It's not often you see a book that gives you both a detailed history of a monster race AS well as deeper understanding of the world from which they hail from. The first in what promises to be a good series of books about monsters of the Scarred Lands (at least those titanspawn races that have a long and growing hold on parts of the lands in Ghelspad), Warrens of the Ratmen tries to give us a deeper understanding of one of the more complicated races, the Slitheren. At 108 pages (excluding the extra devoted to product support in the back) this book does reveal a different side to a monsterous race we players and DMs have yet to experience. For those unfamiliar with the Slitheren, they are race of intelligent ratmen, often with various subraces or "broods" that are imbued or touched in some way with the essence of one of the Titans.
The cover art shows us one of the more gripping pictures, in terms of a fight, with a viligant fighter for his life against two powerful speciems of this race. My favorite part of the art work is the look of rage on both the other combantants while the viligant calmly dispatches one of them right through the head. Don't see that every day.
The book is divided into six chapter and appendix, which details the monsters mentioned in this book.
The developer's preface opens with a little nod to the Vigils as well as detailing some of their tasks, one of which is this report on the Slitheren to various concerned parties. (Mostly goodly aligned but some not so as well.) It also states that there's also the choice of using this book to help in making a slitheren PC. Something not every Dm/Gm might be willing to do, but perhaps after reading it, they might.
The introduction serves as way of showing us again one of the strong points in the setting, that of 1st person view points as well as showing us some level of discussion that will come after we have read through the first two chapters. It also serves as way introducing us to the high command of the Vigils, Home Commander Kelemis Durn.
Chapter 1 Details the ranks of the various in social stratification that most of the broods have at some level. These being their Preist King, (a kind of sorcerer/fighter that has special abilities they can choose) their oracle (a powerful seer as well speaker for their respective titan/priest-king) and their Stragos (powerful warriors that lead bands of Slitheren into battle and also have special abilities related to fighting and morale). While these AREN'T templates nor Pr-classes, they do gain special abilities. I will admit, I'm still skeptical about this approach. But what I care most about is this shows us some level of development common among this race. We will get to see more of two of these types, Yakkal of the Diseased Clan and Lyrd Cathlis of the White Wraiths) Next comes the 12 broods. They are listed in this order and I'll give their associated Titan as well:
Diseased - Chern
Black Pelts - Mesos
Brown Gorgers - Gaurak
Daywalkers - Thulkas
Foamers - Kadum
Forge Crawlers - Golthagga (side note there are actually TWO brood in this. One call the pothecaries and mechanicism. While they are physically similar they differ on approachs to worshipping their respective creator, Golthagga. Pothecries try to make the ultimate alchemical creation, poison or potions. Mechanican devote their lives to building mighty golems/constructs.)
Red Witches - Mormo
Stalkers- Hrinnruk
Storm Chasers - Lethene
Stricken - Gormoth
Unseeing - Golthain
White Wraiths - Gulaben
Each of the broods give highlights of their strengths, their ideology. Also there's a break down based on these catagories in the broods. Warrens (types of dwellings as well as daily habits), Castes (how the divide themselves in social strafications if any), Lifestyle (Daily rituals as well as lifecycles), Prestige among their Broods (how they might gain honor or higher social status), Worship (their daily prayers if any to their respective titans), Their brood and others (how they relate to other broods as well as even in some cases humans.) I liked this since it gives an idea of how the broods interact as well as work Plus you see more than just the ones presented in Creature Collection 1 and Creature Collection 2. My favorites have to be the Black Pelts (arcane spellcasters extrodinary), the Unseeing, (not quite evil but certainly not exactly friendly either towards the divine races), and the Storm Chasers (These guys make Fundamentalists look almost normal.
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Chapter 2 focuses on the most growing threat to Vesh and indeed to Ghelspad itself, the growth and influx of Slitheren broods in the Mourning Marshes. Here the chapter details both the broods activities in the Marshes, as well as other denizens. Plus you get to see a little more of the other Swamp, Sorporatra Swamp where possibly there are LOT of seawrack dragons in hiding. There is also a map detailing where each brood has some measure of control as well as two powerful denizens, a Swamp Hag and the Skeins, former wives to the high priests in Hedrad, they are now spider women seeking out new souls and people to slay.
Chapter 3 goes into deep detail not just how the broods work but also how they fight, as well as covering current events in Ghelspad. This chapter goes a long way into giving us insights into BOTH the Slitheren and into some of the more powerful figures in Ghelspad, such as Emili Derigesh and other names of reknown. This chapter also has a detailed chronology of Slitheren activities near the Mourning Marshes as well as some of their attacks. What REALLY excited me about this chapter was the fact that they talk about a UNIFIED threat because the Slitheren's activities are scattered, yet they work in cohesive groups, unlike their other titanspawn brethren. Something to think about for a campaign idea perhaps...?
Chapter 4 details two adventures done by Will Timms. The first is the Diseased Nest of Chernpot Mosshold. Would adventurers be warned, this isn't some raiding mission where you beat up a few goblins and orcs that might be well armed Slitheren are TOUGH oppnents and tend to be more numerous than most monsters in generic D&D worlds. While this is a raid and rescue mission, expect some casulties as there are MANY Slitheren in this tribe as well as being well armed AND also numerous. They recommend 6-10 but I feel that even 12+ groups will be hard pressed to handle EVERY fight against them. This is certainly not a typical dungeon crawl but the aspects are there to be very leathal IF the party isn't careful and manages to alert the Slitheren/Diseased nest here of their presence. The second one isn't QUITE as bad but still, caution should be the by-word for the party that dares to invade this newly formed brood's home, that of the Covern of the Celestial Urn. Recommend for 3-5 level, it probably would be fairly challenging for a 7th level party but not much higher than that. Again this stresses more of the Slitheren approach to raiding as well as trying to have the heroes be smart and not take them on full force. While it's probably not as deadly as the first, do expect that you might lose a party member if they aren't smart nor if they charge in heedless of the dangers. While I like both adventures, I think the first one IS very appropriate to use on higher level parties between 10-12. Mainly BECAUSE it requires smart thinking, and also a good ranger or tracker. But both are useable in any situation were Slitheren might be involved.
Chapter 5 deals with how to run both NPC and PC Slitheren. The latter will probably prove useful if you have a player that's tired of the same old "Tolkienesque" fantasy flavor. My only gripe is that the ELCs on a couple of these are off. I have made my own modifications, and I'll post them here. Red Witch ELC +3, Daywalker ELC +4, Stalker ELC +4, and White Wraith ELC ELC +4. Even so this part of the chapter is STILL useful for it's stats and understanding the mindset of the typical Scarred Land "peasant" in how they would react to such a being, often protrayed as evil incarnate, when some are merely just lost souls. The Slitheren Prestige Classes, are kind of a mixed bag for me. Grendier, Tail Fighter and Twilight Warden, are interesting, but only Tail Fighter I felt had some depth to it. Twilight Warden is almost specialized kind of ranger, but I doubt it's as adaptable as Grendier or Tail Fighter. Overall, this was for me not the STRONGEST chapter but certainly not the weakest.
Chapter 6 deals with magic and special equipment associated with Slitheren. Mainly detailed here are poisons, exotic weapons, alchemical creations and diseases. My favorite of these were the disease and poison sections. I think many people will find that useful. The new weapon are nice, but not exactly my favorite. Some might go for something like Whipsword, but if you have monsterous PC, he might favor something that increase his natural claw damage like Nail Sheaths, or if he has a tail, Tail Knife/Tale Mast. Of all the spells though, the one I liked out of this boo, Escape the Bonds of Flesh is my favorite. Reminds me of the scene in Wishmaster where the guy's skeleton actually LEAPS out of his body. Certainly very scary for people not used to seeing necromancy preformed in such a way.
The Append covers the monsters that have been mentioned in this book as well as the new broods, like Black Pelts and Storm Chasers. My favorite non-brood monster would have to be so called Horserat. Not really a horse but serves as a steed, it's large beast that many broods breed and use for mounts. DEFINATELY not your typical mount.
So that's it folks. Overall, not to badly done. My main complaints would have the the ELCs used here, the fact they can't seem to decide on whether to make things like Stragos a Template or Pr-class, and the fact they don't cover MORE about cities that might be infested by the Ratmen/Slitheren. Even so, with all that I STILL found this a valuable asset to my collection. Certainly I can't wait to see more Vigil Watches, and I'm sure you will too!
