D&D General Rats that look like men?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

So let's say you were doing an intro adventure, and were going to lampshade the "innkeeper hires low-level adventurers to clear rats out of his cellar" trope.

How would you play it to keep it fun / surprising? Bonus points if it works for higher level adventurers too.

 

[Echohawk]

The rats are actually cranium rats, psionically manipulating the innkeeper into hiring adventurers so that the rats' allies/masters can rob/enslave/eat them.

 

[aco175]

I might use it to foreshadow something in the future. The innkeepers brother who happens to be a dead/lost mage who kept things in the basement. Something there may be needed in the future like a journal. Maybe there is a mirror portal covered up with a curtain and straps that warn of danger. There could be access to sewers and catacombs from a older building that once stood here. In addition to rats being pushed up into the cellar, there are skeletons and a wight or something. You could spread things out for levels 2 and even 3 with more options.

 

[ppaladin123]

Have you read Stephen King's Graveyard Shift?

Graveyard Shift (short story) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Richards]

They're not rats...it's a jermlaine furry convention.

Johnathan

 

[Iry]

 

[BookTenTiger]

After the introduction, have the players all switch to playing Awakened Rat PCs who are hanging out in their own Awakened Rat Tavern in the basement, when suddenly they are attacked by giants!

 

[BookTenTiger]

Other ideas:

The rats are illusions created by a wizard who is covering up something secret.

The rats are constructs who are stealing parts for a warforged hidden in the basement who is building itself a new, deadly body.

The rats are actually polymorphed townsfolk, transformed by an invasive swarm of pixies.

 

[zarionofarabel]

Recently on a different forum I was informed of just how truly terrifying a swarm of rats can be. Apparently rats teeth are stronger than steel, they can chew through brick, and a swarm of them can strip a dead cow of it's flesh in a couple of minutes.

So I'm going with...a gigantic swarm controlled be a wizard. They could bring down buildings, and swarm over helpless villagers leaving nothing but skeletons behind. Plus swords and bows do little to stop them so they are immune to regular attacks.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Ghost rats, or a maybe a spirited rat