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Message: <blockquote data-quote="captainspud" data-source="post: 5381579" data-attributes="member: 94481">This topic came up back in September, but everyone decided on a "wait and see" policy to see how the remaining Essentials books changed things. Now that the core stuff is out, it seems appropriate to broach the subject again.In a nutshell: The original MM Rust Monster eats items, but players can harvest the residuum back when it dies, letting them Enchant Magic Item their possessions back. This prompted the question about what happens with an Essentials party; even if you give them the residuum back, they don't have access to Rituals, and even if they did, they (debatably) can't make anything beyond basic Commons.Cut to today: the Rust Monster is among the creatures listed in the Monster Vault, and its schtick works exactly the same as it used to. This seems really odd to me; why bother returning the materials if players can't use them? At least with the MM version, it was an unintended side effect of mixing game versions. But this is an Essentials monster, designed to fight Essentials heroes. Essentials heroes can't use Residuum, and the DM's Guide pretty clearly states that nobody in this age of the world can make Uncommon+ items. So, what are they supposed to do with the dust from a dead rare? Use it to buy a same-level POS common? That seems like a pretty cruel thing to inflict on a player.The recent errata to the Creation rituals (in the November update) further muddies the waters; they changed Brew Potion to be Common-only, but didn't appear to make the same change to Enchant Magic Item. There was some debate on whether that was an oversight or not-- did they <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">not change it on purpose?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">not change it because the DM's Guide restriction already stops them from crafting U+ items?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">forget to change it?</li> </ol>This whole situation is a bit of a mess. On the one hand: if you're the DM just don't put Rust Monsters in your campaign unless a) you WANT it to be a huge d***-punch to the players, or b) you intend to give them a mechanism to retrieve the item. On the other hand: that solution marginalizes a legendary D&D monster. What happens when an author wants to write a Rust Monster into LFR, or a published module, or, hell, an Encounters session? There are a dozen possible solutions, and ultimately the "correct" answer is, "do whatever's right for your group". But that's a pretty unsatisfactory answer. Personally, I figure they could've just waited it out until June's reintroduction of rituals if they just selectively left the Rust Monster out of the MV; but since they included it, they really do seem to have a responsibility to present an official solution.Et vous?</blockquote>

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