[HR] New Monster - Ratmen (Spoilers for my players)

Let me start this with a spoiler warning for any of my players who might be reading the forums. Stop now, you’re only spoiling the surprises :wink:

Ok, so… In my homebrew some of the classic monster races are effectively missing (Goblins aren’t a chaotic monster race, and Orcs are missing entirely). I also take a certain amount of inspiration from WFRP and one of their neater ideas is the Skaven. I’m not a massive fan of the fetishisation of how ‘cool’ they are, so I’ve put a fairly low key version together.

I’d appreciate feedback on how well they fit together.

Rattites / Vermen
% In Lair: 35%
Dungeon Enc: Pack (2d4)/ Nest (1 Swarm)
Wilderness Enc: Swarm (2d6 Packs) / Warren (1d10 Swarms)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120’ (40’)
Armour Class: 2
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: 3 (Claw, Claw, Bite) or 1 (Weapon)
Damage: 1d3 / 1d3 / 1d3 or weapon
Save: F1
Morale: 0
Treasure Type: (per )
XP: 10

Vermen are beastemen bred in the distance past from men and giant rats. They stand between 4 and 5 feet tall with a rat-like features and a long semi-prehensile tail. They live on the fringes of civilised society, usually among the detritus of other races. Sewers, ruins, abandoned places all serve as a home to the Vermen.

Whilst not chaotic, they do harbor a grudge against humans, dwarves and elves for their persecution of ‘filthy disease carrying vermin’.

Each Vermen Gang will be led by a champion with 1+1 HD, AC 3 and a slightly improved bite attack (1d4).
Each warband will be led by a subchief with 2 HD, AC 4 and doing 1d4/1d4/1d4 damage with the Claw Claw Bite attacks.
A Vermen nest or warren will be led by a chief with 3 HD, AC 5 doing 1d4/1d4/1d6 damage, or +1 damage with a weapon. AS long as the chief is alive the Vermen will get +2 to morale rolls.
Vermen Nests and Warrens will have young equal to 200% of the adult rats. The number of Vermen rolled represents both males and females.

Champions, Subchiefs and chiefs are bigger than their ordinary counterparts, with the greatest Chiefs reaching 6’ in height.
Any bite attack that does damage has a 5% chance of infecting the wound with disease, as per Giant Rats (Save vs Poison or Die in 1d6 days)

If encountered in a nest or warren, there is a 50% chance to find Giant Rats, and/or ordinary Rat Swarms present.In addition there is a 75% chance of a Warren having a Shaman present and a 50% chance of having a Witch Doctor. They are equivalent to Sub-Chiefs and Champions respectively, and have Cleric abilities of level 1d6 or Mage abilities at level 1d4 respectively.

One of my questions is should the xp value be increased (to 13) to reflect the chance of getting disease from the bite attack?
Does it generally hang together?
Any suggestions?

Giants have no asterisk for their disease special ability, so i would say that ratmen with the same ability also do not have an asterisk. To cut it short: leave them at 10 XP

argh i meant giant rats, not giants… can we have an edit-button, pleaze?

Ah! Good point. Thanks for that.