Ice dragon scales: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:35, 13 February 2026

Version 0.34: 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

Ice dragon scales offer nearly the same AC as plate armour with much lower encumbrance, making them good for casters and EV-based fighters who can afford a bit more weight, and melee brutes with no heavier scales available. Still, it's often best to wait until you have a source of fire resistance before wearing these, in order to offset the rF-; taking 150% damage from fire can be dangerous.

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

Armour
Body Armour	Leather armour • Ring mail • Scale mail • Chain mail • Plate armour • Crystal plate armour Robe • Animal skin • Troll leather armour • Steam dragon scales • Acid dragon scales • Swamp dragon scales • Quicksilver dragon scales • Fire dragon scales • Ice dragon scales Pearl dragon scales • Shadow dragon scales • Storm dragon scales • Golden dragon scales
Miscellaneous	Hat • Helmet • Cloak • Scarf • Gloves • Boots • Barding
Shields	Buckler • Kite shield • Tower shield • Orb

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 ==Desirability==
-Compared to [[fire dragon scales]], ice dragon scales offer +1 base AC (and +1 max [[enchant]]ment) 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".
+Ice dragon scales offer nearly the same AC as [[plate armour]] with much lower encumbrance, making them good for casters and [[EV]]-based fighters who can afford a bit more weight, and melee brutes with no heavier scales available. Still, it's often best to wait until you have a source of fire resistance before wearing these, in order to offset the rF-; taking 150% damage from fire can be dangerous.
-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.
 [[Troll]]s and [[Oni]], unable to wear normal [[plate armour]], may want to wear these even without fire resistance. Just be careful with it.