Giant bat
B giant bat 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 3 |
| Attacks |
Bite 1d6 |
| Base level | 2 |
| Base experience | 22 |
| Speed | 22 |
| Base AC | 7 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 30 |
| Nutritional value | 30 |
| Size | Small |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | stuns you when eaten |
|
A giant bat:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1127 |
A giant bat, B, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is slightly stronger than a standard bat, and like other bats and birds it is capable of flight. Giant bats have a tendency to wander, with a 1⁄3 chance of the monster moving in a random direction during each of its turns.[1]
A giant bat has a single bite attack.
Eating a giant bat corpse or tin will stun the hero for up to 30 (more) turns.[2] A hero polymorphed into a giant bat is stunned while they are in that form.[3]
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated giant bats are always generated hostile. A bat can grow up into a giant bat.
Giant bats appear among the random B that are part of the first quest monster class for Wizards and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Wizard quest.
Giant 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
The giant bat has the same high speed as a regular bat with a slightly stronger bite, making it more dangerous for starting heroes to deal with - an inopportune run-in with a giant bat can be lethal for heroes that are especially weak or else lack a weapon with reliable accuracy.
History
The giant bat first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, giant bats appear among the random B that are part of the first quest monster class for Necromancers and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Necromancer quest. This also applies to SlashTHEM.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, giant bats can grow up into battle-bats.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, two giant bats are generated within Gollum's Cave in Goblin Town at level creation.
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 ]
