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Dragon Scale Mail 5e

January 18, 2024

Dragon Scale Mail 5e

Armor (scale mail), very rare (requires attunement)

Dragon scale mail is made of the scales of one kind of dragon. Sometimes dragons collect their cast-off scales and gift them to humanoids. Other times, hunters carefully skin and preserve the hide of a dead dragon. In either case, dragon scale mail is highly valued.

While wearing this armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC, you have advantage on saving throws against the Frightful Presence and breath weapons of dragons, and you have resistance to one damage type that is determined by the kind of a dragon that provided the scales (see the table).

Additionally, you can focus your senses as an action to magically discern the distance and direction to the closest dragon of the type of armor within 30 miles of you. This special action can't be used again until the next dawn.

Dragon Scale Mail Types and Damage Resistance Table

Dragon Resistance
Black Acid
Blue Lightning
Brass Fire
Bronze Lightning
Copper Acid
Gold Fire
Green Poison
Red Fire
Silver Cold
White Cold

Commentary by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

Dragon Scale Mail is the defensive alternative to Arrows of Slaying; they’re silver bullets aimed at protecting you from a single terrifying threat. They can still be handy on their own as magic armor, though, and are welcome additions to any medium armored character! 

  • The resistances offered directly correlate to the coresponding dragon’s breath weapon.

  • If no dragon of is within 30 miles of you, the final ability offered won’t give you any information.

  • The AC bonus works agnostic of enemy attacking you, being as effective against undead as the specific dragon it's made from.

  • Scale Mail is medium armor; it provides a base AC of 14 that you can add a maximum of +2 on from your Dextrity modifier.

  • The +1 bonus sets a typical character wearing this armor to an AC of 17 before other items and modifications.

  • While wearing Scale Mail, a character has disadvantage on all Stealth checks, not just those reliant on sound.

  • Some abilities remove this problem, such as the Medium Armor Master feat.

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and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 6.0.
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← Dwarven Plate 5eDemon Armor 5e →

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