Ratskin cloak

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A cloak stitched from the hides of hundreds of hell rats, by an enchantress with a magic loom and too much time on her hands. Many more rats remain somehow concealed within it, and may scurry out to assist the wearer.

the +2 ratskin cloak

+2 cloak

May summon rats when the wearer is hurt
-1 STR
-1 INT
+1 DEX
rPois
rN+

Mechanics

Each time you take damage, you may summon a rat, randomly chosen between a river rat and hell rat. The odds of summoning are equal to the proportion of your maximum health that was lost, capped at 50%.

Desirability

The ratskin cloak is a cloak of middling usefulness. The minor penalties to strength and intelligence can usually be ignored, but so can the rank of negative energy resistance. It has a decent enchantment, at least, and the poison resistance can be quite handy.

The cloak's main draw is the chance to create allies in dangerous situations. Hell rats can be surprisingly deadly, and even river rats can be useful for covering an escape.

This artefact is more likely to spawn in the early game, where it is more likely to be useful.

History

• Prior to 0.28, the ratskin cloak was considered an evil item and could summon rats your god disapproved of.
• Prior to 0.26, the summoning effect was an evokable ability, and the cloak was not considered an evil artefact.
• The ability to summon rats was added in 0.20.
• Prior to 0.19, this cloak had a +1 enchantment.