Curse: Rusting Touch (good, bad or ugly?)

[Vrecknidj]

Edit: Some minor changes have been made, so a few of the following posts won't be entirely accurate regarding certain points.

How outrageous would this curse be? (As per the Bestow Curse spell.)

You have a rusting touch. Each iron (or iron-composed) item you own that you touch takes damage as per the Rust Ray spell (except that the range is personal and the effect is touch). This effect only applies to items that are owned by you (as per the discretion of the DM).

Dave

 

[Jack Simth]

Let's see.... initially, it's Will Negates. Sorry Mr. Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, and Barbarian - you lose.

It hurts classes that rely more heavily on (especially metallic) weapons and armor. Sorry Mr. Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, and Barbarian - You lose.

Meanwhile, it barely touches a Wizard (okay, so he probably loses magic rings, and maybe his bracers) if it can actually touch him (good will save, and he stays out of Touch range anyway most the time), seriously annoys a cleric (if it takes, what with a Cleric's Wisdom and good will save; but if it does....silver holy symbol? Fullplate? Oops. You did have a wooden backup, right?), and hardly affects a druid at all (no metal armor, not overly much need of weapons).

 

[Dei]

Let's see.... initially, it's Will Negates. Sorry Mr. Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, and Barbarian - you lose.

It hurts classes that rely more heavily on (especially metallic) weapons and armor. Sorry Mr. Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, and Barbarian - You lose.

Meanwhile, it barely touches a Wizard (okay, so he probably loses magic rings, and maybe his bracers) if it can actually touch him (good will save, and he stays out of Touch range anyway most the time), seriously annoys a cleric (if it takes, what with a Cleric's Wisdom and good will save; but if it does....silver holy symbol? Fullplate? Oops. You did have a wooden backup, right?), and hardly affects a druid at all (no metal armor, not overly much need of weapons).

I agree, this is basically an "I win" button vs any melee class especially a fighter. Especially with the caster level setting meaning that the vast majority of their items will fail their saves. I can see the flavour behind it and I do like it, but as a player who for the most part plays melee classes I can't help but see just how badly this would hit them.

 

[Nifft]

Not such a big deal. You're prohibiting the PC from penetrating DR x/cold iron and restricting him from using lots of cheap weapons & armor. Rusting only affects items with iron in 'em, and there are a LOT of replacement materials in D&D.

A high level Fighter can get Adamantine or Mithral (for weapons and/or armor).

The target will have to be careful, and the curse will hinder him significantly, but he will still have lots of options -- he will still be able to use the best heavy armor and weapons.

It's a cool idea, and probably balanced. If I were a fey, this would be my favorite curse ever.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Vrecknidj]

Thanks for the clarification Nifft--I've changed the original post appropriately.

If this spell could affect any metal, then it would be grossly overpowered. (And, yeah, fey and druids might just come to love a spell like this.) It would be a curse that's out of the question for low-level characters (unless there are alternatives for them to succeed), and, given that curses are reasonably powerful anyway, I think it's okay as an iron-affecting-only spell.

Dave

 

[Quartz]

Far too powerful for an effect of Bestow Curse. For combat types, it's pretty much a Disjuction, so I'd put it somewhere near the same level. I'd ballpark it as an 8th level spell, 9th if it lasts an extended time.

BTW caster level for monsters should be based off HD, not CR.

 

[DungeonMaester]

Dang. That was what I was going to say. Oh well, at least it got fix. The new version need a little bit of work but it looks alot better.
However, here are some things I would add:

• 
  Fort save: Object (Harmless)
  
  Failing the fort save causes the object to take damage (Failing drops hard to 0) and take 2d6 points of rusting damage per four caster levels (4th 4d6, 8th 6d6, ect ect) Droping the hp down to zero causes it to break. This can effect up to 3 targets seen in a 5 foot radius, or a single object up to a large size. Metal creatures cuaght in Rusting touch take normal damage.

Just my gold piece though. I do know a think or two about rust.

---Rusty

 

[Vrecknidj]

BTW caster level for monsters should be based off HD, not CR.

I know, I was just thinking of those odd-ball monsters that have 36 HD but are only CR 15, or whatever.

Dave

 

[Dei]

Not such a big deal. You're prohibiting the PC from penetrating DR x/cold iron and restricting him from using lots of cheap weapons & armor. Rusting only affects items with iron in 'em, and there are a LOT of replacement materials in D&D.

A high level Fighter can get Adamantine or Mithral (for weapons and/or armor).

The target will have to be careful, and the curse will hinder him significantly, but he will still have lots of options -- he will still be able to use the best heavy armor and weapons.

It's a cool idea, and probably balanced. If I were a fey, this would be my favorite curse ever.

Cheers, -- N

True, those materials are available, that does not mean they're widely used. Most magic items, even high level ones are still good, honest steel, which as you know contains iron. Someone under this curse will be able to buy and wear new gear but unless they've specifically prepared for such an eventuality they're going to loose the majority of their equipment when it's cast on them. Ergo, as Quartz said, it's basically a disjunction vs fighters and I agree that it should be a level 8ish spell.

 

[Nifft]

Someone under this curse will be able to buy and wear new gear but unless they've specifically prepared for such an eventuality they're going to loose the majority of their equipment when it's cast on them.

Compare to some other effects of bestow curse:

* -6 decrease to an ability score (minimum 1).
* -4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks.
* Each turn, the target has a 50% chance to act normally; otherwise, it takes no action.

Are you really saying that "must use custom equipment, which is probably what you'd want to use anyway" is worse than "50% chance of losing your action every turn"? Worse than -6 Con? Worse than -4 to nearly every d20 roll?

Sure, you will lose some equipment, but you'd lose that occasionally anyway -- between Sunder, oozes, rust monsters, nightshades and bebeliths, equipment is clearly not supposed to last forever.

(Many PCs in my game wouldn't really care about such a curse. The wizard wouldn't care, nor would his warforged minion, unless the curse rusted the minion itself. The wizard uses a wood staff and casts spells, while the minion uses an adamantine spiked chain. The eldrich knight would hate it, since he has a treasured cold iron rapier which he's been upgrading for years. But he'd be able to make himself a mithral or adamantine rapier and keep on truckin'.)

Unlike a lot of other curses, this one actually has an upside: very few jails could hold you. Shackled to a wall? Yeah, right. Grappling a guy in full plate? Not for long. The potential upside is so interesting that I want to curse one of my PCs immediately... or perhaps an NPC. Hmmmmmmmm.

Anyway, thanks for the cool curse idea.

Cheers, -- N