Homebrew Cranium Rat Colony Species Details
Brynhild knocked on the door. "Lisandra, I'm coming in. We need to plan for the next mission."
"Just a moment please, I'm not quite decent," came the telepathic reply, not soon enough to stop her. She pushed opened the door and stopped in shock.
Where her friend would have been standing, dozens upon dozens of rats lay in a pile. The heap shifted, rats coiling and squirming around each other, slowly rising up. Rodents skittered outwards and formed crude arms as the swarm pushed itself upon two lumpy, yet sturdy legs. A web of blue strands formed across its body, touching and connecting the minds and bodies of the rats, combining them into something greater than the sum of its parts. Where the head of this figure would be, a half dozen snouts poked out, the blue glow of their exposed brains shining dimly on Brynhild's face.
Lisandra reached out to the side, many tiny rat palms grabbing a thick overcoat she threw over her bodies and put her hands to her hips. "Now, don't you know it's rude to walk in on ladies when they aren't dressed?"
-Interaction between an Elf and a Cranium Rat Colony
A life of secrecy and of concealing clothing is the life of a Cranium Rat Colony. Whether they hide in the sewers, disguise themselves as human, or live openly as a ratty singularity, a Cranium Rat Colony is a sight to behold. Most have no desire to return to the Mind Flayers; all want to avoid being hunted as a monster. So each Colony tends to live a secluded lifestyle, able to vanish at any moment, untraceable by magic due to a telepathic shroud hiding their minds.
Cranium Rat Colonies look like a swarm of rats imitating a human, with the odd loose rat carrying something from one part of the body to the other. These rats hold on to each other and move in unison to do the same things regular humanoid creatures can. What makes these colonies different from other rat swarms is their psionic power, evident by their exposed brains that glow blue. Cranium Rat Colonies have utilized this psionic power to mentally and physically link cranium rats together, manifesting as a web of blue strands meeting and spreading from their minds.
Psionic Origins
Cranium Rat Colonies started the same way any cranium rat does: rats being bombarded by psionic energies, usually by Mind Flayers. They serve as guards and scouts for them, but the Mind Flayers have no care for their creations, enslaving and discarding them without a second thought. Any group of cranium rats apart from Mind Flayers finds itself at risk of extinction without a constant supply of new rats to the group. Without the psionic power needed to assimilate more rats into their fold, they undergo a radical shift, changing priorities, form, and even the nature of their psionic power to become a Colony capable of surviving. These colonies are unlike swarms in that their psionic power lets them share damage and healing across the whole of the swarm rather than let individual members die.
Self-Reliant Community Builders
After a swarm completes the transformation into a Colony it will seek a constant supply of food to feed its members and fuel their psionic link. Cranium Rat Colonies tend to thrive on their own, having all the allies it will need within themselves. While they tend to be shy and reclusive when disguising as human, Colonies have found themselves able to bring in greater amounts of food working for it than scrounging in the gutters, plying their psionic power for their own or their community's fortune. These colonies prize their neighbor's lives like those of their own body; each one is important just by being alive.
As their appearance is unmistakably aberrant, Colonies cover themselves in clothing from gloves and scarfs to broad rim hats and baggy overcoats to hide their appearance, portraying what seems to loosely be a human shape beneath the rags. Colonies that make friends tend towards supportive, if secretive alliances, ensuring that their new ally will react favorably to the Colony's true nature before risking the truth being revealed. Colonies will avoid each other, however, not wishing to accidentally combine together.
Colony Names
Colonies, despite being a multitude, stick to one name. These names are not always reflective of their multi-bodied nature, although Colonies still refer to themselves as "we" and "us." Nevertheless, some colonies have chosen to gender themselves and choose names to reflect that. Others prefer to be a little on the nose.
Male Colony Names: Chuck, Hamlet, Jerry, Mickey, Nigel, Rey Rata, Remy, Rorschach, Slick, Splinter, Stuart, Templeton, Winston
Female Colony Names: Hurricane, Hoover, Lisandra, Minnie, Misfit, Necromancer, Ophelia, Oscuro, Reina Rata, Rita, Taragon, Venus, Yolanda
“Rat” Names: Cheeseball, Furball, Rat, Ratbert, Ratking, Ratman, Ratso, Ratticus, Ratthew, Ratunzel, Whiskers
Cranium Rat Colony Traits
Cranium Rat Colonies share similar traits due to their psionic nature.Ability Score Increase
Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.
Age
Cranium Rat Colonies live indefinitely, their mental network outliving the individual rats that comprise it.
Alignment
Cranium Rats originated from Mind Flayers bombarding rats with psionic energy to make them psionic servants. Many colonies share their lawful nature, although some colonies come from other wellsprings of psionic energy and may have no care for hierarchy. Regardless of origin, many colonies stray towards neutrality, looking to survive first and foremost.
Size
Cranium Rat Colonies, when in disguise, are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Darkvision
Due to your rodent nature, you can see 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.
Illumination
As a bonus action, you can shed dim light from your brains in a 5-foot radius, increase illumination to bright light in a 5 to 20 foot radius, and dim light for an additional number of feet equal to the chosen radius, or extinguish the light.
Psionic Abilities
You know the mage hand cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the command spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the detect thoughts spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Swarm
You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, restrained, or stunned.
As an action, you can transform into a Medium swarm of rats or into your humanoid form a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of one), regaining all uses after a long rest. While in swarm form, you cannot speak (excluding telepathy) and cannot take any action not available on the swarm of rats stat block except for your own racial traits. You can occupy another creature's space and vice versa and you can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny rat. In addition, you gain resistance to bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage, cannot regain hit points or gain temporary hit points, and all of the advantages listed previously become immunities. Anything you are wearing does not transform with you and anything you are carrying must be dropped. If you die, you remain in whatever form you were in. but if you are resurrected from the dead, for example with a revivify spell, the spell functions as though you were humanoid and you revert to your humanoid form.
Languages
You can read and write in Common, speaking in a high pitched warble due to the rodent nature of your mouths, and you can also speak telepathically up to 30 feet away.
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