Vampire bat
B vampire bat 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 7 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 5 |
| Base experience | 66 |
| Speed | 20 |
| Base AC | 6 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 30 |
| Nutritional value | 20 |
| Size | Small |
| Resistances | sleep resistance, poison resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A vampire bat:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1058 |
A vampire bat, B, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The vampire bat is an omnivorous flying animal that is the strongest type of bat, and possesses enhanced regeneration. Like other bats, vampire bats wander while moving, with a 1⁄3 chance of moving in a random direction during each of its turns.[1]
All vampires are capable of shifting into vampire bat form, retaining most of their base traits (e.g. being undead and weak to silver), and will resurrect into their base form if killed as bats. Vlad the Impaler will not shift to bat form while he has the Candelabrum of Invocation.[2]
A vampire bat has two bite attacks, with the second inflicting strength-draining poison, and it possesses poison resistance and sleep resistance.
A vampire bat corpse is poisonous to eat, and eating a vampire bat corpse or tin does not stun the hero as with other species of bat.
A hero polymorphed into a vampire bat is intrinsically stunned for the duration of the polyself.[3] A hero polymorphed into any form of vampire can turn into a vampire bat if they are polymorphed again or use the #monster extended command, and can decline to do so if they have polymorph control—as vampire bats lack a special ability, hero that shapeshift from vampires into bats this way cannot use the command to turn back at will.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Per commit a27ca52b, a hero polymorphed into a vampire that shifts into bat or fog cloud form can use #monster in those forms to shapeshift again.Contents
Generation
Randomly-generated vampire bats are always hostile. Three vampire bats are generated in the Valley of the Dead at level creation (outside of bones).
Vampire bats are the first quest monster for Wizards, and make up 96⁄175 of monsters randomly generated on the Wizard quest. Several vampire bats are also generated on floors below the home level of the quest branch at level creation: four are generated on the upper filler level, seven are generated on the locate level, two are generated on the lower filler level(s), and eight are generated on the goal level. Vampire bats also appear among the random B that are part of the first quest monster class for the Wizard quest and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated there.
Vampire 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
Vampire bats are generally weak, but their 20 speed and erratic movement make them hard to hit and deal with, and their bites can severely damage or even kill an early character lacking poison resistance. Once the property is obtained, they become little more than a relative nuisance.
Vampires disguised as vampire bats can be revealed by using any means of probing (e.g. a wand of probing or a stethoscope), or else attacking them with a silver weapon—though this form is weak and can be easily killed, the vampire will then resurrect in their base form with full HP. Careful tracking of their health can be exploited to avoid having to kill a vampire "twice": weaken them in bat form, allow them to return to base form of their own accord, then finish them off quickly. The vampire bat form is a nuisance for players looking to keep pet vampires, since a ring of protection from shape changers is required to prevent them from shifting into bats and dropping any worn armor and wielded weapons.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Per commit d0b11fd2, poison from monster attacks will not instantly kill the hero: severe poison instead deals an additional 6 + 4d6 damage, half of which is subtracted from the hero's maximum HP, and inflicts harsher lowering of attribute points.
Per commit 43d331c4, unicorn horns cannot restore drained attributes. Alternatives include restore ability or gain ability potions, the restore ability spell, or prayer.
Per commit 8d2407f1, monsters can gain intrinsics by eating corpses, and vampire monsters can thus gain intrinsics by consuming corpses while they are in vampire bat form.History
The vampire bat first appears in Hack 1.21, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and uses the b glyph. It makes its vanilla NetHack debut in NetHack 3.0.0, under its current glyph.
The ability of the vampire monster class to transform into vampire bats is introduced in NetHack 3.6.0.
Origin
Vampire bats are leaf-nosed bats that are members of the subfamily Desmodontinae, and are primarily found in Central and South America—three of these extant bat species feed solely on blood: the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), the hairy-legged vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata), and the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi).
Vampire bats are so named for the fact that their primary food source is the blood of other animals, a dietary trait called hematophagy—the saliva of these bats has anticoagulant properties, so the bite bleeds more and allows easier feeding. The name is also partly due to the portrayal of vampires in various cultures as being able to transform into bats in order to feed on the blood of humans, in turn giving vampire bats a reputation of being more dangerous to humans than they truly are; while vampire bats are a common carrier of rabies, the risk of exposure to the human population is lower than the risk to livestock, and the unique properties of vampire bat saliva have found some positive use in medicine.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, vampire bats are classified as vampiric monsters: they qualify as monsters of the same race for vampire heroes, and are weak to silver weapons.
Vampire 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.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, a potion of vampire blood quaffed by non-vampire heroes will polymorph them depending on beatitude: a cursed potion will turn them into a vampire bat. Neutral heroes incur a −3 alignment penalty, while lawful heroes and Monks take a −15 alignment penalty and anger their god. The polymorph is "semi-permanent" and will last until the hero's HP is reduced to 0.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, tame vampires will not shapeshift into bats or other forms—this makes them much more useful as pets, but makes it far more difficult to pass on intrinsics.
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.
