Bat or bird

The bat or bird is a monster class that appears in NetHack, and is represented by the uppercase B glyph (B). Bats and birds are designated internally by the macro S_BAT.

The class contains the following monsters:

• B bat
• B giant bat
• B raven
• B vampire bat

Common traits

Bats and birds are neutral animals that are typically hostile towards you with the exception of the standard bat, which may generate as peaceful if you are neutral. Tame bats and birds are capable of consuming meat.

Bats and birds are visible via infravision and capable of flying, and generally move erratically: there is a ¹⁄₃ chance of the monster moving in a random direction, rather than approaching you. Bats and birds generated in Gehennom have slightly higher speed than normal, possibly a play on the phrase "like a bat [on its way] out of hell".

History

The standard bat and vampire bat appears in Hack121, a variant of Jay Fenlason's Hack, where both use the b glyph; in PDP-11 Hack and Hack 1.0, it begins using the B glyph. The giant bat first appears in NetHack 3.0.0, while the raven first appears in NetHack 3.3.0.

Variants

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM introduces several new monsters to the bat or bird monster class:

• B rhumbat
• B athol
• B hellbat
• B mongbat
• B mobat
• B harpy
• B byakhee
• B nightgaunt

dNetHack

dNetHack adds several new monsters to the monster class:

• B parrot
• B crow
• B battle-bat
• B warbat
• B chiropteran
• B byakhee

The Dreprun stave can be carved into a wooden weapon to ward off bats and birds.