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Dr.Epic
2010-03-01, 03:48 AM
The title pretty much says it all. There are just two issues I need to overcome and I can probably do them simultaneously: controlling the beast so it doesn't eat my metal and having it gain more HD and a higher BAB. I figure my best bet would be something like animal compainion or holy mount but I don't think the apply to abberations. Any suggestions?

magic9mushroom
2010-03-01, 04:18 AM
The title pretty much says it all. There are just two issues I need to overcome and I can probably do them simultaneously: controlling the beast so it doesn't eat my metal and having it gain more HD and a higher BAB. I figure my best bet would be something like animal compainion or holy mount but I don't think the apply to abberations. Any suggestions?

Charm Monster?

pffh
2010-03-01, 04:22 AM
Why not go all the way and ride a rust dragon because everything is better with dragons in it.

magic9mushroom
2010-03-01, 04:31 AM
Why not go all the way and ride a rust dragon because everything is better with dragons in it.

Could you get that with Draconic Cohort?

Jon_Dahl
2010-03-01, 04:34 AM
Warbeast template, it doesn't matter if it's aberration...

Ravens_cry
2010-03-01, 04:34 AM
If you're the DM, just do it. BUT, unless they are a bunch of vow of poverty druids, they will hate, and I mean hate, you with an unquenchable fire that will threaten to ignite the world with their rage and fury. Dice shalll be thrown, books smote, blood spilled. The cries shall reach the heavens, and the earth shall quake with their outburst.
If you're a player, ditto.

Superglucose
2010-03-01, 04:39 AM
It's easy enough, just get an epic handle animal check! The DC is only 65.

EDIT: Does anyone else find that the epic use of Handle Animal is pretty lackluster? I mean I know the epic rules have problems, but Diplomacy has things like "Take your worst enemy and turn him into your own devoted fanatical worshipper", sense motive has "read his mind through looking at his eyes", and Handle Animal gets...

"You can train animal-like creatures."

I mean why should it be so difficult to rear a Pegasus? They have int 10! They should be easier to train! </rant>

Oh one more thing: the vermin checks are ridiculous. I've seen regular people train rats before... and according to the SRD that's a dc 36 "handle animal" check. I guess my friends are level thirty three, eh?

pffh
2010-03-01, 05:00 AM
Could you get that with Draconic Cohort?

I'm AFB but I don't see why not.

Ravens_cry
2010-03-01, 05:06 AM
It's easy enough, just get an epic handle animal check! The DC is only 65.

EDIT: Does anyone else find that the epic use of Handle Animal is pretty lackluster? I mean I know the epic rules have problems, but Diplomacy has things like "Take your worst enemy and turn him into your own devoted fanatical worshipper", sense motive has "read his mind through looking at his eyes", and Handle Animal gets...

"You can train animal-like creatures."

I mean why should it be so difficult to rear a Pegasus? They have int 10! They should be easier to train! </rant>

Because you're not training the Pegasus as much as convincing it. "Yeah, why should I carry you? That saddle is heavy enough and it itches." You're using a tool for an unsuitable purpose and while it sort of works, it's a lot harder.

Rainbownaga
2010-03-01, 05:54 AM
Oh one more thing: the vermin checks are ridiculous. I've seen regular people train rats before... and according to the SRD that's a dc 36 "handle animal" check. I guess my friends are level thirty three, eh?

Don't let the weird terminology fool you: the d&d term vermin refers to arthropods, and doesn't include rats. Teaching a rat a simple trick is only a dc 15; a trained, mildly charismatic level 1 could even take 10.



Back on topic, make sure to be especially careful with the saddle design: rust monsters have corrosive skin, so if it's not big enough your armor or weapon could accidentally touch the skin and rust. Also, I know it doesn't have to be said, but avoid metal buckles or clasps.

Steelblood
2010-03-01, 06:00 AM
Warbeast template, it doesn't matter if it's aberration...

I thought it says that it has to be Animal type.

Cicciograna
2010-03-01, 06:02 AM
Rules for riding a Rust Monster, or in particular to domesticate and train one, are in Arms & Equipment Guide, page 86.

Besides, I love Rust Monsters.

bosssmiley
2010-03-01, 07:17 AM
The title pretty much says it all. There are just two issues I need to overcome and I can probably do them simultaneously: controlling the beast so it doesn't eat my metal and having it gain more HD and a higher BAB. I figure my best bet would be something like animal companion or holy mount but I don't think the apply to aberrations. Any suggestions?

Advanced Rustie. Switch to Rust Dragon later.

Handle Animal. (the DCs are comically easy)

hewhosaysfish
2010-03-01, 07:17 AM
Back on topic, make sure to be especially careful with the saddle design: rust monsters have corrosive skin, so if it's not big enough your armor or weapon could accidentally touch the skin and rust. Also, I know it doesn't have to be said, but avoid metal buckles or clasps.

IIRC, Races of Stone has rules for some sort of dwarven armour made of stone, XPH has crytal as a material and Arms and Equipment guide has weird sorts of armour like wood, coral, chitin or interplanar clay.

Optimystik
2010-03-01, 07:22 AM
Oh one more thing: the vermin checks are ridiculous. I've seen regular people train rats before... and according to the SRD that's a dc 36 "handle animal" check. I guess my friends are level thirty three, eh?

Oddly enough, rats are not vermin. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/rat.htm) That DC refers to training things like spiders and beetles.

Person_Man
2010-03-01, 09:27 AM
Amulet of Aberrant Empathy: You can use a Handle Animal check in place of a Diplomacy check to influence the attitude of aberrations with low Int. Comp Adventurer pg 132. And you're set.

Dr.Epic
2010-03-01, 12:59 PM
Okay, you've all given me great tips on how to ride one, but I want to increase it's toughness. At higher levels a rust monster with its low HP could get killed in one round. I want to beef it up. I like the warbeast idea but I'll have to check to see if it affects abberations.

Also, what book is rust dragon in?

Beowulf DW
2010-03-01, 01:13 PM
I'd recommend a Tetanus shot.

pffh
2010-03-01, 01:16 PM
Okay, you've all given me great tips on how to ride one, but I want to increase it's toughness. At higher levels a rust monster with its low HP could get killed in one round. I want to beef it up. I like the warbeast idea but I'll have to check to see if it affects abberations.

Also, what book is rust dragon in?

Dragonomicon I think, dragon cohort is also in it.
Just be careful or you might turn your party into iconic dragon nom.

rayne_dragon
2010-03-01, 01:30 PM
Two words: Dwemoer Devourer

Although now that I check, I can't find it in my 3.X books, so it might be 4e only... still, it's possible you could convert it over.

aivanther
2010-03-01, 01:40 PM
Needed for you and whole party: everbright on all your metal weapons and blueshine on all your metal armor and shields. Those can be found in the Magic Item Compendium.

Incidentally, your DM will probably start doing that to.

faceroll
2010-03-01, 02:02 PM
Because you're not training the Pegasus as much as convincing it. "Yeah, why should I carry you? That saddle is heavy enough and it itches." You're using a tool for an unsuitable purpose and while it sort of works, it's a lot harder.

You treat it like any other slave- failure to submit means it gets whipped.



Don't let the weird terminology fool you: the d&d term vermin refers to arthropods, and doesn't include rats.


Oddly enough, rats are not vermin. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/rat.htm) That DC refers to training things like spiders and beetles.

That one always throws me, but if you look at the root of vermin, it's latin for "worm" (vermis), so it sort of makes sense that vermin refer to invertebrates, which certainly share more characteristics with each other (in an Aritotelian way) than with our broader definition of vermin.

LichPrinceAlim
2010-03-01, 02:51 PM
I second Rust Dragon and say take levels in Paly (I prepare for the tomatoes...) and take Dragon Mount (Ready....FIRE!!!!)

Ravens_cry
2010-03-01, 03:17 PM
You treat it like any other slave- failure to submit means it gets whipped.
.
Wow. That's a real bright idea. One, it can fly. The reason you want it is because you can't fly. Two, it's intelligent enough to escape. Three, it's quite often chaotic good, which means it will severally resent, to put it mildly, mistreatment. Finally, once your in the air, it has you at its mercy. If it finds your treatment intolerable, it can make you a crater if it wants. You'll fail that ride check eventually.

hamishspence
2010-03-01, 03:19 PM
Yup- in the later Drizzt books the orcs try and enslave a pegasus.

Eventually the orc king figures it's a waste of time and hands it to his frost giant ally as a gift.

PlzBreakMyCmpAn
2010-03-01, 03:28 PM
Wow. That's a real bright idea. One, it can fly. The reason you want it is because you can't fly. Two, it's intelligent enough to escape. Three, it's quite often chaotic good, which means it will severally resent, to put it mildly, mistreatment. Finally, once your in the air, it has you at its mercy. If it finds your treatment intolerable, it can make you a crater if it wants. You'll fail that ride check eventually.:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggr in: Don't whip the pretty horsey!

Ravens_cry
2010-03-01, 03:33 PM
Yup- in the later Drizzt books the orcs try and enslave a pegasus.

Eventually the orc king figures it's a waste of time and hands it to his frost giant ally as a gift.
So the white horse was basically a white elephant.
Fascinating.:smallamused:

faceroll
2010-03-01, 03:36 PM
Wow. That's a real bright idea. One, it can fly. The reason you want it is because you can't fly. Two, it's intelligent enough to escape. Three, it's quite often chaotic good, which means it will severally resent, to put it mildly, mistreatment. Finally, once your in the air, it has you at its mercy. If it finds your treatment intolerable, it can make you a crater if it wants. You'll fail that ride check eventually.

You overestimate the capabilities of a properly broken slave.

Triaxx
2010-03-01, 03:36 PM
It wasn't ridden, just kept in a cage, like we keep birds.

Rust monster: I'd make a note to wear leather pants. Else it might get a little embarrassing. Or hilarious.

faceroll
2010-03-01, 03:37 PM
It wasn't ridden, just kept in a cage, like we keep birds.

Rust monster: I'd make a note to wear leather pants. Else it might get a little embarrassing. Or hilarious.

Wait; you normally wear metal pants?

Ravens_cry
2010-03-01, 03:42 PM
You overestimate the capabilities of a properly broken slave.
You underestimate the ability of an intelligent flying mount to dump you on your ass at 3000 feet, ground-thumper.

faceroll
2010-03-01, 03:48 PM
You underestimate the ability of an intelligent flying mount to dump you on your ass at 3000 feet, ground-thumper.

It lacks opposable thumbs- it has no way of dislodging me.

Sanguine
2010-03-01, 04:07 PM
It lacks opposable thumbs- it has no way of dislodging me.

Flying upside down.

faceroll
2010-03-01, 04:09 PM
Flying upside down.

As I said; no opposable thumbs means I'm not coming off.

Ravens_cry
2010-03-01, 04:10 PM
It lacks opposable thumbs- it has no way of dislodging me.
Tell that to a bucking bronco that can do Immelmann turns.
Yeah.
Now, what do you do? You can put on your handy ring o' feather fall and bail, but now you've lost your mount you spent thousands of gold pieces on. Killing it would also put you at a loss. Punishment would be counterproductive. You're in no position to negotiate, and it has every reason to distrust you, so forget bluffing.

Sanguine
2010-03-01, 04:11 PM
As I said; no opposable thumbs means I'm not coming off.

You know until the straps break from the strain of two hundred some pounds before equipment pulling down on them for several hours. Or you know it could just take off before your properly strapped in.

faceroll
2010-03-01, 04:13 PM
Tell that to a bucking bronco that can do Immelmann turns.
Yeah.
Now, what do you do? You can put on your handy ring o' feather fall and bail, but now you've lost your mount you spent thousands of gold pieces on. Killing it would also put you at a loss. Punishment would be counterproductive. You're in no position to negotiate, and it has every reason to distrust you, so forget bluffing.

Or I just pass my strength check with ease and proceed to beat it mercilessly. If it falls unconscious, that's fine. I'm not going to be taking much more than 300 damage in the fall.


You know until the straps break from the strain of two hundred some pounds before equipment pulling down on them for several hours. Or you know it could just take off before your properly strapped in.

Adamantine.
And I didn't dump my mental scores.

Ravens_cry
2010-03-01, 04:19 PM
Or I just pass my strength check with ease and proceed to beat it mercilessly. If it falls unconscious, that's fine. I'm not going to be taking much more than 300 damage in the fall.

Or do you? I would put some hefty penalties on what would be a ride check, as it's actively to get you off it's back.



Adamantine.
And I didn't dump my mental scores.
There's still the leather of the saddle itself.

faceroll
2010-03-01, 04:24 PM
Or do you? I would put some hefty penalties on what would be a ride check, as it's actively to get you off it's back.

It'd be a grapple check. The ride check is insubstantial, since I'm tied to the pegasus with an adamantine chain.

That, and the ride check is only 20. Even if you make it "an impossible task" at DC 40, that's still a trivial check.


There's still the leather of the saddle itself.

Then I cut that pegasus' wings off and lobotomize it, as an example to all the other pagasi in my stables.


Seriously though, keeping slaves isn't that hard with the proper incentives/disencentives in place.

Ravens_cry
2010-03-01, 04:33 PM
Except, you know. . .it's evil. Yes, many societies condoned it. Still evil up the wazoo.

tcrudisi
2010-03-01, 05:54 PM
4e has a new wonderful mechanic for things like this. Actually, my favorite was the Gelatinous Cube. I really want to create a Wizard that rides around on a Gelatinous Cube.

The G.C. is invisible, and when it becomes a mount, it increases to Large size. It also still eats through non-organic materials. As such, I just love the visual image this would create.

My wizard would have to use calling armor, and make the armor his clothes, so that way they would not be eaten by the G.C. There's also a feat which would give the G.C. a teleport speed of 2. The G.C.'s normal speed is 2. So this is what people would see:

A nude Wizard, holding nothing but a backpack and a staff in his lap, comes into town, hovering in a sitting position 10 feet off the ground, slowly moving forward. Occasionally, the nude Wizard suddenly disappears and reappears 10 feet farther ahead before slowly hovering again. Where ever he goes, litter is amazingly cleaned off the ground.

Fuzzie Fuzz
2010-03-01, 07:18 PM
Tcrudisi, that is brilliant. One question though: where is said mechanic for making things into mounts? I can't find it anywhere, beyond the basic mount info in the AV...

Dr Bwaa
2010-03-01, 08:22 PM
Rules for riding a Rust Monster, or in particular to domesticate and train one, are in Arms & Equipment Guide, page 86.

Besides, I love Rust Monsters.

<3 A&EG; it has a ton of hilarious stuff in it (I think the item that lets you ride Oozes is in there as well).

EDIT:

Tcrudisi, that is brilliant. One question though: where is said mechanic for making things into mounts? I can't find it anywhere, beyond the basic mount info in the AV...

I didn't read the posts above mine before posting this! Did you know, there's an item that lets you ride Oozes?! *looks it up* A&EG page 85; Amulet of Ooze Riding. :smallbiggrin: There a ton of stuff in that same section about unusual mounts.

Triaxx
2010-03-01, 08:57 PM
Wait; you normally wear metal pants?

Depends on whether I'm fighting succubi or not. :smallbiggrin: Plus, you know, full plate.

*Insert Watchmen Joke here*

SethFahad
2010-03-02, 12:41 AM
Ride a Rust monster??? Hmm... watch out for you chastity belt... :smalltongue:

Jon_Dahl
2010-03-02, 01:21 AM
I thought it says that it has to be Animal type.

*sigh* This is why I said that "it doesn't matter if it's aberration"...

Temotei
2010-03-02, 01:33 AM
Rules for riding a Rust Monster, or in particular to domesticate and train one, are in Arms & Equipment Guide, page 86.

Besides, I love Rust Monsters.

Does anybody find this ironic?

Dr Bwaa
2010-03-02, 01:39 AM
Does anybody find this ironic?

A&EG is a pretty ironic book, sometimes. This has the effect of enhancing, rather than diminishing, my love for it (especially the whole Mounts section). "Only the brave or foolish ride owlbears. Foolishness, at least, is never in short supply." It goes on to talk about how if you take too much damage (>15) in a round, you need to make a ride check to keep it from trying to throw you and attack you (ignoring all other combatants). :smallcool:

Lycanthromancer
2010-03-02, 01:48 AM
Could you get that with Draconic Cohort?A half-dragon rust monster.

A half-RUST-dragon rust monster.

A half-rust-golem-half-dragon rust monster.

How much rust could a rusty rust if a rusty could rust rust?

Rusty:http://www.ffodyssey.com/wallpapers/ff9/ff9_steiner_1024x768.jpg


Rules for riding a Rust Monster, or in particular to domesticate and train one, are in Arms & Equipment Guide, page 86.

Besides, I love Rust Monsters.http://rustyandco.com/

SethFahad
2010-03-02, 01:51 AM
Does anybody find this ironic?

Yep I do! In fact I find this more...rustonic or rusty than ironic. :smallbiggrin:

Bhu
2010-03-02, 05:31 AM
This has definitely inspired me to get to work on a PrC I've been meaning to do...

The Goblin Rust Monster Herder :smallbiggrin:

tcrudisi
2010-03-02, 05:57 AM
Tcrudisi, that is brilliant. One question though: where is said mechanic for making things into mounts? I can't find it anywhere, beyond the basic mount info in the AV...

It was posted in a Dragon article about familiars. It would, unfortunately, require several feats to pull off. First, you would need the familiar feat, just to choose Gelatinous Cube as your familiar (there are other really cool options as well -- GC was just my favorite). It also requires the feat to give your familiar a teleport speed of 2. And finally, it requires a ritual (also in the Dragon article), which increases your familiar to Large size and allows you to ride it as a mount. It also puts it into active mode.

The Dragon article was #382. If you have insider access, here's the link: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/downloads/dragon/382/382_Familiar_Power.pdf

Other familiars available from the article include a Specter and 2 types of elementals. However, other awesome choices include: Arcane Eye (a floating eyeball), Blood Imp or Bound Demon, Disembodied Hand, Dragonling, Floating Weapon, Oso de la Fez (the Former Show Bear), Saddle Squire, Serpent, Soarwood Wings, Toad, and the Tome Caddy.

The Disembodied Hand is just pure awesome but the Soarwood Wings would be confusing. Per their description they are supposed to animate and stay on your back. But per the ritual, you ride your familiar. So either the wings get very big (large) and allow you to fly 6, or they disengage off your back, you jump on some giant wings, and begin to fly 6.

Which reminds me: that ritual lets your familiar keep whatever movement modes they had beforehand, so if your familiar can fly, you can too when riding it. So fly around on your Floating Weapon! Weeee!

It's too bad that it takes at least 1 feat (sometimes 3) to pull this trick off, as there's no big mechanical advantage to it. And as an optimizer, that drives me batty. I still want to play the G.C. riding Wizard, though, efficiency be darned.