Ratatosk a humanoid race resembling giant squirrels, who inhabit Yggdrasil, the plane-spanning World Ash. They appear as 4-5 foot flying squirrels with a spark of intelligence in their eyes. They have furry membranes between their arms and legs they use to glide, and a flattened tail they use to steer themselves while in the air. Their black, grey, red, or brown fur is usually the only clothing they wear aside from harnesses for gear and protective helmets. Their language resembles chatters and chirps. Ratatosk may spend a proficiency slot to learn the language of birds, as well as the common tongue and any Ysgardian or Arborean language. They are very curious and often mischievous.

The ratatosk race inhabits Yggdrasil, and views her (ratatosk see Yggdrasil as female) in a spiritual light, and actually worship the World Ash. The playful ratatosk will fight to the death to protect her. They are very wary of fire, because of the destruction it can cause their wood home. Few ratatosk would ever dream of leaving Yggdrasil, but it does happen. Some have been ostracised and outcast by their brethren. Some become lost. And some are simply overwhelmed by curiosity and wanderlust, often latching onto an adventuring party as a new source of authority.

ABILITY ADJUSTMENTS: The agile ratatosk gain a +2 bonus to Dexterity, but suffer a -1 penalty to Strength and Intelligence.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Ratatosk have very sharp senses, and have a +1 bonus to their surprise checks. They have a base ground movement rate of 9. However, they have a climbing movement rate of 12, and a flying (actually, gliding) rate of 15 with a D manoeuvrability rating. They may not climb or fly while wearing armour of any sort, so most rely solely on their high dexterity or magical protection. Their sharp claws, normally used for climbing, do 1d4 damage per hit. Their favourite attack is a swoop, however. They must be able to dive from a height of at least 20 feet to make this attack, causing double damage on a successful hit. However, they must also save vs. breath weapon or take the same amount of damage as their target. Ratatosk are very agile, and can twist and turn in midair to dodge missiles. If a ratatosk in flight rolls under her level on a d20, she may avoid a missile attack that would have hit. This applies to magical attacks that require a "to hit" roll as well, such as Melf's acid arrow or minute meteors, but not attacks that have no attack roll, such as magic missile.

SPECIAL HINDRANCES: In spite of the fact that it isn't true, ratatosk are seen as giant rodents by most other sentient races. This gives them a -2 penalty on reaction rolls to all characters except those with an unusually open mind towards animals (such as rangers and druids). A ratatosk's health and well-being is tied into Yggdrasil or their other forest homes. Each day a ratatosk spends away from a forest, he must save vs. spell or suffer 2 hit points of damage. Returning to a forest will prevent these hit points from being lost, but only healing them normally or returning to Yggdrasil for a day will restore them. Ratatosk may be of any non-evil, non-lawful alignment (NG, CG, CN, or TN ).

CLASS OPTIONS: Ratatosk player characters may be fighters, druids, or rogues (including bards on rare occasions). They may also be multi-classed as fighter/thieves or druid/thieves. Ratatosk druids draw their power from Yggdrasil, and any plane touched by the World Ash is considered an adjacent plane.

ABILITY REQUIREMENTS (before ability adjustments are added or subtracted):

ABILITY ADJUSTMENTS