Sling
) 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | sling |
| Appearance | sling |
| Damage vs. small | d2 |
| Damage vs. large | d2 |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | sling |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 20 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 3 |
| Material | leather |
A sling is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack, and is a launcher designed for rocks, gems, and gray stones, which can be multishot if fired with a sling.
Contents
Generation
Weapons comprise 10% of all randomly-generated items in the main dungeon, 0% in containers, 12% on the Rogue level, and 20% in Gehennom. There is a 4% chance that a randomly spawned weapon object will be a sling.
- Hobbits have a unique 1 in 3 chance of a sling in their monster starting inventory.
Sling skill
| Sling | |
|---|---|
| Max | Role |
| Basic | |
| Skilled | |
| Expert | |
The sling is the only weapon that uses the sling skill. The following types of ammo use this skill as well:
- all gems
- all gray stones
- rocks
There are no artifact slings; of note is that the Heart of Ahriman is slightly more effective than a regular luckstone when slung.
Strategy
Improving sling skill is generally a waste of skill slots, but you may wish to use a sling as an unofficial conduct or because a bad ranged attack with effectively unlimited ammo is better than nothing.
- Gems and glass deal the same damage as 1d3 (avg. 2) rocks, and weigh only 1 unit, compared to the 10 units of rocks.
- Rocks, gems, and flint stones can disappear when they hit monsters, but other gray stones cannot. None of these projectiles can be enchanted (which is the best way to prevent ammo disintegration), but they can be blessed. Blessed projectiles gain a luck-based bonus to avoid breakage. Blessed ammo used by a character with maximum luck and a luckstone will be very durable and will last quite a while.
- Flint stones deal 1d6 (avg. 3.5), on par with arrows. However, flint stones are quite rare in the game so it is difficult to collect enough to make multishot useful.
- Cavemen start with a sling and large stacks of rocks and flint stones. If they avoid using the flint stones until they have maximum luck, they can bless the flint stones rendering them durable enough to last for a significant portion of the game. Rangers can also benefit from using a sling on less threatening monsters in the early game, partially preserving arrows or bolts until they can be made almost unbreakable. However, it is obviously not worth dying because of unwillingness to use good ammo early.
History
The first versions of Jay Fenalson's Hack and Andries Brouwer's Hack 1.0 were used to fire sling bullets[1] - rocks did not yet exist in the former game, and were first included as objects in the latter. In NetHack 3.0.0, the sling bullet was removed from the list of objects in objects.c, and rocks effectively took over their role, whole NetHack 3.2.0 introduced the flint stone and moved both to the "Gems/Stones" section of the inventory.
Origin
The sling is a widespread weapon dating back to Neolithic cultures (if not still-older ones), and is typically used for hunting and combat - it is incredibly inexpensive and easy to build and use, and was thus incredibly common among shepherds, hunters and other "common" folk. As a result, while man-made sling bullets and rocks used as sling ammunition are frequently salvaged during archeological expeditions, intact slings are much harder to find. Slinging is a tradition among the peoples of the Balearic Islands, who are known since classical times as proficient mercenaries.
Slinging as a sport is still practiced in the Balearic Islands and other areas in modern times, and is also used as an improvised weapon for wildnerness survival and other hobby purposes. Slings are also used to hurl incendiary devices, such as Molotov cocktails, as well as grenades. Their primary function is no longer the kinetic force, but the added range they provide. A skilled slinger can fire projectiles at distances upwards of 450 meters (1500 feet) at speeds over 250 miles per hour.[2]
Slings appear in all editions of Dungeons & Dragons as a common ranged weapon for clerics (who NetHack players know as Priest(esse)s) - they cannot use other non-blunt projectiles, due to being forbidden from shedding blood. Their corresponding sling bullets deal 1d4 base damage.[3] Dungeons & Dragons also has a rule that improvised stones do one size category less in damage, i.e. 1d3 instead of 1d4 - this may be reflected by the lower damage in modern NetHack. Slings also appear in the third version of Rogue, with its corresponding rock dealing the same damage as in D&D.[4] The usefulness of slings in other media tends to vary, but it tends to be considered somewhat more useful than it is perceived as in NetHack.
Variants
Many variants strive to make slings more useful, or at least not as much of a burden.
DynaHack
In DynaHack slings gain bonus damage from strength (usually reserved for attacking from melee or throwing weapons by hand) as well as the sling's enchantment, making slings much more viable as a ranged weapon.
dNetHack
in dNetHack slings also gain bonus damage from strength. Furthermore, there's a new type of sling stone: silver slingstones, which deal silver damage to silver hating monsters, and can be found is small deposits within rock or in large amounts on a certain level in the Neutral quest. Cavemen now also gain a +1 multishot bonus when using slings. Since the strength bonus maxes out at +8 at 25 strength, silver slingstones out-damage even +7 silver arrows. Because of these changes, dNetHack slings are sometimes called "portable meteor launchers."
Encyclopedia entry
And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and
drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward
the army to meet the Philistine.
And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone,
and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that
the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face
to the earth.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with
a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there
was no sword in the hand of David.
This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-343}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.
- ↑ Hack 1.0.2 partl (objects.h, line 620), Andries Brouwer @ cwi.nl
- ↑ http://www.slinging.org/
- ↑ http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Sling
- ↑ http://rogue.rogueforge.net/vade-mecum/
