Dragon scale mail
Dragon scale mail is the strongest single piece of armour available. Its base AC reduction is 9, for a weight of 50 and an extremely useful intrinsic. The most coveted varieties are silver dragon scale mail, for reflection, and gray dragon scale mail for magic resistance. Dragon scale mail, like dragon scales themselves, does not hinder spellcasting at all.
DSM may be acquired quite simply; kill a dragon, put on any scales it drops, and read a scroll of enchant armor at them. Given that a scroll of enchant armor affects a random piece of worn armor, be certain to wear nothing but the scales when undergoing this process. If you have any extra scrolls of genocide and scrolls of enchant armor, this may be quite useful for making money. Reverse genocide a species of dragon, produce DSM, and sell it. Dragon scales are worth 500-700 zorkmids, while DSM is worth 900-1200 zorkmids. Also, DSM is considered to be magical armor for the purposes of polypiling; plain scales are not.
Other ways to acquire DSM:
- via wish (e.g. blessed +2 silver dragon scale mail)
- polymorph into a dragon of desired variety and hatch some eggs (#sit command), grow those babies (into non-baby silver dragons), get them killed (possibly with a passive attack or a trap, and with any luck, they will drop dragon scales), wear those scales (and nothing else) and recite a non-cursed scroll of enchant armor
