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A very specific group that makes the city of Fallcrest its home.

The Lore

Before we talk about the River Rats, I figure it’s useful to talk a bit about Fallcrest itself. This is information from both the DMG and this book.

Fallcrest grew around a small fort (Moonstone Keep) originally built to guard a portage site around a big waterfall in the Nentir River. The entire rest of the river is perfectly navigable, but trade boats arriving at this point need to unload their cargo so that it can be hauled up or down the limestone cliffs around the waterfall that would eventually give the city its name. The loading points are known as the Upper and Lower Quays.

Fallcrest was a prosperous trade hub for many years, but it was hit hard by the Bloodspear invasion. It hasn’t recovered completely even after all these years, since the volume of foreign trade coming into the Vale was severely reduced by the fall of Nerath.

The cliffs split Fallcrest into two districts, Hightown and Lowtown. Hightown is located at the more defensible top of the cliff. It suffered relatively little during the sack of the city and was the first area to be rebuilt and resettled, making it the wealthier half of the city in our narrative present.

Lowtown is the poorer half, located at the foot of the cliff. It was almost completely razed back during the invasion, and only began to see new construction much later, as the city began growing again. There are still significant stretches of it that are abandoned or ruined, which make good hideouts for the city’s criminal element.

That finally brings us to the River Rats, which are a significant faction in that criminal element. This gang had a Dickensian start, with a band of orphans who got together for protection and were turned to crime by an unscrupulous adult. Most of its members are grownups in our narrative present, but they still recruit new members by taking in street urchins. These new recruits are provided with food, shelter, training, and a sense of camaraderie they have likely never experienced before, which makes the River Rats extremely loyal to each other. They also have something of a “us against the world” mentality, since the world never gave them any of the things the Rats did.

The gang’s current leader is Kelson, the halfling who owns the Lucky Gnome Taphouse and who despite rising from the ranks neatly fills the archetype of the exploitative leader. The Taphouse is the cheapest and rowdiest of Fallcrest’s taverns, catering to dockworkers and porters. Despite the unsavory reputations of the Taphouse and its owner, Kelson has not yet been linked to the activities of the River Rats.

The gang has a wide repertoire, but the most profitable of their activities consists of burglarizing the warehouses near the Lower Quays. Kelson chooses targets based on the information he overhears in the Taphouse, and his gang is very enthusiastic about following through. Merchants who make use of these warehouses must carefully weigh the risk of losing their merchandise against the abusive monopoly prices charged by the Porter’s Guild to haul the cargo to safer storage spaces in the Upper Quays. The Porter’s Guild is not in collusion with the Rats, but the overall picture still adds up to quite a damper on Fallcrest’s economy.

Kelson dreams of expanding the River Rats into a true criminal syndicate with chapters on every city in the Vale, but before he focuses on that he wants to eliminate all his rivals in Fallcrest. If his plans succeed, Fallcrest could be the site of a bloody gang war, likely between the Rats and the Shadow Court plus whatever other groups the GM wants to add into the mix.

The Numbers

As a hostile faction that resides in Fallcrest itself, the River Rats are early to mid-Heroic threats. They’re from a variety of “playable” species, and as mentioned in he Lore section are mostly Unaligned, since their loyalty to each other is their main motivation.

You can easily switch their races around for more variety through the usual tactic of changing and reassigning the relevant stats and abilities.

The gang’s signature trait is River Rat Tactics, which lets its owner gain combat advantage against any enemy who has one of the owner’s allies adjacent to them.

Lowtown Urchin

These halflings are actually around the age of a typical starting adventurer, but they disguise themselves as human children to avoid suspicion as they pick pockets and spy on people.

Our urchin is a Level 1 Skirmisher with 28 HP. As a halfling they have a Speed of 6 and a +5 bonus to saves vs. Fear effects. They fight with a dagger, and will use the Cloak of Filth that covers them to make themselves harder to hit. This is a move action that allows them to shift 3 squares and gain partial concealment for a turn. As a halfling, they can use the Second Chance power once per encounter to force an enemy who hit them to reroll the attack and use the new result.

When bloodied, the Urchin will resort to the River Rat’s Gambit special attack. This encounter power lets them make a basic attack and cause 2d6 bonus damage if that attack hits. If it misses, the urchin takes 1d6 damage instead.

Market Green Grifter

Grifters usually pick pockets or run rigged gambling scams in Fallcrest’s Market Green area, but might be called in to do other work. They’re not very good at direct confrontations, but they can play dead like no one else. This one’s a half-elf.

The grifter fights with a Short Sword whose basic attack profile is nothing special. They’ll make a half-assed attempt at fighting until they first take damage, and then they’ll Play Dead. This causes the grifter to fall prone. Until the start of the grifter’s next turn, they have a +5 to all defenses against close and area attacks, and enemies must spend a minor action to roll and pass a DC 20 Insight check to target them with melee or ranged attacks (otherwise, the enemy will believe the grifter is dead).

On their next turn, the grifter can come Back From the Dead, which lets them stand up, shift 3 squares, and make 3 shortsword attacks against an enemy. The attacks use the basic profile, but also do half-damage on a miss.

Once the grifter hits 0 HP, they can use The Jig is Up as an interrupt. They retain their last hit point and can shift 3 squares, likely as a prelude to running away at full speed.

Lower Quays Guttersnipe

Guttersnipes usually act as lookouts and spies, but are not adverse to a spot of murder if needed. They’re Level 2 Artillery with 30 HP. This one’s a halfling.

It’s important to remember that the guttersnipe doesn’t need to be adjacent to an enemy to benefit from River Rat tactics! As long as at least one ally is adjacent to that enemy, the guttersnipe can shoot them with combat advantage.

They also have the Sniper trait, which lets them stay hidden if they miss with a ranged attack from hiding.

Those ranged attacks will be made with Slings. If enemies get too close for comfort, the guttersnipe can toss a Hooked Net, which acts as a Close Blast 2 that restrains and deals 5 ongoing damage to those it hits (save ends). They only have one of these, though, and after it’s spent they’ll need to resort to weak-sauce Gut Punches to discourage melee attackers.

They also have the halfling Second Chance power.

Razorclaw Jack

Jacks are part of the Rat’s beefier contingent, and specialize in burglary and kidnapping. This one’s a Razorclaw shifter, and a Level 3 Skirmisher with 43 HP. When they’re bloodied, Razorclaw Shifting gives them a +2 bonus to Speed, taking it from 6 to 8.

The jack fights with their claws, which deal extra damage if they have combat advantage. They can also use the River Rat’s Gambit technique. If conditions are right (recharge 4+) they can use Skulduggery to shift half its speed as a move action and gain combat advantage against enemies adjacent to them at the end of the movement. This combat advantage lasts until the end of the current turn, so the movement must come before an attack.

Lowtown Kneebreaker

Kneebreakers are pure muscle, sent to rough people up or kill them when the time for subtlety is past. This one’s a human, and a Level 3 Brute with 56 HP.

They fight with Clubs, can use River Rat’s Gambit, and can do what their name says as part of a Crippling Strike (recharge 6+), which deals extra damage and slows (save ends). It still does half damage on a miss.

Kelson

The leader of the River Rats has the only stat block in this entry with an Evil alignment. Everyone else is Unaligned. I take this to mean that the River Rats are motivated primarily by loyalty to each other, but that Kelson is exploiting that loyalty for his own profit. He’s a Level 5 Elite Skirmisher with the Leader tag and 120 HP.

Kelson’s skills as a Gang Leader act as an aura (3) that gives allies inside a +2 bonus to saves. He fights with a Short Sword and throws poisoned Daggers that deal damage and inflict 5 ongoing poison damage on a hit (save ends). The Flickering Blades at-will maneuver lets him make a shortsword attack, shift 3 squares, and throw a dagger at someone else, all within the same standard action.

He can also use River Rat’s Gambit and Second Chance.

Final Impressions

The River Rats are mostly a pretty standard thieves’ guild and are a good tool for GMs who want to add a bit of urban adventuring to 4e’s standard points-of-light setup. They’re more straightforward and less problematic than the Fell Court, and also a bit more morally ambiguous. Most of the River Rats are in this business simply to make a living and take care of their found family. This means it’s possible for diplomatic PCs to dismantle the gang using mostly non-violent means!

They’d need to befriend its rank-and-file members, make them turn against Kelson, and give them the material conditions to leaver their criminal careers behind for good. More complex than the usual “kill’em all” approach, but potentially much more satisfying. Of course, less scrupulous but still diplomatic PCs might end up just replacing Kelson as the boss instead of ending the Rats’ criminal activities.