Eltex skullcap

The eltex skullcap is an item of clothing added by the Royalty DLC that improves psychic sensitivity and makes psycasters more effective.

It is one of a set of eltex items with similar effects that cover different parts of the body.

Acquisition

Eltex skullcaps cannot be crafted. Instead, they can only be purchased through trade or received as a quest reward.

They also spawn on Imperial Nobles.

Analysis

Offering no protection, no insulation, and low HP, the eltex skullcap is obviously neither a frontline helmet nor utility clothing. Instead it is exclusively focused on one task - buffing a psycaster. It offers the second largest buff to Psychic Sensitivity of any item, beaten only by the eltex staff, and the second largest buff to Neural heat recovery rate, second only to persona weapons with the Neural Cooling trait. On a pawn with maximum psylink, the gain to neural heat maximum is significant. A legendary skullcap offers enough additional neural heat capacity enough to entirely absorb the heat gain or of six casts of the 1st level Burden, or one cast of the 5th level Invisibility, while also offering faster regeneration.

However, in exchange it leaves the wearer's head completely unprotected. Loss of the head is obviously fatal, damage to the eyes significantly impairs effectiveness and damage to the brain is permanent and devastating even when not fatal. Care must be taken to keep the wearer out of harms way and if possible, a shield belt is recommended.

Compared to the eltex helmet the skullcap is essentially a complete upgrade. While the helmet does offer some armor and some insulation, it is so little that the armor piercing of almost all weapons in the game is sufficient to completely invalidate it, while the insulation gain is negligible. With effectively nothing to gain in return, there is little reason to choose the inferior buffs to psychic abilities that the helmet offers.

Compared to prestige power helmets, the skullcap offers significantly better psychic buffs, while the helmets offer significant protection up to and including the best available in-game. Thus, the role of the particular psycaster is the determining factor, with a front-line psycasting fighter preferring the prestige helmets, while the support-oriented psycaster will prefer the skullcap.

Eltex skullcaps also appease the headwear requirements of all nobles.

An eltex skullcap improves a pawn's base neural heat recovery rate by 0.091 heat per second, though this will be modified by their psylink level, and increases their Psychic Sensitivity by an amount dependent on the quality.

Stats table

Eltex skullcap	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Quality	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Awful	0%	0%	0%	80	-0 °C (0 °F)	+0 °C (0 °F)	250
Poor	0%	0%	0%	80	-0 °C (0 °F)	+0 °C (0 °F)	375
Normal	0%	0%	0%	80	-0 °C (0 °F)	+0 °C (0 °F)	500
Good	0%	0%	0%	80	-0 °C (0 °F)	+0 °C (0 °F)	625
Excellent	0%	0%	0%	80	-0 °C (0 °F)	+0 °C (0 °F)	750
Masterwork	0%	0%	0%	80	-0 °C (0 °F)	+0 °C (0 °F)	1250
Legendary	0%	0%	0%	80	-0 °C (0 °F)	+0 °C (0 °F)	2500

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.}

Quality	Awful	Poor	Normal	Good	Excellent	Masterwork	Legendary
Psychic Sensitivity	+20%	+26%	+33%	+40%	+46%	+53%	+60%
Neural Heat Limit	+16	+21	+27	+32	+37	+42	+48
Base Neural Heat Recovery Rate	+0.091/s	+0.091/s	+0.091/s	+0.091/s	+0.091/s	+0.091/s	+0.091/s
Effective Neural Heat Recovery Rate	+0.148/s	+0.148/s	+0.148/s	+0.148/s	+0.148/s	+0.148/s	+0.148/s