Modified Kit, The Rat Hunter

"A rat-catcher is person who practices rat-catching, the occupation of catching rats as a form of pest control. In developed countries the role may be merged with, or the title inflated to, pest control operative or pest technician.
Keeping the rat population under control was practiced in Europe to prevent the spread of diseases to man, most notoriously the Black Plague, and to prevent damage to food supplies.
Anecdotal reports suggest that some rat-catchers in Europe would raise rats instead of catching them in order to increase their eventual payment from the town or city they were employed by. This, and the practice of rat-fights, could have led to rat-breeding and the adoption of the rat as a pet—the fancy rat... Rat-catchers would capture rats by hand, often with specially-bred vermin terriers, or with traps. Rats are rarely seen in the open, preferring to hide in holes, haystacks and dark locations... Rat-baiting is a blood sport which involves placing rats in a pit or other enclosed area and then betting on how long it takes a dog, usually a terrier, to kill them ...This was the pit for dog fights, cockfights, and rat killing. A hundred rats were put in it; large wagers went back and forth on whose dog could kill the most rats within a minute. The dogs worked in exemplary fashion, a grip, a toss, and it was all over for the rat. With especially skilful dogs, two dead rats flew through the air at the same time..."
   In some  bigger cities rat hunters do not get paid. Rather they catch rats and keep them for rat fights. 

Vermin Slayer / Rat Hunters

The Rat Hunter is a highly skilled specialist who enters the tunnel systems of monsters and kills rats. As some rats can be intelligent, giant and what not, this can be quite a dangerous job. As well they are also adept at negotiating the constricted passages created by giant rats, centipedes, and other pests and vermin if the passages are large enought.

They are used to fighting in confined spaces and are experts at hiding in shadows, where they wait to surprise their prey.

Rat Hunters use traps to catch his prey, and for the bigger Vermin actively hunt victims with small spears, light crossbows and hand axes or

hammers.

A Rat Hunter have minimum scores of 14 in Strength and Dexterity. If they fail to meet both they do not get the combat bonuses, but as long as they have 13 in either they gain the other benefits. Otherwise they only get the disadvantages. 

 

Role: They belong to their own guild, which sells their services to those who require them.

Many operate as freelancers, selling their skills to humans and other races who are experiencing problems with "vermin."

Skills: The hunter gives up its bonus class skill and gains 10 points in hunting. They must then spend 40 bonus points between the following skills (and have at least 4 of these skills at 3 points or more): Direction Sense, Sign Language (or a language slot), Pest Control, Night fighting (and then Blind-fighting,), Set Snares, Swimming and Know terrain (a city, town or village they hunted rats in.)

Weapon Proficiencies: Hunters must be proficient in the hand axe,hammer, or dagger or smaller weapon (including hand to hand.) Generally, Hunters should choose fast weapons that require little space.

Bonus Skills: , Tracking (30 points) & contingent on know terrain type (urban or farms) (50 points), Build Rat traps (30), Jack of all trades (50) pest lore (50 points.)

Distinctive Appearance: They are distinguished by their basic and tough clothing and by their habit of hanging the dried heads or skulls of their vermin victims about their waists. Thought some are more refined and avoid such habits.

Special Benefits: If a rat hunter is a thief they gain +5% bonus to their Find/Remove Traps, Detect Noise, and Move Silently skills. 

 

If not a thief  they gain a single +10% bonus to hear noise.

Because of their special training, Hunters receive a +1 bonus to attack and a +2 bonus to damage with one chosen hand weapon, when fighting small sized creatures. They receive a +1 initiative bonus anytime they are fighting in a restricted tunnel or passage (5 foot or less width.)

Special Hindrances: Rat hunters receive a -2 on die rolls any educated skill, like reading, writing, etiquette etc.

 

Generally rat hunters are considered SR:1 and thus unless being hired for vermin issues, can all the negatives of SR:1 despite their current wealth and status - and even among those near to their station they receive a -3. However, if their profession is not know, and they hide it they gain only a -1 penalty (do to lack of social graces.)

They are not trained to fight large creatures and in fact is against their training, so any creature as big as ogres or trolls or bigger they gain a -2 to hit and damage vs these bigger foes.

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Wealth Options: Standard.

Special Skills

Pest Control

This skill is used to areas free of pests like rats, carrion crawlers, kobolds, and other small creatures. Similar to the set snares proficiency, it is concerned with catching underground pests and does not use snares. Traps are set to trigger metal cages, drop nets, or iron doors that shut off individual tunnel sections. Spring traps orsmall deadfalls may be rigged (damage 1d6 maximum) using this proficiency. There is no -4

modifier when using pest control to trap larger creatures.

Only thief characters may use this proficiency to rig larger traps suitable for human or orc sized creatures. These traps may include spring knives, larger dead falls, and spiked springboards.

A character with this skill does not have the ability to make the items required for these devices, he can only set the traps and their triggers.

A skill check must be rolled when the trap is set. A failed skill check means that the trap will fail to operate. It may not have been set properly, was poorly concealed, or it was too small or too large for the creature to trigger. Setting a trap takes one hour and the character must have the proper equipment and materials with them. Characters with the animal lore or related skill gain a +2 bonus when attempting to set traps to

catch animal pests.

Sound Analysis -This is a hard skill, however rat catchers if they take it at start gain their level as a bonus. Dwarves who and Gnomes  take this as an average skill because of their biological make up. 

The skill for rat hunters is meant to listen at walls and such not for vermin. How ever it has many other benefits .This proficiency allows a character to gauge the size of underground areas by generating noise and analyzing the echoes that return. Using this skill, he can calculate distances up to one mile, and determine sound direction.To use sound analysis, the character must work in absolute silence. The sound created must have a sharp, staccato quality. A howl or wail is ineffective, but a clicking sound, or loud "hey"works well. The PC must make a proficiency check. If the check is successful, he has correctly analyzed the size of the area in question to within plus or minus 25% of its height, width, and length. If the check fails, the echo has become garbled in its reverberations. No further attempts by the PC to analyze that area will succeed, though others with the proficiency may try.

A proficiency check of 26 or more means the character has learned not only the size of the analyzed area, but other details as well: the number of branching side passages, whether there is a straight or wandering corridor, and whether or not water exists. The disadvantage of this ability is that, while it is useful for learning about a completely unknown area, it announces the characters to all creatures in hearing range. They will certainly be prepared, and may go looking for the intruders. However it can be used to draw rats out of their lairs with the combination of bait. 

 

The same check can be used to listen for hallow spaces in walls and the moment of creatures and number with a vermin lair.

As a bonus the character gains a +% bonus equal to the pips of a d20 they have in the skill to a a maximum of 20%.

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