Bat
B bat 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 2 |
| Attacks |
Bite 1d4 |
| Base level | 0 |
| Base experience | 6 |
| Speed | 22 |
| Base AC | 8 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 20 |
| Nutritional value | 20 |
| Size | Tiny |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
A bat:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1120 |
A bat, B, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is the weakest monster of the bat or bird monster class, and is capable of flight.
Bats will flit erratically about the dungeon, even when hostile towards you: there is a 1⁄3 chance of the monster moving in a random direction, rather than approaching you.[1] Polymorphing into a bat will leave you intrinsically stunned for the duration of the form.[2]
Eating a bat's corpse or tin will stun you for up to 30 (more) turns.[3]
Generation
Bats can generate in small groups, and may sometimes generate as peaceful towards neutral characters. A bat can grow up into a giant bat.
Bats generated in Gehennom have slightly higher speed than normal, possibly a play on the phrase "like a bat [on its way] out of hell".[4]
Strategy
Bats are not especially tough, but their very high speed can make hostile bats an annoyance, particularly in groups. Fleeing from bats is somewhat easier due to their erratic movement; if you stay in melee range, they will often also stay in melee range, making them easier targets as well.
History
The bat is present in Hack121, a variant of Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial bestiary of Hack 1.0. In these early versions, eating a bat corpse caused confusion, as the stun property was not yet implemented.
Variants
In the biodiversity patch, polymorphing into a bat simulates the use of echolocation by real-life bats.
Encyclopedia entry
A bat, flitting in the darkness outside, took the wrong turn
as it made its nightly rounds and came in through the window
which had been left healthfully open. It then proceeded to
circle the room in the aimless fat-headed fashion habitual
with bats, who are notoriously among the less intellectually
gifted of God's creatures. Show me a bat, says the old
proverb, and I will show you something that ought to be in
some kind of a home.
[ A Pelican at Blandings, by P. G. Wodehouse ]
