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Message: <blockquote data-quote="thecasualoblivion" data-source="post: 4972511" data-attributes="member: 59096">I call it Fake Difficulty because things like Rust Monsters and level draining creatures generally aren't worth fighting. The risk outweighs the rewards, and the only reason you would end up fighting these is if you're forced to.Lets say you're a Fighter, you have any or all of magic shield/armor/weapon and you meet a Rust Monster. The only solution this Fighter has to the dilemma of the Rust Monster is to not fight the Rust Monster. Its just not worth the risk. Your gear is more valuable than any likely reward gained from tangling with the Rust Monster. If that is the point, then you have something, but if the DM places the Rust Monster with the intention that this Fighter will have to deal with it up close, thats another thing. You're forcing someone to do something that they wouldn't otherwise do. Sure, you could run a way and fire arrows, but theres the chance it could catch up and eat your armor. Probably best to avoid it altogether.Its a similar story with level draining creatures, particularly in AD&D when there was little you could do about it after the fact, and levels to longer to achieve and losing them was more of a loss. You meet level draining creatures, what should you do? Run away? Triple Fireball and go home and rest?  In 99% of cases, there is no reward worth the risk of tangling with one of these, and outside of DM railroading no reason to tangle with these creatures.If the only sensible response to meeting a creature is to go home or to nuke from orbit, is this a good creature to use? Its like taking a million dollars doused in gasoline to a wrestling match against a guy who is on fire. It sounds interesting in theory, but its not a situation you would ever put yourself in, or choose not to walk away from if you had any other choice. This issue is a matter of scale. These creatures are so much more dangerous to what a player has worked hard to attain compared to other creatures that they can't be compared on the same scale. Sure you could have Rust Monsters and Vampires endangering children, but if I have to put my levels and magic items on the line, screw those children. I'll find other children to save. I'm ok with danger, but I prefer danger that can be managed in accordance with the reward involved. Level draining and Rust Monsters are too much danger for too little risk, and aren't things you fight by making a choice based on calculated risk/reward. Never mind the fact that these monsters hose characters unevenly, as they don't endanger stand off ranged characters to the same degree that they threaten PCs who do their business up close.</blockquote>

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