Races of Vermin

Racial Ability Adjustments

Lizards

More alien than any other vermin, lizards are the sole reptiles not reviled by the rest of the vermin. Still, their reptile heritage puts them at a disadvantage when trying to relate to their warm-blooded associates.

Personality: Lizards' slick reptile brains put them at a disadvantage comparing smarts to mammals. Still, they have a long racial memory, and know their way around the cities. While wary of others, they are loyal to a fault to the few friends they make, and are usually regarded as good, if dense, creatures.

Relations: Lizards get along with most anyone, although they tend to be a bit standoffish at first. Their long memories do not let them forget rat abuses, though, and they usually take a while to warm up to the large rodents. Lizards, like their tremendous brethren, the dragons, usually build a small lair that they let few into, where they hoard their possessions. (This lair also gives them a place to rest during the cold night hours.)

Names: Lizards take alien names with many consonants. K'kyrra, Monomonomo, and Ssssh are all good lizard names.

LIZARD RACIAL TRAITS

• +2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence
• Base speed of 40 inches. Lizards are some fast-moving folk during the day.
• Cold-blooded: In any chilly situation, including most nights, lizards become lethargic, garnering a -2 to all actions, including combat, and slowly to a base speed of 20 inches. Lizards may make a burst of speed, eliminating all negative modifiers and moving at full speed, for one round by making a Fortitude save vs a DC of 15 (or higher for very cold environments). This can only be done (level) number of times per day.
• Regenerating tail: Whenever a lizard is caught by the tail, he can let his tail break, allowing him to escape. This causes only one point of damage to the lizard, and his tail will grow back over the span of a week.
• Natural weapons: Bite--1d4 damage, claws--1d3/1d3 damage.
• Favored class: Protector. Lizards' quickness and loyalty get them adopted quickly by a group of vermin eager for their protection.

Mice

Tiny, quick, and everywhere, mice have the advantage of numbers. Their strong little hearts and a huge number of ancestors gives them spiritual strength and the ability to persevere anywhere.

Personality: Mice are friendly little vermin, although a bit high-strung and worrisome. They avoid danger, and cling to each other in numbers for protection. Mice judge another mice by inner strength, which is often shown by unusual physical features--an all-white or all-black coat, albinism, a withered limb, or unusually colored eyes. They can trace back their huge ancestry easily, and tend to associate a mouse with the ancestors he physically resembles.

Relations: Mice get along with almost anybody, although they cling to their larger brethren, the rats, for protection. They judge vermin by their individual traits, as opposed making generalities based on racial characteristics.

Names: Mice have a myriad of names, which change all over the world, often being a variation on local human names. They tend to name themselves after ancestors they resemble, and are usually thought of as the embodiment of that person, a concept hard for other vermin to understand. Examples: Pred, Nob, Yohn, Macques, Naylor.

MOUSE RACIAL TRAITS

• +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength
• Small: +1 to attack, +1 to AC, +4 to Hide. However, they can only use Small weapons, and can only carry 2/3 of what a normal-sized vermin can carry.
• Base speed of 20 inches.
• Racial skills: At character creation, choose 4 points to put into one skill, which counts as a class skill for that mouse. This skill is inherited from an ancestor, and will receive one point for each level that the mouse achieves.
• Natural weapons: Bite--1d3 damage, Claws--1d2/1d2 damage.
• Favored class: Mystic. The extensive racial knowledge of mice put them in close contact with the spirits of their ancestors.

Rats

Big, nasty, and pervasive, rats are the born rulers of the vermin kingdom. Known for their brawn and bite more than for their charm, rats stalk the night, taking what they want from human pantries, garbage heaps, and bedrooms.

Personality: Rats tend to be short-tempered and mean. Gluttonous, they take the spoils of any find and gorge themselves on rubbish. Still, individual rats take on a group of vermin they protect as "their gang." (Whether or not the rat actually is the leader of the gang is irrelevant--they think they do.) Rats tend to be bullies, and although they often have a kinder side, they are loathe to show it, and get snappish with anyone who would point it out.

Relations: Rats get along well with their smaller kin, mice, living in a symbiotic relationship with them--mice are good scouts and good diplomats, while rats can give them protection. They often hold the flighty sparrows in disdain, especially for their closeness with men. Rats that try to get along with other vermin often make a display of their greatness or of their wealth, trying to ply friends with gifts or protection.

Names: Rats take guttural names, often with a suffix to denote one of their attributes. Examples: Rukk the Wide, Tuk the Tricky, Koff the Infectious.

RAT RACIAL TRAITS

• +2 Strength, -2 Charisma
• Base speed is 30 inches.
• Darkvision: Rats' red eyes let them see in the dark up to 60 inches. They can function well with no light.
• Infectious bite: Rats' bite usually carries virulent strains of nastiness. Anyone bitten by a rat must make a Fortitude check of 5 + the level of the rat + points of damage caused by the bite. If this check is failed, the wound will become inflamed, and cannot be healed normally, or through standard magical healing. Remove disease or heal must be cast in order to stop the disease. Each day the wound persists, the victim must make another Fortitude check--if failed, the victim loses one point of Strength and Constitution. If either of these scores reaches zero, the victim dies. (Three successful checks in a row means that the infection has been defeated by the victim's immune system. Strength and Constitution are regained at the rate of one point per day.)
• Natural weapons: Bite--1d6 damage, Claws--1d4/1d4 damage, Tail--1d3 subdual damage.
• Skill bonus: Rats receive a +4 to Intimidation checks.
• Favored Class: Brute. Rats' strong limbs and large bodies, as well as their nasty temper, makes them perfect for a life of violence.

Roaches

Roaches, the ultimate survivors, have an even bigger advantage in numbers than mice. Unlike mice, though, who derive strength from their ancestry, the clannish nature of roaches make them virtual copies of each other. The roach that breaks away from his brothers to become an individual is rare, and generally thought poorly of by other roaches.

Personality: Roaches are generally insular around other vermin, and follow strict social guidelines, doing nothing that all other roaches will not do with them. That said--some roaches strike out for an individual life, but are reviled by their brethren. Roaches do not have a hierarchal social structure, though--their short lifespans do not allow for it. All roaches within a caste are equal, and consider themselves brothers, subordinate only to their queen.

Relations: As above, roaches do not get along particularly well with any other vermin--but they don't get along particularly poorly, either. They are indifferent, except toward the sparrows, who they have a bit of a problem with (something about dinner once.) The vermin roaches most dislike are individual roaches.

Names: Roaches do not have names. They have their own names for the different roles they play, which all roaches in that caste are called by: Brute/Protector--Thrak, Sneak--Waka, Mystic--Boko, Storyteller--Taka, and Trickster (which are rare among roaches)--Hele. Roaches that strike it out on their own often take the names of other vermin, or get nicknames such as Shellback, Rocky, or Bobo.

ROACH RACIAL TRAITS

• Base speed is 20 inches.
• Small: +1 to attack, +1 to AC, +4 to Hide. However, they can only use Small weapons.
• Roaches have the unusual ability to carry twice the amount as a normal vermin on their shell.  
• Antennae vision: While roaches can see normally with their eyes, they also are very sensitive to vibration, and can move around and fight with no penalty in the dark or against invisible creatures.. This vision extends out 30 inches, so they can still be surprised by something leaping from a distance.
• Shell: Roaches' tough exo-skeleton give them a +2 to their Armor Class.
• Skill bonus: +3 to Climb checks.
• Save bonus: +2 to save versus poisons.
• Save penalty: Because of roaches' general lack of identity, they have a hard time keeping a strong self-image. Whenever a roach has to save against in order to keep his self-identity, or has to save versus an Trick or Mystic power affecting the mind, he has a -2. This should be enhanced in role-play as well.  
• Natural weapons: 1d3 bite.
• Favored class: None. Roaches are born into one caste, and have a hard time deviating from that.

Sparrows

The flighty sparrows are the only vermin that can take to the skies of the city, giving them a perspective not from the feet of men, but from far above their heads, where they look no more like giants, but like insects. Sparrows see everything through this same sort of vision: they see nothing as of much importance on its own, but see the stories that things weave as a whole. This makes other vermin think of them as simple and flighty. They are flighty, interrupting conversations, ignoring complaints, and generally--well, flying around, but simple they aren't.

Personality: The most important thing to sparrows is that the world is much smaller than it looks to the vermin on the ground. Anything that seems really important probably isn't, and anything that seems like a huge danger is nothing to worry about. Even humans--the biggest danger of all--look small from above, and, plus, you can poop on them.

Relations: Sparrows get along with anyone, although roaches and rats sometimes don't reciprocate those feelings. They enjoy a good joke that flies over lizards' heads, and are best friends with mice, whose tendency to worry amuses the sparrows. They respect squirrels greatly, the only vermin that ever manage to get a trick over on them.

Names: Sparrows usually take nature-based names, such as Needle-beak, Grey-feather, and Sky-leaf. The fiercest sparrow of all time was known as Roach-scourge, and the roaches still have a hard time with this.

SPARROW RACIAL TRAITS  

• +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution. Sparrows' hollow bones break quite easily.
• Base speed on the ground is only 15 inches, but sparrows can fly faster than a man can walk (very fast.) Sparrows are awkward walking.
• No hands: Sparrows have no front paws. Therefore, they cannot do many of the things other vermin can, especially use weapons (although they can get pretty inventive with their beak and claws, dropping things, and carrying a sharp stick while flying to poke things with.)
• Natural weapons: 1d4 damage beak, 1d3 damage claws.
• Natural weapon: wings. Wings can be used to buffet a foe, flapping them all around his head. This does only 1 point of subdual damage, but if the victim is successfully "hit" with this attack, he must save vs. a DC of 10 + 1d6 + Strength bonus or be stunned for the next round.
• Favored class: Storyteller.

Squirrels

Squirrels, pranksters and clowns all, live more in the treetops and parks of the city than in the streets. Although they disdain the practice of trash-diving for food (they prefer acorns and fallen scraps in the park), they get along well with their fellow vermin--as long as they're playing pranks.

Personality: Squirrels are jokers. They jump from tree to tree, carefree of danger, throw acorns at serious rats, steal bread from lazy-eyed humans, and get in elaborate high-flying punching matches with each other. They're the swashbucklers of the vermin, and a bit loopy. Danger never fazes a squirrel--at least not that he'd let on.

Relations: Squirrels think they get along with everyone, although it's not always the case. They're regarded as not just a bit unreliable, prankish, and prone to theft. Still--they can make loyal friends, and only a vermin who takes himself too seriously (like most rats) has a real problem with them--although they usually keep an eye open when a squirrel's around.

Names: Squirrels take nonsense names, with a little tree-ness thrown in for flavor. Examples include Boboak, Nutkin, Pinehead, Smokey, and Cholono.

SQUIRREL RACIAL TRAITS

• +2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom  
• Base speed is 40 inches.
• Skill bonus: Squirrels receive a +5 to Climb checks and a +2 to Jump checks.  
• Tail: Squirrels also receive a +3 to Balance because of their tail, and can use it to swing from tree limbs.
• Bipedal: While squirrels scurry along on four feet often, they have no problem standing on two feet. Their front paws are prehensile, and they can use weapons without the normal -2 modifier (although they still must buy proficiency with them.)
• Natural weapons: 1d4 damage bite, 1d4 subdual damage punch.
• Favored class: Trickster. With their bright minds, and natural tendency toward tricks, they are the commensurate Tricksters.

Toads

Making their way in the urban swamp, toads are looked up to by all vermin. Rats respect their size and strength, mice see their numbers, sparrows like the fact that they don't seem to worry, and squirrels think that tongue thing is just funny.

Personality: Steadfast and somewhat slow to answer, toads are the kind uncles of the vermin kingdom. They're not stupid, but quiet and patient. They're not all serious, though--the dry wit and one-line remarks of a toad humorist can beat all.

Relations: Toads are outsiders, used to a more wet atmosphere than most of the city, and are somewhat out of place among all the mammals. They usually do nothing to cause bad relations, though, and generally get along with all the vermin. 

Names: Toad names vary, but usually have some reference to water, ponds, or bugs in them. Bugstick, Scumrod, and Soupeyes are all good examples.

TOAD RACIAL TRAITS

• +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity. Although they have strong legs, toads are not as agile on land as many other vermin.  
• Base speed is 30 inches.
• Skill bonuses: +5 to Swim, +5 to Jump checks.  
• Natural weapons: 1d6 damage kick (usually by landing on the creature), 1d6 subdual damage tongue-whip.
• Favored class: any. Toads can choose any class as their favored one.