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Well, level 11 items are, what, 9000g? So a tamed rust monster costs 7200g if you want it to never, ever, ever possible to 'break' the concept.

I believe by default it would cost 1800g, since it's a level 6 monster so it'd be based on a level 6 item. Even at that cost you're still pretty safe, though...

Unless you bring in the ritual ring - which is the thing that's broken, not the rust monster - then all it does is change the amount of pocket change you get when you decide to sell an item. This won't break any games at all, since all it does is allow you to correct a minor previous mistake or mildly improve your amount of treasure.

SYB wrote:

It is my personal opinion that mordencrads are not made entirely of wood, based on both the description and the general power of the weapon. That is an argument you could have with your table DM, though. For now, I will accept your proposition.

That said, yes, it might eat your weapon. It also might eat your armor, which it sounds like you are still using. Or your amulet. Or the spare weapon you left on your back (you know, the better one). Also, I haven't read the preview (no DDi). I know for sure that the rust monster can only eat level 10 and below items. But what level is the rust monster? It is very likely that a rust monster vs. a level 4 character could be a very ugly fight.

It sounds like some scenarios here do end up with a big loss for you.

-SYB

The Rust Monster is a level 6 Skirmisher, you can find them at 4th level.

The Rust Monster has to hit you to rust your armour (and it's armour only by RAW), but your weapon auto-rusts when you hit it... it's much more likely that a weapon will be rusted before any magical armour... and only metal armour and weapons are affected by the RAW.

Incidentally the Rust Monster only eats worn Armour and held Weapons, not amulets etc.

My example is an entirely likely proposition.

MwaO wrote:

With the Rust Monster, he could have fed the Rust Monster the item, got 9K of residium instead of 1800 gold. That would have not only covered the full cost of the item, but he would have had an extra 5600 gold left over - enough to purchase a couple choice 6th or 7th level items.

Residum != gp. In the book it mentions that some cultures use residuum as equivalent to gold since it is easier to carry. I have not found anything in the FR setting to indicate this is the case in the Realms.

Player's handbook]In some exotic locales, residuum is traded as currency, measured by weight and carried in small metal vials.

The word "residuum" doesn't even appear in either the FRCS or th wrote:

Kurald_Galain wrote:

You can always use residuum as money for buying magical items, since you can get the Enchant Item ritual cheaply (or for free, if a wizard) and you use the residuum to power that.

Well, just to be a bit semantic, you still aren't using the residuum as "money to buy magical items." You can use the residuum as a ritual component in place of regular esoteric ritual components (listed on page 300). You couldn't use the residuum for the market price of a ritual scroll or book for example.