d20 Goodman Games The Complete Guide to Wererats.pdf

Credits

Writer: Keith Baker · Cover Artist: Jim Pavelec · Interior Artist: Tom Galambos

Copy Editor: Joseph Goodman · 3.5 Editor: Ryan Nock · Graphic Designer: Duncan Fielden

Credits

Introduction

Six Broods

Physiology

h e Asyra Brood

A Look At Lycanthropy

h e Dorian Brood

Lycanthropic Healing

h e Graykin

General Traits Of Wererats

h e Oath of Flesh

h e Human Form

Ravers

h e Hybrid Form

h e Quiet Ones

h e Dire Rat

Appendix I: Wererats

Social Structure

Exemplar

Wererat

h e Broods

Mole Rat

h e Weavers

Oathkeeper

Shifters

Ratcaller

Ratcallers

Shifter

Wererat Ranks and Oﬃ ces

Warrior

Aﬄ icted Wererats

Weaver

Human Servants

Fangdancers

Empathic Identiﬁ cation

Cultural Habits

Appendix II: Weaver Creations

Draconian Wererat

Language

Dragon Rat

Warrens

Half-rats and Trigats

Family Life

Redtooth Troll

Myths

Other Creatures

Diplomacy

Traditions and Rituals

Dorian Plagues

Death

Burning Plague

Combat Strategies

Foulmouth Fever

Magebane

Natural Abilities and General Tactics

Ambushes and Traps

Magic Items

Ratspaws

Magic Item Special Ability: Ratbone

Animal Allies

Magic Weapon: Prison of Flesh

Germ Warfare

Wererat Characters

Wererats as a Character Race

Wererat Racial Traits

Character Classes

Ratcaller

Shifter (Wererat)

Weaver

New Feats

Campaigns

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Conversing with Wererats

Introduction

that she could steal the wisdom f the thers, so that

she could create her wolf-children in the woods. Others

followed her xample, stealing the knowledge f the

council to take the form f tiger, falcon, or ther beasts.

But the wist remained and took the form f the rat.

While the ﬁrst Weavers had the form f the rat,

thy knew that thy had nt learned all f its srs, nor

infused their blood with all f its power. And so thy fell

to ﬁghting over how this could bt be accomplished. And

so was the Council broken.

Jayra, wist f the Council f Flesh, was the

mther f our brood. To her we owe our lineage and

our power, and it is in her name that we continue our

work. And that work is threefold. We must perfe our

form until we have gained all the gits f the rat. We

must dtry those o broke their oaths to the Council

f Flesh, and all f their children, and their children’s

children — bth those traitors o take the forms f

ther beasts and those o turned on Jayra at the last,

those o share our form. And we must manage Man

until our work is done and we are ready to replace him.

L him be kept unaware f our work in the darkn.

L us remain invisible as the rat, lurking beneath his

y and under his fe. If a man shows promise, l him

bome one f us. If a man should threaten us, l him

fall to toth and blade. But work always in silence and

l the shadows be your shield. Our cunning and our wits

are our greatt weapons — and with them we shall

overcome all o oose us.

And so the time came to choose a form. he Council f

Flesh gathered togher in a sr lace, and all swore

an oath to be bound by the will f the majority. And the

greatt among them rose around the table and made

their voic heard.

“L us choose the boar,” said Goran, always the ﬁrst to

speak. “L us be ﬁerce and bold, so all will fear to face us

in batle.”

Jayra spoke stly, but her voice was always heard.

“he boar is ﬁerce, it is true,” she said. “But his anger

clouds his mind. Do we nt value reason over rage?” he

Council nodded in agreement and Goran was shamed.

Stoic Bram was nt to speak. “L us choose the bear,”

he said. “L us have strength and power.”

Jayra spoke again. “What use is power en one

stands alone? he bear is slow and solitary.” Again the

council agreed and Bram, too, was shamed.

Cunning Shelysa was nt to speak, seizing the

oortunity let by her siﬆer. “hen l us choose the wolf.

She hunts with her pack, and togher thy bring down

pry that one alone could nt face.”

“All you think f is batle,” Jayra said. “Can the wolf

live among men? Can her pack ﬁnd a home in the city?

Or do you intend to live your life in the woods?”

Shelysa’s y burned with hatred as she turned the

qution back. “As you are so wise, perhaps you would tell

us at form to take, siﬆer?”

“L us choose the rat,” Jayra replied. “he rat liv

among the citi f man; no mater how hard he tri, the

rat cannt be dtryed or driven out. hrough cunning,

the rat overcom all challeng. And y it can cary the

power f life or death. What boar or wolf has caused as

many deaths as en the rats brought the Burning Plague

to Sharna?”

he Council weighed her words and agreed with

Jayra’s choice. Goran and Bram broke their oaths and

let the Council, and so it was that until rently their

followers could nt take the form that stands bween

man and beast. Treacherous Shelysa remained only so

— from he Book of the Rat

as transcribed by Carrus of the Asyra brood.

and animal form — are creatures of legend. Stories

are told of savage werewolves that prey on the unwary,

and of solitary mountain men who battle evil in bear’s

shape. But the wererat is the most dangerous of these

shapeshifters. A wererat does not have the raw physical

power of those who take the forms of tigers, boars, or

bears, but she makes up for that with cunning. Wererats

are clever, social creatures — where you see one, there

are probably a dozen that you haven’t seen. And when a

wererat starts a ﬁght, she is not driven by rage or primal

instinct — you can be certain that she has a plan.

L ycanthropes — beings who can shift between human

his book provides information on wererat culture,

behavior, and combat tactics, along with ways to

incorporate wererats into an ongoing campaign. It also

includes new feats, skills, and classes that can be used

by wererat NPCs or player characters who have become

infected with lycanthropy.

he game statistics for wererats are provided in

Appendix One. Information on any new skills, classes, or

feats that are mentioned in the text can be found in the

chapter on Wererat Characters.

A few deﬁnitions need to be established at the

outset. he term “aﬄicted wererat” is used to indicate

a human who has been infected with lycanthropy

during his lifetime, while a “natural wererat” is one

who has inherited the condition from his parents.

Most importantly, throughout this document the term

“human” is used to refer to all varieties of sentient, warm-

blooded humanoids. Elves, dwarves, and halﬂings are

just as vulnerable to lycanthropy as humans are. Even

orcs, goblins, and giants can become wererats!

In game terms, these mental changes are reﬂected

by a shift in alignment. Wererats are lawful evil. Victims

of the disease feel a strong desire to become part of a

wererat community, to ﬁnd or create a brood and earn

a place in its hierarchy. Wererats are extremely social

by nature and are uncomfortable working on their

own; they prefer to be surrounded by others of their

kind. Newly aﬄicted wererats will ﬁnd themselves

feeling detached from their previous relationships; old

emotional attachments suddenly seem to be empty

and meaningless. he victim ﬁnds that he feels isolated

and alone. Only the presence of other wererats of the

same brood ﬁlls this void — even if the victim doesn’t

realize these individuals are wererats. he experiences

of newly aﬄicted wererats are examined in more depth

on page 9.

Lycanthropic Healing

A well-known aspect of lycanthropy is the supernatural

resilience of the shapechanger. While in the hybrid or

dire rat form, a wererat will recover from most physical

injuries instantaneously. When struck by weapons of

wood or steel, a wererat seems not to feel the blow; one

story speaks of a wererat who walked around for an

hour before realizing that there was a dagger sticking

out of her back. Only silvered blades or the natural

attacks of other lycanthropes aﬀect wererats normally.

he Weavers (wererat mystics) claim that the disease

links the victim to a mystical archetype — an idealized

form that the victim’s body is striving to attain. he

Weavers say that silver resonates with the light of the

moon — and lunar forces have a powerful eﬀect on all

lycanthropes — and so silver weapons are able to disturb

the archetype and disrupt the healing process.

A natural wererat ignores the ﬁrst 10 points of damage

from any physical attack that does not involve a silvered

weapon, and an aﬄicted wererat ignores the ﬁrst 5.

he natural attacks of another lycanthrope — or any

creature that possesses a Damage Reduction that can

be bypassed by silver — will also bypass this defense.

Special Note on Edition Conversion

When he Complete Guide to Wererats was originally

released, wererats in the core rules were always lawful

evil. In the revised edition they are always chaotic evil.

his version of he Complete Guide to Wererats main-

tains wererats as a lawful evil race of lycanthropes, but

otherwise all rule information is fully compatible with

the new edition of the rules.

Physiology

A Look at Lycanthropy

Before looking at the physiology of the wererat, it is

important to understand lycanthropy itself. Lycanthropy

is a magical disease that is transferred when the saliva

of an infected creature enters the bloodstream. he

disease has both physical and psychological symptoms.

he initial physical changes are obvious: in times of

stress or when inﬂuenced by the lunar cycle, the victim’s

body will transform into the form of an animal or into

a half-human, half-animal hybrid form. But the mental

transformation is deep and insidious. If the disease goes

untreated, the victim’s entire outlook on the world can

change; he may embrace ideas that previously would

have been repellent, or engage in uncharacteristic and

dangerous behavior.

General Traits of Wererats

Wererats have normal hit dice from their class or race,

plus the hit dice of the rat form they assume. For most

humanoid wererats, this is 1 hit die, which provides

1d8+2 hit points. For large wererats that assume the

form of medium dire rats, this is 4 hit dice, which provide

4d8+12 hit points. Remember that these additional hit

dice may grant an extra feat, and increase the maximum

skill ranks in the wererat’s skill.

Add the base attack bonus for the

rat form to the base attack bonus

for the base creature. he wererat’s

grapple bonus uses its attack bonus

and modiﬁers for Strength and size

depending on the creature’s form.

Wererats gain skill points equal to

(2 + Int modiﬁer, minimum 1) per Hit

Die of its animal form, and for these

skill points Climb, Hide, Listen, Move

Silently, Spot, and Swim are class skills.

Wererats also gain Alertness, Iron

Will, and Weapon Finesse as bonus

feats. Regardless of form they gain a +2

modiﬁer to Wisdom and a +2 natural

armor bonus to AC, and have low-light

vision and the Scent ability.

Finally, all wererats possess the Rat

Empathy ability, which allows them to

communicate with rats and dire rats,

and grants a +4 bonus to Charisma-

based checks against rats and dire rats.

this build over a period

of years. Both types of

wererats have surprisingly

active facial features; the

nose, ears, and mouth will

often twitch when the creature

is excited or under stress.

Wererats are not immortal,

but their lifespan is bolstered

by the same energy that

heals their physical injuries.

A wererat lives twice as long

as a normal member of his

apparent species. In the case of

an aﬄicted wererat, every two

years following the infection

only counts as a single year for

purposes of aging.

A wererat with the Trueblood

feat gains access to other special

qualities while in human form;

see page 25 for details.

The Human Form

his is the natural form that a victim

possessed before he was infected

with lycanthropy — or in the case of a

natural wererat, the form possessed

by his ancestors when they originally

contracted the disease. As noted before,

“human” is used in a general sense. All

humanoid species are susceptible to

the disease; it is possible to encounter

wererat dwarves, elves, halﬂings, or

orcs. he dire rat form is too small for

giants to become wererats, though

some rare wererats might be giants that

can assume the form of a large dire rat.

A creature with lycanthropy displays

few symptoms of the disease while

in his human form; in particular, the

unnatural rate of healing possessed in

the bestial forms is absent.

Natural wererats tend to be slightly

shorter than average for

their apparent species,

with slender builds

and wiry muscles.

Aﬄicted wererats

slowly shift towards

The Hybrid Form

A blending of animal and

human, the hybrid wererat

has a wiry, lean bipedal form

approximately the same size and

shape as the original creature.

In the case of heavy-set or

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