# Spellbook of stone to flesh

spellbook of  +   stone to flesh   

Appearance

random

Abundance

1.52%

Base price

300 zm

Weight

50

Turns to read

2

Ink to write

15–29

Spell type

healing

Level

3

Power cost

15 Pw

Direction

beam

In NetHack, the spellbook of stone to flesh allows you to cast the spell of stone to flesh.

Contents

1 Generation
2 Effects

2.1 Statues
2.2 Other objects
2.3 Targeting yourself

3 Strategy
4 History
5 Messages
6 References

Generation
Healers are guaranteed to start with a blessed spellbook of stone to flesh.

Effects
The spell of stone to flesh has many effects depending on what stone object(s) it is used on.

Statues
Statues of monsters are brought to life; tame pets turned to stone will be restore it to their original state. Additionally, if the monster is smaller than medium size and/or not fleshy, the statue will be turned into a single meatball instead.[1] If the statue is of a unique monster or a quest guardian, it will reanimate as a disguised doppelganger instead of the real creature, unless the statue was created by stoning that creature.
If the reanimation fails (usually because the creature is of a genocided species), the statue will be transformed into an appropriate corpse if possible, or remain unchanged if that monster cannot leave a corpse. 
A statue of a stone golem that has stone to flesh cast on it will only leave behind a single meatball; an animate stone golem will instead become a flesh golem.

Other objects
Casting stone to flesh on a boulder turns it into a huge chunk of meat; rocks, gray stones, and valuable non-glass gems become meatballs. A ring made of mineral or gemstone material becomes a meat ring; a marble wand becomes a meat stick.

Targeting yourself
When cast on yourself, any ongoing stiffening process is cancelled, and any susceptible items in open inventory are transformed as well.

Strategy
The spell of stone to flesh is a great aid for spellcasters who start with little permafood, particularly Healers, who start with only a few apples and can reliably cast the spell once they reach level 3. One huge chunk of meat produced from a boulder will keep a character satiated for several hundreds of turns; even if they cannot secure some permafood by the time they go from oversatiated to normal nutrition levels, they are more than likely to come across another boulder. Beware of eating anything else while oversatiated, however, as the risk of choking will be too great; a tinning kit is handy to preserve corpses with good intrinsics for later.
In addition, the spell can be used as a general means of boulder removal; doing so in Sokoban is a viable strategy for trapped boulders, but incurs a -1 Luck penalty. If you do not particularly need nutrition, you can let your pet eat the resulting chunk of meat, or else break the boulder beforehand and then cast the spell at the pile of rocks. This turns them into meatballs, which can be used as treats to tame or train carnivorous pets. Polypiling the meatballs into other food items, especially lightweight lembas wafers, is incredibly common and used to ensure permafood for most of the game.
Stone to flesh can save you from petrification, at the risk of affecting your open inventory - while generally undesirable, this is preferable to becoming a statue. Casting stone to flesh can also be used to get rid of undesirable items, such as loadstones or cursed rings depending on the type (e.g. a granite ring of hunger or aggravate monster). Stashing or else dropping and moving away from any other vulnerable items is recommended; the meat ring can then be eaten to get rid of it, though be wary of the usual effects of eating rotten food.
Stone to flesh is the most common way to rescue a petrified pet. Monsters can be transported by stoning them and then casting stone to flesh on their statue afterward; only medium-size and larger monsters are eligible, however, and most such statues will significantly burden you, or else be too heavy to carry outright. Turning a stone golem into a flesh golem makes it somewhat less threatening, and the corpse can also provide useful intrinsics.

History
In NetHack 3.6.1 and previous versions, reanimation fails if the statue was created by stoning and its square is already occupied due to a bug.[2] The bug is fixed as of NetHack 3.6.2.

Messages
Blood pools at your feet.
You cast the spell downwards ('&gt;') while standing on a normal square, sink, fountain, or randomly generated grave. Casting while over a bones grave does not produce any message. In either case, there is no other effect.
Blood drips on your 

<face>.
You cast the spell upwards ('&lt;') in a normal level outside of  the Endgame. (<face> is adjusted for the appropriate body part if polymorphed.) There is no other effect.
You smell a delicious smell.
Casting the spell turned something to meat (as opposed to animating a statue).
You smell the odor of meat.
As above, except you have been vegetarian.
References

↑ zap.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 1623

↑ zap.c in NetHack 3.6.1, line 568: note the lack of MM_ADJACENTOK

This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.4. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-364}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.

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