D&D 5E We should domesticate Rust Monsters

[Shades of Eternity]

They are cute friendly bugs that are easy enough to work within the stipulations of their dietary considerations.

How would you use them in your games‽

 

[Reynard]

They are cute friendly bugs that are easy enough to work within the stipulations of their dietary considerations.

How would you use them in your games‽

Weaponized, definitely.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

As long as you put on a muzzle on their antennae, you got an iron sniffer that can be used to quickly find veins in mines.

 

[MarkB]

What purpose would you put them to beyond a combat role? There are few metals that can't be recycled more profitably by smelting them than by having them consumed by a rust monster. I suppose they could be used as lock-crackers by a burglar, but training them not to eat the cash would be difficult.

 

[MarkB]

As long as you put on a muzzle on their antennae, you got an iron sniffer that can be used to quickly find veins on the antennae.

Iron ore isn't iron, though. Whether they'd actually seek it out rather than going for something refined is questionable.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

He makes a compelling case as well as how culture would change.

But that is a good point.

Do Rust Monsters act like truffle hogs with iron ore?

 

[MGibster]

Iron ore isn't iron, though. Whether they'd actually seek it out rather than going for something refined is questionable.

Iron ore contains iron, right? Is there something I'm missing here? This is like saying gold ore isn't gold. In a technical sense, sure, but gold ore has gold.

 

[MarkB]

Iron ore contains iron, right? Is there something I'm missing here? This is like saying gold ore isn't gold. In a technical sense, sure, but gold ore has gold.

Iron ore is a chemical compound of iron that has to be broken down to make iron (just like rust, in fact). That's the nature of ferrous metals. To a rust monster, eating iron ore would be the equivalent of eating dung.

Gold, on the other hand, is a non-reactive metal. Even when found in its raw form in nature it is simply gold, just with some dirt mixed in. It doesn't rust, and is thus of little interest to rust monsters.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Iron ore is a chemical compound of iron that has to be broken down to make iron (just like rust, in fact). That's the nature of ferrous metals. To a rust monster, eating iron ore would be the equivalent of eating dung.

I think you have this the wrong way around, unless you are assuming Rust Monsters are wholly unnatural creatures.

If they're evolved or natural creatures, even if they're originally from another world or something, inevitably they're going to be used to consuming ores and other "impure" forms of metal.

So it's more like the relatively (but not perfectly) pure steel (iron + carbon + other elements) armour adventures wear are basically the best thing they ever tasted.

 

[MarkB]

I think you have this the wrong way around, unless you are assuming Rust Monsters are wholly unnatural creatures.

Given that they're in the same "screw the players" category as the invisible 10-foot cubes of gelatin specifically designed to slide through standard dungeon corridors and the ambush predators evolved to look exactly like treasure chests, that's very much an open question. Rust monsters are far from the most egregious examples, but I'd still lean more towards "a wizard did it" than natural evolution.