Ratkin-Specific Information

ll Ratkin regenerate as the Garou do, and start the game with 3 Willpower. They also posses several traits specific to the breed..

*Maze Memory:
All wererats have a highly developed "tunnel sense," a feel for absolute direction that prevents a Ratkin from getting lost underground. If even abandoned in the deepest of labyrinths can still crawl back home by the most direct route. • Acute Senses: When a Ratkin wears the form of a rat, he senses the world in an entirely different way. Hearing and smell become his two most acute senses. The sense of touch is most sensitive near their vibrissae, or whiskers, which are prominently displayed along their snout in both rodens and Crinos forms. When using their ears, noses or whiskers to sense the world around them, wererats get a -1 difficulty to their Perception rolls.

*Night Vision:
Although sight is the weakest sense rats possess, they have night vision. A Ratkin can see in anything short of absolute darkness by focusing her concentration. A Ratkin can burns a point of Gnosis can draw upon the dim illumination of the Penumbra to make out rough outlines in the night. This crude night vision lasts for the duration of one scene; with the Gift: Darksight, it can last for up to eight hours after the scene ends if need be.

*Immunity to Disease:
They have a reputation for surviving against impossible odds. All of them share a highly developed immunity to disease; they can even carry and transmit deadly infections without suffering their effects. This benefit is the result of the Birthing Plague, the infection that continually courses through their blood. If anyone managed to cure a Ratkin of its diseases, the beastie would lose its spiritual essence, reverting to a human or a normal rat. Metis wererats afflicted with such a punishment die.

*Reduced Delirium:
They are far more subtle than the Garou during the Impergium, relying on secrecy and stealth. Because of this, the effects of Delirium are lessened for them. When a human sees a wererat in Crinos form, check the same table (Werewolf, pg. 203) that Garou use. The human's reaction is still based on his Willpower, but add two dots for the table's purposes.

*Regeneration:
They can regenerate. As one would suspect aggravated damage such as silver, fire and the teeth and claws of supernatural creatures counteracts this. Healing a point of aggravated damage still requires a full day of rest and a Willpower roll. Ratkin may heal back from death's door just as Garou do, although Rat's blessing grants them a bonus of -5 to any rolls on the Battle Scars table.

*Silver Vulnerability:
Silver adversely affects Ratkin just as it does Garou, reducing Gnosis and even causing unsoakable aggravated damage.

*Teeth and Claws:
Ratkin in Crinos can bite and claw for aggravated damage. Their bite is decidedly nasty, inflicting Strength + 1 damage, but their claw attacks are a little less potent, inflicting only Strength damage.

*Stepping Sideways:
A rat pack doesn't have to use the Rite of the Bolthole to enter the Umbra — they can "step sideways" into the spirit world, just as werewolves do. This still requires a shiny, reflective object, but any wererat can do it. Just roll Gnosis against the difficulty of the local Gauntlet. As usual, the number of successes still determines the length of time it takes to enter the spirit world: scoring one success means the leap takes five minutes; rolling two successes translates into thirty seconds (or three turns); with three successes, stepping sideways into the Umbra is instantaneous. Stepping sideways also requires privacy; if anyone other than a Ratkin or other shifters is present, the attempt won't work.

*Keening:
Ratkin have the ability to silently warn each other of danger, as long as their packmates are within hearing range. Rats, when threatened, can emit a high-pitched sound that humans cannot hear. Wererats, when faced with an enemy, can emit an unnatural sound that only other can sense. If one Ratkin in a pack keens, it sets everyone's heart racing, pumps adrenaline, tenses nerves, and gets everyone ready for a fight. Ratkin can only keen when actually threatened; it's impossible to "cry wolf” effectively unless you are experiencing the stress of great danger. Others cannot emulate or imitate this sound.

*Speaks in Squeaks:
All Ratkin share a rodent language that only they can understand. This can be used in any form. Ratkin in Rodens form can be quite verbose; wererats in Crinos form limit themselves to simple sentences of a few crude words. Ratkin in Homid form are very careful where they use this rodent language — it's most unnerving when a rat disguised as a human starts chittering, nattering, clicking and whuffling.

*Blessings of the Rat Incarna:
Ratkin don't need to take the Totem Background during character creation. Instead, every wererat begins his or her life in service to the Rat Incana. Rat watches over her children from the first moment of Infection to the catharsis of the First Change. The wererat gains all of the benefits (and adheres to the ban) of the Rat Totem. Ratkin can change their totem each time they form a new "rat pack." They collectively decide which totem best fits their current goals in life; you'll find more details in the Totem section. Once wererats form a pack, they don't "pool" their Totem Background points, like werewolves do. Instead, a Shadow Seer must perform a Dedication Rite to bind the rat pack together and declare the quest they are trying to achieve. The final roll for this ritual determines the number of temporary background points the pack gets and influences which totem they can choose. Once the pack disbands, all of the wererats present resume their spiritual affiliation to the Rat Incarna... until the next pack is formed. You'll find more details on these practices in the Rites and Rituals section.

*Blood Memory:
Most supernatural creatures know nothing of the Blood Memory possessed by Ratkin, an ability that allows them to share racial memories. Through this talent, a wererat may "remember" the name of another Ratkin he's never met, a place he's never been, or a deed performed by a member of his aspect generations ago. For more details, keep reading. For the record, Ratkin blood is also poisonous to those who feast on it. Each turn a vampire or other supernatural creature drinks the blood of a wererat, he receives one unsoakable health level of aggravated damage. In addition, the creature is also overwhelmed by disturbing and terrifying psychedelic images. Such experiences "reveal" nothing; they're just really bad trips.