Wererat: A Cat’s Greatest Foe

Fun little story: I actually had a character that turned into a wererat during a campaign back in junior high. I called the wererat form Johnny, and he was basically a smoker who went through fifteen packs a day. Every time it was my turn, the party would yell, “Hey, Johnny!” in a gravely voice while pointing at me with finger guns.

My dungeon master tried desperately to cure me. I refused each and every time.

Lore: Curse-Bound Thieves

The most sly of the lycanthropes, wererats prefer to hunt alone and rarely use their full animal form. A clan of wererats works much like a thieves guild, spreading their curse only to those whom they wish to indoctrinate. Those that are cursed on accident or try to leave the clan are quickly assassinated. Typically living in cellars or sewers in major cities, one can often find normal rats of various sizes living with them.

This lore could make for a fun twist on the classic thieves guild plotline. Expecting something like what you’d get in Skyrim? Nope! They’re all rats and they want to bring you into their weird wererat thief cult!

Aside from that, they’re fairly boring. But that one idea is a ton of fun, so… I’ll say they’re middling.

Design: Wash Your Clothes, Dude

Seeing what these guys look like in official art only makes me love Johnny all the more in retrospect.

This look is on-par with the wereboar. It’s clearly an animal, and not a friendly one, what with those teeth and claws and the bloodstains. But it isn’t a savage. Excluding the aforementioned stains, its clothes are fairly well kempt.

It still isn’t especially creative or interesting. But it isn’t generic or brain-dead either. So once again, it is middling.

Unfortunately, the stats are not.

Stats: Big as a Man, Weak as a Rat

Of the three lycanthropes we’ve covered so far, this one is by far the weakest. It has the highest AC, but not by much, and its HP is pitifully low. None of its weapons are particularly dangerous and it lacks any real abilities to make it interesting.

And you know what that means. It’s another slugfest. Grab your silver weapons and hit them until they die. They couldn’t even give them any special ambush abilities or anything.

In short: boring.

Placement

The wererat is a fairly dull monster. Its lore could make for a fun plotline, but that’s about it. The design is just okay and the stats are very boring.

With all that in mind, let’s put the Wererat on the Best of the Bestiary!

1. Beholder
2. Death Tyrant
3. Dragon Turtle
4. Green Dragons
5. Red Dragons
6. Blue Dragons
7. Black Dragons
8. White Dragons
9. Silver Dragons
10. Couatl
11. Behir
12. Aboleth
13. Sea Hag
14. Lamia
15. Bronze Dragons
16. Brass Dragons
17. Copper Dragons
18. Gold Dragons
19. Chuul
20. Kuo-Toa
21. Gibbering Mouther
22. Kraken
23. Intellect Devourer
24. Chimera
25. Death Knight
26. Fomorian
27. Bone Devil
28. Dracolich
29. Faerie Dragon
30. Lich
31. Kobold
32. Kenku
33. Hobgoblins
34. Night Hag
35. Green Hag
36. Ankheg
37. Hook Horror
38. Storm Giant
39. Hill Giant
40. Empyrean
41. Efreeti
42. Grimlock
43. Dao
44. Cloud Giant
45. Drow (all four of ’em)
46. Shadow Demon
47. Marilith
48. Drider
49. Aarackockra
50. Azer
51. Demilich
52. Spectator
53. Hydra
54. Marid
55. Harpy
56. Werejackal
57. Half-Dragon
58. Cambion
59. Fire Giant
60. Animated Armor
61. Banshee
62. Basilisk
63. Yochlol
64. Bulette
65. Cloaker
66. Darkmantle
67. Doppelganger
68. Ghoul and Ghast
69. Ettin
70. Pit Fiend
71. Erinyes
72. Chain Devil
73. Bearded Devil
74. Barbed Devil
75. Spined Devil
76. Ice Devil
77. Djinni
78. Nalfeshnee
79. Glabrezu
80. Chasme
81. Grell
82. Barlgura
83. Horned Devil
84. Balor
85. Shadow Dragon
86. Werebear
87. Lizardfolk
88. Vrock
89. Dretch
90. Gnolls (all three)
91. Goristro
92. Hezrou
93. Manes
94. Frost Giant
95. Duergar
96. Quasit
97. Dryad
98. Flumph
99. Goblin
100. Wereboar
101. Wererat <—————-
102. Githyanki
103. Planetar
104. Imp
105. Clay Golem
106. Flameskull
107. Displacer Beast
108. Carrion Crawler
109. Githzerai
110. Grick
111. Invisible Stalker
112. Rug of Smothering
113. Bugbear Chief
114. Bugbear
115. Flesh Golem
116. Vine Blight
117. Twig Blight
118. Needle Blight
119. Bullywug
120. Hellhound
121. Ettercap
122. Gas Spore
123. Cockatrice
124. Lemure
125. Homonculus
126. Solar
127. Deva
128. Gorgon
129. Hippogriff
130. Griffon
131. Cyclops
132. Centaur
133. Ghost
134. Fire Elemental
135. Water Elemental
136. Air Elemental
137. Stone Giant
138. Deep Gnome
139. Dinosaurs (All six of them)
140. Iron Golem
141. Stone Golem
142. Earth Elemental
143. Galeb Duhr
144. Helmed Horror
145. Flying Sword
146. Crawling Claw
147. Violet Fungus
148. Shrieker
149. Gargoyle