Wererat

The wererat, as represented in the supplied sources, is a product of modern tabletop role‑playing game bestiaries and hobby material rather than a recorded premodern folktale. It appears as a recurring monster entry in Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder stat blocks and encyclopedic entries (Wikidata, 5e SRD, PathfinderWiki), has been used in adventure conversions (e.g., Cairn conversion of Rot King’s Sanctum), and is represented in hobby media such as miniatures and photography. The sources do not provide an etymological history beyond the conventional gaming compound using the ‘‘were‑’’ prefix plus the animal name, nor do they trace the creature to a specific traditional mythic origin.

Game materials consistently describe three forms: a humanoid (human) true form, a rat‑humanoid hybrid form, and an animal form (typically a giant rat). Stat block entries and hybrid‑form pages distinguish these forms for mechanical play; hobby archives and miniature remasters show visual depictions used by players and collectors but the textual sources emphasize the three‑form scheme rather than a single canonical sculpt or illustration.

In the cited role‑playing materials the wererat is a shapechanger: it can use an action to polymorph between humanoid, hybrid, and giant rat forms. Stat blocks (5e SRD, Pathfinder entries) give combat statistics (AC, hit points, speeds, skills) used for encounters. Typical special traits include immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered (as quoted in discussions of the 5e trait), the potential to transmit lycanthropy via bite (noted in an adventure conversion), and, in at least one module conversion, the ability to summon a rat swarm once per day (rats arriving after 1d4 rounds). Exact values and additional abilities vary by system and publication.