Homebrew City Ratmen Species Details

Physical Description

Ratmen stand roughly the same size or smaller than the average dwarf. They have thin, lean bodies and very rarely become what humans would consider fat thanks to their high metabolism. All ratmen have the same characteristic yellow eyes, buck teeth, and large rounded ears. City rats' fur takes on colors that are bland in nature. Colors like light shades of black, grey, and rarely white. Rural rats have more colorful shades of fur, such as browns and oranges, golds, and reds. City rats prefer to wear more layers of cloth and even cloaks to help protect against the cold of city nights. On the flip side, rural rats prefer to wear more open clothing for warm summer days of sleeping out in fields and dug-outs in the ground.

History

Ratmen are natural creatures that have a closely entwined history with kobold. Originally allied with the Kobolds under the protection of their draconic masters, the ratmen acted as infantrymen and even undertook special missions that their brothers-in-arms could not complete. Ravenous and deadly as goblins without the ingenuity, ratmen served their draconic leaders without much question. But, eventually, the dragon's armies became too lofty and cumbersome to maintain. With food supplies running low, kobolds and even lesser dragons turned to the ratmen as a new source of food. Some ratmen were able to escape the dragon's wrath, but many weren't able to do so. The few tribes of ratmen that did escape soon disbanded, and became lone stragglers in a world they were not welcome in. Most were able to find refuge feeding off of the unwanted trash of human societies. After years of acclimating to live in rural human communities, eventually, they were able to move into the walls of larger cities. The most famous myth in ratman society is "The Ballad of Billy Punchyface," where a rat named Billy punches out an ogre over twice his size.

Society

Ratmen once lived in clan-based societies, but since their social evolution into human civilization, they have adapted based on the society which they have assimilated too. Rural rats live in a structure that closely resembles human family units. Parents, children, and occasionally grandparents stay in the same 'home', which is usually a dug-out hole in the ground. Most 'work' by sneaking crops from farmers to stockpile for the winter, searching through trash for their meals, or the occasional few will do work for local farmers, such as ranch-hands and even exterminators for small pest problems. While these ratmen aren't widely accepted as friendly, many farmers will not turn away their aid. Their brother's, city rats, couldn't be farther from them. City rats are slightly thinner, repulsive looking creatures that are the subject of discrimination, hate, and even acts of flat-out violence. Because of this, city rats have developed a crueler outlook of the world and a hatred for most humans. Unlike their rural brethren, city rats live in one of two family structures. First, a sort of 'lone-wolf' mentality in which a ratman will only care for themselves and possibly a mate, but abandon their children at young ages to pursue their own interests. The second kind live in a single, massive hive-like colony. Each rat hunts for the hive, steals for the hive, lives for the hive, kills for the hive. In these clan-like societies, only the meanest and the cruelest survive, with the only way to gain any respect being to prove that you are more deadly than the rat next to you.

Ratmen Names

Ratmen generally will take simple names or words from the Common tongue and may even change names depending on deeds, likes, dislikes or physical traits.

Male: Fang, Claw, Snatch, Shank, Shot, Gouge, Biggie, Cheese, Punchyface, Twitch

Female: Tala, Maus, Shiv, Raven, Scorer, Velouria, Sumiiya

City Ratmen Traits

Rat but Man

High Metabolism

You digest food quickly, meaning they must eat the same amount of food as Medium-sized creature.

Rodent's Immunity

You are immune to disease. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage. In addition, you can eat putrid or rotten food and still gain half the nutrition.

Skulker.

When you are hidden from a creature and miss it with a ranged weapon attack, making the attack doesn't reveal your position.

Sunlight Sensitivity

 You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Age

 Ratmen mature to adulthood at age 15, and very rarely live over 70 years old.

Alignment

 Ratmen tend towards the neutral alignments, often only really only caring about themselves and-or their families.t.

Size

Ratmen are around 3'3 and are normally pretty light. Your size is Small

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Sneaky

You have proficiency in the Stealth skill.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Draconic.