The Scorpion Carapace - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: /* Upgrades */ tweaks

2026-04-20T03:55:16Z

‎Upgrades: tweaks

Umbire the Phantom: /* Description */ pothole

2026-04-20T03:54:17Z

‎Description: pothole

Umbire the Phantom: yep, the change made to Template:Artifact works - already present for artifact weapon template

2025-04-08T08:51:56Z

yep, the change made to Template:Artifact works - already present for artifact weapon template

Umbire the Phantom: /* Generation */ word choice

2025-03-31T09:01:20Z

‎Generation: word choice

Umbire the Phantom: temp

2025-03-31T08:54:24Z

temp

Umbire the Phantom: de-stub

2025-03-31T08:53:30Z

de-stub

Umbire the Phantom: insight for verm

2025-03-31T07:27:41Z

insight for verm

Umbire the Phantom: done

2025-03-31T07:25:43Z

done

Umbire the Phantom: /* Upgrades */ fix list

2025-03-31T07:10:57Z

‎Upgrades: fix list

Umbire the Phantom: plop this down while I workshop it

2025-03-31T07:10:31Z

plop this down while I workshop it

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 ** Plates (2 points): Requires the hard scales upgrade to be purchased. Upgrades the base AC and DR of The Scorpion Carapace to 7/7.
 * Flexible links (1 point): Becomes light armor.
-* Whipping stinger (2 points): Gains a poisonous stinger, which auto-attacks up to 1 adjacent target per game turn for 1d4 poison damage (identical to the one added to the hero's normal attacks).
+* Whipping stinger (2 points): Gains a poisonous stinger that can auto-attack up to 1 adjacent target per game turn for 1d4 poison damage (identical to the one added to the hero's normal attacks).
 ** Illness stinger (3 points): Requires the whipping stinger upgrade to be purchased. Upgrades the stinger to be [[illness]]-inducing, replacing the 1d4 poison with 1d4 disease damage identical to the stinger of [[Scorpius]]. This applies to both the hero's normal attacks and auto-attacks.
 * Swimming (2 points): Grants the hero the ability to [[swim]] and protects the hero's inventory from water damage while The Scorpion Carapace is worn.
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 * Impurity (2 points): Requires 5 [[insight]]. The hero's natural DR and the DR of their pets is increased by 3&mdash;natural DR stacks as root-sum-of-squares with DR from armor, so a hero's effective DR becomes <code>sqrt(natural² + armor²)</code>, which is almost always a negligible increase.
 * Wings (2 points): Requires the hero to see a [[vermiurge]], which in turn requires 30 insight. The Scorpion Carapace grants [[flight]] while worn.
-* Claws (2 points): Requires the hero to see a vermiurge. The Scorpion Carapace grants two additional vermiurge claw attacks while worn, which each deal 3d10 [[physical damage]] in melee and are considered unarmed attacks.
+* Claws (2 points): Requires the hero to see a vermiurge. The Scorpion Carapace grants two additional vermiurge [[claw attack]]s while worn, which each deal 3d10 [[physical damage]] in melee and are considered unarmed attacks.
 * Crown of vermin (3 points): Requires both the hero to see a vermiurge and for a vermiurge to die regardless of if the hero was the one to kill them. The Scorpion Carapace grants a weaker version of the vermiurge's insect aura while worn, which stores up to 333 points of damage and deals up to 6d6 damage per turn to nearby monsters&mdash;stored damage recovers at a rate of 10 points per turn, and it applies an additional amount of DR equal to the stored damage divided by 100 to the hero's head/[[helm]] slot.
 {{variant-343}}

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 ==Description==
-While worn, The Scorpion Carapace grants 2 base [[AC]] and 2 base [[DR]] and [[poison resistance]], and gives the wearer an additional 1d4 [[poison]] [[sting]] attack when fighting in melee combat like that of a scorpion. It can be safely [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchanted]] to +7.
+While worn, The Scorpion Carapace grants 2 base [[AC]] and 2 base [[DR]] and [[poison resistance]], and gives the wearer an additional 1d4 [[poison]] [[sting attack]] when fighting in melee combat like that of a scorpion. It can be safely [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchanted]] to +7.
 ===Artifact experience===

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   |cost=3000
   |weight=39
 }}

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 [[Scale mail]] randomly generated on the ground has a base {{frac|20}} of being made into an artifact, which will always be The Scorpion Carapace if it has not yet been generated.
-A [[scorpion]] has a {{frac|20}} chance of dropping The Scorpion Carapace upon death, which is reduced to {{frac|400}} if the scorpion was [[revived]]: scorpions killed on the [[Ranger quest]] will never drop the Carapace, and [[Caveman/dNetHack|Cavepeople]] have a {{frac|3}} chance of obtaining the artifact this way (or {{frac|60}} if the scorpion was revived).
+A [[scorpion]] has a base {{frac|20}} chance of dropping The Scorpion Carapace upon death, which is reduced to {{frac|400}} if the scorpion was [[revived]]: scorpions killed on the [[Ranger quest]] will never drop the Carapace, and [[Caveman/dNetHack|Cavepeople]] have a higher {{frac|3}} chance of obtaining the artifact this way (or {{frac|60}} if the scorpion was revived).
 ==Description==

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   |whencarried=none
   |used=worn
-  |whenused=<ul><li>[[poison resistance]]</li><li>wearer gains 1d4 [[poison]] [[sting]]</li><li>can safely [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchant]] to +7</li><li>gains experience while worn (see article)</li></ul>
+  |whenused=<ul><li>[[poison resistance]]</li><li>grants wear additional 1d4 [[poison]] [[sting attack]]</li><li>can safely [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchant]] to +7</li><li>gains experience while worn</li><li>can be upgraded further (see article)</li></ul>
   |wheninvoked=<ul><li>open upgrade menu</li></ul>
   |cost=3000

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 * Claws (2 points): Requires the hero to see a vermiurge. The Scorpion Carapace grants two additional vermiurge claw attacks while worn, which each deal 3d10 [[physical damage]] in melee and are considered unarmed attacks.
 * Crown of vermin (3 points): Requires both the hero to see a vermiurge and for a vermiurge to die regardless of if the hero was the one to kill them. The Scorpion Carapace grants a weaker version of the vermiurge's insect aura while worn, which stores up to 333 points of damage and deals up to 6d6 damage per turn to nearby monsters&mdash;stored damage recovers at a rate of 10 points per turn, and it applies an additional amount of DR equal to the stored damage divided by 100 to the hero's head/[[helm]] slot.
 {{variant-343}}
 [[Category:dNetHack artifacts]]
 [[Category:notdNetHack artifacts]]
 [[Category:notnotdNetHack artifacts]]

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 ==Description==
-While worn, The Scorpion Carapace grants [[poison resistance]] and gives the wearer an additional 1d4 [[poison]] [[sting]] attack. It can be safely [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchanted]] to +7.
+While worn, The Scorpion Carapace grants 2 base [[AC]] and 2 base [[DR]] and [[poison resistance]], and gives the wearer an additional 1d4 [[poison]] [[sting]] attack when fighting in melee combat like that of a scorpion. It can be safely [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchanted]] to +7.
 ===Artifact experience===
-The Scorpion Carapace is a very unique artifact that gains [[experience]] while worn: whenever the [[hero]] gains experience in any way other than level gain while wearing the artifact, it gets that same amount of experience and gains one upgrade point per level earned&mdash;The Scorpion Carapace effectively starts at level 10 for the purposes of experience required, and can gain only 20 levels worth of upgrades, which is less than the total cost of all possible upgrades. Upgrades can be "refunded" by zapping the Carapace with the {{+ of|drain life}} spell or a [[wand of draining]].
+The Scorpion Carapace is a very unique artifact that gains [[experience]] while worn: whenever the [[hero]] gains experience in any way other than level gain while wearing the artifact, it gets that same amount of experience and gains one upgrade point per level earned&mdash;The Scorpion Carapace effectively starts at level 10 for the purposes of experience required, and can gain only 20 levels worth of upgrades, which is less than the total cost of all possible upgrades. [[Invoking]] The Scorpion Carapace opens the upgrade menu that the hero can apply their desired upgrades in, and these upgrades can be "refunded" by zapping the Carapace with the {{+ of|drain life}} spell or a [[wand of draining]].
 ===Upgrades===
-The list of upgrades are as follows:
+The list of upgrades for The Scorpion Carapace are as follows, with higher-level upgrades placed in a bulleted list entry under their required upgrades:
-*Hard scales (1 point): Upgrades the AC/DR to 3/3, up from 2/2, reversing the AC downgrade from being chitin instead of iron.
-*Plates (2 points): Requires the hard scales upgrade to be purchased. Upgrades the AC/DR to 7/7.
+* Hard scales (1 point): Upgrades the base [[AC]] and [[DR]] of The Scorpion Carapace to 3 each, reversing the AC downgrade from being chitin instead of [[iron]].
-*Flexible links (1 point): Becomes light armor.
+** Plates (2 points): Requires the hard scales upgrade to be purchased. Upgrades the base AC and DR of The Scorpion Carapace to 7/7.
-*Whipping stinger (2 points): Gains a poisonous stinger, which auto-attacks up to 1 adjacent target per game turn, dealing 1d4 poison damage (identical to the one added to your normal attacks).
+* Flexible links (1 point): Becomes light armor.
-*Illness stinger (3 points): Requires the whipping stinger upgrade to be purchased. Upgrades the stinger to be illness-inducing, replacing the 1d4 poison with 1d4 disease damage (identical to [[Scorpius|Scorpius's]] stinger. This applies to both your normal attacks and the auto-attack.
+* Whipping stinger (2 points): Gains a poisonous stinger, which auto-attacks up to 1 adjacent target per game turn for 1d4 poison damage (identical to the one added to the hero's normal attacks).
-*Swimming (2 points): Grants the ability to swim and protects your inventory from water damage when worn.
+** Illness stinger (3 points): Requires the whipping stinger upgrade to be purchased. Upgrades the stinger to be [[illness]]-inducing, replacing the 1d4 poison with 1d4 disease damage identical to the stinger of [[Scorpius]]. This applies to both the hero's normal attacks and auto-attacks.
-*Acid resistance (1 point): Requires having seen a soldier ant to become available. Grants acid resistance when worn.
+* Swimming (2 points): Grants the hero the ability to [[swim]] and protects the hero's inventory from water damage while The Scorpion Carapace is worn.
-*Fire resistance (1 point): Requires having seen a fire ant. Grants fire resistance when worn.
+* Acid resistance (1 point): Requires the hero to see a [[soldier ant]]. The Scorpion Carapace grants [[acid resistance]] while worn.
-*Shields (2 points): Requires having seen a beetle. Requires no shield is already worn, but does not require a free hand. Counts as 1 AC plus any bonuses from your shield skill, and trains and uses shield skill.
+* Fire resistance (1 point): Requires the hero to see a [[fire ant]]. The Scorpion Carapace grants [[fire resistance]] while worn.
-*Teleportation (1 point): Requires having seen a phase spider. Grants [[teleportitis]].
+* Shields (2 points): Requires the hero to see a [[giant beetle]], and cannot be applied if they are wearing a [[shield]] (though it does not require a free hand). The Scorpion Carapace counts for 1 base AC as from a worn shield, including any bonuses from the hero's [[Shield (skill)|shield]] [[skill]], and blocking attacks with the artifact trains and uses the shield skill.
-*Teleport control (1 point): Requires having seen a phase spider.
+* Teleportation (1 point): Requires the hero to see a [[phase spider]]. The Scorpion Carapace grants [[teleportitis]] while worn.
-*Drain resistance (1 point): Requires having seen a demonic black widow, the spider form of a [[yochlol]]. Grants drain resistance.
+* Teleport control (1 point): Requires the hero to see a phase spider. The Scorpion Carapace grants [[teleport control]] while worn.
-*Impurity (2 points): Requires 5 insight. Adds 3 to your natural DR, and 3 to pet DR. Natural DR stacks as root-sum-of-squares with your DR from armor, so your effective DR becomes <code>sqrt(natural² + armor²)</code>, which is almost always a negligible increase.
+* Drain resistance (1 point): Requires the hero to see a [[demonic black widow]] (the [[spider]] form of a yochlol). The Scorpion Carapace grants [[drain resistance]] while worn.
-*Wings (2 points): Requires having seen a [[vermiurge]]. Grants flight.
+* Impurity (2 points): Requires 5 [[insight]]. The hero's natural DR and the DR of their pets is increased by 3&mdash;natural DR stacks as root-sum-of-squares with DR from armor, so a hero's effective DR becomes <code>sqrt(natural² + armor²)</code>, which is almost always a negligible increase.
-*Claws (2 points): Requires having seen a vermiurge. Adds two vermiurge claw attacks, each dealing 3d10 physical damage in melee. As claw attacks, these are considered to be unarmed attacks for the player character.
+* Wings (2 points): Requires the hero to see a [[vermiurge]]. The Scorpion Carapace grants [[flight]] while worn.
-*Crown of vermin (3 points): Requires having seen a vermiurge, and for one to have died (you do not need to be credited with the kill). Adds a weaker version of a vermiurge insect aura. Stores up to 333 points of damage, and deals up to 6d6 damage per turn to nearby monsters. Stored damage recovers at a rate of 10 points per turn. Also applies store/100 DR to your head slot.
+* Claws (2 points): Requires the hero to see a vermiurge. The Scorpion Carapace grants two additional vermiurge claw attacks while worn, which each deal 3d10 [[physical damage]] in melee and are considered unarmed attacks.
 {{stub}}
 {{variant-343}}