Rat

Rats are common familiars for spellcasters, particularly among fiends and fey who enjoy utilizing them as scouts, spies, or agents to spread deadly epidemics. Other, less fortunate rats are used as subjects for magical experimentation. They may be used to test recently developed elixirs or to study the effects of new and experimental magic on living organisms. Most test rats suffer bizarre and terrible deaths, the lucky ones receive extraordinary boons, and a few are warped into dark abominations threatening the sanctity of the natural world itself.

Rats are not known for their strength or ferocity, and individually they pose little threat. Under most circumstances, threatened rats will quickly become frightened and scurry away from danger into the safety of small nooks and crannies. Rats are more likely to become emboldened when working in large numbers, and a hungry group of rats may become desperate enough to attack larger creatures who appear vulnerable. When they attack in mass this way, rats can quickly overwhelm their prey, allowing them to tear apart and devour creatures many times their size.

Occasionally, rats can reach sizes far beyond that of a typical specimen. These rodents may belong to different species or the result of magical mutations, but the end result is the same. Their increased size leads to boldness in the face of humanoids and other larger creatures, whom they are more likely to see as food than their smaller kin. Though they still possess the same cowardice as normal rats, these larger rodents are much more likely to be aggressive towards humanoids.

These enormous rodents can be found stalking caverns, lurking in abandoned buildings, or scurrying deep through city sewers. They may also be found in the service of hags or subterranean races such as kobolds or goblins. The most common variety is the giant rat, which can reach the size of coyotes. However, some monstrous rats are the size of timber wolfs and can easily hunt prey their size and larger, allowing them to serve as disturbing war beasts for unsavory masters.