Tarnish Monster: A Nuisance Monster for Pathfinder

The rust monster is one of the most maligned and hated of all insectile aberrations to plague adventurers. But it isn't alone when it comes to beasts that prey upon metals. Less well known, but no less dangerous, is the tarnish monster, a variant of the species that feeds upon the luster of precious metals and gems.

The rust monster is one of the most maligned and hated of all insectile aberrations to plague adventurers. But it isn't alone when it comes to beasts that prey upon metals. Less well known, but no less dangerous, is the tarnish monster, a variant of the species that feeds upon the luster of precious metals and gems.

This silvery insectile monster has four legs, a strange spatula-shaped protrusion at the end of its tail, and two long, feathery antennae.

TARNISH MONSTER CR 3

XP 800

N Medium aberration

Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., scent metals 90 ft.; Perception +12

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +5 natural)

hp 27 (5d8+5)

Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +5

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft., climb 10 ft.

Melee bite +6 (1d3), antennae +6 touch (tarnish)

STATISTICS

Str 10, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 8

Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 16 (20 vs. trip)

Feats Ability Focus (tarnish), Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Finesse

Skills Climb +8, Perception +12

ECOLOGY

Environment any underground

Organization solitary, pair, or nest (3–10)

Treasure incidental (all metal treasure is tarnished)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Mirrorskin (Su) A tarnish monster's chitinous hide gleams with the stolen luster of a hundred mirrors, making it highly reflective. Any light-based attack, spell, or supernatural ability (e.g. blinding ray, prismatic spray, searing light, etc.) targeting the tarnish monster has a 50% chance of reflecting back at its source.

Rust (Su) A tarnish monster's antennae are a primary touch attack that causes any metal object they touch to swiftly tarnish and lose its luster. The object touched becomes dull and yellowed and its resale value is reduced by 20%. Masterwork weapons and armor lose the masterwork quality while tarnished, and tarnished magic items suffer a 20% chance of spell failure (roll once at the beginning of a creature's turn for magic items that provide a constant, passive benefit). A second hit increases all associated penalties to 50%. A tarnish monster never provokes attacks of opportunity by attempting to strike a weapon with its antennae. Against creatures made of metal, a tarnish monster's antennae affect the creature as a slow spell for 1 round. An attended object, any magic object, or a metal creature can attempt a DC 15 Reflex save to negate this effect. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Tarnished items can be restored to their original luster with an hour of polishing and a successful Craft skill check vs the DC of the tarnish attack, or an application of a mending spell. Once restored to their original luster, the penalties afflicteing masterwork and magical items are removed.

Scent Metals (Ex) This ability functions much the same as the scent ability, except that the range is 90 feet and the tarnish monster can only use it to sense metal objects (including creatures wearing or carrying metal objects).

Tarnish monsters are a rare subspecies of rust monster that feeds on tarnished metal. Often found in deep cakes and mines where it can nibble away on veins of gold, silver, platinum, and other lustrous metals, these mirror-skinned monsters find refined metals to be much more nutritious and appetizing. Upon scenting refined metal, a tarnish monster will wander away from its subterranean home to seize and consume it's prize. Within a day a tarnish monster can render a silversmith's entire inventory worthless or make a pallet of gold ingots appear to be of lowest quality. Young tarnish monsters have been known to hide in metalworking shops for years, tarnishing rings and trinkets, leaving to metalworker to assume he must be working with an inferior batch of silver.