# 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

The flint stone is a type of gem that appears in NetHack. It appears as a gray stone when unidentified, and is the only gray stone to be a non-magical item.

Contents

1 Generation
2 Description
3 Strategy
4 History
5 Variants

5.1 xNetHack

6 Encyclopedia entry
7 References

Generation
All Cave(wo)men start with a stack of flint stones and a sling to fire them with.

Description
Flint stones do 1d6 damage against small and large enemies when slung, compared to 1d3 for other gems and stones. 
Theoretically, eating a non-cursed flint stone would display the message "Yabba-dabba delicious!" and exercise your constitution.[1] However, since no monster in the game is lithivorous (able to eat stones),[2] this point is moot outside of variants. The message is a reference to the TV series The Flintstones and the Flintstones brand of children's vitamin tablets.

Strategy
While the least interesting of the gray stones by far, flint stones are among the safer kinds to pick up and carry. With their low base cost of 1 zm, flint stones are easily price-identified to distinguish them from luckstones and touchstones.
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, effectively serving as a replacement for the sling bullet of previous versions.

Variants
xNetHack
In xNetHack, flint stones' weight is reduced from 10 units to 2; xNetHack displays the weight of items in the inventory, making flint stones trivial to identify. Additionally, flint stones are more likely to generate in stacks. Hobbits are always generated with a stack of flint stones to fire using their sling, and thus provide a plentiful source of them.

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.

[ Precious Stones, by Christina Giorgina Rossetti ] 

References

↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 2141

↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 78