Ratkin (Ratfolk):

Stat adjustments: +2 dexterity, +2 intelligence, -2 strength

Skill adjustments: +2 stealth, +2 perception, +2 survival

Misc bonuses: none

Innate spells: none

Size: small

Standard alignments: any evil

Classes allowed: barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, inquisitor, mage, magus, monk, oracle, psion, psywarrior, ranger, sorcerer, thief, warlock

Normal adventuring starting age: 12-18

Average life span: 50

Description:

Ratkin are a horrible amalgamation of human and rat, resulting in an extremely adaptable and clever race of humanoid vermin. Wiry, twitchy, and shorter than a typical human, they often possess the bodies, heads, and tails of dire rats but with more humanoid limbs. Due to experimentation and prevalent exposure to magical radiation, some ratkin even develop horns. This usually, but not always, correlates to an affinity to the Weave.

Ratkin have a strong pack mentality when faced with outsiders, but the competition for status within the clan is cutthroat. Loyalty within is a foreign concept, and prestige is given in equal measures to might and cunning. As a race, they lurk in the underbelly of society, in warrens below the cities of the surface-dwellers. Xenophobia runs rampant, and the alphas of the ratkin clans are always vigilant for weaknesses above that can be exploited.

To this end, the alchemists of the ratkin have crafted all manner of diseases to convert their scouts into wererats in order to better infiltrate the lower dregs of society. The wererats find ways to gnaw at the pillars of society, and when the time is right, the ratkin clans bring their hordes to bear and finish the job of extinguishing the surface-dwellers.

Ratkin often find themselves at odds with the other denizens of the Underdark: the dwarves, the gnomes, and the drow. The ratkin are aggressive and warlike, wishing to destroy all who are not a part of their warren. This is only matched by their intelligence, utilized in their ceaseless experimentation with alchemy and the creation of incredible war-machinery. It is rumored that the new firearms seen throughout the realms are even of their design.

Warning: This is an advanced race, known as a PK-race. It imposes disadvantages on your gameplay: You will be banned in most cities and shunned across the realm. You start with your NOPK-flag turned off and other players may attack you because of your race. You may not, however, attack a player of a standard race without additional provocation.

See also: races, pk rules, wererat