a colony of kobolds raising them like cattle, breeding them and culling them for food and reserving their blood which they use to fill blown-out eggs. These blood filled eggs can now be used as grenades or as part of a kobold trap. Kobold rogues could also use the antennae as whips in combat.
You forgot to mention that ALL metal in the AD&D multiverse is linked to iron and steel. Rust monsters can rust absolutely any metal, even rustproof ones. Dragging a chest bound by copper bands filled only with gold will cause a rust monster to attack it, rusting (not tarnishing) the copper bands to shatter the chest then rusting all the rust-proof gold coins for it to consume. Rust monsters also give people with studded leather a problem. They make the armor fall apart. The armor can be taken back and easily fixed but it is a useless pile of leather until the remains are brought back to the armorer. Don't underestimate these pests. I hate them in digital games as you cannot formulate a clever plan to Sun Tzu your way out of it without risking your gear, distractions non-optional.
bizarre, I have a original plastic rust monster somewhere, I was given it in a bag of mutated dinosaur things by father Christmas in a department store
Gygax: What is the most infuriating thing I can do to you Characters. Is it killing them? Players: No, It's taking away our stuff, Gygax: Ok. this is a rust monster. It takes away your stuff.
I like that you mention that it would be hot. Basically all fire is, is the oxidation of carbon. Rust is the oxidation of iron. So it's chemically nothing more than the burning of metal. It's just that it's normally so slow that the heat is dissipated fast enough to keep the temperature low. If it happened this fast, the blade would probably be glowing red hot as it rusted.
Has a very bizarre moment over a rust monster long ago. The party was exploring a Dwarven ruin, as you do, when they saw a rust monster. The concensus was to throw it some coins and move on, as you do. But one of the players a paladin/monk charged to attack not with feet and fists but with his holy avenger! I asked are you sure, the other players asked are you sure and he was. A flurry of blows and so so many failed saves and the sword was gone. The player sat in silence the rest of the session, took off at the first opportunity and never came back and ghosted the whole group. So very weird.
I'm a leather and hide type of character so I don't mind these guys. At first I saw them as distilled nightmare fuel, but then you described how they move and I kind of find them cute in a horrific way, haha
I think if this animal wasn't such a loner, it would make a fantastic domestic creature (specially for dwarves) They're bugs (at least look like), so they would breed and grow stupid fast, so they could be a good source of meat (and bug meat is high in protein and low in fat, way better and healthier than traditional cattle) They feed of something relatively common (at least for dwarves), I'm gonna homebrew a bit by saying that what they feed on is the impurities of ferrous metals (a way to justify their adaptation to eat metal, being their rusting power their way of predigesting their food), and their feces are highly pure metals (because all animals need to poop), making them highly valuable for dwarven society. Due to their highly sharp sense of smell, they could be trained to sniff out a tag made from a specific alloy (which could be implanted in criminals). But they are solitary animals, which means they don't obey hierarchy and they'll kill each other unless during mating season.
Very start of the video he said it was mammalian. It just *appears* insectoid. But ur good, just trying to help. Its a weird creature and it makes sense for the mixup
In 3/3.5 magic items got a save. Also, the Gauntlet of Rust is a magical item that protects it's wearer and all of their gear from all rust. Also let's you use Rusting Grasp 3/day, like a rust monster
My problem with the rust idea is that ideally (I know many players and DMs couldn't keep up with so much detail to track) you'd be able to buy non-rusting metals as not all metals rust. If you can silver plate a sword for instance you'd be able to gold plate a sword especially as a dwarf to deal with them. Honestly I feel like it's one of the monsters that while it's great and I already have a cool idea for how to use one narratively I think the creators didn't give it more thought than just a low lvl nuisance that has a sort of stupid hazardous dog feel to it.
Rust monsters are one of my favorite monsters in D&D. Besides coming from the set of toys, thier in universe origin is not really confirmed. There are conflicting stories from, "A wizard did it." To they came from some plane of existence where metal is abundant enough to sustain them in large populations. I have even heard that they can become a Rust Dragon if they get enough metal to eat.
Probably the best D&D session I have ever had featured a rust monster. For some reason the party rogue decided that he wanted to capture a rust monster and sell it to a blacksmith (?). So he got it in a bag, got it back to town. Little did he know it was the day of the monthly iron shipment, and the rust monster promptly went berserk in the presence of a large amount of metal and got loose. The town guards went after it, but was having trouble due to mainly having metal weapons. Then the brave elven fighter/wizard (me) stepped forth - and put a sleep spell on the town guard while aiming for the rust monster. So the rust monster got a good lunch, the Elf got kicked out of town, and the rogue got imprisoned for ruining the annual iron shipment and a new nickname "Rusty" from the other inmates
My preferred ecology for these guys is that they're actually larval forms of the rust dragon, a strange insectoid beast native to the plane of Acheron. When a rust monster ingests enough iron (a process taking several years, unless there is a very large/rich supply available) it spins a cocoon which is effectively a temporary portal to Acheron. After its metamorphosis, the cocoon crumbles into rusty fragments and the monster is effectively reborn on Acheron as a dragon wyrmling, where it digs a lair by feeding on the iron cubes. After mating, the dragon's eggs work in opposite fashion to the cocoon; instead of hatching like normal eggs, they work as temporary portals to the prime which spew out baby rust monsters. The portals can be hijacked by smashing an egg or cocoon that is close to maturity. Useful (if difficult) way to escape, should you find yourself marooned on Acheron...
Awesome: now for the rust monsters big brother? ;) I love the way rust monsters cause players to kite rather than do the doorway fight. It makes for a more interesting encounter. Especially if you set things up such that the players have to press forward into unexplored territory
Talking of unexplored territory, my research on Rusty's big brother led me to my next location video on the outer planes (actually it is mentioned in this very comment thread).
Great video AJ! I've had a lot of fun taking the monstrous spider and applying it as a template to the rust monster. This makes for a creature that makes sticky webs and has paralytic poison and wants the metals in your blood. The webs have loose filaments that are hard to see, and are hell on armor. Giving rust monsters the ability to spider climb made them a lot more dangerous as well. ;>
These are great creatures for your stupid barbarian (Int: 6 Wis: 5) to bring back from the forest as his "pet bunny" using a leather lead. Naturally your barbarian is clad only in a very gamey loin cloth (bathing is taboo for his tribe) and carries only a large stone hammer. Have him introduce his new pet to the Cavalier or Paladin of the party - the one with the Ethereal platemail, +5 shield and holy avenger sword....
@9:00 er, in this picture, why isn't it just chowing down on the metal rails it's standing on? Lmao Adventurers should always have a bag of caltrops or steel ball bearings, they have multiple uses but can be used to distract (or maybe even tame, with a high animal handling roll?) a rust monster. By leaving a trail of ball bearing you could even lead one into a trap. Of course, you could do the same with other mundane items like spikes, pitons, or a grappling hook, whatever it takes to save your armor and weapons. I didn't know the part about the bacteria. If my rogue ever encounters one of these he's going to collect some of its blood to dissolve pesky locks!
I recently played a Niverwinter Nights convertion of a classic adventure where you needed to repeatedly bribe an otherwise friendly rust monster with scrap armor pieces just to get past it. It got hungry fast... 😄
I gave this bad boy for my mom's, her mountaint dwarf life domain cleric, for her first time playing. She named it fluffy, and I cant wait to see how she uses it.
I don't like increasing the DC for characters wearing full plate because it's basically yet another "fuck you for not playing a DEX-based character" in a system where DEX is already heavily incentivised over STR. Characters wearing plate have usually dropped DEX to push their STR high enough to wear such armour, meaning they're already at a disadvantage where DEX saves are concerned, and piling on additional penalties is usually unnecessary, especially if you're already allowing the monster to corrode magic items (one of the reasons people want magic armour and weapons is so that they don't have to just sit around doing nothing when the party encounters rust monsters while the Wizard and Druid handle everything as usual).
By the way , Basic 2nd Dnd mythral is a metal that don't rust or its not effected by acid , thus Magical items that was made with Mythral will be immune to Rust and Acid . Rust monsters diet :Iron,gold silver and copper , Metals that can rust or Crowed is effected by rust monsters . Also not Mytral was extremely rare too so hardly anyone ever seen Mythral Or least the games i ever played in . Now 5e mythral is common metal , Like Weird .
Has anyone tried to train these things to basically be the metallic equivalent of Truffle Pigs/Dogs? Use them to track down metal and they get a snack in turn for behaving themselves?
Yep, smaller monstrous humanoids do this all the time, they are good riding and pack animals, are not very aggressive and good defense against the larger humanoids, who love to use metal.
Yes, but there's a difference between a mount, an attack/guard beast, and a tracking animal. I was asking if an shrewd adventurer and/or miner have used these things to aid them in finding metal items and/or ore?
I don't know about PC's. but as a GM I have this done by dwarven cultures all the time. They're kept in stone and wood pens and are taken out on a leash into natural caverns to sniff out veins of ferrous metals, and are subsequently fed some of the mined results. I also however have Rust Monsters as Herbivorous insects the size of small cows that eat metal as a dietary supplement rather than a primary food source, so that's a major factor in why they can be useful.
Excellent. That just gave me the perfect idea for a three-shot that I've been stewing on for about a year now. Hint: The adventure is inspired by an aspect of the _Quest for Camelot_ movie. Also, rust monsters look a bit like silverfish. Maybe the name of the silverfish was the inspiration for the monster?
Gygax thought "Characters with lots of armor are too tough, so I need a monster that destroys armor and weapons.. here is this cheap bag of plastic toys I found, this one has antenna on it's face.. ok, this is the rust monster". Simple as that. The Bulette.. the Bullet... was just one of those toys that charged down corridors and knocked everyone on their ass.
@@AJPickett go full bug land kingdom with giant dragonflys, umber hulks as elite guard, and a psionic queen. They are fighting two fronts, one from below with the Drow and Duergar, with the Yuan-ti attacking with their army of giant lizards who both want access to the ancient forgotten kingdom treasure the Thri-kreen unknowingly inhabit.
I've actually trolled a high powered party with a bunch of them together along with grey oozes and green slimes. The party heard of an impossible dungeon, an underground ruin, that the most well equipt parties dare not enter. The most powerful of adventurers give up without seeing the end. The OP party was warned, over and over again, they are exactly the kind that cannot get the final prize deep in the ruin and nobody even knows what it really is. The party saw that kobolds guard it with cloth and fur armor with stone age weapons. A signal whistle goes into the air as a scout with a spyglass sees them. All the kobolds run full speed into the ruin. The biggest barrier to the ruin is how long the tunnels are and if you are not small, you have to keep moving rocks and stuff to make your way through. Also, waves of rust monsters, green slime traps, and stalking grey ooze. Whenever the party rested, disenchanters lurk in with some kobold trained quiet rust monsters. The party got to the end, almost all naked save for some cloth and skins they got off of dead kobolds while brandishing the stone age weapons. The bulk of the kobolds were there, in a large cavern with an adjoining treasure room. Even without their gear, they made a mess of the kobolds with the kobold's dead friends gear. While they were finishing the battle, the door on the other end of the treasure room opened. It was the mayor of the next town over and a couple of his guards. The party ended up in the basement vault of the mayor's mansion. The party and mayor figured out the kobolds were trying to dig another tunnel leading to the sewer were they could rob the vault and escape there. The party was rewarded with new basic gear and 100 GP each. My players were mad. The gear they lost was just tragic. Silver lining, that mayor became a great contact for missions.
I used to have one of those plastic miniatures of a Rust Monster when I was a kid, the on with the bumply hide on it's back, I didn't know what it was b
Gygax and Arneson used those packs of "Chinasaurs" as inspiration for several of the monsters in the monster manuals, seems how they were easily obtained "miniatures". So the toy came first.
We both know that Rust Monsters aren't fictional. They're real, and they're called Wetas! 🐜 My older brother and his friends didn't let me play D&D with them, but I read the sourcebooks like The Monster Manual, and I was always fond of Rust Monsters. Probably because they are non-malevolent, and I like that quality in a monster.
Nothing like seeing a eighth to twelfth level fighter crap his pants and run away from one of these. Run a low-magic campaign and keep a couple in your back pocket for when the party gets too cocky.
Also, I prefer to think of their metal-corroding ability as a chemical agent, that messes with the metallic structure in a similar way to how gallium infests and destroys aluminium, or how "tin pest" destroys metallic tin in subzero conditions.
I could have sworn rustmonsters gave birth to larvae not fully formed mini rusties. Well at least in 3rd edition anyway. I remember there was a wonderous item called either the rust monster wand or just rust wand. It was essentially a nonmetal tube with slits and air holes filled with rustmonster larvae used by rogues to eat metal locks and other small metal objects. The rogue would open the top so the larvae could erode the objects with their small antenna poking through the slits and destroy the object in a few turns. In order to keep the larvae alive the owner could give it a few gold pieces if it didn't have any scrap metal around.
they did get an insectile make over in third edition, but things have swung back to an old school vibe and the Rusty has gone back to a more mammalian form, plus, the info I used was largely taken from Ed Greenwoods Dragon magazine ecology article (issue #88). I did like that Rust Monsters and Kruthik have a similar body structure in some ways and thought to myself.. "What if the Kruthik is some form of Rust Monster planar species that lost the ability to rust metal, but instead became a burrowing creature that has metal as part of it's body and metabolism?"
Yep, I remember the Gillette too. Far as I remember none of my Adventurers came up against it. Pity, it would've been fun! At least for me! I also loved the Gelatinous Cube!
Metallic dragons are not actually metallic, they are just that colour and some can eat metals. Dragons are more of a combination of elemental energy and a distinct reptile/saurian form, with sorcerous powers (often).
i dont know where i put my monster manual so i cant check but is it just ferrous that they eat or do they also eat non ferrous metals like copper and aluminium?
Excellent question! Yes, you can. The bacteria that do all that rusting survive for a while after the Rust monster has died, so, they could be collected by scraping the antenna of the Rusty, ensuring a constant supply. At the very least, weapons coated in the Bacteria culture (slime) would rust metal on contact for several hours, however, the bacteria live in symbiosis with the Rust monster, and can not survive longer than a day or so on their own.
Could a community of say Kobolds have rust monsters domesticated or held captive that have small amounts of their blood "milked" from them for this reason or is that taking it to far?
I did include an image of a kobold riding a rust monster in the video, so, yeah, totally fine, the beasts are not very aggressive and if times get desperate, they are also edible.
Hi A.J if you can please do a vid on the Disenchanter when you find the time! Another creature I've always loved is the Aurumvorax aka the Golden Gorger!
Imagine a devil polymorphed into a farmer that leads you into his farm as a tour. He brings you and your team but most likely 1 or 2 party members. Showing off his barn there's several creatures your team haven't seen and they surrounded you as the farmer offers to pet them because they react to positive reinforcement. They turn out to all be disenchanters and rust monsters. The dm says roll for initiative and the devil changes back to his normal self and a trap floor opens up and brings up a fragrant going to charm the party and the disenchanters go to eat your magic items. Now the fight is on. How likely are you to survive the trap?
I'd imagine it as something akin to tortoises... cold-blooded with a hard plate exo-skeleton. Also, I'm hearing, "Cut off it's antennae"... I bet it doesn't make its morale roll after that! ;)
There is in my campaigns. It's the primary exotic ingredient in making a Sword of Rust. When a party finds it, it is usually a seemingly discarded rusty sword, appearing to be on the verge of breaking. A Detect Magic will show it has strong alteration magic. It behaves as a normal +2 longsword except the +2 does not go to damage (it is a shoddy blade that the magic is doing its best to just keep it solid). If used in an attack, a hit target is treated as if hit by a Rust Monster. Will of the sword user is needed to activate the rust power (wish harm on the target or just want to touch-rust), so no accidental rusting. Without knowing what it is, the sword is worthless. Knowing what it is, the sword is worth a fortune. Rust monsters focus on trying to eat it because it smells like rust, metal ready to be eaten already. It cannot harm them, but you can throw it to distract and dispatch rust monsters while you and your friends murder the poor little pests. Then, reclaim your Rust Monster genocide sword back.
A special rust monster followed by the spectors wraiths or ghost of dead kensai master caftsman and warriors whos weapons where eaten by the monster. The spirits stay within 60 to 80 feet of the above average sized rust monster luring in others in to have there goods eaten and the spirits fight the adventurers helping protect the beast. I'm thinking 5 ghost dudes and a beefy rust bug. Enjoy
Heres a cool creature my necromancer arch-mage created....a combination of the rust monster and the disenchanter,when i first started experimenting with these creatures i failed constantly...and after 8 years of work i finally got it right.....i need a good name for it though....got any suggestions?
has treehugging hotelf ever managed to seduce a rust monster, by feeding it his scale mail bit by bit, and rubbing it's belly? ... i just love that mental image :D
If it is just magnetism that determines what they identify as food, then a wizard or alchemist should be able to remove magnetic quantities of the metal therefore making it non-magnetic. Or one could use non-magnetic metals for their weapons and armor.
a colony of kobolds raising them like cattle, breeding them and culling them for food and reserving their blood which they use to fill blown-out eggs. These blood filled eggs can now be used as grenades or as part of a kobold trap. Kobold rogues could also use the antennae as whips in combat.
You forgot to mention that ALL metal in the AD&D multiverse is linked to iron and steel. Rust monsters can rust absolutely any metal, even rustproof ones. Dragging a chest bound by copper bands filled only with gold will cause a rust monster to attack it, rusting (not tarnishing) the copper bands to shatter the chest then rusting all the rust-proof gold coins for it to consume. Rust monsters also give people with studded leather a problem. They make the armor fall apart. The armor can be taken back and easily fixed but it is a useless pile of leather until the remains are brought back to the armorer. Don't underestimate these pests. I hate them in digital games as you cannot formulate a clever plan to Sun Tzu your way out of it without risking your gear, distractions non-optional.
bizarre, I have a original plastic rust monster somewhere, I was given it in a bag of mutated dinosaur things by father Christmas in a department store
Gygax: What is the most infuriating thing I can do to you Characters. Is it killing them?
Players: No, It's taking away our stuff,
Gygax: Ok. this is a rust monster. It takes away your stuff.
Lol what a gangster
0:46 I actually had that bag of toys as a kid, I found the "bulette" the other day in a box of other stuff.
I like that you mention that it would be hot. Basically all fire is, is the oxidation of carbon. Rust is the oxidation of iron. So it's chemically nothing more than the burning of metal. It's just that it's normally so slow that the heat is dissipated fast enough to keep the temperature low. If it happened this fast, the blade would probably be glowing red hot as it rusted.
Rust monsters honestly sound super huggable assuming you don’t have any metal on you.
Has a very bizarre moment over a rust monster long ago. The party was exploring a Dwarven ruin, as you do, when they saw a rust monster. The concensus was to throw it some coins and move on, as you do. But one of the players a paladin/monk charged to attack not with feet and fists but with his holy avenger! I asked are you sure, the other players asked are you sure and he was. A flurry of blows and so so many failed saves and the sword was gone. The player sat in silence the rest of the session, took off at the first opportunity and never came back and ghosted the whole group. So very weird.
I'm a leather and hide type of character so I don't mind these guys. At first I saw them as distilled nightmare fuel, but then you described how they move and I kind of find them cute in a horrific way, haha
This has to be what War Forged scare their children with...
I have become a serious fan who binges on these videos. Thank you. Your perspective is helpful and informative.
I think if this animal wasn't such a loner, it would make a fantastic domestic creature (specially for dwarves)
They're bugs (at least look like), so they would breed and grow stupid fast, so they could be a good source of meat (and bug meat is high in protein and low in fat, way better and healthier than traditional cattle)
They feed of something relatively common (at least for dwarves), I'm gonna homebrew a bit by saying that what they feed on is the impurities of ferrous metals (a way to justify their adaptation to eat metal, being their rusting power their way of predigesting their food), and their feces are highly pure metals (because all animals need to poop), making them highly valuable for dwarven society.
Due to their highly sharp sense of smell, they could be trained to sniff out a tag made from a specific alloy (which could be implanted in criminals).
But they are solitary animals, which means they don't obey hierarchy and they'll kill each other unless during mating season.
Very start of the video he said it was mammalian. It just *appears* insectoid. But ur good, just trying to help. Its a weird creature and it makes sense for the mixup
So basically, rust monsters are the best method for dealing with the war-forged.
They would be a thematic element of many Warforged nightmares, yes, most likely.
You can't figure out the nutrition you get from Rust Monster? You get all the Iron and copper anyone could ever need.
In 3/3.5 magic items got a save.
Also, the Gauntlet of Rust is a magical item that protects it's wearer and all of their gear from all rust. Also let's you use Rusting Grasp 3/day, like a rust monster
My problem with the rust idea is that ideally (I know many players and DMs couldn't keep up with so much detail to track) you'd be able to buy non-rusting metals as not all metals rust. If you can silver plate a sword for instance you'd be able to gold plate a sword especially as a dwarf to deal with them. Honestly I feel like it's one of the monsters that while it's great and I already have a cool idea for how to use one narratively I think the creators didn't give it more thought than just a low lvl nuisance that has a sort of stupid hazardous dog feel to it.
so THATS where fenoxo got the idea for those metal eating roach people on tarkus....
SonicSanctuary >fenoxo. I see you are a man of culture as well
Move away, drop a bag of ball bearings. 1000 pf those should distract them for a while.
Rust monsters are one of my favorite monsters in D&D. Besides coming from the set of toys, thier in universe origin is not really confirmed.
There are conflicting stories from, "A wizard did it." To they came from some plane of existence where metal is abundant enough to sustain them in large populations. I have even heard that they can become a Rust Dragon if they get enough metal to eat.
Probably the best D&D session I have ever had featured a rust monster. For some reason the party rogue decided that he wanted to capture a rust monster and sell it to a blacksmith (?). So he got it in a bag, got it back to town. Little did he know it was the day of the monthly iron shipment, and the rust monster promptly went berserk in the presence of a large amount of metal and got loose. The town guards went after it, but was having trouble due to mainly having metal weapons. Then the brave elven fighter/wizard (me) stepped forth - and put a sleep spell on the town guard while aiming for the rust monster. So the rust monster got a good lunch, the Elf got kicked out of town, and the rogue got imprisoned for ruining the annual iron shipment and a new nickname "Rusty" from the other inmates
My preferred ecology for these guys is that they're actually larval forms of the rust dragon, a strange insectoid beast native to the plane of Acheron. When a rust monster ingests enough iron (a process taking several years, unless there is a very large/rich supply available) it spins a cocoon which is effectively a temporary portal to Acheron. After its metamorphosis, the cocoon crumbles into rusty fragments and the monster is effectively reborn on Acheron as a dragon wyrmling, where it digs a lair by feeding on the iron cubes. After mating, the dragon's eggs work in opposite fashion to the cocoon; instead of hatching like normal eggs, they work as temporary portals to the prime which spew out baby rust monsters. The portals can be hijacked by smashing an egg or cocoon that is close to maturity. Useful (if difficult) way to escape, should you find yourself marooned on Acheron...
Awesome: now for the rust monsters big brother? ;)
I love the way rust monsters cause players to kite rather than do the doorway fight. It makes for a more interesting encounter.
Especially if you set things up such that the players have to press forward into unexplored territory
Talking of unexplored territory, my research on Rusty's big brother led me to my next location video on the outer planes (actually it is mentioned in this very comment thread).
Great video AJ! I've had a lot of fun taking the monstrous spider and applying it as a template to the rust monster. This makes for a creature that makes sticky webs and has paralytic poison and wants the metals in your blood. The webs have loose filaments that are hard to see, and are hell on armor. Giving rust monsters the ability to spider climb made them a lot more dangerous as well. ;>
That is deliciously evil Kurt, I approve.
Also, the word you were looking for is “opportunistically”. They breed opportunistically.
These are great creatures for your stupid barbarian (Int: 6 Wis: 5) to bring back from the forest as his "pet bunny" using a leather lead. Naturally your barbarian is clad only in a very gamey loin cloth (bathing is taboo for his tribe) and carries only a large stone hammer. Have him introduce his new pet to the Cavalier or Paladin of the party - the one with the Ethereal platemail, +5 shield and holy avenger sword....
Oh boy, my very own bunny rabbit! I will hold him and hug him and pet him and pat him and I will name him George!
Thank you AJ.
@9:00 er, in this picture, why isn't it just chowing down on the metal rails it's standing on? Lmao
Adventurers should always have a bag of caltrops or steel ball bearings, they have multiple uses but can be used to distract (or maybe even tame, with a high animal handling roll?) a rust monster. By leaving a trail of ball bearing you could even lead one into a trap. Of course, you could do the same with other mundane items like spikes, pitons, or a grappling hook, whatever it takes to save your armor and weapons.
I didn't know the part about the bacteria. If my rogue ever encounters one of these he's going to collect some of its blood to dissolve pesky locks!
I recently played a Niverwinter Nights convertion of a classic adventure where you needed to repeatedly bribe an otherwise friendly rust monster with scrap armor pieces just to get past it. It got hungry fast... 😄
I gave this bad boy for my mom's, her mountaint dwarf life domain cleric, for her first time playing. She named it fluffy, and I cant wait to see how she uses it.
LOL, Fluffy. Mind you.. there was a famous Owlbear pet in one party whom they named Cookie... that thing regularly took chunks out of my character.
@@AJPickett that is amazing. I didnt even think that owlbears can become a animal companion or pet.
“They subsist almost exclusively on it”
Almost? What do they consume as a supplementary food source?
Good question
fantastic video
One my most liked Monster in DnD :-)
I don't like increasing the DC for characters wearing full plate because it's basically yet another "fuck you for not playing a DEX-based character" in a system where DEX is already heavily incentivised over STR.
Characters wearing plate have usually dropped DEX to push their STR high enough to wear such armour, meaning they're already at a disadvantage where DEX saves are concerned, and piling on additional penalties is usually unnecessary, especially if you're already allowing the monster to corrode magic items (one of the reasons people want magic armour and weapons is so that they don't have to just sit around doing nothing when the party encounters rust monsters while the Wizard and Druid handle everything as usual).
By the way , Basic 2nd Dnd mythral is a metal that don't rust or its not effected by acid , thus Magical items that was made with Mythral will be immune to Rust and Acid . Rust monsters diet :Iron,gold silver and copper , Metals that can rust or Crowed is effected by rust monsters . Also not Mytral was extremely rare too so hardly anyone ever seen Mythral Or least the games i ever played in . Now 5e mythral is common metal , Like Weird .
Has anyone tried to train these things to basically be the metallic equivalent of Truffle Pigs/Dogs? Use them to track down metal and they get a snack in turn for behaving themselves?
Yep, smaller monstrous humanoids do this all the time, they are good riding and pack animals, are not very aggressive and good defense against the larger humanoids, who love to use metal.
Yes, but there's a difference between a mount, an attack/guard beast, and a tracking animal. I was asking if an shrewd adventurer and/or miner have used these things to aid them in finding metal items and/or ore?
I don't know about PC's. but as a GM I have this done by dwarven cultures all the time. They're kept in stone and wood pens and are taken out on a leash into natural caverns to sniff out veins of ferrous metals, and are subsequently fed some of the mined results.
I also however have Rust Monsters as Herbivorous insects the size of small cows that eat metal as a dietary supplement rather than a primary food source, so that's a major factor in why they can be useful.
i have never heard anyone call them a "rusty".
Hellspawn, cheating, ohfuckno.
these are terms I've heard them called.
You can only call yourself evil when you have a pet rust monster to eat an adventurer's stuff.
Excellent. That just gave me the perfect idea for a three-shot that I've been stewing on for about a year now. Hint: The adventure is inspired by an aspect of the _Quest for Camelot_ movie.
Also, rust monsters look a bit like silverfish. Maybe the name of the silverfish was the inspiration for the monster?
Gygax thought "Characters with lots of armor are too tough, so I need a monster that destroys armor and weapons.. here is this cheap bag of plastic toys I found, this one has antenna on it's face.. ok, this is the rust monster".
Simple as that.
The Bulette.. the Bullet... was just one of those toys that charged down corridors and knocked everyone on their ass.
I'm thinking about using these for my Thri-Kreen. They keep them like hounds and loose them on caravans to clear out any resistance.
Kruthik are another good option.
also riding on Giant Centipedes.
@@AJPickett go full bug land kingdom with giant dragonflys, umber hulks as elite guard, and a psionic queen. They are fighting two fronts, one from below with the Drow and Duergar, with the Yuan-ti attacking with their army of giant lizards who both want access to the ancient forgotten kingdom treasure the Thri-kreen unknowingly inhabit.
excellent! I used to have that bag of monsters!
The only creature made for a DM to screw over the party more then the rust monster is the disinchanter.
I think we have to include the Nilbog in that list.
I've actually trolled a high powered party with a bunch of them together along with grey oozes and green slimes. The party heard of an impossible dungeon, an underground ruin, that the most well equipt parties dare not enter. The most powerful of adventurers give up without seeing the end. The OP party was warned, over and over again, they are exactly the kind that cannot get the final prize deep in the ruin and nobody even knows what it really is. The party saw that kobolds guard it with cloth and fur armor with stone age weapons. A signal whistle goes into the air as a scout with a spyglass sees them. All the kobolds run full speed into the ruin. The biggest barrier to the ruin is how long the tunnels are and if you are not small, you have to keep moving rocks and stuff to make your way through. Also, waves of rust monsters, green slime traps, and stalking grey ooze. Whenever the party rested, disenchanters lurk in with some kobold trained quiet rust monsters. The party got to the end, almost all naked save for some cloth and skins they got off of dead kobolds while brandishing the stone age weapons. The bulk of the kobolds were there, in a large cavern with an adjoining treasure room. Even without their gear, they made a mess of the kobolds with the kobold's dead friends gear. While they were finishing the battle, the door on the other end of the treasure room opened. It was the mayor of the next town over and a couple of his guards. The party ended up in the basement vault of the mayor's mansion. The party and mayor figured out the kobolds were trying to dig another tunnel leading to the sewer were they could rob the vault and escape there. The party was rewarded with new basic gear and 100 GP each. My players were mad. The gear they lost was just tragic. Silver lining, that mayor became a great contact for missions.
I used to have one of those plastic miniatures of a Rust Monster when I was a kid, the on with the bumply hide on it's back, I didn't know what it was b
Gygax and Arneson used those packs of "Chinasaurs" as inspiration for several of the monsters in the monster manuals, seems how they were easily obtained "miniatures". So the toy came first.
omg, i had some of those toys. they were sold like dinosaurs or something. sadly they where thrown away.
>tame one
>use as mount
No use it like a truffle pig, but instead to find ore, treasure, and wargear.
We both know that Rust Monsters aren't fictional.
They're real, and they're called Wetas! 🐜
My older brother and his friends didn't let me play D&D with them, but I read the sourcebooks like The Monster Manual, and I was always fond of Rust Monsters. Probably because they are non-malevolent, and I like that quality in a monster.
And I thought "Ecology Of The Tavern" couldn't be topped.
This is awesome so far, still watching.
Thanks :) Hmm yes, about time I did some more location vids.
I had the 80s toy of rust monster based on a cartoon I think plus a green playset that looked like a green dragons head or something
would a manticore supplement its armored humanoid diet with these buggers?
Nothing like seeing a eighth to twelfth level fighter crap his pants and run away from one of these. Run a low-magic campaign and keep a couple in your back pocket for when the party gets too cocky.
Interestingly there is actually a shrimp species in the genus Rimicaris that has iron oxidizing symbiontic bacteria in their gill chambers.
Also, I prefer to think of their metal-corroding ability as a chemical agent, that messes with the metallic structure in a similar way to how gallium infests and destroys aluminium, or how "tin pest" destroys metallic tin in subzero conditions.
I could have sworn rustmonsters gave birth to larvae not fully formed mini rusties. Well at least in 3rd edition anyway. I remember there was a wonderous item called either the rust monster wand or just rust wand. It was essentially a nonmetal tube with slits and air holes filled with rustmonster larvae used by rogues to eat metal locks and other small metal objects. The rogue would open the top so the larvae could erode the objects with their small antenna poking through the slits and destroy the object in a few turns. In order to keep the larvae alive the owner could give it a few gold pieces if it didn't have any scrap metal around.
they did get an insectile make over in third edition, but things have swung back to an old school vibe and the Rusty has gone back to a more mammalian form, plus, the info I used was largely taken from Ed Greenwoods Dragon magazine ecology article (issue #88). I did like that Rust Monsters and Kruthik have a similar body structure in some ways and thought to myself.. "What if the Kruthik is some form of Rust Monster planar species that lost the ability to rust metal, but instead became a burrowing creature that has metal as part of it's body and metabolism?"
I actually have some of those toys from when I was younger. Pretty sure the rust monster is one of them... Have to find them...
I'll probably use these
The perfect mount for a druid.
Yep, I remember the Gillette too. Far as I remember none of my Adventurers came up against it. Pity, it would've been fun! At least for me! I also loved the Gelatinous Cube!
Do they eat other metals or just iron?
Not sure, might be up to you.
There are only certain metals that rust per egsample they wouldn’t be able to do anything with silver bronze gold or platinum
Any ferrous metal that can rust
What about metallic dragons?
Metallic dragons are not actually metallic, they are just that colour and some can eat metals. Dragons are more of a combination of elemental energy and a distinct reptile/saurian form, with sorcerous powers (often).
Mechanical dragons on the other hand. Hmm, what about dropping of a few of thease in Mechanus?
Nutritioun value for eating a rust monster? I hear they are high in iron content. @.o
I lost SO many suits of armor and not to mention weapons to these beasts.
But who is their daddy?!
Lol
4:32 "they breed kind of opportun...opportunisc... Whenever they can" don't we all😢
A rust monster that corrupts magical items can be a lot of fun - throw the wild magic table onto the item and adust accordingly.
I HIGHLY recommend this, in fact, I shoe horn it into my games as often as possible.. centralia.aquest.com/downloads/NLRMEv2.pdf
Im sorry a rust monster got inspired by a TOY?!
i dont know where i put my monster manual so i cant check but is it just ferrous that they eat or do they also eat non ferrous metals like copper and aluminium?
All metals, though I would say that they have a hard time digesting gold, adamantium and uranium.
Could one use a rust monster's blood as a coating on a nonmetal weapon such as a stone thrown from a sling or a club?
Excellent question!
Yes, you can. The bacteria that do all that rusting survive for a while after the Rust monster has died, so, they could be collected by scraping the antenna of the Rusty, ensuring a constant supply. At the very least, weapons coated in the Bacteria culture (slime) would rust metal on contact for several hours, however, the bacteria live in symbiosis with the Rust monster, and can not survive longer than a day or so on their own.
Could a community of say Kobolds have rust monsters domesticated or held captive that have small amounts of their blood "milked" from them for this reason or is that taking it to far?
I did include an image of a kobold riding a rust monster in the video, so, yeah, totally fine, the beasts are not very aggressive and if times get desperate, they are also edible.
What music was at the start?
Unleash a couple onto the Elemental Plane of Earth! XD
Hi A.J if you can please do a vid on the Disenchanter when you find the time! Another creature I've always loved is the Aurumvorax aka the Golden Gorger!
The first monster I ever defeated. The first for a great many of us.
1:03 I owned that as a lad
When I used to play I had a sadistic DM that used to like to use a rust monster everytime my Paladin got a holy sword or plus 5 plate 🤬
Paladin becomes master of Crossbow.
Would they eat other metals such as gold, silver, platinum, brass etc or is do they only have a taste for iron and steel?
AD&D is a fantasy universe that links all metals to iron and steel. If it is metal, even rustproof, a rust monster can rust it.
They eat any ferrous metal. So any metal that can rust (depending on DM they might use lore that makes All metal rustable by the rust monster)
Imagine a devil polymorphed into a farmer that leads you into his farm
as a tour. He brings you and your team but most likely 1 or 2 party
members. Showing off his barn there's several creatures your team
haven't seen and they surrounded you as the farmer offers to pet them
because they react to positive reinforcement. They turn out to all be
disenchanters and rust monsters. The dm says roll for initiative and the devil changes
back to his normal self and a trap floor opens up and brings up a
fragrant going to charm the party and the disenchanters go to eat your
magic items. Now the fight is on. How likely are you to survive the
trap?
Tastes like chicken and tetanus to me
Whelp! I've got my doggo analogue for my uplifted animal setting! (The cats are giant jumping spiders!)
jumping spiders are cute. there I said it.
How you killed this?
Pointy sticks
No I’m completely serious
Now I have a positively diabolical evil-wizard idea.
Rust Monster+Folugub+Disenchanter+Roper.
I'd imagine it as something akin to tortoises... cold-blooded with a hard plate exo-skeleton. Also, I'm hearing, "Cut off it's antennae"... I bet it doesn't make its morale roll after that! ;)
p.s. - I wonder if there's a market for their antennae in the magic community.
There is in my campaigns. It's the primary exotic ingredient in making a Sword of Rust. When a party finds it, it is usually a seemingly discarded rusty sword, appearing to be on the verge of breaking. A Detect Magic will show it has strong alteration magic. It behaves as a normal +2 longsword except the +2 does not go to damage (it is a shoddy blade that the magic is doing its best to just keep it solid). If used in an attack, a hit target is treated as if hit by a Rust Monster. Will of the sword user is needed to activate the rust power (wish harm on the target or just want to touch-rust), so no accidental rusting. Without knowing what it is, the sword is worthless. Knowing what it is, the sword is worth a fortune. Rust monsters focus on trying to eat it because it smells like rust, metal ready to be eaten already. It cannot harm them, but you can throw it to distract and dispatch rust monsters while you and your friends murder the poor little pests. Then, reclaim your Rust Monster genocide sword back.
Does this rust effect do anything to metallic dragons? Or do metallic dragons just appear metallic?
They just appear metallic.
One reaon I enjoy Dex based unarmed characters. I can literally ease up an pet one of these guys while laughing at the Dwarven Paladin...
Already got a like from the opening music alone. :D As a player, Rust Monsters suckkkkkkkk..... As a DM... :D
This is why you need a top-knotch ranger. Tame those things to use as weapons and to track down metal ores, treasure, and war gear.
Rangers weren't about pets so much in AD&D :)
Fine, a Druid then.
24 AC paladin turns to hi druid and says
"I dont feel so good" as he crumbles into dust
A special rust monster followed by the spectors wraiths or ghost of dead kensai master caftsman and warriors whos weapons where eaten by the monster. The spirits stay within 60 to 80 feet of the above average sized rust monster luring in others in to have there goods eaten and the spirits fight the adventurers helping protect the beast. I'm thinking 5 ghost dudes and a beefy rust bug. Enjoy
Heres a cool creature my necromancer arch-mage created....a combination of the rust monster and the disenchanter,when i first started experimenting with these creatures i failed constantly...and after 8 years of work i finally got it right.....i need a good name for it though....got any suggestions?
Arcane Tarnisher?
DracotheDarkPrince not bad not bad at all!
has treehugging hotelf ever managed to seduce a rust monster, by feeding it his scale mail bit by bit, and rubbing it's belly?
... i just love that mental image :D
Cuda FX I bet they purr
If it is just magnetism that determines what they identify as food, then a wizard or alchemist should be able to remove magnetic quantities of the metal therefore making it non-magnetic. Or one could use non-magnetic metals for their weapons and armor.
If that infernal steel eating roach isnt an insect then im a vegetarian...
As an entomologist I can confirm, not an insect
@@raylordofkhalah28 *Looks at kale* i guess were best friends now....
Jedi are rust monsters
Sorry what?
@@AJPickett microscopic bacteria that are the true power of the being in which they reside.
@@Thkaal ooooh, yeah I get you. Lol. Rustichlorians.