Dragon-scaled armor
let her cook
Dragon-scaled armor
Originally proposed by dtsund, and sometimes referred to as dtsund-DSM, dragon-scaled armor is a replacement and rebalancing of dragon scale mail that has made an appearance in several variants. Across all implementations, dragon scales are changed to be worn as cloaks, and reading a scroll of enchant armor will always cause worn dragon scales to meld into a worn set of body armor, adding the conferred extrinsic(s) of the dragon scales to the armor itself. If the player is wearing dragon scales but no body armor and attempts to enchant their armor, the dragon scales will meld into the player's skin, polymorphing them into a dragon of the same color. The scales are not lost if this happens, and they simply return to the player's inventory once the polymorph ends.
Wishing for dragon-scaled armor directly no longer works, requiring the player to craft the armor themself.
The proposal was first implemented into NetHack Fourk, and has seen further usage in xNetHack, EvilHack, and Hack'EM, each with varying minor details about how the new process works.
A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:
"write the other variants' sections"
NetHack Fourk
In NetHack Fourk, dragon scales provide no benefit to AC, only granting their color's extrinsics and being used to scale armor. The armor-scaling process always uncurses the body armor and makes it erodeproof, additionally blessing the armor and fixing any existing erosion if the scroll of enchant armor was itself blessed.
Most colors of dragon scales and dragon-scaled armor confer two properties, similar but not identical to the secondary extrinsics added in the upcoming NetHack 3.7.0:
| Color | Extrinsics |
|---|---|
| Blue | shock resistance, automatic searching |
| Black | disintegration resistance, drain resistance |
| Gray | magic resistance |
| Green | poison resistance, sickness resistance |
| Orange | sleep resistance, free action |
| Red | fire resistance, infravision |
| Silver | reflection |
| White | cold resistance, inventory protection from water damage |
| Yellow | acid resistance, stoning resistance |
Red and white dragon scales (and scaled armor) also grant a fire or cold breath weapon respectively, accessible via #monster. This breath weapon is overridden if the player is polymorphed into another monster with a special ability.
xNetHack
Dragon scales in xNetHack convey their extrinsic(s), AC 3, and MC 0. Scaling a set of armor adds the scales' 3 AC to the armor along with the extrinsics. A blessed scroll blesses the resulting armor and repairs all erosion, but the process never erodeproofs the armor. A non-cursed scroll retains the original body armor's enchantment, while a cursed scroll will subtract one point of enchantment and additionally curse the armor. Reading the scroll while confused will polymorph you into the relevant color dragon, regardless of whether you're wearing body armor.
Being based on 3.7.0, xNetHack makes no changes to the extrinsics conveyed by dragon scales and dragon scale mail, including the existence of gold dragon scales and all the secondary extrinsics as they appear in 3.7.0.
EvilHack
EvilHack largely draws its implementation from xNetHack, with some minor adjustments. Dragon scales are still AC 3, but scaling a set of armor adds 5 AC to the armor. Wearing dragon scales only confers their primary extrinsic, as vanilla dragon scales act prior to 3.7.0, and the secondary extrinsic can only be accessed by making dragon-scaled armor. Wishing for "<foo> dragon scale mail" will give the player "a set of <foo> dragon scales" instead of just failing outright.
EvilHack adds several new dragon colors, and makes a number of changes to the secondary extrinsics that dragon-scaled armor confers compared to xNetHack and 3.7.0:
