General Rules: Monsters - Ratman, Unseeing

Ratman, Unseeing (adapted from Vigil Watch: Warrens of the Ratmen)
Medium Monstrous Humanoid (Slytheen)

Hit Dice: 2d8+4 (13 hit points)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30 feet, climb 15 feet
Armor Class: 14 (+1 Dexterity, +2 deflection, +1 natural); touch 13, flat-footed 11
BAB/Grapple: +2/+4

Attack: Punch +4 melee (1d6+2, bludgeoning, 20 x2)

Full Attack: 2 punches +4 melee (1d6+2, bludgeoning, 20 x2) and 2 kicks -1 melee (1d8+1, bludgeoning, 20 x2) and tail slam -1 melee (1d6+1, bludgeoning, 20 x2)

Space/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks: Flurry of blows
Special Qualities: Blind, empathy, empathic awareness, evasion, saintly ægis, speak with rats
Saves: Fortitude +2, Reflex +4, Will +5
Abilities: Str 14, Int 13, Wis 14, Dex 12, Con 15, Cha 13

Skills: Listen +6, Move Silently+4, Sense Motive +6, Survival +3, Tumble +4

Feats: Deflect Arrows, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist
Environment: Any except arctic

Organization: Warband (5 - 50 ratmen, plus one leader of 4^th - 7^th level per 15 warriors), nest (100 - 500 ratmen with leaders as above, plus one 8^th - 10^th level cleric per 100 warriors and numerous wild creatures acting as servitors and spies)

Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually lawful neutral
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +2

Mistreated, distrusted, and hunted, the unseeing have been transformed by the winnowing of evolution's cruel edge into something that might be called transcendent. Compassion is their center, and empathy without parallel compensates for their sightless eyes. Now they wage a secret war against their estranged cousins, their would be persecutors among the other races, and their own darker natures.

Combat
No one quite knows how the unseeing fight, since they love to blind their opponents before engaging hand to hand. Lacking the benefit of sight from birth, these slytheen quickly gain the upper hand in such contests.

Blind (Ex): True to their name, unseeing are blind. Their minds cannot even comprehend the visual world so even if they were granted sight via magical means, they could not perceive the images. Any time a Spot check it required, the unseeing may attempt a Sense Motive check in its lace, but only if they can bring to bear their empathic awareness. Tasks that absolutely require visual senses, such as reading a printed page, fail automatically.

Empathy (Ex): Upon a successful Sense Motive check, members of this brood can divine the emptions of a target being within 10 feet of them. The check result determines the degree of information gathered. Obtaining a vague impression has a DC 10, while divine well-hidden feelings incurs a DC of 25 or greater.

Empathic Awareness (Su): Similar to blindsight, but far more comprehensive, empathic awareness is based on the slytheen's ability to perceive the ebb and flow of emotions permeating the land. Empathic awareness allows the broodling to perfectly "see" everything within 60 feet, including ethereal creatures. They can even perceive creatures without emotion in this fashion - they show up as "vacuums" in the emotional tapestry of the area. Targets charged with strong emotions light up like a beacon, making them easier for the unseeing to hit (+1 insight bonus to attack rolls). Beyond the 60-foot range, an unseeing can still "see", but cannot automatically perceive targets with the same precision.

Evasion (Ex): If an unseeing makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the unseeing is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless unseeing does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Flurry of Blows (Ex): When unarmored, an unseeing may strike with a flurry of blows at the expense of accuracy. When doing so, she may make one extra attack in a round at her highest base attack bonus, but this attack takes a -2 penalty, as does each other attack made that round. The resulting modified base attack bonuses are shown in the Flurry of Blows Attack Bonus column on Table: The Monk. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the monk might make before her next action. An unseeing must use a full attack action to strike with a flurry of blows.

When using flurry of blows, an unseeing may attack only with unarmed strikes or with special monk weapons (blade boot, butterfly sword, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, siangham, tiger claw, tonfa, and war fan). She may attack with unarmed strikes and special monk weapons interchangeably as desired. When using weapons as part of a flurry of blows, an unseeing applies her Strength bonus (not Strength bonus × 1½ or ×½) to her damage rolls for all successful attacks, whether she wields a weapon in one or both hands. The unseeing can’t use any weapon other than a special monk weapon as part of a flurry of blows.

In the case of the quarterstaff, each end counts as a separate weapon for the purpose of using the flurry of blows ability. Even though the quarterstaff requires two hands to use, an unseeing may still intersperse unarmed strikes with quarterstaff strikes, assuming that she has enough attacks in her flurry of blows routine to do so.

Saintly Ægis (Su): This brood may take solace in their calm hearts; when taking no aggressive actions, they force creatures in their vicinity into a state of equal repose. Opponents who would seek to target the unseeing must make DC 12 Will saves or take no action against the slytheen. All attack actions made by those who fail the Will save, regardless of the target, suffer a -3 morale penalty when performed within 15 feet of the ratman.

Speak with Rats (Su): Unseeing ratmen have the ability to speak with rats and dire rats as if they were using the spell speak with animals.

Home     Three Worlds     Monsters