Playable Rodent Race Mod

[abborre]

The idea I have is a mod that adds a playable race consisting of anthropomorphic rats to the game. It seems to me to be a neat idea with a lot of fun role-play possibilities, not necessarily a furry thing. It's something I'd like for myself, but it's not exactly a request, I don't expect anyone to sit down and make it just for me. This is mostly going to be me explaining what I'm thinking of and why I think it could be a good idea, on the off-chance that someone cares, I hope this idea could be compelling enough that others might like it as well.

 

 

The idea came from stumbling upon the Vulpine Race mod. I thought it was neat, but I think that making a similar kind of playable race mod based off of something like a rat would be a much more natural and immersive idea in the world of Fallout. Why? Well, for one, it's slightly more plausible that a rat would be bipedal, they can already stand on their hind legs and use their paws to hold things better than a fox could.

 

But more importantly, we associate rats with adaptability, scavenging, deformity, and mad experiments. This I think would make it easier to accept the idea of an anthropomorphic rat, without it seeming too outlandish.

 

From a lore-standpoint, the rats could be the result of implausible rapid evolution, boosted by radioactivity and ecological turmoil after the war. Or they could be the freaks of the pre-war labs or the mad Think Tank. Or the FEV could be involved somehow. It wouldn't be much crazier than the rest of the Wasteland.

 

I also think that such rats would fit in pretty well in with the themes of the Wasteland. We often project lowly human traits onto rats, so with that cultural perception it would be easy to accept them amongst the scavengers, cutthroats and chem-addicts of the Mojave.

 

Not to mention, I think there would be a certain poetry to the idea of there existing human-like rats in the post-apocalypse. Since rats have been looked down on as vermin beneath our civilization, it would be fitting if they were to become our equals, once that civilization fell. The elevation of the animal could be used to emphasize the downfall of man.

 

So that's why I think it could be a viable idea with some appeal not just for people who like anthropomorphic animals in general. I don't know if it would be possible to do, or how difficult it'd be, but if the Vulpine Race was possible, I guess this could be, I imagine it'd be done in a similar way.

 

If you've read this far, feel free to leave your thoughts, and I thank you for your time.

Edited March 4, 2017 by abborre

[abborre]

I personally think that a playable race of this kind could be a lot of fun for role-playing. You could play a lowly rat character who lives an unclean life in the slum or the sewers. Or you could be a rat assassin? A chemed-up warrior rat? Or maybe you're a nicer rat who has trouble being respected amongst humans? I think rats have enough cultural associations to them for it to add some extra flavor to your role-playing.

 

Regarding the design of the race, I think I'd personally be happy with it either way (not that I am necessarily the one who needs to be pleased by this), as long as it's halfway decent looking. Though, my preference would be for it not to look to cartoony, preferably it should look relatively animal-like, with the pointy face and all, although I don't really know what kind of difficulties or limitations the New Vegas face morph would cause there, so maybe one would have to settle for a smaller, more cartoony snout, like in the Vulpine Race mod.

There's also the issue of headwear. Note that personally, I wouldn't really mind too much if the head looked such that you couldn't wear most forms of headwear, I wasn't really planning on it anyway, and it seems like a reasonable price for getting an authentic-looking head.

 

I'd say the eyes should be reasonably forward-oriented and have a visible iris, to be more human-like. Though, I guess having the option for solid black eyes would be neat, if possible. In fact, it would be ideal if you could chose the color/textures of the eyes separately, so that you could make one(or both of the eyes blind if you wanted, or give it a heterochromic look.

 

They would have course need a tail as well, ideally an animated one.

 

Seeing as rat ears and tails are without much fur, I guess it could maybe be possible to make it so that changing character "skin" tone would modify the fur color, as the ears and tail could just have the normal pink color, without need to be tied to the fur color. Maybe the same could be done with their hands, if they are to be fur-less? I hope. I don't know too much about how this works to be honest.

 

I also have some ideas about what kind of special stats the race could have, if it is to play differently to humans. (not to come off as desperate, I often write down various ideas I have, I wrote all this earlier) I don't necessarily know how practically realistic all of these ideas would be.

 

Racial stats:

+1 permanent agility modifier. (counts above 10(if possible)) (basically so that a maximally agile rat is more agile than a maximally agile human)

+1 permanent perception modifier. (counts above 10)

+15 permanent sneak modifier. (counts above 100)

+10 permanent lockpick modifier. (counts above 100)

15% radiation resistance. (I don't know how realistic this would be, but we associate rats with unclean living, so this feels fitting)

Faster crouched movement.

More powerful chem effects and/or duration.

-1 permanent strength modifier.

-1 permanent endurance modifier.

-1 permanent charisma modifier.

-1 permanent intelligence modifier.

Increased addiction chance.

 

 

Racial traits:

 

Rodent kinship – You’re a rat, through and through, and you’re recognized as such. Other rodents will be friendly towards you, but coyotes will attack you on sight, and you take 5% more damage from predatory animals. It’s recommended that you don’t take this in combination with the “Animal Friend” perks, as that perk will make this trait obsolete.

 

Vermin – You're used to an unclean and lowly lifestyle. You gain 10% additional radiation resistance, 20% poison resistance, and 15% damage resistance against animals, insects, and abominations. But you lose 1 point of charisma, gain less health from stimpaks, and have your damage threshold lowered.

 

Rat Metabolism – Living fast is not a choice for you. You gain movement speed, but lose weapon accuracy. Additionally, in hardcore mode, you get hungry quicker, but sleeping reduces sleepiness faster, and stimpaks give health faster.

 

Quick Brain – Your mind is… let’s say elegantly simplistic. You absorb information quickly, but you don’t grasp things to the extent other can. You can spend more skill points per level-up, but none of your skills can be raised above 85.

 

Mistrusted – People don’t trust rats very much. Maybe there’s a reason for it. Your sneak and sneak attacks are slightly better, but you gain faction reputation slower, and lose it faster.

 

Claustrophile – Being out in the open makes you nervous. When inside, you gain +1 luck and perception, but the opposite is true outside. Additionally, being inside grants +15 to sneak, but being outside grants -1 to intelligence.

 

Coward - You tend to freak out when in danger, which isn't always a bad thing. Whenever you are bellow 60% health in combat, you do less damage and have reduced accuracy, but you gain movement speed.

 

Gutless - A smart rats knows to keep their head down. You get +1 to luck and perception when crouched AND undetected. You get -1 to luck and do reduced damage when detected.

 

 

Racial perks:

 

Though Rat – A though world produces tough men, and even tougher rats! Rodent debuff on strength and endurance removed.

 

Lab Rat – Rodent debuff on intelligence and addiction risk removed.

 

Rodent Charm – (cannot be take if “vermin” trait is taken) You’ve noticed that humans like you better if you draw attention to “cute” aspects of your rodent appearance. Rodent debuff on charisma is removed, and one additional point of charisma is added.

 

Rat Friends – Feral rats are non-hostile to you. Once a day, you can summon two large rats to aid you in combat by way of a respawning consumable item in your inventory. If you have the “Rodent Kinship” trait, all feral rats become your allies and will aid you in combat. It’s recommended that you don’t take this in combination with the “Animal Friend” perks, as that perk will make this one partially obsolete.

Edited March 12, 2017 by abborre

[YanL]

Since I read kraven's last hunt when I was a kid, I like ratmen.

 

 

I support the creation of this mod.

 

bonus: cool material for inspiration

 

http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1367245320l/11507129.jpg

Edited March 6, 2017 by YanL

[abborre]

I support the creation of this mod.

That gets me thinking, shouldn't there be some kind of option to endorse mod requests that you like? So that there can be a clearly visible number representing the people who liked the idea and thought it could work for each thread, instead of just number of views or responses, those don't really give good idea what kind of demand there is for the idea.

[devinpatterson]

I'v always thought playable mutant races were a missed opportunity in fallout. They could have been a lot of fun (something akin to gamma world). There was a whole questline of cut content re: raccoon mutants (not playable) that escaped a research facility and established a sanctuary village. I think it was slated for FO2. It had some interesting storylines. I made a post about it in this forum, long ago. It might have some decent background lore.

[BamboMooselini]

Yeah, it's unfortunate that they're a bit _too_ stuck on the 50s theme - namely, the old B-movie conceit of: "Radiation can turn humans into either gods or monsters. It only turns animals into monsters, though."

 

And the backstory for the S'Lanter was that they were being used in FEV experiments in the first place - researchers do tend to prefer using a variety of species, after all .. the most popular of which are rats and mice. Raccoons aren't a usual study animal, though I have seen some laments about research on their intelligence being next to non-existent. Though, IRL, we may want to start paying more attention to their capabilities and their evolutionary possibilities, as they increasingly move into human habitat, and learn new things. Both rats and raccoons are rather omnivorous, natively intelligent, and, probably most importantly, are pre-adapted to a technological survival path via the possession of grasping forepaws, like apes are. Hell, from what I understand, the city raccoons are learning how to socially organize, whereas their country cousins remain solitary; though their organization is, naturally, still simple - the biggest is the oldest, and everyone moves out of his/her way. But .. give them a few more generations, and a bit more pressure ...

 

While, yes, the '50s feel is important, I don't think that "humans R speshul" attitude is worth keeping.

Edited March 23, 2017 by BamboMooselini