Dragon scale mail
[[[[[[[[[         <color> dragon scale mail | |
|---|---|
| Appearance | <color> dragon scale mail |
| Slot | body armor |
| AC | 9 |
| Special |
|
| Base price | 900-1200 zm |
| Weight | 40 |
| Material | dragon hide |
[[[[[[[[[         <color> dragon scales | |
|---|---|
| Appearance | <color> dragon scales |
| Slot | body armor |
| AC | 3 |
| Special |
|
| Base price | 500-700 zm |
| Weight | 40 |
| Material | dragon hide |
Dragon scale mail (commonly abbreviated to DSM) is the strongest single piece of body armor available. Its base AC reduction is 9, it weighs only 40, provides a useful extrinsic, is inherently erodeproof, and doesn't hinder spellcasting.
Dragon scales are body armor that might be dropped by a dragon. They have a base AC reduction of only 3, but are otherwise identical to the dragon scale mail of the same color. They can be converted into dragon scale mail.
The most coveted varieties are silver dragon scale mail (SDSM) for reflection and gray dragon scale mail (GDSM) for magic resistance.
Contents
Colors
The following table shows the extrinsic abilities provided by each color of dragon scales or dragon scale mail:
Black, gray, and silver dragon scale mail cost 1200 zm, and their scales cost 700 zm. Other varieties cost 900 zm and 500 zm, respectively.
Polymorph
Polymorphing while wearing dragon scales or dragon scale mail turns you into a dragon of the same color, with the message "You merge with your scaly armor".[1]
Dragon scale mail is considered to be magical for purposes of object polymorph, whereas dragon scales are not.
Since scales and mail are never generated randomly, they cannot be obtained by polypiling.
Strategy
Making dragon scale mail
Dragon scale mail can be easily made from dragon scales:
- wear only the dragon scales you wish to convert
- read a non-cursed scroll of enchant armor
Acquiring dragon scale mail
Dragon scale mail is simple to acquire: kill a dragon that drops scales of the color you want and make mail out of them as described above.
The chance of a dragon dropping scales is 1/3, but this drops to 1/20 if the dragon is revived.[2]
If you want to obtain dragon scale mail by killing a dragon, here are some methods for generating dragons:
- polymorph into a dragon of desired variety and hatch some eggs (#sit command), grow those babies (into non-baby dragons), and get them killed (possibly with a passive attack or a trap)
- reverse genocide dragons
- use undead turning on a dragon corpse (but note that a revived dragon has a lower chance of dropping scales)
Aside from killing a dragon, the other ways to acquire dragon scale mail are:
- wish for one (e.g. blessed greased +2 silver dragon scale mail),
- obtain one from a bones pile,
- kill one of the player character monsters on the Astral plane, which have a chance of wearing dragon scale mail -- this method is almost useless, since you will in all likelihood need to already have dragon scale mail in order to make it to the Astral plane.
Gray or silver?
Gray and silver are widely considered the two best types of dragon scale mail, but players disagree as to which is more useful in particular circumstances. Gray provides magic resistance which protects against monster spells and polytraps; silver provides reflection which protects against wands and breath attacks.
