Rust Monsters

I honestly have not seen these creatures much here, as Aarg runs or teleports away as quickly as possible when they are encountered. Personally, I do not like them as they do not seem to serve much real purpose other than mobile gold sinks (ie; ruined items need to be replaced), and have heard that the loot is rather slim.

So I offer a suggestion to improve the standing of these creatures from the players side: make their remain drops and lairs a good source to find gems, esp the ones needed for crafting. As these small monsters are natural miners that consume metals, it would seem reasonable that they would have shiny baubles as remains of their labors and digestive processes.

Thanks!

Sneaky, sneaky, crafty! I like the way you're thinking! (Then again, these are rust monsters we're speaking of...)

Elhanan wrote:As these small monsters are natural miners that consume metals, it would seem reasonable that they would have shiny baubles as remains of their labors and digestive processes.

Not to mention those poor adventurer items lost to the beasts' appetites!

Considering gems are normally crystalline in natural rather than containing metal rustmonsters would not intentionally eat gems. They would however, likely accidentantly consume them when eating ores and metal(as metals are refined from ores).

Also rust monsters do not consume stone, which means other objects, including gems, could also be found. And finally, some gems are not just crystals, they are, stones, and some gems are naturally formed glasses.

Of note, the particular species of rust monster on Aenea apparently eats most anything... including... Plate +1 (expected)... bracers of STR +4 (hmnn, well they are bracers).... ring of air shielding (huh? right off my finger!).... a magic wooden stick used to beat it in revenge (umm...) hah hah.

I myself have complained about the little buggers being able to destroy wood, cloth, or anything else you are wearing.

I also just discovered that they will eat a Black Blade of Disaster... leaving an unarmed invisible creature to fight them mano-a-mano.

eeriegeek wrote:I also just discovered that they will eat a Black Blade of Disaster... leaving an unarmed invisible creature to fight them mano-a-mano.

Heh...

Yea the problem with em is that the script/nwn cant identify what is actually metal. Theres no tag available to put on them so they know the difference.

In single player mods...the creator has to put every item they can eat on thier script so it knows the difference...making it a huge endeavor on pw to code that in with the literally hundreds of custom items that are usually in the mod.

Oh, I was pretty sure of the technical reason why they work the way they do.... my main complaint is that I would rather not have them in the world at all than have them destroying items they shouldnt be able to.

So true dave...everytime i go to the mummy crypt i just avoid that curtain. They drop nothing of worth and just destroy valuable stuff. Personally i find the idea of creating a creature soley to ruin a players character and no other reason somewhat upsetting.

I hated how in pnp there were creatures created for just that reason with the rust monster being top on the list.

Yeah... dying sucks.... but its part of the game...

but having to replace rare or even ultra-rare equipment is beyond aggravating, much worse than dying... especially when it isnt even metal in the first place.

I would rather die than have to find new gear, and worse, possibly have to re-enchant it.

A change is in the works for these beasties. They'll still be in the game, but much less potent when it comes to destroying equipment (limited to mostly-metal weapons, armor, helmets, and shields of less than a certain value).

I've got to say... and you'll hate me for doing this... I LIKE THE RUSTIES...

Granted they need alot of work to function how they should... but they are a Players worst nightmare... I'll happily face off against 4 twin-DM controlled dracoliches (and a host of other undead ~ and have done so, atop the burial mound)... but give me just 1 rustie... and I'll run like hell.... ...

They should give a reflex save to the owner of any magical object, and a (I think) fort save to the item itself... I hate the way in NWN they just consume anything...

If they had a higher rate of xp gain (akin to beholders) or decent loot.. (likely in thier "foodstore", there must be a few hundred things dead adventurers drop once the rusties kill em, stuff too magical for them to eat....) ... then I'd say they may be worth it... at the least in aenea I don't think they should be able to eat custom weapons/armour/shields/amulets, but last time I actively checked, they can.... ... they need work.. but just because they need work, I don't think they should be removed entirely... .. ..

Just discovered that changes I'd made to their scripts a looong time ago never went into effect, since the original cep hak file versions of the scripts have been overriding my module-versions of the same scripts.

Re-scripting now...

Damn the way NWN reads hak-content over the in-game-module content... esp. for things like scripts !!.. ..

I think I might go Rusty hunting again soon ... (and I don't mean going on a suicide quest..or do I ? lol... )

*bump* for a re-visit due to some recent losses coming from new guests....

Wonder if there could be an IG way to recover equipment?

When Beholders disintegrate, all the molecules appear to reassemble in the Great Hall. Perhaps another divine function could be added to the altars of Lysis, Kalas, or another deity could be made would allow such materials to be reassembled.

Or an ointment or somesuch additive that could be purchased like auras to be emplaced on items to mae them immune to such effects in the first place.

Just thinking out loud, as this is an element of gameplay that has very little upside currently (ie; a few gained XP vs gazoodles of lost gold).

That "risk vs reward" point is a biggie...

I was happy that I received a tip about the existence of Rust Monsters before I encountered them, so that when I saw some, I knew to put my swords away before I attracted their attention (in favor of hand-to-hand combat gloves). Fortunately my chars usually sneak into a new area, and don't ever wear metal armor. So because of all that, it was no big deal for me personally.

But my playing buddy with his dragonkin tank was suprised by having his entire new painstakingly-crafted heavy armor destroyed, and it miffed him so much he hasn't been back in Aenea since. (That's why Ramana's dragonlord companion has had to be written out of her story.)

So even though the Rust Monsters are a novel and interesting creature, they have obviously caused much player grief. Their existence has created a potential perma-death issue for items. I'd prefer a way to repair their damage, rather than surprising new unsuspecting players with them perma-deathing a hard-won item. For instance, the damage script could have the item become unwearable until some dwarven master smith works on it.

Sounds a good idea Ramana

Instead of rust monsters destroying an item, how about they damage the item, starting it to rust until it becomes unwearable. Therefore meaning you have to visit a smith to get it repaired.

A more likely occurrence in my opinion

I think this totally links to this thread here.... whilst not good at recovering items there is now an ointment that can permanently prevent the rusties from doing their worst ..... ..... maybe any "hard won" item should have this coated on it ?

Previous Posts

Yes, that's the thread I was implying when I said in another thread I posted this same post in, that I had to find an unlocked thread to post this in, as I would have posted in the thread you refer, Rusty.

Personally I don't care for the "ointment" solution, as this changes nothing about an unsuspecting newbie who doesn't know about all this, still losing his precious item anyway.

This "ointment" solution only works for those who know about it in advance, and then other precautions could be taken as I did.

Techless One here....

What is the official implemented effect; the one that happens anywhere? Or is this a server by server kinda addition?

Yeah the solution is not perfect but there is a warning message in area's where rusties appear, the combat log will display a message along the lines of "You see fine grains of a rust like powder surrounding the floor area here"..... which also isn't perfect for it can get lost in the combat scroll or not seen by having the log closed....

Personally I don't think the rusties should be taken away, because thinking about battling them and not using any metal items is fun for some people, maybe?


I think that as rusties are a CEP addition (I don't remember them from the OC) that the default behavior is what is laid out in the CEP scripts (noted in one of the thread links above)... and believe me, before started tweaking scripts for Aenea the rusties were alot worse, they just took EVERYTHING metal all at once, no svs. Aenea's rusties take 1 item at a time, after a DC20 reflex sv (every 10k of the item price lowering the DC by 1), and they ignore your inventory IIRC(focusing on only your equipped items)....

I think maybe the rusties need an xp boost to make it worthwhile fighting them.... and maybe instead of destroying an item they should eat (steal) it from a PC, so killing the rustie will get you your item back (with a "rusted" tag, -attack/AC etc) and then you need to take the item to one of the various "useless smithy's" dotted around aenea ?

They are cool, but they still need work for us to be happy with them.... .... ...

RustyDios wrote:
Personally I don't think the rusties should be taken away, because thinking about battling them and not using any metal items is fun for some people, maybe?
...

That's totally me, I guess.
Honestly never had a problem with the rust monsters, I do maintain a healthy amount of respect for them when I run into those subtle clues of their whereabouts, though.

I kinda like those cute little monsters, but do agree the XP for killing them vs the risk of losing potential valuable gear is quite low or non-existent, and perhaps should be tweaked a bit up...

Yes, I'm not suggesting getting rid of them, either, only altering them so that they 1) do not surprise newbies, or 2) do not completely destroy an item. The latter would be my preference.

That message you refer is too vague and subtle for a newbie to understand that it means impending 'item perma-death'. I was aware of them, and still didn't realize that that message was a warning until after I saw them the first time. It's too much like a message you have seen or would expect to see in an old abandoned mine, and could just mean that iron ore is available there.

The 'stealing the item' is an interesting idea, and the longer they keep it, the more degraded it is? This might be an issue if system reset intervenes and you lose the item. I'd like there to be no actual loss potential at any time. Only degradation and unuseability or disability of some type.

And nevertheless I think that there should be a way to repair, and I agree with your suggestion of giving those 'useless smithies' something to do for you.