Antimagic query

[Eccles]

As part of my mission to slap about over-equipped magic-heavy parties, I've been trying to think of a way of removing the +5 armour and +5 sword that a high-level fighter may wander about the place carrying with him.

I struck upon this:

An antimagic field (either natural, owing to spell or even a beholder), and a small group of rust monsters. This means that the +5 metal items don't get any saving throw to avoid getting dissolved.

The question is this: The MM doesn't say whether the rust monster's rusting talents are supernatural, spell-like, or anything. Do they function in a no-magic zone?

Cheers for your views.

 

[Piratecat]

It sure does! The rust monster powers are extraordinary. Lord knows why, but they are. from the SRD:

Rust (Ex): A rust monster that makes a successful touch attack with its antennae causes the target metal to corrode, falling to pieces and becoming useless immediately. The size of the object is immaterial-a full suit of armor rusts away as quickly as a sword. Magic armor and weapons, and other enchanted items made of metal, must succeed at a Reflex save (DC 20) or be dissolved. A metal weapon that deals damage to a rust monster also corrodes immediately. Wooden, stone, and other nonmetallic weapons are unaffected.

That means that you can use an antimagic field and then provide your rust monsters with nice metal snacky-cakes. Whether you should, though, is another question; I suppose it depends on what level the fighter with all the +5 gear is.

In my campaign, I had rust monsters polymorphed into sea gulls in this exact same situation. (I don't know if this would still work under the most recent errata of polymorph.) It made quite an impression on the group. I'll provide the link to that part of the story hour if you're curious.

By the way, welcome to the boards!