Rat / Giant Rat
- Habitat
- Cities, sewers, ruins, dungeons, and forests
- Biomes
- +settlement, +underground, temp-broadleaf
- Spawn
- swarm, night
- Temper
- Skittish alone, bold in numbers
- Threat
- Low
- Rarity
- Common
- Move
- run; swim.
- Special
- Disease
| Variant | STR | DEX | CON | INT | Health | Damage | Armor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rat | 7 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 93 | 16 | 12 |
| Giant Rat | 5 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 81 | 14 | 12 |
The common rat is a small, long-tailed rodent that thrives wherever people store food or leave waste. A lone rat bolts from anything larger than itself, but a hungry pack grows fearless and will swarm over a cornered traveller. Black rats climb and leap well; brown rats burrow and swim; both gnaw ceaselessly through cloth, timber, and even soft metal to build nests and reach grain. The larger giant rat, brown-black with a pale belly, haunts crypts and undercities, tunnelling between graves. The true danger is less the bite itself than the filth it carries: a single nip can pass on a wasting sickness. As a survival foe, rats test torches, food security, and disease management more than swordplay.
Behavior
- Forages and scavenges by night in roving packs
- Flees when alone but mobs prey when starving or cornered
- Climbs, leaps, burrows, and swims to reach food
- Gnaws through stores, walls, and gear to build nests
- Carries disease that can infect almost anything it bites
Abilities
- Disease Bite. A bite may pass on a debilitating sickness unless the victim resists.
- Swarm. Massed rats act as one body, biting everything within reach.
- Agile Vermin. Climbs sheer surfaces, swims, and squeezes through tiny gaps.
Drops & Crafting
- Rat pelt (poor-grade fur scraps)
- Rat meat (emergency rations, risky if undercooked)
- Bones and teeth for needles or fish-hooks
- Tail sinew for fine cord
- Diseased glands (a poison-crafting reagent)