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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Conaill" data-source="post: 792491" data-attributes="member: 1264">Since jdavis was wondering how I would "spice up" his Com18 ratcatcher from the first page... here ya go:RatcatcherGronas Stonetooth has been the town ratcatcher for nearly 100 years now, he has been doing this thankless job for so many years most of the inhabatants of Mor's End have forgotten his real name and just refer to him as The Ratcatcher. He hunts rat but also strays and other vermin when needed. He is short even for a dwarf and his body is covered in tiny bite scars, his hair and beard are ragged and unkept and his left ear is mangled from a alligator he killed when younger.Inhabitants of Mor's End can call the Ratcatcher by nailing a rat to the door. He typically shows up only hours later, quickly exterminates the pests and demands payment (a copper a rat, more for larger vermin). Skimping on the payment is NOT advised. Those who do so get a taste of his knife (roll for any number of nasty diseases), are attacked by his dogs, or simply see their house overrun by vermin soon after. The sight of the Ratcatcher is enough to send children running for safety, and his name is often used as a bogeyman to scare them: "You be good now, or we'll nail a rat to the door, and the Ratcatcher will come and get you!"Nobody knows where the Ratcatcher lives with his two mangy dogs, but it is said he roams the sewers and the Warren, catching rats and other vermin on behalf of the City. He may very well be the only person in Mor's End who knows the Warren like the back of his hand. The Ratcatcher talks to nobody, and nobody talks to him. He never spends any of his money in town, except for buying his weekly bottle of cheap but potent dwarven rum. Nobody knows what he eats, and most would rather not know. Some say he must have saved a huge cache of gold over all these years, hidden somewhere deep in the Warren. You don't mess with the Ratcatcher, and he won't mess with you! Those who seek him out (whether to learn about the Warren or to find his gold) are soon chased off by his dogs, or set upon by packs of rats. Most never return, and those who do vow never to try again.Plot Hook- There is no place in Mor's End where the Ratcatcher is not welcome, at least when vermin are about. His appearance is unsavory, but no more so than the sight of a marauding troupe of rats, and he gets the job done quickly and discreetly. His knowledge of the town and people is quite extensive. He has serviced everything from the grandest palace to the lowliest hovel and has a keen eye for detail.- The PCs need to investigate the sewers or the Warren, and are told that their only hope for a guide would be the Ratcatcher, "but you'd have ta be crazy to ask that old loon!" (The Thieves Guild may also know their way around small parts of the upper sewers: enough to get around various places in the City, but not enough to navigate the Warren itself.)- The Ratcatcher is found dead, torn to shreds by a mysterious animal that is now roaming the Warren - and heading up! Soon the Thieves Guild has to declare the sewers off limits as well, then there are reports of some black horror crawling out of the sewer grates at night...- (Along the same lines...) The Ratcatcher doesn't show up any more. Soon there are rats nailed to every door in the city, and vermin takes over the street in broad daylight. The PCs are sent to investigate...- Yes, the Ratcatcher actually DOES have exactly 130,000 gp in posession as the DMG suggest for a 18th level NPC. A determined group of PCs might even find the Ratcatcher's hoard. It's in a large cave in the Warren... all 13 million copper pieces of it <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />, the vast majority corroded and conglomerated into a big green mass. Count it as 130 tons of high-quality copper ore with the occasional gold or silver thrown in. They may be able to find some dwarves willing to help them "mine" the place... if they're foolish enough to set up such an operation in the Warren!Stats: mostly as jdavis had them. I would probably make him at least Middle Aged (125-187 yrs, -1 to Str,Dex,Con, +1 to Int,Wis,Cha) or Old (188-250 yrs, -3 to Str,Dex,Con, +2 to Int,Wis,Cha) and give him some ranks in Handle Animal as well (for his dogs, and to sic hordes of rats on his enemies).We could also swap a few of his Commoner levels for  Warrior, Barbarian, even Druid, but I do kinda like the whole "18th level Commoner" thing. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Alternative Build: Com13/Grizzled Old Fart5 (from Portable Hole Full of Beer): this one would have to have somewhat more social interactions, if only to take advantage of "Evil Eye and a One-Liner" power, plus his Bardic Knowledge and his sob story, of course...</blockquote>

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