Ratcatcher as a D&D Character (The Suicide Squad D&D Party Part 3)

Spoiler Warning: This article discusses characters from the movie The Suicide Squad (2021).

The first section of this article outlines the series of articles that present characters from the movie The Suicide Squad (2021) as D&D character builds. If you have read this part in a previous article, skip ahead to the build here.

Building popular fiction characters in D&D

Movies are great inspiration for our Dungeons & Dragons games. We can steal plots, scenes, villains, items and characters directly from our favorite movies. The movie The Suicide Squad (2021) has a cast of anti-heroes that are great fodder for creative D&D character builds. So let’s see how we can go about building the whole party. The characters we are going to try to emulate are:

Bloodsport – a sharpshooter in a suit of hi-tech body armor
Harley Quinn – a chaotic assassin in a court jester outfit
Ratcatcher – an orphan with a special affinity to rats
Nanaue – a shark who will eat anyone except for his friends
Polka-Dot Man – a man infected with a interdimensional virus by his mother
Peacemaker – a ruthless marksman

The goal in making these characters in D&D is to create a D&D player’s rendition of each character. We will not be able to capture each unique feature of the fictional characters in the mechanics of D&D. But, not everything needs a mechanic. We will try to create mechanically effective characters that are designed to evoke the feeling of the characters of The Suicide Squad in play. As we will see, this is easier for some characters than it is for others.

All of the following characters are designed to reach level 17. The core abilities that define them come online much earlier though. All of them use the optional class features and the customize your Origin rules from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.

Ratcatcher: Custom Lineage Druid 16 / Cleric 1

Concept

Ratcatcher is an orphan whose father taught her to forge a special bond with rats. Ever since, Ratcatcher uses her little friends to overwhelm her enemies.

Level 1: Custom Lineage Druid 1

We choose Custom Lineage as Ratcatcher’s race. She is essentially human, but her special training early in childhood has altered her biology slightly. Ratcatcher has adapted to the darkness in which the rats dwell, giving her darkvision. She also has built up unusual physical resilience, represented in the Resilient (Constitution) feat we choose at level 1.

Our starting Ability Scores for Ratcatcher are 16 Wisdom (+2 from Custom Lineage), 16 Constitution (+1 from our feat), and 14 Dexterity.

For our background, Urchin seems like a natural fit. Ratcatcher grew up on the streets and in the sewers where she met her vermin friends.

The speak with animals spell seems essential for Ratcatcher at level one. At least until we get our Speech of the Woods feature at level 2. In combat, however, we will mostly be relying on shillelagh at this level.

Level 2-3: Druid 3 (Circle of the Shepherd)

At level three, Ratcatcher gains access to her first rat. We can cast the 2nd-level spell summon beast. The beast comes with a generic stat block. We can flavor this companion as a rat, or even a small swarm of rats. Mechanically it functions as the spell reads, but we can talk to our dungeon master to have the singular beast appear as a swarm of rats.

With our Spirit Totem feature from the Circle of Shepherd’s subclass, we can create a Bear Spirit which grants us and our allies temporary hit points. Remember the little flashlight Ratcatcher uses to control the rats? What if our Bear Spirit appeared in the form of this little contraption, which Ratcatcher uses to embolden her companions?

Level 4-6: Druid 6

It takes five levels for this build to really come online. At level 4, we pick up the Warcaster feat for advantage on our Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration on our summoning spells. This is pivotal because with third level druid spells, we gain access to conjure animals. This spell lets us summon eight beasts of challenge rating 1/4 or lower. A giant rat is only CR 1/8 while a regular rat is CR 0. To stay as effective in combat as Ratcatcher appears, we might want to talk to our dungeon master again. Specifically, ask about re-flavoring a CR 1/4 creature like the wolf as a dire rat or a swarm of rats. Again, the mechanics stay those of the wolf stat block, but the appearance is more tailored to our vision of Ratcatcher, the Vermin Mistress.

To not slow down combat too much, we should come up with a manageable solution for our summoning spells in combat. We can talk to our dungeon master, and discuss potentially using the rules for Mob Attacks for our rat allies. Alternatively, we could pre-roll attacks for our summons during other players’ turns. That way, we can quickly resolve our summoned creature’s actions when it is our turn.

At druid level 6, we gain the Mighty Summoner feature. This grants our summoned rats an extra 2 hit points per Hit Die they have and makes their attacks magical. This guarantees that Ratcatcher’s friends can stay relevant in combat.

Level 7: Cleric 1 (Peace Domain)

At this point, Ratcatcher is evolving from her role as a lone urchin into a force for good.

We take one level in cleric to gain access to the Peace Domain’s Emboldening Bond feature. We can use it to create a bond between us and the party, but Ratcatcher might also use it to empower her faithful vermin friends. Once per turn, creatures emboldened by the feature can add a d4 to an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw. This will help Ratcatcher keep her friends (adventurers or rats) alive and improve their effectiveness in combat.

Level 8-17: Druid 16

From here on out, our goal for Ratcatcher is to summon more and more rats to her side. With our spell slot progression, we eventually gain access to 9th level spell slots, even though we don’t have any 9th level spells. Conjure animals cast at 9th level, lets us summon 32 wolves, re-flavored as rats or swarms of rats. All of them benefit from Mighty Summoner, Bear Spirit (21 temporary hit points), and Guardian Spirit (healing them for 8 hit points at the end of their turn). That is a total of 128 extra hit points from Mighty Summoner, 672 temporary hit points from Bear Spirit, and potentially 256 hit points healed at the end of each turn. With the right description and narration, we can realize the fantasy of an unending stream of rats that surround and aid Ratcatcher in battle.

Our 14th level Circle of the Shepherd feature, Faithful Summons, also calls re-flavored rats to our side should Ratcatcher drop in a fight. When we are reduced to 0 HP or are incapacitated, four beasts of CR 2 or lower appear and protect Ratcatcher.

As for Ability Score Improvements, we are choosing the Lucky feat at druid level 8. At levels 12 and 16, we bump our Constitution score up to 20. This further decreases the likelihood of us dropping concentration on our summoning spells. At level 17, we have a +11 bonus to our Constitution saving throws, we make them with advantage to maintain concentration, and we can use Luck Points to re-roll any saves we fail. Ratcatcher should be able to consistently utilize her vermin allies in battle.

Ratcatcher: The Vermin Mistress

This D&D player’s rendition of Ratcatcher uses the excellent summoning spells and features of the Circle of Shepherd druid to overwhelm the enemy with her faithful rat friends. We make liberal use of re-skinning, to get access to the most effective summoned stat blocks while staying within the theme of the Vermin Mistress.