chosen is irrelevant; possession of a Lucky Foot increases chances of winning.
Sometimes, the item under the skulls will be the Skatole item. If this item is received, the Shell Game beggar will disappear. This is the only collectible item they can drop.
- If Skatole has already been acquired, other Shell Game beggars will never give a second Skatole and will remain unless destroyed.
- If you wish to avoid a Skatole pickup (for example, you want to spend more coins before possibly acquiring Skatole), leave the room - this resets the Shell Game (though your previous coin is lost).
An Arcade with a Blood Donation Machine and a Shell Game can provide the player with a large amount of resources. Donate the hearts that the beggar drops to the machine and use the coins to keep playing.
Item payouts are subjected to the same spawning chances as usual. Bombs can be replaced with Troll Bombs or Double Bombs, Red Hearts can be replaced with Half Red Hearts, Soul Hearts, Black Hearts, Eternal Hearts, or Bone Hearts, and Pennies can be replaced with Nickels or Dimes.
- Under the effects of Humbling Bundle, bombs will be Double Bombs, Red Hearts will be Double Hearts, and Keys will be Key Rings.
In Repentance, a "shellGame" item pool was added so that the Shell Game can drop other items than just Skatole. However, the item pool is currently unimplemented as of June 2021. The developers have said that they plan on adding it in a future patch.

Hell Game[]

Hell Game beggars work the same way as Shell Game beggars, except hearts are required to play. Once unlocked, Hell Games have a chance to replace the Shell Game in an Arcade. After paying the beggar by bumping into them, they will lift a skull, revealing a Black Heart, Blue Spider, Bomb, Item, Key, Penny or Tarot Card. The beggar will then shuffle the skulls around and wait for Isaac to bump into one of the skulls. In return, the beggar will spawn either a payout related to the item shown, or a spider. After spawning an item pedestal, the Hell Game and the beggar will disappear.

Payouts[]

Black Heart: the beggar will spawn one Black Heart.
Blue Spider: the beggar will spawn two Blue Spiders.
Bomb: the beggar will spawn two random Bombs.
Item: the beggar will spawn the item shown and then disappear.
- The item shown will always be an item from the Devil Room Item Pool.
Key: the beggar will spawn two random Keys.
Penny: the beggar will spawn 2-3 random Coins.
Tarot Card: the beggar will spawn one random Card or Rune, despite always showing a Tarot Card.

Notes[]

The shell chosen is irrelevant; possession of a Lucky Foot increases chances of winning.
Due to the way the payouts work, the beggar may not always spawn the pickup shown in the shell. For example a regular bomb may be shown, but the beggar may spawn a Troll Bomb and a Double Bomb.
The item shown in each Hell Game will not change. This means that the player can't just leave the room if they see a bad item to avoid it being the reward.
Unlike the devil beggar, bombing a Hell Game beggar does not affect the chance for an angel room to appear. Like the devil beggar, however, it will spawn spiders.
Sigil of Baphomet: the invincibility after killing an enemy can be used to play for free. Since the Hell Game spawns a spider when the player loses, this can be used to get a free game every time the player loses.