Bat

A bat mid-flight.

A **bat** is a tiny, winged, mammalian beast with a keen sense of hearing and blindsight (due to their echolocation). They are nocturnal hunters and tend to live in caves, both on the surface and deep underground, such as in the Underdark.

## **Traits**

Bats are tiny-sized, unaligned beasts with an armor class of 12 and one hit point. They possess a walking speed of five feet, a flying speed of thirty feet, and blindsight for sixty feet.

"Echolocation" is an ability possessed by bats that allows them to perceive their surroundings through sound; thus, they are not able to use their blindsight while deafened. As such, their second ability, "Keen Hearing", grants them advantage on Perception checks based on sound.

As far as attacks, bats have "Bite", a melee weapon attack with a reach of five feet that, on a hit, deals an average of one point of piercing damage.

## **History**

While exploring the Underdark, the adventuring party Vox Machina saw clusters of bats throughout the subterranean realm. At one point, after encountering a petrified statue of a mind flayer and deciding to do nothing with it as to not leave any trace of their presence, party member Vex'ahlia joked that it was covered in bat feces.

By 835 PD, the floors of Silver Falls Cavern, a cave in Wildemount, had accumulated a layer of dried bat guano. The gnome Nina Cinnarid extracted saltpeter from this to craft her explosives. That year, the resident bats fled when a group of kobolds took up permanent residence in the cave, with Cinnarid as their prisoner.

That year, in the Training Pool of Croaker Cave, another cavern in Wildemount, three Uttolot bandits used dead bats as training treats for their ice frogs. The training involved throwing the dead bats in the air and having the frogs leap into the air to catch them. The adjacent Bat Cavern — the floor of which was, like Silver Falls Cavern, covered in bat guano — contained a swarm of bats that slept among the cave's stalactites that would swarm and attack intruders that awoke them, but would retreat after considerable casualties.

In 836 PD, Jester and Caleb of the Mighty Nein *Polymorphed* themselves into bats, along with the druid Reani who used Wild Shape, in order to scout out the Tumblecarves' manor in Uthodurn.

## **Trivia**

Skysails, flying contraptions used by the Air Ashari, were noted to have wings similar in structure and appearance to those of a bat.

## **References**

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 See *D&D: Monster Manual*, 5th ed., p. 318.
2. ↑ See "Strange Bedfellows" (1x03) at 56:06.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2  Bat on D&D Beyond (backup link)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 See *Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting*, p. 45.
5. ↑ See *Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting*.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Dangerous Designs*
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 *Frozen Sick*
8. ↑ See "The Trick about Falling" (1x05) at 1:08:31.
9. ↑ See "Strange Bedfellows" (1x03) at 56:06.
10. ↑ See "Strange Bedfellows" (1x03) at 56:06.
11. ↑ See "The Trick about Falling" (1x05) at 1:08:31.
12. ↑ See "The Trick about Falling" (1x05) at 1:08:31.
13. ↑ See "The Throne Room" (1x07) at 1:07:39.
14. ↑ See "Refjorged" (2x76) at 1:25:24.

**Art:**

1. ↑  Bat on D&D Beyond (backup link). This file is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

## **External links**

* Bat on D&D Beyond (backup link)
* Bat on The *Forgotten Realms* Wiki (note) (backup link)
* Bat on Wikipedia (backup link)