Ice dragon scales

Version 0.32: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Name	Ice dragon scales
Size to wear	Any
Armour Class	9
Encumbrance rating	11
Maximum Enchantment	+9
Grants	rC++, rF-
Time to Wear	5

The scales of a cold-breathing dragon. It provides great protection from cold, while rendering its wearer more susceptible to fire.

Ice dragon scales are a medium-weight body armour. They provide 2 ranks of cold resistance (rC++), but 1 rank of fire vulnerability (rF-).

This item has a 33% chance to generate when you slay an ice dragon.

Desirability

Compared to fire dragon scales, ice dragon scales offer +1 base AC (and +1 max enchantment) and have the same encumbrance. However, players may prefer fire resistance or cold resistance. rFire is particularly important in Zot as orbs of fire exist, but there is no equivalent "orb of ice".

Otherwise, ice dragon scales offer nearly the same AC as plate armour with much lower encumbrance, making them good for casters/EV-based fighters who can afford the weight, or melee brutes with no heavier scales available. It's often best to wait until you have a source of fire resistance, as taking 150% damage from fire can be dangerous.

Paradoxically, a Fire Magic specialist may actually find these scales useful: combined with a staff of fire and a ring of fire, such a character would have two spell enhancers, and a level each of fire and cold resistance.

Trolls and Oni, unable to wear normal plate armour, may want to wear these even without fire resistance. Just be careful with it.

History

• Prior to 0.19, ice dragon scales were called ice dragon armour, and it was obtained by using a scroll of enchant armour on a ice dragon hide.

Ice dragon scales	Image
Mundane
Artefact