SQUEE! The rust monster revealed!
- Thread starter Asmor
- Start date
Dire Bare
Legend
That was my thought on reading thru the thread. I would never think of something goofy like this, using rust monsters as residuum cattle. But some of my players would . . . .
I'm pretty sure I won't be allowing any rust monster ranching in my campaign. Way too meta, and, well, stupid, IMO.
Sir Brennen
Legend
The biggest problem with the "new rust monster economy"? Where do all the new magic items come from that are being turned into residiuum?
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Where all magic items come from. Dungeons, quest rewards and other treasure parcels. Or did you want a more simulationistic answer?
Some players will try to get away with anything.
Reminds me of Billy from KotDT. Find owlbear eggs, raise owlbears in a cage until they're fully grown, and then stab them with a spear through the bars, for the XP. XP farming.
Sir Brennen
Legend
Right. So it's a limited resource. You'll be able to get residuum to swap out a few items you don't want, but no one is going to be running a business doing this, generating an unlimited font of residuum, like some people are suggesting.
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Scribble
First Post
Yep... some players WILL try to get away with anything.
What I've learned over the years is:
1. Those players will try to get away with stuff no matter what you do, or what the rules are. Adding rules to a system (or designing rules) trying to counteract this thinking only serves to make the rules more cumbersome, and bolster their arguments when they DO find a rules loophole. (If it wasn't allowed there would eb a rule against it!)
2. It's the DM's job to weed out the silliness from the fun. If the Rust Monster farm is actually something the group would find fun... so be it. If the player is justy trying to get a jerkwad bonus... call him out on it, and move on.
Derren said:
But if they're spending all their time tending to a Rust Monster farm, then when will they manage to go into Dungeons, to gain quest rewards, and other assorted treasure parcels?
ppaladin123
Adventurer
From my post in another thread:
It'll be tough to do. The magic ring in question is a level 24 item (worth 525,000) so the players will have to be epic-level or somehow acquire that sum before epic level (it might not be available for sale either). Then there is the problem that the ring only provides the "half-price" benefit once per day and only after a milestone.
So..you can only gain the benefit once per day and after two combats the DM deems difficult enough to be considered a milestone. You might be able to make/find several rings but this will add considerably to your business start-up costs.
Then you have to answer these questions: How long does it take a rust monster to mature to the age where it can consume an entire magic item? How many magic items can it consume a day? How long does it take for the rust monster to digest a magic item? How often do rust monsters mate? How many rust monsters are produced in a litter? What is the daily upkeep cost for rust monsters that you don't kill?
I forgot another cost....travel. You need to engage in two epic-level combats a day to reach a milestone so you can use the ring to craft half-cost items. Where are those epic battles? If you have to travel the planes to find these epic level threats you might need to use "true portal," to get back to your rust monster ranch to feed them, kill them, and collect the residuum.....that's 50,000 gp a pop and thus not profitable. I suppose you could move your rust monster ranch into the elemental chaos or shadowfell or where ever else you are commonly adventuring...then you can use linked portal at 135gp per casting. Of course then you have to figure out how to set up a ranch on another plane.
Really this whole endevour reminds me of the Underpants Gnomes:
1. Phase one: collect rust monsters
2. Phase two: ??????
3. Phase three: profit.
DandD
First Post
Also, will the epic-level characters even ever find items of level 11 and lower anymore? It's been written that a rust monster can't affect magic items in paragon tier (please correct me if I misunderstood something), so even if the epic heroes, equal to Gilgamesh, Herakles, or Väinämöinen, capable of slaying eldritch abominations from beyond time and space, multi-headed dragon deities and demon kings, go and camp lowly goblin camps in the hope of the rare low-level magic item drop, they'll get nothing of it, no XP, no money, no magic item, because the goblin camp simply explodes due to the awesomeness the heroes emanate, and no traces will be found.
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