40d:Block

For area blocks of 48x48 tiles on a game map, see Regions.

For "blocking" in combat, see Shield.

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A block is a sub-type of building material. Stone and wood can be shaped into blocks at the Mason's workshop or Carpenter's workshop. Glass can be formed as blocks at a Glass Furnace, and metal blocks can be made at the forge from a single metal bar.

Blocks are required to make wells, pumps, and are used when constructing an ashery. They can also be used in place of raw stone or wood in roads and other major constructions (but not in items like crafts or furniture), but the difference is purely in the value. A pillar made out of normal stones is called a rough pillar.

Blocks, unlike raw stone or wood, can stack in bins in bar/block stockpiles.

Blocks have a base value of 5, compared to the raw material value of 3 for stones or logs.  Metal bars also have a base value of 5, and glass has no less valuable form, sand becoming either a block of glass or a specific object out of the glass furnace. Blocks do not have quality levels.

Blocks are sometimes used as materials during strange moods.

It is possible to turn blocks back into stone. You'll need blocks in a bin (preferably metal) that is exposed to lava. Each blocks object will become a molten object of the same stone type, and because it is in the bin, won't be subsumed into the lava. After it cools down, each object will have reverted to the base stone type. Metal bins are not subject to destruction by the lava. Note that this does result in having stone in bins, a state of affairs that isn't normally possible.