Ratfolk Thread - Gods and Demons Edition

Fucking yes, more ratfolk threads!

Thank you!

So, a ratfolk party member is forced to work with a catfolk party member.

Describe some interactions.

Should somebody bring over all of the "ratfolk cultural quirks" posts from the last thread?

Also, kangaroo ratfolk user here; is it okay if I continue refining that idea in this version of the thread?

Got you covered, user.

-Nervous energy. Ratfolk are prone to tics and taps, fidgeting with objects; they are voracious eaters, but have a very curious habit of eating a little of everything throughout the course of a meal. Their approach to something like a sandwich is downright comical. Most have a favorite object to chew on - sometimes something as simple as a lucky coin.

-Agoraphobic. They're naturally uncomfortable in wide open spaces. Hunching and nervous behavior is common in this situation.

-Highly social. Ratfolk are severely psychologically stressed when forced to be alone. Families, lovers, and groups of friends tend to form extremely tight bonds. Non-ratfolk can suffice in this role, as they're as gregarious as any human. This has led to the popular stereotype of their overly familiar behavior. Exile in ratfolk societies is akin to a death sentence and usually involves ritual branding. Unfortunately, such criminal outcasts often end up among other races, where they cause more trouble.

-Rodent communication. Ratfolk can make and hear sounds much higher than humans can, and also communicate through scent. This allows ratfolk to 'talk around' humans or talk back to them without getting caught, which lends them a reputation for shiftiness or dishonesty among some.

-Grooming. Ratfolk are extremely fastidious, and find poor personal hygiene to be utterly repulsive; to their kind, there are moral character implications to one who is uncleanly. It's commonly believed the first effective treatments for lice, fleas, and similar vermin came from the ratfolk. Tying into their reputation for being "overly familiar," they often find their non-ratfolk comrades to have unsatisfactory standards of grooming, and can be quite insistent in helping them "do it right."

-Instinctive dreads: Much how humans are naturally repulsed by spiders, many insects, and snakes, ratfolk react poorly to birds and cats. Those who keep them as pets are seen as strange.

Pic related.

In all seriousness, probably theological arguments or complaints about their respective smells.

Remember. Do not lewd the ratto.

No matter what.

So are these threads about some established lore or can it just be about how we interpret Ratfolk?

If the latter, they worship gods of Pestilence and the Lost. Also, they worship and fear Demogorgon, the Sibilant Beast.

Everyone sort of has their own take on ratfolk.

I personally feel this is a good way to interpret everyone's favorite rattos.

By all means, share your own uses and interpretations. Anything else of note about them?

I mean, I prefer that they're like Skaven in a sense, covetous and scurrying. They live beneath the cities of men in the sewers, basements, and cellars, building settlements of scraps and discarded things, and making secret passages through floors and walls.

They're basically wererats too far gone to take human form, and the result of a zoonotic malebolgian contagion that is the work of Demogorgon.

You can't tempt me like this user.

Interesting. What do they do beneath the realm of Men, besides making off with what things they can? Or is continued existence enough of a purpose for them?

Absolutely no lewding!

They're creatures driven by envy, so some make do with just a continued existence, taking from the surface when they can, many become prominent elements of the criminal underground.

Others, seeking more, fall into the sway of powerful beings who have use of them, typically followers of Demogorgon.

If the rats need love, who are you to stop me!?

There are other ways to love rats!

Head pats and hand holding!

Maybe consensual sex after getting to know them better!

A tendency towards crime and cultdom-I take it they are no great favorites of those in power. How are they generally thought of in the realm?

Lewd must be performed, you cannot deny the rats own needs for lewds.

DAMN YOU, IT MUST BE CONSENSUAL!

RATTO'S SMILE MUST BE PROTECTED AND LOVED!

...

This is veering dangerously into off-topic territory now.

In the interest of returning to the topic then, what sort of religious organizations do ratfolk form in your setting, user? What sort of religious organizations would be willing to take them?

They're mostly a story and cautionary tale mothers tell their children about, or myths of criminals. The church considers them a sign of unholy sickness and corruption of the city above, as sin is heavy and sinks into the sewers and the earth.

Alright, quit debasing the poor Skaven. Pretty sure that's the first time I've ever seen that phrase written. You're acting like furfags, in the most pejorative sense of the word. Let us, instead, focus on things of actual value to the thread:

If you're going to a ratfolk religious meet, and you know there will be a potluck dinner after, what do you bring?

pethelpful.com/rodents/Rat-Nutritional-Information-Can-my-Pet-Rat-Eat-This

Then I'll stump you good.
Come up with a form of magic that Ratfolk use that ISN'T psychic.

Chocolate.

Witchcraft or sympathy magic. They take symbols from people above and weave enchanments into them to effect the people they're connected to.

Druidism.

Responding too my own post because I had an idea.
Swarm-based magic that scales off of population. Think spells and abilities that help token decks in a TCG. That and misdirection spells.

Good ideas user. I like ratmen/wererats that are more than just mindless vermin but who remain monstrous and alien.

>So are these threads about some established lore or can it just be about how we interpret Ratfolk?

Last thread I was just posting ideas as they occurred to me.

Do they ever show their snouts on the surface or are they hunted and killed on sight like overgrown pests?

Continuing on social peculiarities...

Ratfolk don't consider it rude to leap over or go under someone in their way when they have somewhere to be or an important task to complete. Don't expect them to ask, either. This just seems to be a quirk of their manners.

Ratfolk have no nudity taboo, though most ratfolk do indeed wear clothing. At worst, it is viewed as an uncultured, rural behavior to go unclad, such that even though stuffily uncomfortable will usually wear a scarf, armband, or some manner of tail decoration. This can become more awkward when usual ratfolk physicality comes into play. Those who are aware of out-species nudity taboos will usually abide by them, but ratfolk humor means it's not impossible they'll do it anyway because they find it funny.

I'd want a 'Canon Veeky Forums Ratfolk' page to come out of this, but it seems like too grand a goal for some casual worldbuilding.

Those that can still take human form are known to go to the surface, those who can't are envious of humans and usually travel on the surface at night.

They take whatever forgotten or discarded things they can during these journies, and return to the underground by dawn. If something goes missing from your home or shop, that's not necessarily valuable, it's usually the work of the ratmen.

If they encounter someone on the surface, they basically run with whatever goods they have. If cornered or chased, they'll fight back. Their bite is dangerous in that it carries the same contagion than made them, and can infect those they bite. This contagion can also be carried by normal rats as well, this is usually how an infestation of ratfolk begins.

Eh, I think it's better just to share whatever you have or whatever you can think up than try to set up some kind of "Veeky Forums-canon" definition.

I mean shit, people should absolutely keep posting whatever musings that come to mind, but to have an actual setting or canon ruleset could let this shit be refined.
Different strokes for different folks though.

Junk Magic, magic based on salvaged scraps from discarded spell-scrolls, old grimoires, broken wands and the like.

So, these are my draft stats for a race of kangaroo ratfolk for a 5e setting I'm working on. Any opinions? Any tweaks I could make to fix them up?

Quietus Kangaroo Ratfolk - "Kuguru" (placeholder)
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Strength, +1 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Speed: 35 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
Mighty Leap: When making a Long Jump, you cover a number of feet equal to your Dexterity score from a standing start, and equal to your Dexterity score + your Dexterity Modifier from a running start. When making a High Jump, you cover 3 + Dexterity modifier feet from a standing start, and 3 + double your Dexterity modifier feet from a running start.
Hybrid Vigor: Your maximum hit points increase by 1. Each time you gain a level, your maximum hit points further increase by +1. Additionally, you have Advantage on saves against Disease and Poison.
Desert Breed: You have Advantage on Constitution checks made against Extreme Heat and against thirst.
Crushing Kicks: Your Unarmed Strikes do 1d4 Bludgeoning Damage. If you have the Martial Arts class feature, your Unarmed Strikes inflict bonus damage equal to the higher of your Str modifier or your Dex modifier.

Sorry, it's just that Veeky Forums rulesets and settings tend to turn into kind of a mess.

RATSCUM

Are ratfolk good diggers?

Wombats are better.

That would likely be the stereotype if ratfolk women can get pregnant by human men.

Personally, in my setting, they can. I mean, Fritz Leiber did it first, and Lankhmar was one of D&D's original inspirations...

They also had like six breasts

And that's a bad thing... why?

unf

I say good, not gold.

Ah. Well, realistically, they probably would be. Don't know if it'd equate to an actual burrow speed, but it makes sense that ratfolk are pretty good at burrowing. A lot of species do dig their own tunnels and the like.

>say
Meant to write said.

So they're clearly intended to be very physically able. They move quick, jump like crazy, hit like nobody's business, and they have extra health and some strong resistance to disease and poison. Do they really not get sick or afflicted like that?

I'm sorry, I'm just not sure how to answer that question.

Long story short, the "Kuguru" are hybrids born from unions between normal ratfolk and the setting's rabbitfolk*. The ratfolk are a really tough and hardy breed (innate Advantage on Con saves vs. magic, can take renamed Dwarven Resilience as a racial feat), whilst the rabbitfolk have a strong affinity for primal magic (druidism + sorcery).

So... I was kind of lacking in other ideas what a kangaroo ratfolk might have, so I figured emphasize the hybrid vigor, given their progenitors are both really tough survivors in their own ways.

Does that make sense?

*Yes, I know that's not real biology, but this is D&D; I point you towards Sphinxes, Lamias and the Orog/Ogrillon as just exhibit A in the argument against the pointlessness of "realistic" biology in D&D.

Yeah, makes sense when you explain it. Do they have racial feats like the normal rats?

They don't have them yet, but I would like to give them some. You have any ideas?

For comparison, the ratfolk racial feats consist of:
* Gain Resistance to Poison Damage + Advantage on saves vs. Poison & Disease
* Gain claws that grant slashing unarmed strikes + slow (15ft) Climb and Burrow speeds.
* Tail works as an extra limb, which can be combined with Dual Wielder. Default use is to grant Steal or Use Item as a Bonus Action.

What might the Kuguru have for their racial feats?

Yes. Most ratfolk communities are underground, though compared to dwarfs they prefer softer terrain, typically in hilly areas. They HAVE been known to engage in mountain-mining, however, which can cause tensions.

These were all posted last thread:

In my defense, I was bored.

Maybe something that bumps heat resistance all the way to fire resistance? Or something to let them Shove better? Just spitballing here.

Hmm... what about?
>Gain Fire Resistance and Advantage on saves against Fire Damage.
>Gain the Ratfolk's Magic Resistance.
>Gain a Speed Burst ala the Tabaxi.
>Gain the ability to make a Spring Attack (make a Jump check, then make a bonus action melee attack with Advantage if this brings you within attack range of a target).

Any of these sound believable?

They're all pretty awesome ideas, I think. And I kind of meant for somebody to re-post them here, so they're not lost.

Hmm... I wonder if I should elaborate on my own rough ratfolk culture for my setting. Not sure if that's thread-relevant or not...

I didn't want to clutter the thread just copy-pasting my posts over, though if someone prefers it that way, I don't mind.

You should share your ideas, too. Brainstorming is the whole point of these kind of threads.

Did I say that was bad?

Alright. Bit distracted by other stuff at the moment... any particular things I should discuss first? History, interactions, beliefs, intimacy, procreation, etc?

>Not posting the patrician version

Go with whatever strikes your fancy. Up-thread you had requests for beliefs, but I think characterization stuff like intimacy and interactions tends to be more interesting myself.

Eyyyyy, Little-Mother-of-Earthquakes.

>wanting to fuck a rat

Just gonna throw out whatever titbits catch my attention...

The Ratfolk of the Quietus, the Vermis(*), regard Curiosity, Cleverness and Ambition as the Three Great Virtues, as it was these three traits that propelled them from mere garbage-eating vermin to a full-fledged race in their own right.

Vermis culture is a contradictory blend of the desires for independence and for social interactions. Ratfolk strive to stand out as independent individuals, and chafe against the kind of blind obedience seen amongst, say, hobgoblins. But they are also very social creatures who are at their most comfortable when amongst groups and who are fiercely loyal to those whom they trust.

For a plethora of reasons, vermis are very big on the idea of body modification; from piercings, fur-dye "tattoos", and distinctive hairstyles & gear all the way up to tekcraft or fleshcraft replacements and augmentations. Even more so than cogsoul gnomes, vermis are surprisingly cavalier about grafting alchemically engineered or artificer-built gizmos to their body, which may be because of the significant minority of their race that displays functioning mutations, such as extra eyes, limbs or even heads.

Physical affection is casual and constant amongst the ratfolk, who are forever touching each other, with different actions signalling everything from relief to attraction to sexual requests.

Ratfolk do not breed as heavily as people think. Whilst they survived the toxic crucibles of their birth, the arcane poisons in their veins are a legacy they are still struggling to overcome. A female vermis ovulates every two to three weeks, and typically bears a litter of 6-10 little ratlings after a 6 month pregnancy... but only 1-3 of those children will survive beyond the first few hours, with the majority either being stillborn or succumbing to fatal mutations.

Ratfolk do not speak of their dead children, not around outsiders. But they are fiercely protective of the ones who live.

Some strange quirk of ratfolk biology is that they have a distinct female majority; between 6 and 7 out of every 10 surviving ratlings is female.

For this reason, amongst themselves, vermis do not practice heterosexual monogamy; males either become the joint mate of a band of females, or freely mate with females as they choose. Monogamous bonds are typically formed either with other vermis females or with males of compatible species, such as humans or haffuns (rabbitfolk).

The haffuns are a particularly attractive breed because, physical similarities aside, they are also a highly sociable race - and, more importantly, the pureness and robustness of the rabbitfolk's blood seems to cancel out the toxicity of the vermis' own. Such interspecies litters randomly produce either vermis or haffun offspring (or both in the same litter), albeit inheriting coloration from their other-species parent, but 1% of crossbred offspring are born as unique mutants; strange yet harmonious meldings of ratfolk and rabbitfolk known as "Kuguru", or "Hoprats".

Vermis morality is intimately tied up with their sense of kinship; the ratfolk divide the world up into 5 circles of kinship, consisting of First Circle (Immediate Family), Second Circle (Extended Family), Third Circle (People You Trust), Fourth Circle (People You Know), and Fifth Circle (People You Don't Know). The closer a person's place in the kinship circle, the more moral a vermis is obligated to be. Stealing from, lying to or murdering a member of the First Circle, one's closest kin, is the highest of criminal acts - whilst doing it to a member of the Fifth Circle is barely an eyeblip to the average ratfolk.

This, needless to say, gives vermis a reputation as dangerous, unlawful, unpredictable and untrustworthy in some fields.

That said, the Circles are not as monolithic as one might assume. Sometimes, a ratfolk goes against the grain and does not side with the closer circle member as expected. Furthermore, the first and second circles are not tied to direct biology; somebody who goes beyond mere trust can easily win access to the 2nd circle of kinship, which is a great honor for that person - it means the ratfolk more than trusts them, but is deeply invested in them. But getting to the first circle? That's hard. Usually, only lovers or the closest of allies get that kind of promotion.

I don't suppose someone saved or capped the rest of these?

Nope, they're all just in the previous thread, but they were linked individually in

imagine if Tracer was a rat

Is this good enough?

Here's all the lore for the Rodduns (ratfolk) of the Wicked Fantasy setting; what do anons think of these?

pastebin.com/i7qJ1mSJ

can i get some sauce?

Tossing in dualistic deity pair of dark and light. Dark comforts, protects, and hides, but also renders ignorant, weak, and slow.
Light reveals and educates, but also burns, destroys, and blinds.

I also come with a request, asking you to dig into your archives for some character art.
In order of importance
>Ratfolk
>No boobs or "hair"
>Classy or at least non-savage attire
>A lantern or spear

This is the closest thing I have to your request.

>Most have a favorite object to chew on
>Hunching and nervous behavior
>severely psychologically stressed when forced to be alone
>Tying into their reputation for being "overly familiar," they often find their non-ratfolk comrades to have unsatisfactory standards of grooming, and can be quite insistent in helping them "do it right."

jesus fucking christ are you just making a waifu race

there's fifty hentai plots in these traits alone

Vermis technological aesthetics are... quirky. Whilst perfectly capable of making things to the same artistic level as the cogsoul gnomes, they have a notable preference for the "scavenged" and "repurposed" look. They feel that a visible look of having been salvaged or recycled gives a piece of magitek a more characterful air. This doesn't extend to the point they will discard perfectly good tek for more characterful but less useful tek, it just means that a ratfolk who gets her hands on a chainsword or a gun will almost certainly mod its aesthetics to make it look more "junky".

Being both highly resistant to physique-attacking or contaminative magic themselves and with a history of guerrilla warfare against the hobgoblins, vermis mores about appropriate combat are... low. Of all the races, they are most willing to combine tactics like assassination and sabotage with things like chemical weaponry or necromancy. Poison gas bombs, cannibal zombie plague totems, and other horribly inventive and indiscriminately destructive magitek has come out of the vermis arsenal.

A while back, I had a silly thought.
See, pretty much every proper magic weapon and item has some form of preservation or strengthening to protect the investment of all that magic. Logically, then, magic crap, even the low end magic crap, would hold up really well to the ages. A butcher might still be using a 400 year old elvish knife made for a table setting because it never dulls, cleans itself, and also looks pretty.
This also means that one of the best materials for weaponry would be increasingly less valuable cheap magic crap.
A warhammer with point made of +1 dagger welded to a metal rod and weighted. A maul weighted with an ancient magical mace. A delicate dagger made from a +1 greatsword shrunken with magic.

So, any comments on these things so far? Any thoughts on what I could try and clear up elements for next?

Not the dude you're replying too, but it does feel a bit too perfect.

And yet, its the best logical extrapolation of rat behavior onto a humanoid frame. Maybe you just have a preference for rattos. I know i'm not attracted to most of that behavior. i'm a hyena man myself

>Global Dungeon Setting
>The discarded, lost, or broken equipment and refuse of the dungeon had been piling up for far too long.
>To solve this, the Dungeon Itself took some of the rats sneaking through the halls and reshaped them
>Now, societies of ratfolk pick through the scrap and the discarded, and often refurbish and recycle it, selling it too other denizens of the dungeon.

Or a global city setting with the same deal.

If that's the case, you may be interested in this thread too:

Im the one who dropped the She-Is-Fiercer and such god lore. I've been posting in that one and the previous ones since they started. My setting has both gnolls and ratfolk.

Imma have to second this, user.

It was in the last thread, go to the post that reposts the behavior stuff from the past thread and you will eventually find the source.

Going to bump this and hope anons give me some critique before the night shuts this place down.

Impressive dedication to capping, user.

>jesus fucking christ are you just making a waifu race

No, I was extrapolating from some elements of rat psychology. Someone could easily waifu up some of those, but some are pretty commonly found in humans - stress from being alone, for example. Plural grooming is a thing in quite a number of primates, too, and some human cultures.