Like bats, they are nocturnal creatures who are seldom seen during the light of day.
All werebats are humanoid in form, and covered with a thick pelt of coarse fur ranging in color from grey to glossy black. Both the hands and feet have claws suitable for grasping and attacking prey. Fully extended, the wingspan of a werebat may exceed twenty feet in length.
Most werebats live in caves, deserted ruins, or dense woodland areas. As many as two dozen individuals may band together, including females and young. Unlike most lycanthropes, werebats are able to reproduce. During the day, they are inactive, and usually sleep hanging upside down, suspended by their clawed feet. At dusk, both males and females go out to hunt for food. Though werebats can subsist on fruit if need be, they are vampiric by nature and prefer warm-blooded prey.
Werebats are adept at flying and moving silently, and use this ability to sneak up on sleeping or incautious victims. As with vampire bats, the bite of a werebat has an anesthetizing effect, and so is practically painless; thus, werebats may drain the blood of sleeping victims without awakening them.
In combat, werebats generally do not use their vampiric bite, which is of little use against a struggling victim. Instead, these lycanthropes use their clawed hands (if fighting from the ground) or feet (if fighting while airborne). Werebats are not fond of fighting, especially against armed foes. They will almost never risk an attack unless they outnumber their opponents, and will flee any melee that seems to be going badly for them. If given the opportunity, werebats may seek to carry off individuals and bring them back to their lairs. Because they are not particularly strong flyers, it will usually take two or more werebats to carry a single, human-sized victim. Stories of werebats keeping captured victims alive for months in order to use them as replenishable food sources are told in some places, and may be true.
In addition to their other abilities, werebats possess a sonar-like guidance system which allows them to fly or move normally even in magical darkness. Werebats can use this ability to detect living individuals or creatures at ranges of up to 1000 feet, and to avoid obstacles of all sorts, including nets, ropes, and so forth. Because werebats rely almost exclusively on their sonar ability, they are unaffected by illusions of any type.
Height/Length: 6 ft.
Weight: 140-160 lbs.
Attributes: STR: 12-16 INT: 10-16 SPD: 15-19 DEX: 15-19 CON:12-14 CHA:4 PER: 19
Level: 2-6 +
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Damage: Bite: 1-4 ( + 1-4 blood drain per minute), Claws: 1-6 ( + STR) each
Special Attributes:
Flight
Move silently (90%)
Sonar: navigate in darkness of any kind, detect prey up to 1,000 ft., avoid obstacles
Immunity to illusion
Armor: As leather
Hit Points: 16-36
Comments:
Unlike other lycanthropes, Werebats are often encountered in groups (2-20 is the usual range).
