Planar Bestiary
A blister rat is a source of virulent disease. A newly established nest near a populated area is certain to cause an outbreak unless their presence is first noticed as a silhouette running up a shadow-strewn urban alley, as a rustling in the trees, or as a heavy thump and rattle across rooftops.
Those who have seen this chalk-white creature describe them as a hairless rat the size of a dog with outsize claws, dead eyes, and a breath of such pestilence that being too close makes one gag.
Blister rats were conceived in a distant world of the Material Plane where wars fought with magical famine and disease killed off higher life, leaving blister rats to inherit what was left. Able to slip between the folds of reality when their numbers grow too large, colonies of these disease-spreading vermin have popped up across the multiverse.
Blister rats are not picky, eating a diet of garbage, rotted flesh, or live prey as they can get it. However, they prefer to eat creatures infected with disease of nearly any kind, mundane or magical, which—instead of infecting the blister rats—makes them stronger.
Unless indicated otherwise, anytime a creature's tasks are hindered, that includes attack and defense tasks as well.
Motive: Hungers for diseased flesh
Environment: Almost anywhere, alone or in a nest of four to ten
Health: 9
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (4 points)
Armor: 1
Movement: Short; short when climbing
Modifications: Perception and stealth as level 5; Speed defense as level 2 due to large size
Combat: Creatures within immediate range of a blister rat are poisoned by the rat's stench on a failed Might defense task, hindering the victim's tasks on their next turn.
The blister rat attacks twice each round with their claws, or bites once. If the blister rat's bite attack succeeds, the rat regains 2 points of health, or 5 points of health if the target is suffering from a disease. A bite also confers a disease called Blisters on a failed Might defense task.
The blister rat can release a pestilent breath once every few rounds (and again if the rat is killed), targeting up to three creatures within immediate range. Targets that fail a Might defense task take damage from the flesh-decaying influence and become infected with a disease called Blisters.
A blister rat is immune to poison damage and disease.
Interaction: Blister rats are clever predators but flee if outmatched.
Use: A group of strangers met on the road all bear unsightly blisters, obviously some form of disease. They're looking for a cure before they succumb.
GM Intrusion: A character affected by the rat's stench is also blinded for about a minute by watering eyes.