Bat (giant)

Bat

Species	bat
No. Appearing	4–40
Behaviour	colony
Range	barrens, desert, jungle, rainforest, savanna, taiga, woodland
Size	9 ft. wing span
Weight	12 lbs.
Intelligence	0
Armour Class	3
Hit Dice	2
Action Points	4
Max. Stride	{{{stride}}}
THAC0	19
Hp/Die	d3
Attack Forms	bite
Damage	1–4
Special Attacks	clutch, initiative

These are ggressive, viperous creatures of unnatural size, with forearms supporting a large wingspan. When in flight, these creatures drift slowly through the air; they do not have the nimbleness of their smaller cousins. They attack by tucking their wings tight to their bodies, dropping from heights of 50 to 100 feet. This gives them a +3 initiative in attacking enemies on the ground.

A giant bat hitting an enemy on the ground will cause only a little damage. But it will clutch the victim's body, hooking its claws into clothing or leather. It will then attack again and again, batting its wings against attempts to get free of the creature. The creature must be stunned to drive it off, whereupon the bat will withdraw its claws and roll on the ground, taking flight thereafter and abandoning the fight.

Fighting a bat while being gripped by the creature is done at -2 to hit. Others may attack the bat with weapons, but an attack roll of 2, 3 or 4 counts as damage done to the bat's victim.

The bat's armor class accounts for the difficulty in hitting these creatures while in the air; this difficulty is also applied as the bat flaps its wings in their target's face, or the difficulty of hitting the bat while it is gripping an ally. If no concern is granted to the defender gripped by the bat, an attacker may receive a +3 to hit; but one third of the damage caused to the bat will also accrue to the hapless defender. Take note that bats only appear at night.

See Also,
Bestiary
Illumination