Flint stone
* 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | flint stone |
| Appearance | gray stone |
| Damage vs. small | 1d6 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d6 |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | sling |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 1 zm |
| Weight | 10 |
| Material | mineral |
A flint stone is a type of gem that appears in NetHack. Flint stones are ammunition made for firing with slings. The flint stone appears as a gray stone when unidentified, and is the only gray stone to be a non-magical item.
Contents
Generation
In addition to random generation, general shops and jewelers can sell flint stones.
Cavepeople start with a stack of flint stones to use as ammo for their sling.[1]
Two of the possible maps for Mines' End place a flint stone at level creation: the Mimic of the Mines map has a flint stone in one of the many gem piles, and the Catacombs map has a flint stone as the other gray stone present on the level.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
Per commit 51a5550, hobbits generated with a sling will also receive a stack of flint stones.Description
Flint stones do 1d6 damage against small and large enemies when slung, compared to 1d3 for other gems and stones.
There is code for a specific message that is printed if a character eats a non-cursed flint stone, and doing so would exercise constitution.[2][3] This is not yet possible in NetHack.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
Per commit b1f8c3d5, flint stones can be wished for safely in stacks of up to 20. Per commit 733fc849, flint is also less likely to mulch when thrown or fired.Strategy
While they are the least interesting of the gray stones by far, flint stones are the safest to pick up and carry. They are also trivial to identify informally: rubbing can easily detect touchstones, and their 1 zm base cost makes price identification to distinguish them from luckstones straightforward; loadstones are also 1 zm, but can easily be kick-tested or pet-tested even outside of shops.
If a hobbit or other hostile monster slings a gray stone at you, it is most likely flint.
History
The flint stone first appears in NetHack 3.2.0, and effectively serves as a replacement for the sling bullet from previous versions.
Messages
- Yabba-dabba delicious!
- A character ate a non-cursed flint stone - this requires the polymorph form of a lithivore monster, which currently does not exist in NetHack - the comment on the message indicates that this is a reference to the TV series The Flintstones and the Flintstones brand of children's vitamin tablets.[3]
Variants
Some variants make flint stones much more commonplace.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, upgrading a flint stone produces either a luckstone or a healthstone, and upgrading a loadstone produces a flint stone.
A magical gray stone (i.e. not a flint stone or whetstone) that is dipped in a potion of amnesia, or else submerged in Lethe water, becomes a flint stone.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, the "intact" map for the sixth floor of the Ruins of Moria generates a flint stone in the "Twenty-First Hall" opposite the warehouse at level creation.
dNetHack
In dNetHack and notdNetHack, all non-vampire Binders start with a flint stone.
The November NetHack Tournament
In The November NetHack Tournament, the deathmatch opponent will always generate with a set of 20-29 flint stones to use as sling ammo if they represent a character that is an archeologist or caveperson.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, the flint stone's weight is reduced to 2 aum, and flint stones are more likely to generate in stacks.
Hobbits are always generated with a stack of flint stones to use as sling ammo.
xNetHack displays the weight of items in the inventory, making flint stones trivial to identify.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, hobbits and hobbit pickpockets have a 2⁄3 chance of generating with flint stones as their sling ammo. Player monster cavepeople will always generate with flint stones to use as sling ammo.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, lithivores can eat flint stones and other mineral objects - a character in the form of a lithivore will produce the unused message above when eating a flint stone.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, flint weighs 2 aum as in xNetHack.
Magical gray stones dipped in a potion of amnesia become flint stones, as in SLASH'EM. Hobbits and hobbit pickpockets have the same odds of generating with flint stones as in EvilHack.
Encyclopedia entry
An emerald is as green as grass;
A ruby red as blood;
A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;
A flint lies in the mud.
A diamond is a brilliant stone,
To catch the world's desire;
An opal holds a fiery spark;
But a flint holds fire.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 53
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 83:
is_ediblefunction does not list rocks - ↑ 3.0 3.1 src/eat.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2141
