Dragon scales
[[[[[[[[[         <color> dragon scales | |
|---|---|
| Appearance | <color> dragon scales |
| Slot | body armor |
| AC | 3 |
| Special | <Varies by color> |
| Base price | (red, blue, white, orange, yellow, green) 500 zm (black, gray, silver) 700 zm |
| Weight | 40 |
| Material | dragon hide |
Dragon scales are a type of non-magical body armor that appears in NetHack. They are made of dragon hide.
Contents
Generation
Dragon scales are not randomly generated, though they can be wished for or found in bones.
Adult dragons that leave a corpse behind on death (i.e. always, unless killed by disintegration) have a 1⁄3 chance of leaving behind dragon scales, while a dragon that was revived by the wand of undead turning or spell of turn undead only has a 1⁄20 chance to leave behind dragon scales along with their corpse.[1] Dragon scales are always generated +0 and uncursed.[2]
Description
While worn, dragon scales confer 3 base AC and different extrinsic properties depending on their color:
Reading a non-cursed scroll of enchant armor that targets worn dragon scales will turn them into dragon scale mail, and a blessed scroll will additionally grant one point of enchantment - dragon scales enchanted above +3 may evaporate when attempting to make them into mail, regardless of whether the process would increase its enchantment. Uncontrolled polymorphing while wearing dragon scales or dragon scale mail will turn your character into that color of dragon, which reverts worn dragon scale mail to scales of the same enchantment if applicable, and destroys other body armor as normal[3][4][5] - while polymorphed this way, the scales will be described as "(embedded in your skin)" and will not function as armor; any further polymorph from this form into a monster that is large or bigger will destroy the dragon scales.
Black, gray and silver dragon scales have a base cost of 700zm, while all others have a base cost of 500.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Gold dragon scales are added per commit 5a09a01a along with the corresponding dragons, and act as a light source while worn. Per commit ef1eeed7, they and other dragon scales that are not gray or silver grant additional extrinsics while worn - the dragon scale extrinsics for 3.7 as of this commit are listed below:Strategy
Dragon scales are incredibly valuable for their ability to be made into dragon scale mail, but are not of as much use themselves: they have the same extrinsics, weight and lack of spellcasting penalties as dragon scale mail, but confer much less AC. Dragon scales that are not converted into mail are typically kept as backups to make replacement mail or spare mail for a pet, or else are the result of an unfortunate encounter with a polymorph trap or other source of polymorph.
A character that is able to reliably kill adult dragons or otherwise acquire their scales and knows the scroll of enchant armor can massively increase their AC and survival chances at worst. Be careful when making mail out of dragon scales that are +4 or higher, since they may evaporate like other non-elven armor. While most characters will prefer gray or silver dragon scales for their mail, there are other instances where another color may be sought out, e.g. a dire need to improve AC or lower inventory weight (especially if lacking a bag of holding), or conducts such as illiterate and wishless that either complicate or otherwise prevent access to silver dragon mail and/or other options. For details on figuring out which set of scales may be best for your particular character, see the strategy section on the dragon scale mail article, as well as the GDSM versus SDSM article.
Acquiring dragon scales
There are many methods to generate adult dragons and acquire their scales, with a non-exhaustive list provided below:
- Dragons can generate in throne rooms deep in the main dungeon branch. They can also be generated by looting a throne while confused - note that this has a 1⁄10 chance of marking the throne as looted and prevent further monster generation using that throne.
- Dragons are also generated on level creation within the quest branch for some roles, as well as Fort Ludios and the Castle.
- Reading a cursed scroll of genocide can generate dragons of a desired color to kill.
- Polymorph into a female dragon of the desired color, lay some eggs via the #sit extended command, hatch the eggs and raise the resulting baby dragons to adulthood, and then have them die in some manner (e.g. a monster's passive attack or a trap), or else leave them on another floor so that they un-tame (ideally becoming hostile).
- These avoid direct penalties for attacking and/or killing them yourself, which some players still opt to do if they believe they can handle or compensate for the penalties.
- The wand of undead turning and spell of turn undead can revive a dragon's corpse multiple times, though with a significantly reduced chance of scales generating once it is killed again.[1]
- The spell in particular can be made viable with a source of energy restoration or regeneration, such as The Mitre of Holiness or The Eye of the Aethiopica.
- Allow a monster of the appropriate alignment to cast the summon nasties monster spell until the desired dragon is created.
- Remember that blue, gray and white dragons cannot be created this way, and the nasties summoned can include other casters, which can quickly overwhelm a character especially if they get bad die rolls or are not diligent in threat management.
- While very unreliable, it is possible to polymorph a pet into the desired color of adult dragon using a polymorph trap, then leave it on another floor or have it killed as necessary.
Dragon caging
If you are reverse genociding dragons with a character that is either not strong enough to kill them in normal combat, or else want to kill them as quickly as possible, you can do so in a closed-off area that prevents them from escaping, fighting back or using their breath weapon on you via the methods described below:
You can dig a 3x3 square in the rock behind a closet, and either lock the door or use a boulder to block the entrance. Stand on a scroll of scare monster so that the dragons will not attack you in melee: the room will keep them in melee range and prevent them from using their breath weapon (which monsters only use at a distance) - a permanent Elbereth engraving is an acceptable alternative if you plan to rely on pets to kill the dragons for you. Beware of any tunneling monsters such as umber hulks interfering with your setup!
The Castle also has a suitable room for use with this method if you reach the level without dragon scale mail, particularly if you are observing a conduct (e.g. illiterate or wishless) or else are looking to save on wishes: the room with the wand of wishing in a chest also includes a guaranteed cursed scroll of scare monster on the floor - there are two positions in the room where a dragon can use their breath weapon from, and you can block them off with boulders generated by a scroll of earth (ideally a cursed one). The walls are undiggable, negating the threat of disruption by digging monsters.
It is also possible to do the above within Sokoban, using the scroll of scare monster in the treasure zoo of the top floor, by digging a hole on the scroll's square and having it fall through - this is luck-reliant, since it will need to land somewhere that a boulder fort can be arranged; if it does not, you can move the scroll into a more suitable position by kicking it into a wall or monster, or else digging another hole (which stops working upon reaching the lowest floor).
History
Dragon scales first appear in NetHack 3.1.0, with all varieties except for silver available - silver dragons and their scales and scale mail are introduced in NetHack 3.3.0.
From NetHack 3.0.0 to NetHack 3.0.10, including variants based on those versions, dragon scale mail is created by polymorphing the corpse of an appropriate-color dragon. NetHack 3.1.0 introduces scales and establishes the current method for converting them into dragon scale mail.
In NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions, including some variants based on those versions, Elbereth is much more powerful, and "dragon cages" as described above can be made more easily using a permanent series of repeated Elbereths on a single square. Throne farming is also much more viable due to being repeatable indefinitely.
Variants
In some variants, dragon scale mail is phased out in favor of dragon-scaled armor, whose implementation is based on a proposal by dtsund. Instead of being made into mail of its own, the dragon scales are treated as a cloak, and reading a scroll of enchant armor melds them onto a worn set of body armor, generally augmenting that armor by adding its AC and conferred extrinsic properties to it.
Scrolls of enchant armor will always target worn dragon scales instead of other worn items: a blessed scroll will bless the body armor that the scales are melded to and repair any erosion (but will not erodeproof it), while a cursed scroll will cursed the body armor and lower its enchantment by 1 point. If the armor is already dragon-scaled, fusing another set of scales replaces the previous color. If reading a scroll of enchant armor while wearing scales without body armor, your character will polymorph into the matching type of dragon, with polymorph control allowing you to choose whether to transfor - if read while confused and wearing both scales and body armor, the scales fuse into the armor before your character polymorphs into a dragon.
Dragon-scaled armor is implemented in NetHack Fourk, xNetHack, EvilHack, and Hack'EM - these implementations differ from the proposal and from each other, and are covered in detail by the article linked above.
Several variants also give dragon scale mail additional properties while worn, and may even introduce other forms of dragon scale armor.
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM adds two new colors of dragon scales (and dragon scale mail):
| Color | Extrinsic |
|---|---|
| Shimmering | displacement |
| Deep | drain resistance |
Baby dragons are more commonly encountered in the dungeon, but take much longer to grow up into adult form; polymorphing for monsters works as it does for the player character, meaning that pets cannot be polymorphed for their death drops. The Wyrm Caves can more than compensate for this, guaranteeing the appearance of several adult dragons within the level. Most other strategies for obtaining scales in NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier are still applicable, and other colors may be sought out depending on the character build and their access to magic resistance and reflection (e.g. yellow dragon scales to deal with shoggoths or deep dragon scales to provide drain resistance).
SporkHack
SporkHack adds gold dragon scales, which act as a permanent light source while worn. Most sets of dragon scales (and dragon scale mail) are also given a secondary extrinsic:
| Color | Extrinsic | Secondary extrinsic |
|---|---|---|
| Blue | shock resistance | speed |
| Black | disintegration resistance | passive blinding attack |
| Gold | light source | none |
| Gray | magic resistance | none |
| Green | poison resistance | passive poison attack |
| Orange | sleep resistance | passive slow attack |
| Red | fire resistance | +1d6 to all melee damage |
| Silver | reflection | none |
| White | cold resistance | freezes water and lava under foot |
| Yellow | acid resistance | stun and confusion resistance |
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, dragon scales confer only 1 point of base AC. The powers of dragons and their scales (and scale mails) are also randomized in each game:
| Appearances | Powers (randomized each game) |
|---|---|
| tatzelworm | "magic" |
| amphitere | "reflecting" |
| draken | "fire" |
| lindworm | "ice" |
| sarkany | "sleep" |
| sirrush | "disintegration" |
| leviathan | "electric" |
| wyvern | "poison" |
| glowing* | "stone"** |
| guivre | "acid" |
| chromatic | all |
A glowing dragon will always emit light within a 2-square radius of itself - glowing dragon scales (and glowing dragon scale mail) do the same while worn. The dragon that produces stone dragon scales will always have a breath weapon that creates lava.
UnNetHack also makes significant changes to wishing rules: In particular, wands of wishing only have 0-2 charges (plus 1 wrest), and only wishes from wands can be used for magical items such as dragon scale mail, magic markers, scrolls of genocide, and scrolls of enchant armor.
Dragon scales are still non-magical items as in NetHack, and can be obtained from any wish source in UnNetHack - any set of dragon scales can be wished for by appearance (e.g. wishing for "guivre scales", or "guivre scale mail" from a wand of wishing, will always work). To wish for dragon armor by its corresponding power, the armor must be formally identified first, e.g. by using a scroll of identify on dropped dragon scales (which identifies the matching scale mail along with it) or by witnessing the dragon use its breath weapon. The name of the power can then be used in the wish, e.g. "reflecting dragon scale mail".
dNetHack
In dNetHack and notdNetHack, dragon scales are given one or more secondary properties similar to SporkHack and other variants, and can be made into dragon scale mail as well as dragon scale shields: reading a scroll of enchant armor while confused will harden worn dragon scales into a shield. Some properties are particular to a given type of dragon scales or scale armor. Dragon scales and dragon scale mail also weigh 150 aum. Deep dragons and shimmering dragons are added along with their scales.
FIQHack
FIQHack implements the shimmering dragon and its scales (and scale mail). Dragon scales now weigh 300 aum, and the weight of all worn armor is halved.
Dragon scales (and dragon scale mail) confer additional benefits while worn:
| Color | Extrinsic | Secondary extrinsic |
|---|---|---|
| Blue | shock resistance | speed, slowing resistance |
| Black | disintegration resistance | drain resistance |
| Gray | magic resistance | none |
| Green | poison resistance | sickness resistance |
| Orange | sleep resistance | free action |
| Red | fire resistance | infravision, warning, see invisible |
| Shimmering | Displacement | stun resistance |
| Silver | reflection | behaves like vanilla reflection (reflects dragonbreath and rays from wands used at Skilled or higher) |
| White | cold resistance | automatic searching, swimming, magical breathing, wetproof inventory |
| Yellow | acid resistance | stoning resistance |
xNetHack
In xNetHack's implementation of dtsund-DSM, the additional extrinsics that were added to most scales in 3.7.0 only apply to dragon-scaled armor and not to the scales by themselves.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM's implementation of dtsund-DSM, dragon-scaled armor provides an additional extrinsic and a passive attack. In the table below, a set of scales provides only the primary extrinsic, while a suit of dragon-scaled armor provides all three benefits. Passive attacks marked with an asterisk (*) may affect attackers' items.
| Color | Primary extrinsic | Secondary extrinsic | Passive attack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | disintegration resistance | slow digestion | disintegration* |
| Blue | shock resistance | very fast speed | shock* |
| Deep | drain resistance | stability (hurtling resistance) | level drain |
| Gold | light source | automatic searching | blinding |
| Gray | magic resistance | protection from cancellation | cancellation* |
| Green | poison resistance | sickness resistance | poison |
| Orange | sleep resistance | free action | slowing |
| Red | fire resistance | +1d6 melee damage | fire* |
| Shimmering | displacement | stealth, warning, and see invisible | confusion, stunning, and slowing |
| Silver | reflection | blinding resistance | scares like a mirror |
| Sea | magical breathing | swimming | rust* |
| White | cold resistance | freeze water and lava underfoot | cold* |
| Yellow | acid resistance | stoning resistance | acid* |
Encyclopedia entry
Stephen had argued, and the expert armorer had grudgingly
admitted, that dragonscale shield or armor, provided it proved
feasible to make at all, ought to offer some real, practical
advantages over any metal breastplate or shield -- gram for
gram of weight, such a defense would probably be a lot
tougher and more protective than any human smiths could
make of steel.
[ The Last Book of Swords: Shieldbreaker's Story,
by Fred Saberhagen ]
