What A Cute Rodent
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Climate/Terrain | Any |
| Frequency | Rare |
| Organization | Solitaire or Pack |
| Activity Cycle | Any |
| Diet | Herbivores |
| Intelligence | Animal (1) |
| Treasure | Nil |
| Alignment | Neutral |
| No. Appearing | 1-20 |
| Armor Class | 7 |
| Movement | 15 |
| Hit Dice | 1/4 |
| THAC0 | 20 |
| No. of Attacks | 1 |
| Damage/Attack | 1/2 |
| Special Attacks | Nil |
| Special Defenses | Nil |
| Magic Resistance | Nil |
| Size | T (5' long) |
| Morale | Unreliable (2-4) |
| XP Value | 5 |
Description
What a Cute Rodent
Golden Spirit Hamster
The Golden Spirit Hamster is a small rodent with short legs and a small bobtail, characteristics of an animal that spends most of its active life underground; however it is not strictly subterranean. The Golden Spirit Hamster has a brown to gold color is about 5 inches long and weighs about 1/4 pounds.
Combat
Golden Spirit Hamsters normally flee from anything bigger then themselves. Trapped Golden Spirit Hamsters will bite to survive and hopefully flee.
Habitat/Society
The main concern to a Golden Spirit Hamster is food. The Golden Spirit Hamster thrives on a diet of green vegetables and various grains. They cram their food into cheek pouches and later store it in their dens.
Interestingly enough, the Golden Spirit Hamster's great love is alcohol even in preference to water. In fact, "spirit" in its name refers to the hamster's great love for alcohol and not to any religious or undead connection.
The Golden Spirit Hamster has the unique characteristic of having a huge capacity for alcohol being able to drink its body weight in alcohol per day (although it expends about the same amount as well). Furthermore, the Golden Spirit Hamster has an immunity to alcohol which has no dire consequences (i.e. intoxication, hang-overs, alcoholism) on the hamster as it does to other mammals.
The hair of the hamster becomes more beautiful as he consumes alcohol turning from brown to a deep golden color. The hair becomes more golden, more fluffy, and more silky. In fact, a well "feed" hamster's pelt can fetch a few platinum pieces.
Another side-effect to drinking alcohol causes the Golden Spirit Hamster to purr. The purr is very soothing, relaxing, calming, and hypnotic. A person becomes very peaceful and stress free. A person's morale is modified by +5.
The Golden Spirit Hamster's love of alcohol can make it quite a pest especially to those that store large quantities of alcohol. Wood is no barrier to the hamster and he will gnaw his way through wood to get to alcohol. With their high and quick reproduction (see Ecology), the hamster's can infest an area and become quite the pests destroying barrels and barrels of alcohol. There are few things worse then finding beautiful, golden, purring hamsters at the bottom of a empty tun (250 gallon capacity) of wine.
On the other hand, the Golden Spirit Hamster is a popular pet because it is clean and relatively odorless, easy to take care of, and safe to handle. Many tavern patrons have enjoyed buying a beer or glass of wine for the Golden Spirit Hamsters caged at the bar.
Golden Spirit Hamsters must be kept in non-wood cages, preferably with solid bottoms, or they will gnaw their way out. The floor of the cage should be covered with sawdust, wood shavings, and/or straw.
In nature, the Golden Spirit Hamster makes its home in underground den where it is safe from attack by predatory birds such as hawks and owls.
During cold times like the winter months, the Golden Spirit Hamster can reach a semi-dormant state but does not go into complete hibernation.
Ecology
A female can have four to five litters of six to eighteen young each year after a short gestation period of six weeks. The life-span of the animals rarely exceeds three years.
Natural enemies to the Golden Spirit Hamsters are birds of prey, felines, and larger carnivorous rodents.