So I was looking through my copy of Pirates of the Inner Sea and one of the new 'Pirate' weapons is the brass knife, which is basically the same as a dagger, except it has the fragile quality. In the flavor description it is noted that pirates and sailors use it because;
It isn't vulnerable to rust like steel is
I didn't know that there were rules for rusting and upon checking I didn't find any. Are there any rules for iron and steel equipment rusting or is this just flavor for some of the weapons?
Yes I know about the rust monster, and the rusting grasp spell. I wanted to know if there were rules for the natural rust of a weapon since pirate adventurers have no more reason to fear a rust monster than regular adventurers.
I guess not, well if that's the case then I'm just going to let the players use regular daggers.
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Well, mechanically, I haven't been able to find any rules for rusting weapons. But you have to ask how real you want it to be.
Rust forms on steel when it gets wet. Saltwater actually speeds the process up considerably as the saltwater is a better electrolyte than pure water, allowing its presence to speed the process of rusting on iron and steel.
After a while, if they haven't been taking care of their steel weapons, they should start to rust. It's just fluff really, but sometimes depending on your group it's the small things that make the game.
I think I might try to house-rule something in, it will help with the theme of the game since it is pirate themed. Besides my players will learn quick to take care of their weapons and I can give magic weapons a save to resist it and the DC won't be very high.
Seems like the text is for flavor, to explain why the sailors prefer brass knives despite the fact they have the fragile quality.
That seems ripe for applying a house rule. Chances are there might be something like that appearing in the Skulls & Shackles AP. Salt water spray is hell on ferrous metals. Untreated cars become buckets of rust rather quickly when exposed to it, like when you live in coastal areas. So I'm guessing in a seagoing adventure a lot of time needs to be spent cleaning and oiling iron and steel weapons to prevent corrosion.