Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

Luskan is a coastal city a ways north of Neverwinter. In the games, it was a pirate and thief-infested cesspool secretly ruled by a cabal of evil wizards. The evil wizards were defeated in a novel before the start of the events in this book, so now it’s just exactly what it always appeared to be.

The Dead Rats are currently the most successful thieves’ guild in Luskan. They have this name because their senior members are wererats, and their initiation ceremony involves a ritual that imparts some wererat powers to the initiate. Their leader is a halfling bard named Toytere, also known as “King Toy”, who seems to have the power to see the future and uses it to foil the many assassination attempts made on him.

A PC with this background used to be an average member of the Rats until they were brought in before King Toy, who proclaimed the PC was destined to lead a mutiny against him and ordered their execution. This was news to the PC, who barely made it out of the room alive and managed to abscond to Neverwinter.

Their original goal here was to build enough wealth and power to return to Luskan and take revenge on those who wronged them, but this might have changed by the time the campaign starts.

Dead Rat Deserter PCs are usually shifty and shady types, though they’re loyal to their friends (who include the other PCs). While rogues are the first to come to mind, there aren’t any class restrictions. Characters should be either humans, half-elves, or halflings, since those are the majority ancestries in Luskan and make up all of the Dead Rat membership.

The background skills for this theme are Intimidate, Stealth, and Thievery.

Features

You don’t need a theme just to make a shifty character with a shady criminal past, so why choose this one? Because it also lets you be a wererat!

The level 1 feature is Body of the Rat, an 1/round minor-action at-will power that lets the PC assume the form of a Tiny rat. The same power also lets them change back, and whenever they change shape they can also shift 1 square. In rat form, the PC can’t attack but gains a climb speed equal to half their ground speed and a +4 to Stealth checks. The PC’s equipment melds into the rat form, and continues to provide all of its passive benefits. There are a few exceptions: they don’t get AC bonuses from shields, can’t use active item powers, and can’t access any containers (like bags or potion vials). On the other hand, their equipment can’t be removed in any way while it’s part of the rat form.

At level 5, the PC gains a +2 power bonus to Stealth and Bluff. This is useful for a rogue-type, but would be much better if it was untyped.

At Level 10, Hybrid Bite lets the PC assume the classic hybrid wererat form. Changing back and forth is an at-will minor action, like above, and the character retains all their equipment and can use it normally. The hybrid form has the same size as the character. The character also gains a bite attack. The attack bonus for this is (STR or DEX modifier)+4, and the damage is 1d8+(same modifier) plus 5 ongoing damage (save ends). The bonus increases to +6 and the damage to 2d8 at level 21.

This attack is a little underwhelming, I think. If Strength or Dexterity is your main attack stat, it’s going to be about on par with a +2 weapon with a +2 proficiency bonus, which means it’s less accurate than the characters’s actual main weapon if any of those stats are better on it. Ongoing damage on an at-will is good, but also maybe not as good as the bonuses of a level 10’s character main weapon and class powers. If you use anything other than STR or DEX to attack, this power is useless.

Utility Powers

The optional powers here are all about tapping into your inner rat.

Savage Hiss is a level 2 encounter power that helps intimidate enemies in a fight. When the PC scores a critical hit, they can use this power to inflict every enemy within 5 squares with a -4 penalty to attack the PC for a turn.

Dead Rat Stealth is a level 6 daily power that takes a minor action and gives the PC a +2 power bonus to Stealth and Thievery for the rest of the encounter. If the PC dislikes a roll for one of these skills, they can end the effect and reroll it with a +5 power bonus.

Intuitive Leap is a Level 10 daily power that represents the PC inheriting some of King Toy’s prophetic abilities. The PC can use it when it’s time to roll initiative, gaining a +4 power bonus to the roll and being able to stand up or move their speed for free at that point.

Impressions

Mechanically, this theme suits high-Dex characters the best, since it boosts Stealth and Thievery and might let a character who lacks both to get access to one of them. Being able to turn into a normal-looking rat can enable all sorts of shenanigans, especially out of combat, but the hybrid form and bite attack are of dubious utility at best. This is not a theme that will do a lot to boost your damage output.

Story-wise, I haven’t gotten far enough into the book to see whether Luskan and the Rats influence Neverwinter in any significant way. It’s possible a Rat would just be along for the ride if they’re the only one in the party. An all-Rat party would result in a significantly different path than those implied by the other paths we saw so far. They all got set up together and would still retain their goal of getting rich and powerful enough to return and get some revenge, likely causing a lot of chaos in Neverwinter in the process.