Ratskin cloak

Version 0.31: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

A cloak stitched from the hides of hundreds of hell rats by an enchantress with far 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%. If you worship a good god, only river rats are spawned.

Desirability

The ratskin cloak is a decent cloak, but not an amazing one. A +2 cloak of rPois and rN+ is better than most non-artefact cloaks; the minor stat boosts/penalties can largely be ignored. The rats help: hell rats can be surprisingly deadly in the early game, and even river rats can help you 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.