An original monster
contributed by Dennis Brennan
djb6@midway.uchicago.edu

Rat, Giant 

(Shock Rat)


CLIMATE/TERRAIN:   Subterranean
FREQUENCY:         Very Rare
ORGANIZATION:      Pack or Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE:    Any
DIET:              Omnivorous
INTELLIGENCE:      Animal (1)
TREASURE:          Special
ALIGNMENT:         Neutral

NO. APPEARING:     1-10
ARMOR CLASS:       7
MOVEMENT:          12
HIT DICE:          1
THAC0:             20
NO. OF ATTACKS:    2
DAMAGE/ATTACK:     1-3, 1-4
SPECIAL ATTACKS:   Shock
SPECIAL DEFENSES:  Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE:  Nil
SIZE:              T (2' long)
MORALE:            Unsteady (5-7)
XP VALUE:          30

     The Shock Rat is a variety of mutant giant rat capable of discharging an electrical shock to a target upon contact with its tail.

COMBAT:   They are less cowardly than ordinary giant rats and are likely to attack the party. In melee combat, these rodents scurry around the legs of characters, repeatedly using their bite and tail-shock attacks.  The tail-shock attack consists of an electrical shock causing 1-4 points of damage to a creature struck by the rat's tail.  This shock produces a visible spark in darkness and is equally dangerous to characters in bare skin or metal armour.  Padded or leather armours provide adequate insulation against this attack.  As the rat activates its shock power at will striking the creature with a metal weapon will not necessarily result in a shock to the attacker.  Shock rat electrical attacks do triple damage against Rust Monsters.  These rats do not bear disease.

HABITAT/SOCIETY:  These creatures were created and bred by an evil magic-user to clear a nearby mine of goblins so that she could install her own kobold slaves.  Due to this breeding, shock rats are often found lurking in areas of high ore or metal concentration and will attack any humanoids on sight except for kobolds.  The "Special" treasure category assigned to shock rats refers to the abundance of metal tools, weapons or coinage often found in the location where the rats choose to make their lair.  The wizardess later discovered the monsters' effectiveness against rust monsters during an intrusion of the latter monsters into the mine. Despite this, Dwarves and other mining races do not use shock rats as rust-monster deterrent because of their aggressive tendencies against non-kobolds.

ECOLOGY:  The Shock-Rat is not a natural creature. Normal and giant rats attack them (and are defeated) whenever they encounter one another.  Like ordinary rats, shock-rats breed prolifically but when the pack grows too large for the lair many of the rats leave to find a new lair.  As noted above, shock rats make their lairs in caves, chambers or rooms containing a large amount of metal, such as armories, treasure rooms and the like.