Rat Demon [Lesser Tanar'ri]

A rat demon, or rat-fiend, is a diseased, heavily muscled rodent about as tall as a man, hunchbacked and walking on stubby hind legs.

It claws and gnaws. Anyone bitten must save vs. paralyzation or go rigid for 2-8 hours, and the fiend gladly hauls helpless captives home to the Abyss. It never rolls for surprise. Sleep and cold magic such as cone of cold or ice storm fail against it; electricity, ordinary fire and poison do nothing; magical fire and gases deal half damage. Other attacks work normally. It has tanar'ri infravision and can create darkness 15' radius. It may also try to gate in its masters (40%), though the arrival often goes worse for the rat demon than for its enemies.

In places rats naturally infest, it can bend 2-12 ordinary rats or 1-6 giant ones to its will; elsewhere it is alone. It is just bright enough to follow simple orders, change tactics, or run when death looms.

Rat demons sit near the bottom of the Abyss's pecking order. Balors, glabrezu, succubi and other powerful tanar'ri use them as slaves, couriers and assassins and torment them freely. Useful ones are treated decently; failures and old ones often become dinner. Resistant to other planes, they are sent on errands, gifted to allies, bound by wizards, or lent to bungling mortal followers. Some serve mortal spellcasters as familiars, glad to be away.

Going home is dangerous: the fiend must stay still and undisturbed for 3-12 turns, so it comes and goes in lonely places. One that lairs on the Prime gathers Treasure Type B from victims and from its rats' scavenging; in the Abyss it has none.

They seem to descend from mutated or unusually savage Abyssal rodents, which explains their bond with rats. Stranded on the Prime, one nests in slums, cellars or ruins full of vermin, using rats as scouts and guards while it preys on animals and unlucky townsfolk. In the Abyss, masterless rat demons scavenge like ordinary rats, stealing scraps and harrying twisted demons, dretches and other petty tanar'ri. Away from the Abyss only its life force holds its body together; slain there, it disintegrates within five minutes.