Power Dragon -Of Craftsmanship

[Sky]

so, i just found something.

i was on DL52 and found something i was about to squelch, a Power Dragon Scale Mail of Craftsmanship;

[60, +33] resists: everything except nether. seriosuly, 4 elements + poison, light and dark, sound and shards, chaos, disenchant.
activates for AOE 300 dmg (which i apparently increase by 66%)

im currently CL37.


wow, this thing is insane; how is this not an artifact? But really, my question is...

does this mean that "-of craftsmanship" is just the AOE activation?
if i understand this correctly, is it also possible to find a PDSC of Speed? Because i've seen regular dragon scale mails of speed, i just though that not having any reasonable resists was pointless.
And if yes, is a Power Dragon Scale Mail of Speed the ultimate OP item in vanilla?

[nikheizen]

PDSM is the best chest armour in the game.
It comes with the breath activation normally.
Craftsmanship just means high +AC afaik.

Nice pickup.

[Sky]

i've been very lucky this game; helm of telepathy at DL7 or so, pot of exp at DL12 (dropped by a soldier, lol), Aduril found on DL34 in a tiny vault guarded only by a single Great Wyrm, when i had found a wand of TO just a couple levels before.

anyway, back to my question; since any dragon scale mail can have the -of craftsmanship suffix, does this mean that it can also have -of speed?

btw, i have never seen (legit) Bladeturner, although i did find the one ring once, quite early OOD too; i tend to think that outside of Deathwreacker for pure damage, the two best artis in the game are the Great Axe of Durin (for the Mban activation) and ... i can't remember, but it's the plate armor that activates for !*heal*. (i also love the cloak that activates for elemental resists, great for fighting uniques)
This PDSM is up there with them .. if -of speed exists, it might even top them.

[Will]

Craftsmanship just means high +AC afaik.

I think it also removes the encumbrance malus.

anyway, back to my question; since any dragon scale mail can have the -of craftsmanship suffix, does this mean that it can also have -of speed?

Yes it's possible (I guess the odds aren't good, though).

[Derakon]

Fun fact: the Craftsmanship ego was specifically added to make the Speed ego less common. For a little while in the 3.x days, DSM of Speed was worringly common.

[Pete Mack]

The real winner is Dwarven PDSM

[Estie]

I liked the "of sustenance" suffix for DSM. Why did it get removed
I feel that of speed is overrated though; I think I had one case where using one enabled me to replace a speed ring or so, but that was one of those games where I played past the point of winning. I prefer dwarven DSM, the stats are usually useful.

Edit: I once found 2 dwarven PDSMs in one game, and they stacked. I am sure its one of my dumps, but I cant find out which one. I really need to save a link to that dump.

[Sky]

-dwarven is +2 STR, +2 CON, prevent paralysis. not really that good; if anything, a dwarven shield is pretty decent, with attack bonuses AND str + con.

[Pete Mack]

Dwarven Power DSM is better than any artifact armor in the game. It is insanely overpowered, though it is very rare. Dwarven Balance DSM and MHDSM are artifact quality as well, and significantly more common.

[Derakon]

Yep. Keep in mind that STR and CON are both highly valuable stats for all characters. And only a few artifacts give it in the body armor slot. For similar reasons, +speed on body armor is very powerful; it gives you flexibility in your other, more valuable slots that would ordinarily have to be dedicated to giving you speed.

I think the underlying cause here is the body armor slot not usually being that important. It usually gives AC (not hugely valuable) and resists, which are also available from many other slots.

[Pete Mack]

DSM of speed is on average +3, which isn't going to free up a slot except in usual situations. +5 is enough to free up a slot for a Ring of Power, but it REALLY rare for the high DSMs. Dwarven +2 is more common.

[Will]

It usually gives AC (not hugely valuable)

AC can be really nice in the midgame, but it has to be a huge difference to be felt. I remember using Gondricam circa dlvl 30-40 and I could really feel the +50 AC.

Body armours are usually nice for their activations, too.

DSM of speed is on average +3, which isn't going to free up a slot except in usual situations. +5 is enough to free up a slot for a Ring of Power, but it REALLY rare for the high DSMs. Dwarven +2 is more common.

Now there's a chance to get speed from various items so sometimes it can help swap out e.g. an amulet. I tend to favour low speed items if they help me reach a plateau (+10 or +20). Speed is always welcome and it's nice to have another potential source of it. I found a couple of speed DSM during my last run so they didn't seem to be *that* rare.

[Sky]

i would see it the other way around; you get EVERY resist except nether from PDSM, which means you can pick whatever gear you need for stat boosting and +dam.

[Sky]

PSA - having a PDSM does *not* make you invincible.

jesus, this game ...

[Derakon]

DSM of speed is on average +3, which isn't going to free up a slot except in usual situations. +5 is enough to free up a slot for a Ring of Power, but it REALLY rare for the high DSMs. Dwarven +2 is more common.

That's the other thing -- DSM of speed used to have significantly higher pvals. I think the cap was +10 in the first iteration. That wisely got toned down in the next version.