#rat borg

[goopydad]

I’ve been working on a rat-related class for awhile now and I think I finally perfected it. Enjoy!

Corpse-fed Scvmrat

You filled your slavering gullet with the rotten flesh of the dead and it has taken a monstrous toll. Much larger and more cunning than a mere flea-bitten pest, you have skulked in the shadows observing the ways of man. Perhaps now is the time the rats take their rightful place.

Begins with 1d6x10 scavenged silver and d3 omens.

HP: Toughness +d6

From what filth hast thou crawled? (d6):

1. The moldering, bone-littered catacombs of Bergen Chrypt.

2. A reeking offal cart that was struck by lightning.

3. Beneath the rotting floorboards of a wizard’s laboratory.

4. Within the writhing bowels of a possessed saint.

5. The toxic cesspit of a cannibal’s abattoir.

6. Birthed from a bloated rat-sow in a dank Grift alleyway.

Abilities

Rodent reflexes, roll 3d6+2 for Agility.

Measly, roll 3d6-2 for Strength.

Gnawing Doom: You can treat corpses as rations. Your teeth are quite sharp (DR 10, d4 damage; chip a tooth on a fumble: -1 damage with bite until you rest again).

Varmint Tongue: You can communicate with rats and mice and you have eavesdropped on the common folk long enough to learn their language. You are illiterate, but you can spend a use of your Powers to eat a scroll (DR 12 Toughness) to use it as normal.

Lowly Vermin: You are feared and despised by most people (reduce Reaction tests by 2), though ne’er-do-wells and outcasts may be less judgmental. All cats hate your guts (they deal +1 damage to you, targeting your eyes and throat).

Roll d6 on the weapon table and d2 on the armor table. Roll d6 to determine what verminous gift has been bestowed upon you:

Verminous Gifts (d6):

1. Scurrying Menace: You can roll Agility for ranged attacks, your bite and one-handed weapons.

2. Rodent of Unusual Size: You gain a +1 bonus to Strength and your bite deals d6 damage. When you get better, roll d8 + Toughness for HP.

3. Plague Rat: Tests to resist infection and poisons have their DR reduced by 2. Anyone bitten by you or that comes in contact with your bodily fluids must succeed a DR 12 Toughness or fall ill (-1 to all rolls until healed with a life elixir or medical chest).

4. Mole-Rat: You can burrow through the ground (not solid stone) as quickly as you can walk. Unfortunately, your eyesight is terrible (increase the DR for ranged attacks and sight-based Presence tests by 2).

5. Wormy Tail: Your tail can grab and manipulate objects as easily as your hands. If you wield a one-handed weapon with your tail, you can attack twice per round.

6. Scvm…BAT??: You have a pair of leathery wings and can fly short distances, but you cannot wear armor.

[goopydad]

So, I’m doing a hack of Mork Borg that’s sort of a ripoff of Skaven in that it’s about the countless legions of ratmen and their eventual ascent to the surface world. It’s all from the rat’s point of view and the “hero” classes are Skaven clan knockoffs. Here’s my take on a sort of Stormvermin, fighty-rat. Enjoy!

Zealous Murderat

Begins with 1d6x10 tokens and d2 omens.

HP: Toughness +d8

Your loyalty lies with…(d6):

1. the charnel temple of the Fecund One.

2. the crippled warlord, Gnarlmaw.

3. the rat-man who pays you the most.

4. the elfen crone who hexed you.

5. the wet thing whispering in the dark.

6. no one. You’ll kill anyone or anything.

Abilities

Quick and violent, roll 3d6+1 for Agility and Toughness. Dull-witted, roll 3d6-2 for Presence.

Rhabdophobia; You hate and fear magic, rendering you either unable or unwilling to use scrolls. If you begin with a scroll, you may reroll or you can tear it to shreds and piss on the remains.

Despite all my rage; You can give into violent impulses, throwing yourself into a berserker rage and ripping your foes to bloody ribbons. Working yourself into a foaming frenzy requires a single round. While enraged, you make two attacks per round and roll damage twice per hit, using the higher result. Throwing caution to the wind, defense is DR 14.

Roll d8 on the weapon table and d3 on the armor table. You also begin with one of the following:

1. Brohdgrym’s Heir: The oozing, maggot-eaten severed head of a dwarfborn princeling. When brandished, nearby humanoids roll a Toughness test (DR 12 for enemies, DR 10 for pcs) or spend d4 rounds violently retching. Creatures with an acute sense of smell can track the head or its bearer by scent with a DR 10 Presence test, due to the clinging stench.

2. Gut-Spiller Helm: A battered helmet adorned with an array of brutal metal spikes and horn-like blades. When worn, grants -1 incoming damage as a normal helmet. In addition, you may make one counterattack per round when you are hit, punishing your foe with a goring thrust of your head (DR 10 attack, d6+1 damage).

3. Scavenged Whetstone: All that was left of the previous owner was a broken knife, a chunk of bloody scalp, and a filth-coated whetstone. You can spend downtime sharpening a weapon with this whetstone. Attacks made with the sharpened weapon are rolled with a +1 to attack and damage for one fight before needing sharpened again.

4. Clangorous Flail: A heavy bronze bell affixed to a solid wooden handle by a length of rusty chain. Two-handed, d8 damage, DR 10 attack and defense when you wield it. 1 in 6 chance an enemy wounded by the bell goes deaf. Stealth is out of the question for the wielder.

5. Gnibblah’s Bone Flute: This delicate instrument is carved from the bleached shin bone of some unknown beast. DR 10 Presence test to play the flute and attract d4 helpful rats (3 HP, Morale 5, Bite d3 with 1 in 6 chance the bitten contracts a random disease). They understand you and follow simple commands to the best of their ability, but will flee if abused and will spread news of your betrayal to their legions of brethren.

6. Thing-Skewer: Cruel, barbed prongs top the business end of this vicious stabbing weapon. D6 damage, DR 10 attack and defense when you wield it. If thrown, the foe is impaled by the skewer on a successful hit, taking d3 damage every round until it is removed with a DR 12 Strength test.

[goopydad]

Verminous Dread-Mage

Begins with 1d6x10 tokens and d4 omens

HP: Toughness +d4

Arcane Deformity, d6:

1. Twisted, goat-like horns adorn your skull.

2. Your “tail” is a nonvenomous snake fused to your spine.

3. Like a living tumor, a parasitic twin dangles weakly from your warty flesh.

4. You have a grotesque, human-like face.

5. Squirming tendrils hang on your chin as if you had a slimy beard of worms.

6. Your torso and limbs are arranged like a rat-centaur.

Abilities

Erudite, roll 3d6+2 for Presence.

Decrepit, roll 3d6-2 for Strength.

Ordinary starting equipment plus one random scroll (Ruin). Roll d4 on the weapon table and d2 on the armor table. You also begin with one of the following:

1. Sublime Revelation of Noxio Festra: An eyeball plucked from the socket of a recently slain sorcerer. You may gouge out one of your own eyes (d4 damage) and replace it with this slimy, putrescent orb. Doing so allows you to see through darkness, as well as camouflage or invisibility effects. After d4 hours, your own eye grows back and pushes the replacement out of your skull.

2. Withered Witness: The mummified corpse of an ancient cat. Though it appears dead, the cat will yowl loudly whenever a nearby creature tells a lie. The cat can be convinced to hold its tongue (Presence test DR 14), but it will always ask for something in return. Any creature that fails to uphold their part of the bargain suffers an Arcane Catastrophe.

3. Sewer Jack’s Lament. What once may have been some sort of plumbing implement has been crudely bound to a copper pipe and adorned with various baubles. Though not especially lethal in close combat (d3 damage), it grants +1 to defense tests when you wield it. In addition, you can spend a use of your Powers to unleash a crackling bolt of green lightning with a DR 10 Presence test (d8 damage).

4. Pelt of Elfenkind A shawl made from the soft, velvety skin of an arrogant (and unlucky) elf. When you don the pelt, you leave no tracks, or any other trace behind, when traveling and you are immune to sleep effects, magical or otherwise. Elves who see the shawl will attack anyone wearing it on sight and fight to the death.

5. Sadist’s Quill: This odd feather quill produces its own ink through unknown means. When pressed against the flesh of a humanoid, the quill can be used to write a new scroll, the effects of which the GM must agree to. Once written, the scroll must be harvested from the flesh with a sharp object (dealing 6 points of damage) within an hour or the ink vanishes. The scroll can only be used once per day.

6. Book of the Binding Chain: A weathered tome covered in sigils, written in an archaic language that’s indecipherable to mortal eyes…save for a single page. Once per day, you can perform a summoning ritual from the book with a DR 12 Presence test. If successful, the book produces a hideous imp (7 HP, Attack/defense DR 10, claw/bite d4) capable of performing menial tasks and even defending you, albeit begrudgingly. Should you fail the test, you take d4 damage and take -2 to your next roll as the book drains away part of your wretched soul.

A note on Imps: Be forewarned! Though imps are often low in the ranks of Hell, they may not always be and they remember those who have done them harm. Few creatures in this or any dimension are as vicious and vengeful as a slighted imp.

[goopydad]

The start of a bestiary for the Mork Borg jam I’m working on.