Pouch Rat (5e Creature)
Pouch Rat[edit]
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Tiny beast, unaligned Armor Class 10
Senses passive Perception 10
Keen Smell. The rat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. ACTIONSMultiattack. The pouch rat makes one bite attack and two spur attacks. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage. Spur. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage and 1 poison damage.
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While the First Children had many vermin sneaking about their stores, one species of multituberculate[1] is especially notable for being brought into the Known World and becoming a menace ever since: the pouch rat. While not rodents, or even therian mammals,[2] they are quite similar in size and niche to true rats, being generalists omnivores that breed quickly and can nest just about anywhere. Like other multituberculates, their premolars are massive, though those of the pouch rat are adapted for cutting rather than crushing, and allow them to process a wide variety of foods, and venomous spurs on their heels aid in intraspecific competition, predator defense and deterrence, and the occasional subdual and killing of prey. Their ultra generalist lifestyle makes them proficient at sneaking into the stores, eating whatever they can, and slipping into the night without a trace, as they have done before and well after the First Children brought them to the Pakardia and then Qajar from their island home and everywhere they went the local rodents and multituberculates suffered. It is unusual for an island species to dominate mainland niches in such a way that the pouch rats have, but gorging on the very same enchanted grains the First Children and now Kaimerans depend upon is thought to have given them peak health and breeding potential, nullifying any potential disadvantages they may have had coming in. While the First Children are long gone, the pouch rat continues to thrive and have put intense pressure on the tree rats of the Known World. The Ni'Khari tree rat is quite rare in settlements now, and confrontations between the larger, more aggressive Arvelith black rat and pouch rats can be so violent as to be fatal for both animals, with the rat's greater size countered by the multituberculate's venomous kicks. These two rivals generally outcompeted local rats wherever they went and some regions even see localized extinctions of one before ships bring in reinforcements. This competition however has proven a boon to the other rat of Kaimere, the common or Kaimeran brown rat: in the past, these rats would be attacked and even preyed upon by Arvelith black rats, but with them and the pouch rat too busy killing each other, brown rats have enjoyed the free real estate and food left by their fights. Even so, the pouch rats are formidable and enjoy their place as one of Kaimere's most imfamous vermin. |
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