Fink

Appearance:

Finks are extraordinarily large rats, in the vicinity of two to three feet tall and up to thirty pounds in weight. Unlike normal rats, they are semi-bipedal, and while they are not weapon users, they can steal with proficiency, and they are tool users. The worst part of a fink is their oversized mouth. A fink can deliver a punishing bite attack, and they are voracious eaters of almost anything they can kill, scavenge, or steal.

Sub-types:

Feral Finks were once the livestock/pets of goblins who have escaped the warrens. They are similar to the normal fink, but they tend to be more robust (more HP) and some have learned abilities from training by goblins. Feral finks can track foes, know what to steal, and can sometimes use disarming or disabling attacks, from their training as ratlings.

Sewer Finks are noticeable for their green pelts and their poisonous bites. They do not have venom, but their mouths are so filthy that bites commonly cause sewer fever, rat-bite fever, a straight up blood infection, or gangrene.

Great Finks are thankfully rare. They typically have twice the HP of a regular fink, better combat skills, and an almost leadership role in fink packs. What sets a great fink apart is that they have the ability to summon more finks into a fight. They can automatically summon regular finks almost indefinitely. Feral finks can be called three times within a single encounter, and sewer finks can be summoned once.

Fink Lord - these creatures are twice the size of most other finks, and can be a serious problem. They can organize and communicate in a chittering language, allowing for the gathering of fink hosts, planning ambushes, digging traps and pits, and otherwise making a menace of themselves. The real danger of the Fink Lord is the presence of one of the noble rats being that they are harbingers of greater Fink foes. Fink Lords can use tools, pick locks, and summon Great Finks, allowing for chain summoning to occur if they are found and threatened.

Fink Shamen are a symptom of something gone horribly wrong. These great rats can do more than summon other finks, they can summon Kochra (infernal cockroaches) ratling swarms, and quench fire. More than one band of heroes have fled an infested sewer or dungeon when a fink hiss is followed by their torches guttering out and the sound of scuttling finks fills their ears.

Fink Kings are blessedly rare and are similar to Fink Lords, but three times the HP of a regular Fink, they can summon and command regular finks with ease. What makes them different is that when a king is slain, it splits into twice as many Fink Lords, and these lords if slain split into twice as many Great Finks, which again split into twice as many regular Finks. Should even one survive, the Fink King can reform in a relatively short time.

Finkzilla, or Finkasque is the pinnacle of Fink biology and is a bipedal Fink the size of a human with a bite radius large enough to remove a head or cripple a limb permanently. In a one-on-one confrontation, a typical low-level hero is rat food for a Finkzilla. Any mundane damage that reduces the Finl's health doesn't inflict damage, it causes each point of damage to be shed by the creature, and each point becomes a shed mundane Fink, ready to scrap and fight with the heroes. A starter band can be wiped out by dealing too much regular damage to a finkzilla and being shredded by dozens of Finks, going for ankles, wrists, and throats. The best way to deal with one is area effect damage like burning oil flasks, magic weapons, or magic spells.

Usage:

Clearing sewers of rats, and fighting rats is such a Level 1 player trope that its silly. Finks represent 'goblin rats', something more fearsome and dangerous than a scavenger the size of a potato.