Rust monster versus Warforged

[Hand of Evil]

The thing is he isn't a man made of metal - it's a construct which includes metal in it structure. It also includes wood and leather, and I suspect various alchemical substances too. Don't forget that no other PC has to fear Rust Monsters as killers, so the 2d6 damage seems reasonable to me, to represent their vulnerability. Whilst the loss of equipment that a rust monster can inflict looks horrendous, think that overall it doesn't leave anyone else dead, so don't make the attack too potent.

does make my evil DM mind think of a Warforged having a 'fear' of a rust monster, much like a human would or drowning...

 

[Diirk]

The thing is he isn't a man made of metal - it's a construct which includes metal in it structure. It also includes wood and leather, and I suspect various alchemical substances too. Don't forget that no other PC has to fear Rust Monsters as killers, so the 2d6 damage seems reasonable to me, to represent their vulnerability. Whilst the loss of equipment that a rust monster can inflict looks horrendous, think that overall it doesn't leave anyone else dead, so don't make the attack too potent.

He has the adamantine body feat ;p

And seriously, at level 7, what would you fear more ? The very real possibility that your magical armour will be destroyed, or 2d6 damage (average 7, reflex half). Because the warforged's need for armour (and partially weapons) is negated by his racial abilities, as things are written, he is LESS vulnerable to rust monster attacks, not more vulnerable.

Now the rusting grasp spell, I could maybe see a case for (it only affects ferrous metal creatures... its quite possible warforged don't contain much ferrous metal). However rust monsters target any metal, and while I agree they shouldn't be instant death, having all the metal in your body destroyed at once should be something you fear. Not laugh at.

 

[smootrk]

Another aspect you can add to the rust monster effect is loss of the +2 natural armor and/or ability damage (str/con comes to mind) from the loss of structural components.

I think this, along with the 2d6 damage per attack comes closer to what ought to happen.

 

[Diirk]

I think the biggest problem is that from a common sense point of view, the mithral body and adamantine body should make a warforged more vulnerable to rust monster attacks. Also if the rust monster is advanced as is the case here, I'd want to increase the damage substantially too... If a 5HD rust monster does 2d6 damage, perhaps 1d6/2 HD is a good guideline. Which would make a 14 HD rust monster do 7d6 damage per attack, DC 22 reflex half. (average is 21ish damage). That actually sounds fairly reasonable.

I like the ability damage idea too, that actually makes a lot of sense. But I'd do one or the other (increased damage, or ability damage) not both.

 

[smootrk]

I think (permanent) ability damage is much scarier than the HP damage to most characters.

Scaling the damage by creature size makes sense... all other creatures do that, and having secondary ability damage is not out of line. Lots of creatures (undead come to mind, or snakes with poison) have that kind of damage routine.

Having both will certainly put the fear of death into the Warforge.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

He has the adamantine body feat ;p

Which means that, instead of some iron, he's got some extra adamantine lacing.

The adamantine body feat does not mean the warforged is completely adamantine.

 

[Deadguy]

I think that if you want to make the fear of Rust Monsters greater, then it's not unreasonable to increase the damage (and perhaps apply save penalties) for those Warforged with Adamantine and Mithral Body feats. If you really want to represent the danger as extreme, I agree that destroying the armour bonuses is quite reasonable too.

But remember that this is really just a corner case. Are you seriously intending to use Rust Monsters asa significant element of your campaign story? If you are, the rightly put in the time to make them haev the effect that you desire. But if, as for most campaigns, Rust Monsters are an occasional throw-in, then don't sweat it, and don't waste you precious time on something that's fairly insignificant. (Says the man who has just spent some time answering just this point to no personal gain! )

 

[ARandomGod]

Which means that, instead of some iron, he's got some extra adamantine lacing.

The adamantine body feat does not mean the warforged is completely adamantine.

It's true. Otherwise you could rip the adamantine or mithril out of a warforged and sell it for quite a bit of money. Research (and directly asking the author) indicates that the actual amount of adamantine in a warforged body with the feat was meant to be relatively small.

Of course, I still think that on average you should be able to get enough from a warforged wearing effectively full plate (adamantine) to get the amount of money you'd get normally from selling full plate, and a similiar amount for mithril (chain mail).

But that's an aside. The main point is that there's technically not a LOT of adamantine or mithril. Just enough in key points to give the effects listed.

 

[Ferret]

I'm thinking Con damage, or permenant HP damage, without the usual working to repair it.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Be wary of changing it if the player already knows the rule about 2d6 damage from rust monsters in the MM3 (especially since its under warforged abilities which apply directly to him). It wouldn't be very fun for him to expect it to do 2d6 damage and you start dealing Con damage or something like that.