Looking for a good ratmen faction

Looking for a good ratmen faction

Looking for a good ratmen faction

I’m looking for some good rat men monsters. Something along the lines of skaven from Warhammer Fantasy, but they can have their own flavor. It would be awesome to have different versions representing rat men society.

Does anyone know of any that have already been created?

I saw the mutant ratmen on the codex, but is is pretty generic for what I’m looking for.

Thanks for any that you know of or any thoughts on the matter.

13 thoughts on “Looking for a good ratmen faction”

  1. I would love to see a Skaven like write-up for Dungeon World. As I recall, they have the following “types:”

    Night Runners (assassins)

    Censer Bearers (plague priests? heavy flail troops?)

    Plague Monks (light troops/skirmishers)

    Poison Wind Globadiers (grenade throwers)

    Rat Ogres (trolls/brutes/mutants)

    Stormvermin (shock troops)

    Grey Seers (shaman/wizards)

    Swarms (just hordes of rats)

    Slaves (ablative armor/expendable troops)

    Warplock Throwers (big chaos-blunderbuss crew)

    etc.

  2. I think you can create ratmen easily with monster creation rules… And unless your game is in the Old World I’ll stay away from actual skavens as they come with some implications like warpstone, daemons and so on.

    If you don’t have to get them evil you could take inspiration from Mouseguard.

  3. Here’s a quick attempt:

    Virmix – Hordeling: horde, small, intelligent, organized, cautious. Instinct: consume everything. Moves: swarm, retreat and return with (many) more, eat everything in sight. Claws and teeth (d6, close), 4 HP, 0 Armor.

    Virmix – Strongtail: group, small, intelligent, organized. Instinct: be the best – take the best. Moves: identify the most dangerous threat, let the hordelings take the damage. Short sword (d8, close), 6 HP, 3 Armor.

    Virmix – Horde Boss: group, small, intelligent, organized. Instinct: set the hordes in motion. Moves: lead from the rear, nip at the cowards. Short sword (d8, close), 6 HP, 2 Armor.

    Virmix – Shaman: solitary, small, intelligent, terrifying, elemental power. Instinct: to lead the hordes. Moves: enrage the horde, unleash pestilence, wither the strong. Elemental blast (d10 ignores armor, close, reach, near) 12 HP, 0 Armor.

    Virmix – Silent Claw: solitary, small, intelligent, devious, stealthy, scent-tracker. Instinct: strike only once. Moves: strike at an inopportune moment, disappear without a trace, poison them. Dagger (d10, 1 piercing, close), 8 HP, 1 Armor.

  4. I see the Silent Claws and Shaman as being interesting as solitary monsters as well as in a fighting horde. A group of 5-6 Silent Claw assassins could bug the hell out of a party, striking when they are already in a fight. As a group, I see it like this. 3d4 hordelings + 2d4 strongtails (but not more than hordelings) + 1 boss is a “swarm.” For every 1-3 swarms there is a shaman. Silent claws sometimes accompany a swarm or swarms, depending on the scenario. A neat addition would be thieving Virmix that rob the party blind – when they are sleeping or even (try to anyway) in the middle of a fight. (Maybe just add this as a move to a hordeling – “Snatch an item and run.”)

  8. PS in case it’s not clear what “let the hordelings take the damage” looks like. I’m imagining on a 7-9 mixed result that a strongtail grabs a random hordeling and drags the unlucky git in front of himself to take the hero’s swordthrust. Stuff like that.

  9. Ray Otus​ that’s what I was thinking too. Or the characters think they have a drop on a Strongtail, at which point the hirelings swarm from behind it, seemingly out of nowhere.

  12. Well, Nezumi is just Japanese for rat, so it’s not too necessary to change it except for flavor. However, a quick search for how other languages say rat brought me to the Hebrew word, “Khulda”, which I used for mine.

    Khuldari Cutthroat – 8 HP, d8 damage (Katar: poison, hand), 1 Armor.

    Small, group, intelligent, devious, organized, stealthy

    Instinct: to attack without warning.

    Moves

    • Attack a vital area

    • Poison them

    • Assassinate their target

    Khuldari Graverobber – 12 HP, 1d10 damage (Elemental Blast: disease, near, far, ignores armor), 0 Armor

    Solitary, Small, Devious, Magic, Intelligent, Organized

    Instinct: raise the fallen.

    Moves

    • Raise the dead.

    • Magically spread disease.

    • Perform dark rituals.

    Khuldari Swarmsworn – 3 HP, d6 damage (Close, Hand, disease), 1 Armor

    Horde, small, organized, intelligent

    Instinct: to attack with wreckless abandon.

    Moves

    • Ignore a wound

    • Swarm them

    • Feel no fear

    Khuldari Bone-Reader – 6 HP, d6 damage (Dagger, close), 0 Armor

    Solitary, Small, organized, intelligent, divine

    Instinct: see the future in the bones

    Moves

    • See a glimpse of what could be.

    • Predict the enemy.

    • Act with deadly foresight.

    Khuldari Deathfang – 12 HP, d8+1 damage (Scimitar, close, messy, disease), 3 Armor

    Solitary, medium, intelligent, organized, divine

    Instinct: to lead the swarm

    Moves

    • Summon underlings.

    • Raise those it kills to serve.

    • Order a minion to take an attack.

    Khuldari Rat King – 17 HP, d10+3 damage (Falchion, reach, messy, forceful, disease), 3 Armor

    Solitary, large, intelligent, organized, terrifying

    Instinct: to command from the shadows

    Moves

    • Bite through steel.

    • Crush them under its weight.

    • Command the swarm.

    Not all of that was in line with the Nezumi, but I got carried away making up a race lol

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