Rust Monster
- Armor Class
- 2 [17]
- Hit Dice
- 5
- Attacks
- Special attack (1d6+1)
- Special
- rusts metal, magic or silver weapons to hit
- Move
- 12
- HDE/XP
- 6/400
Description
A rust monster (sometimes known as a corroder or corrosion beast) is a strange monster built like a huge turtle, with an insectoid head sporting large feather-like antennae and a thick tail with a hammer-like protrusion at the tip which seems to serve no purpose whatsoever.
The touch of any part of a rust monster's body oxidizes metal objects instantly, turning them to rust, verdigris, or other oxides as appropriate. One attacks with its antennae, brushing them over metal items. Non- magical metal attacked by a rust monster, or that touches the monster (such as a sword used to attack it), is instantly ruined. A hit with a non-magical metal weapon inflicts half damage before the weapon is destroyed. Magic weapons or armor permanently lose one "plus" each time they make contact with the monster.
The metal oxides created by this monster are its food; a substantial amount of metal dropped in its path may cause it to cease pursuit of metal-armored characters. Use a morale check to determine this. Metals that do not normally oxidize, such as gold, are of no interest to a rust monster and will be ignored. While rust monsters will consume oxides of silver or copper, they have a strong preference for ferrous metals (iron or steel), preferring them over any other metal.
Whether the rust monster is in any way related to the rarer ironbane (as found on page 115) is unknown, but both monsters seem to have the exact same power.
Source note: This creature is converted from Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, 4th Edition Release 142, © 2006–2025 Chris Gonnerman. The Basic Fantasy textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.