Legend4ry Monsters: Re-imagining the Rust Monster

Dungeons & Dragons has a long history of weird monsters such as the Flumph. In addition to some oddities over the years we've also been presented with visages of terror, such as the Vargouille, the Mind Flayer, the Beholder, the Wight, and yes, even the simple Zombie. Most of these iconic creatures are known for specific attacks or effects and are quite largely feared due to them. The Vargouille has its paralyzing shriek and its transforming kiss, the Wight possesses the powers to drain life's very essence away from doomed adventurers, and the Beholder is known for its tenacity and variety of eye beams. 

The Rust Monster brings a lot to the table despite being iconic. The Rust Monster is known far and wide due to tall tales and gruesome encounters. While the Vargouille, the Wight, and the Ghoul that have been touched on in previous installments of Legend4ry Monsters; the Rust Monster isn't quite as deadly. Instead of striking fear into the hearts of the players and characters alike, it strikes more of a meta-fear into the greedy clutches of the adventuring party. The Rust Monster may not drain your life, but it sure as hell will drain your gear.

Found at wizards.com/dnd

To really convert the Rust Monster to 4e I had to look at the Wizards versions. To their credit, unlike with the Wight and the Ghoul, the Rust Monster can serve as the annoyance as written but it takes some time. First you have to deal with "rusting" a metallic weapon and then using an Encounter power to destroy only one metallic item. In addition to that, if the metal item in question is magical, then upon defeating the Rust Monster you are able to gather up Residuum equal to the destroyed item's value. So basically the Rust Monster gets one good shot at destroying an item and then apologizes for it upon its death. That's way too easy and nice.

Now, this isn't to say that the Rust Monster should be deadly. A party is likely not going to die because of a Rust Monster, they are just going to get their gear destroyed. They will live in fear of these creatures not because of their deadly prowess, but because of their shear ability to rust everything metallic and precious to the adventuring party. Awesome, right?

I think I've said "rust" a few times now, so you get the idea! Behold, the Legend4ry D&D take on the Rust Monster!

As I've warned before, these creatures are not for every type of game as they are deadlier and their actions carry, at times, extreme consequences. So, as I've said a few times, Here Be Dragons. 

Like I've said in previous posts, I'm having a lot of fun with the Legend4ry monster conversion and plan to keep them up for awhile. I still really want to tackle the Mind Flayer and have another undead-centric post planned Thursday for my next May of the Dead blog carnival entry. I'm wanting to try and reinvent the 4e Vampire as well as, by suggestion from Robert Waluchow over at Crypt Thing, the fearsome Bodak with its death gaze.

Until next time,

-blob

You can follow me on Twitter @Sorcerer_Blob or via the hash-tag #legend4ry. You can also find my blog and others at the Fourthcore Hub and at the RPG Blog Alliance.

Be sure to check out the other May of the Dead Carnival blogs located here!