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3 months ago ::
Feb 28, 2013 - 4:17AM
#41
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Date Joined:
Aug 15, 2011
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These monsters are an archaic part of the game and from an age where DM's felt the need to humiliate players in order to feel better about their system-supported DM entitlement.
Please just don't bring them back. They aren't fun to play against, they aren't fun to play WITH, and they don't add anything to the story.
"Sleepy McNap the Dwarf was steadily advancing into the cold, dark dungeon when he fell into a pit trap and got his loot destroyed by a nefarious rust monster!"
said no quality work of fantasy ever.
I concur.
That said, they will be back, because 5e is the grognard edition. Fortunately, we can simply choose not to use them.
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3 months ago ::
Feb 28, 2013 - 4:26AM
#42
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Date Joined:
Jun 21, 2012
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Even when discussing it with players, you would solve it through actual play. It is just really challenging in a game to get rid of one specific item without it being obvious.
It's hard, but I actually find that expressing dislike for a specific item tips my hand and makes it even harder to take away. If they lose it and I never once mention how it's irritating for them to have, they accept it as random chance. If they lose it off the back of a discussion on it or I somehow intimate that I don't like the item they're using, then I'm the bad villain DM who's out to take their toys away.
I exagerate, of course; my players are way more reasonable than that but there is a certain resentment that comes with a nerf that doesn't sit in the narrative. As for raise dead and the threat of death, the real irony is that in RAW 3e dying was actually a benefit. Sure, you lost a level, but you did not loose nearly enough treasure to compensate for it so it got you ahead of the gold curve. So in the end it was a lot of paperwork with little real benefit. I doubt it is the ease of raise dead that makes 4e threat feels stale. I think that is more likely due to the fact it is simply a LOT harder to actually die in 4e.
Food for thought. I've never seen it that way but yeah it is a bit screwy. Spells like raise dead aren't used very much in my games though as players rarely take classes that get it and finding random high level casters aren't all that common. Probably why it never came up before.
I do agree with poster on the level drain thread. Isn't it saying something about the hit point system if people only fear level drainers and ruster monsters more then other traditional powerhouses like dragons?
Hit point loss is pretty unthreatening, especially at higher levels. I tend to rely on status effects, ability drain and save or die effects if I want the players to stop and think because unless they're taking a lot of damage they don't really give it a thought. I don't think it's a problem with monster design though, I think it's a problem with hit points. Quite a few have said about the wound module. That would be nice to see.
(Personally I don't mind weird monsters that much since I can simply decide not to use it. I do think there needs to be a warning signal for new DMs so that they do not accidentally create a problem by incorrectly using the monsters.)
Always the most sensible attitude to have, regardless of the issue 
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3 months ago ::
Feb 28, 2013 - 5:01AM
#43
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Date Joined:
Jun 22, 2010
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They need to include cerebral parasites to take away spell slots, or book worms to destroy spell books in the same monster manual that has rust monsters. This will allow the DM to place roadblocks for the entire party.
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3 months ago ::
Feb 28, 2013 - 5:25AM
#44
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Date Joined:
Jun 21, 2012
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They need to include cerebral parasites to take away spell slots, or book worms to destroy spell books in the same monster manual that has rust monsters. This will allow the DM to place roadblocks for the entire party.
I like how you think
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3 months ago ::
Feb 28, 2013 - 5:48AM
#45
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Don't like them? Don't use them. Let the rest of us have our rust monsters.
Honestly, so many threads here amount to "I don't like this, so it shouldn't be available to anyone."
+1
To the OP:
I like rust monsters, green slimes, oozes... anything that exposes your character's equipment to the hard reality - your stuff isn't indestructible and your stuff don't define your character.
Honestly, I find D&D Next hard enough to humiliate the PCs in the first place, they are already overpowered in terms of damage output, they hardly ever die being able to go to rediculous negative levels.
I mean maybe you like a walk in a park type adventure where players never feel their character or their equipment treatened ... but that's not my kind game.
And that's just the point behind D&D Next ... MODULAR , you don't like rust monsters, don't use them, but I like them.
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3 months ago ::
Feb 28, 2013 - 6:15AM
#46
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Date Joined:
Jan 29, 2005
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One REAL simple solution is to make any magical equipment immune to the rust monster's attacks. Now it is a low level threat, and if your campaign is low magic, then extend it to non-masterwork equipment only, etc. I'd also make the consumption process take minutes to hours, so it's really a non-combat attack. Kinda like a disease, but for your gear
Magic Dual Color Test
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3 months ago ::
Feb 28, 2013 - 6:19AM
#47
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Date Joined:
Jun 21, 2012
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One REAL simple solution is to make any magical equipment immune to the rust monster's attacks. Now it is a low level threat, and if your campaign is low magic, then extend it to non-masterwork equipment only, etc.
That doesn't really preserve any of the danger at all, does it. In a high magic game where everyone's got magic, it makes the rust monster's thing meaningless. In a low magic game it's brutally nasty (not a bad thing) right up until you say to let masterwork weapons be immune.
If you don't want 'em breaking gear then that's fine, find another mechanical expression for the rusting. But this doesn't solve it for anyone's taste 'cause the result is the rust monster is effectively the same as everything else and presents no meaningful danger to the party beyond what HP damage it can do (and I agree that HP damage could stand to be scarier but that's not really what we're talking about).
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3 months ago ::
Feb 28, 2013 - 6:21AM
#48
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Date Joined:
Jun 15, 2006
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About rust monster... can it be tricked by ilusory magic to make a wood shield looks metalic? What if PCs use wood and stone weapons like spears, hammer and axes (because they are cheaper and the can be "sacrificed" for fight, like potions and scrolls? Could a poison be added to a cheap metalic weapon to kill a rust monster?
Should XPs reward be lowers if PCs don´t use metal? For example Dark Sun settin or "primal" classes like barbarian, ranger, druid and shaman..
"Say me what you're showing off for, and I'll say you what you lack!" (Spanish saying)
Book 13 Anaclet 23
Confucius said: "The Superior Man is in harmony but does not follow the crowd. The inferior man follows the crowd, but is not in harmony"
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3 months ago ::
Feb 28, 2013 - 10:07AM
#49
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Make magic items immune to rust monster attacks or get a save. Only normal items get chompped.
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3 months ago ::
Feb 28, 2013 - 10:25AM
#50
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Date Joined:
May 18, 2002
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Or just, you know, create some sort of Bat Shark Repellent.
When you want the dog to stop gnawing on the furniture, rub some Tabasco on it.
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