Bat

Close to 2,000 kinds of bat exist, with wingspans from under two inches to 15 feet or more: mouse-like bodies on wings of skin stretched over the forelimbs. Most see well but navigate darkness by echolocation.

Ordinary bats fight only when cornered. A startled swarm panics and blunders about: each bat has a 1% chance per round of snuffing a torch, casters need a Wisdom check to cast, combatants suffer -2 to THAC0, and everyone is hampered. In open air a bat's AC improves from 8 to 4.

They favor warm, humid lands, roosting upside down by day in caves, damp crevices or dark buildings, sometimes by the thousands, and feeding at night on fruit, insects, small animals or fish. Some hibernate or migrate. The rare vampire bat drinks mammal blood, seldom from people, and is no true vampire. Rot grubs and corpse creepers infest deep guano, whose stench alone forces a Constitution check to avoid passing out.

These carnivores have 3-foot bodies and 5- to 6-foot wingspans, live in dark caverns and rely on sonar. One in ten has 1 Hit Die. Missiles from anyone with Dexterity 13 or less face a +3 AC bonus against them. They must land on a victim to bite, for 1d2 (1d4 for the bigger kind), with a 1% chance per point of damage of rabies. After 1d4+6 days the victim has 10 days left, cannot eat or drink, and must pass a Wisdom check when provoked or attack until subdued or slain. Only cure disease, limited wish, wish, alter reality or the like saves him.

Mobats span 12 to 16 feet, need room to fly, bite warm-blooded prey to death and crave shiny objects with dim, evil cunning. Their silent speed gives victims -3 to surprise. Against resisting prey they screech in a 20-foot radius, and anyone failing a save vs. paralyzation covers his ears instead of fighting. They are AC 2 in open flight, 7 in crowded air, 10 grounded.

Crested, bearded, white-eyed bats with leathery skin of gray, mauve or emerald, azmyths squeak when angry and chuckle when amused. Solitary flower- and insect-eaters, they often befriend humanoids for life, and then their children; they may live over a century. They are not familiars. They have 60-foot telepathy and 90-foot infravision, know alignment three times a day, and once a day can become invisible (up to six rounds, ending on a hit) and cast silence 15' radius on themselves. They bite for 1 and tail-stab for 1d2, and twice daily add a shocking grasp of 1d8+6.

Named for the adventurer who first tamed one, night hunters hunt at night above ground and anytime below, preferring small game but raiding livestock, drow or humans when desperate. A bite (1d4), two wing-claw rakes (1d2 apiece) and a triangular razor tail that slashes for 1d6 or stabs for 3d4 make up their attack. They ambush from behind ridges, trees or stalactites with 120-foot infravision, but loon-like cries spoil most surprises. Lairs of 30 or more in double-mouthed caves or tall woods collect treasure dropped by prey. They are velvet-hued with violet, orange or red eyes.

Jet-black, headless-looking and shaped like manta rays, sinisters hover motionless by natural levitation but are not evil. They hunt at night with 160-foot infravision and eat carrion, flowers and seed pods. A 5-foot natural force field like a wall of force stops all missiles, including magic missile and acid arrow, though not spells or melee. Once a day they can cast hold monster, usually to escape. Silent, with 20-foot telepathy among themselves, they love music and may gather night after night around a bard's campfire, harming no one unless attacked. They roam in small groups and probably live long.