LotFP Class: The Rodent Beggar

I dislike powerful characters. For me there is no fun in playing the mighty hero capable of clearing a room full of bandits in a few turns, I'd rather play the character that is flawed and requires some kind of effort to keep alive. Enter the Rodent Beggar.
The Rodent Beggar is an experimental class for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess and is designed to be fairly impractical for combat (though it does have two spells that should help it in a fight) but has enough hooks for a player to enjoy role playing. The Rodent Beggar has 'spells' though it'd be fairer to call them abilities - I chose not to to avoid confusion with the existing abilities.
I'll likely add a few more spells and adjustments to this as time goes on and after a few plays but for now theres enough to keep a character interesting. Some of the spells may require tweaking to keep the character vaguely competitive beyond the first few levels but have a bash! If you try this out in a game please let me know how it goes, I'd be delighted to hear from you.

Her worn, gnarled fingers reached to her right eye, a swollen lump sewn shut with what looked like cat gut. She ripped the stitching clear in one fluid motion to reveal a tumorous looking pearly white ball that oozed as she prodded it. The woman grabbed the knife from her lap and without hesitation skimmed the blade across a section of her eye so as to cut a lump free. The smell was overpowering as the knife broke the surface and I gagged as she took the liberated chunk, licked it with a cackle before holding it out to the rat that sat patiently in front of her.
The rat sniffed at it once before taking the piece and devouring it. The lady clicked her tongue, seemingly dismissing the rodent as it scampered off back into the shadows and left the woman to sew her eye back up with nary a whimper or cry of pain.
I found myself unable to utter a word and could only watch in mortified silence as she completed the process. She stood up (or rather moved into an upright position, the creature was so doubled over it was hard to say) and brushed her tattered clothes down, wheezing, "Give him a moment, that one looked to be a right lazy bugger!".
A moment indeed passed when a rat - it could have been the same one, it was hard to say - scurried out of darkness and ran up the lady's body, stopping on her shoulder like a parrot, and squeaked in her ear. The lady nodded thoughtfully.
"Aye, there's a bastard of a trap behind that door right enough, though Gerald says if we don't mind getting covered in shit then there's a grating we's can shift further down to get in. Your call, m'lord."

- from the diary of Sir Viktor Lavister, June 1656.

What is the Rodent Beggar?

The Rodent Beggars are filthy creatures, barely any more human than the rats they consort with. No one is sure how the alliance is brokered, only that at some point certain vagrants develop a bond with the vermin that crawl the streets. They gain the eyes and ears of the creatures of the sewers and in doing so begin to warp into twisted mockeries of their former selves.

They level up like a Magic-User however restrictions are in place. The Rodent Beggar can never wear armour or clothing more complex than a rough-hewn tunic. They cannot, or rather will not, wield anything more than a simple wooden club though your average Rodent Beggar would much prefer to avoid combat unless cornered.

Metal in the ownership of a Rodent Beggar tarnishes. Leather breaks down. Even the purest of crystal will develop flaws, its surface cracking and its perfection clouding over.

The Rodent Beggar begins with one free special spell and one from the following list. Upon levelling up the Rodent Beggar can pick another spell and can now cast another spell between rest periods. For example, a level 2 will have access to two spells (and their free special spell) and be able to cast two spells per day. A level 3 will have access to three spells and be able to cast three spells per day, and so on.

Spells

The free special spell that all Rodent Beggars start off with is Call the Rat. The character calls out for a rat and within a few minutes one will appear if its possible to do so (for example if the character is sealed in a room with no possible entrance routes then the rat will not appear). The spell can be cast outside of the spell-per-day list.

Summon the Rat

This spell will do the same as Call the Rat but never fail. Upon casting, the Rodent Beggar's stomach will split open and a rat will spill out of the gut as the wound seals back up behind it.

Sight of the Rat

Upon learning this spell the Rodent Beggar cuts the eye from a dead rat, cuts open their own eye and inserts the rat's eye inside. They then stitch their eyelid shut with whatever they have to hand. From then whenever the Rodent Beggar wishes to use Sight of the Rat they call a rat, unstitch their eye, carve a piece of their own eye (which by this point has become a swollen lump of hard matter) out and feed it to the rat. The rat will then perform a reconnaissance of sorts in the area, reporting back its findings.

The player rolls Save Vs Paralyse. A success allows the player to roll a Search, Architecture, or Bushcraft with a bonus equivalent to their level on top of the base 1 in 6 chance. The player can choose to split the bonus points across multiple rolls; a level 3 character making the roll might choose to add one point to a Search roll and the remainder to an Architecture roll.

A failure inflicts 1d4 damage to the character, reflecting that they manage to hurt themselves during their action. They can still roll with the bonus as if they had been successful however.

A Rodent's Paw

The Rodent Beggar rips off a fingernail and allows a rat to gnaw and chew on the exposed flesh for a minute before the rat takes the nail and runs off. The Rodent Beggar can now press his ruined finger into a lock and have a good feel around, gaining a greater understanding of how to open it.

The player rolls Save Vs Paralyse. A success means the character can now add a bonus equivalent of their level to a Tinker roll. A failure inflicts d4 damage to the character, reflecting that they manage to hurt themselves during their action. They can still roll with the bonus as if they had been successful however.
As for the chewed finger, the nail will grow back in 1d4 days but all gnarled and crooked. There is the chance that a Rodent Beggar could use up all their nails before they've grown back!

A Dirty Feast

When hunger strikes a Rodent Beggar it's not such a big deal, as long as the Rodent Beggar likes fresh rat. The Rodent Beggar asks a rat if it agrees to be eaten and it will lay down in front of the Rodent Beggar and not struggle. The Rodent Beggar then devours the rat (live or dead, though typically its less messy if the rat is killed before hand), though in respect to the rat the Rodent Beggar will often make use of the remains in a fitting way; a bracelet made from rat tails, the teeth pressed into a club as makeshift spikes, the fur turned into gloves or similar - these are all perfectly common items to find on a seasoned Rodent Beggar due to such an act.

The act requires the player to roll Save vs Poison. A success means the character will be satisfied for 24 hours as if they had just eaten a large meal with no ill effects. A failure however will still feed the Rodent Beggar but any character who comes into close contact with the Rodent Beggar over the next d6 hours will need to make a Save Vs Poison roll. If they fail, they will pick up the disease that the Rodent Beggar is carrying. To determine what disease is being carried, the Rodent Beggar rolls on the table below.

1. Rodent Runs. The victim gets plagued with a severe case of diarrhoea. For 1d6 hours the victim suffers a -1 penalty to skill rolls and for that day will require twice the usual amount of water. The character will be making frequent stops to the privy at any rate!
2. Red Paws. The victim develops hideous boils and rashes across the face around the nose, mouth, and eyes. This causes a -4 to Charisma for 1d12 hours to reflect people being repulsed by the visible condition.
3. Fever. The victim falls into a fever for 1d4 hours. Their attack bonus takes a -4 penalty, skill rolls suffer a -2 penalty. The character will alternate between shivering uncontrollably to drowning in sweat, unable to focus on any given tasks without severe concentration.
4. Grey Plague. The infected's skin turns grey and ashen over the next 24 hours before a final Save vs Poison roll is made. A success means the character can shake off the Grey Plague, a failure means death.

The Rat Symposium

The Rodent Beggar can call out to more than one rat, gathering every rat within the area. The rats will ignore other characters in the area, sitting on them if space is lacking, and pay close attention to the Rodent Beggar. The character can ask one question of the rats and they will try to answer as best as they can.

The player rolls Save vs Breath. This is to see if the rats understand the question. A success will give a good answer though if the player rolls a really good success (such as 5 or more of their target) then the answer can be a bit more informative. A failure means the rats either don't understand the question, breaking down into a noise of squeaks and chittering, or they misunderstand and advise the character or something completely different.

The Bite

The Rodent Beggar dislikes getting into a fight - too much chance of death! If they're cornered though they become vicious and are less than defenceless. The Rodent Beggar can rip out one of their own teeth and ram this deep into an opponent. At this point, rats from all around will swarm the target, attacking with ferocity and disregard for their own safety.

The player needs to make two rolls; one Save vs Paralyse to see if they can rip out their own tooth without too much harm to themselves and the second to beat the enemy's AC. A success on both accounts will cause a horde of rats to spill out from all around the area (even if the location is sealed, they will seemingly pop up between cracks in the floor, or from behind statues and so on) and attack the target, causing the level of the character x d6 damage.

A failure on the Save roll will require the player to roll on the table below. A failure on the AC roll is of course, sadly, a miss however the player can attempt to use the removed tooth once more on the next round, only having to roll to hit this time.
Teeth will grow back in 1d4 days but when they do they will resemble sharp yellowed rodent teeth to give the Rodent Beggar the Black Plague London look.

Dance of the Vermin

The Rodent Beggar cuts a strip of their own flesh off, about 10cm long, from somewhere on their body and wraps the strip around a rat. The Rodent Beggar will now be able to move and dodge quicker, borrowing from the rat's inherent speed and agility.

The player rolls Save Vs Paralyse. A success boosts the character's AC by 8 (this on top of the character's base AC and does not stack with any armour bonus) for a number of turns equal to the character's level.

A failure causes the player to roll on the following table:

1. The strip isn't tied on correctly, causing the character to only receive a +4 boost to their AC.
2. They cut too deep, causing 1d4 damage to themselves.
3. They cut way too deep, causing 1d6 damage to themselves.
4. The character spasms, delirium taking over the mind for one round.

If the Dance of the Vermin is performed during combat, it takes two uninterrupted rounds to prepare before the process can complete. If the character is interrupted, roll on the previous failure table.

Levelling up after Level 5

When the character reaches level 5, they need to perform a ritual to decide their continued existence. They need to lie in an open space, preferably in darkness or as close as, and summon the rats. Rats will swarm over the characters prone form, nibbling and gnawing at their body. If the rats deem the character worthy to continue in life, they will eventually dissipate. If they feel the character is no longer of use to the rat community they will devour the character (and the character will allow this).

If the character survives they'll find their body scarred and weak from the process, so a Rodent Beggar will look dreadful by the time they hit something like level 10. With each level up beyond 5 the character loses a point in Charisma.

The roll is a Save Vs Poison, with failure equating death.

Photos used from Pixabay.