Rat Week: Blight Rat Swarm

Blight Rat Swarm

A mass of skull faced black rodents swarm over the helpless beggar, tearing at his flesh, the people nearby just watch, a look of resigned apathy on their faces.

 

Blight Rat Swarm CR 4

XP 1,200

NE Tiny Outsider ( Native, Swarm)

Init +8; Senses Darkvision 60 ft, Detect Good

Perception +11

Aura Apathetic aura (DC 15)

AC 16, Touch 16, Flatfooted 12 (+4 Dex, +2 size)

hp 32 (5d10+5)

Fort +5; Ref +8; Will +2

DR 5/Good or Magic, Immune Disease, Poison, Enchantment/charm

Defensive Abilities: Swarm Traits

Speed 15 feet, climb 25, Swim 25

Melee Swarm (1d6 + corruption)

Space 10 feet Reach 0 feet

Special Attacks Corruption, Distraction (DC 13)

Spell Like abilities (CL 5^th)

Constant- Detect Good

Str 2 , Dex 18, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 16

Base Atk +5; CMB -; CMD -

Feats Improved Initiative, Self Sufficient, Ability Focus (Corruption)

Skills Climb +13,, Intimidate +12, Perception +11 Stealth +21, Survival +10 Swim +13, Racial bonus: Uses Dexterity for climb and swim checks

Languages Abyssal, Common, Infernal

SQ Blight Community

Environment Any Urban

Organization Solitary, Mass (2-6 swarms) or Horror (2-24 swarms)

Treasure Standard

 

Apathetic Aura (Su): The Blight Rat generates an aura which instills feelings of hopelessness and grim acceptance in injustice and horrors in those around them. This functions as a Crushing Despair spell at 60 feet, but only affects good and neutral aligned creatures. The DC is Charisma Based.

 

Corruption (Su): When a Blight Rat swarm attacks a victim, they don't just devour their flesh, they literally eat out the best parts of their soul. Anyone who takes damage from a Blight Rat's bite must make a Will save (DC 15) or have their alignment shift one degree towards Neutral Evil. The Alignment change can be revered with an application of a remove curse, break enchantment, or dispel evil spell, or by destroying the Blight Rat swarm responsible for the attack. The save DC is Charisma based. This is a mind affecting ability.

 

Blight Community (Su): Blight Rats derive their name from the fact that their mere presence invites corruption, both physical and moral, to wherever they nest. When one or more Blight Rats infest a city, it begins to negatively effect that city. Every week that the Blight Rat infestation continues, the corruption and crime modifier of that city increase by one, while the law and society modifiers decrease by one. For every month the Blight rats infest the city, its overall alignment shifts one step towards Neutral Evil. The presence of multiple swarms does not affect the rate of corruption, but every swarm must be destroyed for the deterioration ceases.

 

A Bless spell cast upon a building which can be considered the “Center” of a town (Such as town hall, an important temple, or a famous monument which represents the city) will prevent the blight from progressing for one month, but will not reverse it as long as the rats live. If the Blight Rats are destroyed, the blight reverses itself at the same rate of its progression. A Dispel evil or Wish spell will also restore the town to normal immediately, but if the Blight Rats continue to infest the town, the corruption will start all over again.

 

A physical manifestation of urban decay, apathy, and despair, the Blight Rats are tiny skull faced rats which breed in the darkness, wherever they go, these intelligent hissing rats devour purity and hope and leave only corruption and misery in their wake.

 

It is unknown where the Blight Rats originate from, all that is known is when they manifest, they cause a steady and measurable decay in whichever city they take up residence: Crime and corruption become more prevalent, law enforcement becomes weaker, and even law abiding people became close minded and judgmental. Even the most sparkling utopia can become a blighted urban wasteland with a Blight Rat infestation.

 

Blight Rats are about the size of normal rats.

Authors Note: Okay, I suppose this one isn't TECHNICALLY a Dire Rat variant, but this is about rats in general.

This was the second concept I came up with for Rat Week. Its basically built around manipulating the Settlement modifiers found in the Game Master Guide. I've never seen any monster that modifies these stats, so I thought it would be a unique mechanic.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed it.

Rat Week: RattusSphinx

RattusSphinx

 

The creature pads out of the shadows of the decrepit library. It has the body of a large fat house cat, wings like a raven, and the head and tail of a large rat.

 

 

RattusSphinx CR 6

XP 2,400

CN Small Magical Beast

Init ; Senses Darkvision 60 feet, Low Light Vision

Perception +14

AC 19 , Touch 14, Flat Footed 16(+1 size, +3 Dexterity, +5 Natural)

hp 60 (8d10+16)

Fort +8; Ref +9; Will +7

Speed 20 feet, Fly 60 Feet (Poor), Climb 20 feet

Melee Bite +8 (1d4), 2 claws +8 (1d3)

Spells known (CL 8^th)

4^th level (4/day)- Triggered Suggestion (DC 18)

3^rd level (5/day)- Accursed Glare (DC 17), Clairaudience/Clairvoyance,

2^nd level (7/day)- Invisibility, Miserable Pity (C 16), Touch of Idiocy,

1^st level (7/day)- Bungle (DC 15), Erase, Grease (DC 15), Memorize Page, Ventriloquism(DC 15)

0- Arcane Mark, Detect Magic, Flare (DC 14), Light, Message, Open/close, Prestidigitation, Read Magic

Str 10, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 18

Base Atk +8; CMB +7; CMD 11 (15 against trip)

Feats Deceitful, Iron Will, Magical Aptitude, Persuasive

Skills: Bluff +14, Climb +14, Diplomacy +14, Fly +14, Knowledge (Local)+14, Knowledge (History) +14 Perception +14, Stealth +14, Use Magic Item +14, Racial Bonus: Uses dexterity for climb checks, Treat all knowledge skills as class skills.

Languages Common, Sphinx

SQ Secret Keeper, Bookworm Infestation

Environment Any Urban

Organization Solitary or pair.

Treasure Standard

 

Secret Keeper (SP): Once per day, a RattusSphinx can impose a special type of Geas on a subject to prevent them from revealing a specific secret or piece of information. The target must make a will save DC 18 or be unable to tell the designated secret to anyone. The Secret must be something that both the target and the Rattusphinx both know, but otherwise this functions similarly to a Geas Spell. The save is Charisma based, and this is a mind affecting ability.

 

Bookworm Infestation (Ex): A RattusSphinx's fur and feathers are infested with Bookworms (See Tome of Horrors Complete page 756). As a standard action once per week, a RattusSphinx can shake itself, throwing the bookworms all over the place to infest any nearby books or tomes.

 

Spellcasting ability: RattusSphinx have the spellcasting ability of an 8^th level Sorcerer.

 

RattusSphinx are the smallest of the known Sphinx species, roughly the size of a dog, The RattusSphinx resembles an ungainly combination of feline, crow and rat.

 

RattusSphinx, love to do two things: Acquire knowledge, and keep that knowledge secret. They love to spy on humans and other intelligent creatures, then learn valuable information, then destroy that information so that no one else can have it. They especially love to get information that someone is looking for, then dangle it in front of the knowledge seeker like a carrot. RattusSphinx sometimes get hired on by unscrupulous nobles and thieves guilds as a spymaster or cleaner.

 

While RattusSphinx lack the physical power of their larger relatives, they are powerful spellcasters, although their magic is usually geared to gathering information, destroying information, or getting out of tight spots.

 

Where RattusSphinx fit into the already confusing mating habits of other Sphinx is a mystery. Both AndroSphinx and CrioSphinx ignore them, while HirecoSphinx and GynoSphinx devour them where they find them. In addition, RattusSphinx seem to be entirely genderless themselves, leading some to believe they are not a naturally occuring species.

 

A RattusSphinx is 2 feet long and weighs 80 pounds.

Authors Note: And here is the next entry in Rat Week: The RattusSphinx. I'm actually proud of this one, since its my first monster with natural spellcasting ability, and its my first Sphinx.

I've always liked Sphinxes (Their problematic mating cycles notwithstanding), so I wanted to add my own spin to them. I also wanted to give them a personality quirk based around finding information and keeping secrets.

Plus, I got to reference Tome of Horrors. Which, seriously go out and buy it, its a great book.

Anyways, tune in tomorrow for my next thing.