| Climate/Terrain: | Any land |  |
| Frequency: | Rare | |
| Organization: | Flock | |
| Activity Cycle: | Any | |
| Diet: | Nil | |
| Intelligence: | Low (5-7) | |
| Treasure: | Nil (may be used as guardians) | |
| Alignment: | Neutral evil | |
| No. Appearing: | 2-8 | |
| Armor Class: | 7 | |
| Movement: | 3, Fl 18 (C) | |
| Hit Dice: | 4 | |
| THAC0: | 17 | |
| No. of Attacks: | 1 | |
| Damage/Attack: | 2-8 | |
| Special Attacks: | See below | |
| Special Defenses: | See below | |
| Magic Resistance: | Nil | |
| Size: | M (5'-6') | |
| Morale: | Special | |
| XP Value: | 975 |
Bonebats are undead bats that serve as messengers, guardians, and battle allies to evil priests and wizards and to powerful undead (such as liches, archliches, and vampires). They appear as skeletal giant bats with dark, empty eye sockets and attack in eerie silence, never emitting cries. Some (known as battiebats) possess strange skeletal appendages as described below.
Combat: Bonebats have a chilling bite that inflicts 2-8 hit points of damage to all creatures except other undead, who suffer only its 1-3 hit points of damage of physical effects. A bonebat's bite also paralyzes all creatures except elves for 3-8 (ld6+2) rounds, unless a successful save vs. paralyzation is made. Bonebats themselves are immune to all forms of paralysis.
Bonebats are turned as ghouls and always attack fearlessly, only withdrawing when brought to 3 hit points or less. They will, however, fight to their destruction if ordered to do so by their creator or undead master.
Bonebats have 120-foot infravision, and can see invisible creatures and objects within 60 feet. They never sleep and are never surprised.
Bonebats are immune to sleep, charm and hold spells and may be mentally controlled only by their creator or a powerful undead. Once one being controls a bonebat, no other being may ever control it-even if the controlling being is slain or absent. Typical commands are simple-attack (specified target), cease, come, stay, wait (place), and fetch (specified object)-but obedience is absolute.
Like skeletons, bonebats suffer normal damage from fire and blunt weapons, but only half damage from piercing or edged weapons. Holy water has no effect on bonebats.
Habitat/Society: Bonebats are most frequently encountered in the lairs of their masters-ruins, caverns, tombs, or evil temples. They prefer darkness, but light does not harm them. Bonebats may be encountered anywhere if their creator sends them forth or is slain. Requiring no food or water, bonebats are often shut into closets, coffins, or chests to serve as guardians, attacking thieves and other beings who open or enter their hiding place.
Bonebats can carry single objects of up to three pounds in weight that they can get a good grip on. They often fetch keys, wands, and the like for their masters. Bonebats cannot trigger magical items, but are sometimes fitted with wired-on protective devices to strengthen them as guardians.
Ecology: Bonebats are not thought to ever occur naturally, but the secrets of their making have been known in the Realms for a very long time, and many have gone feral. Bonebats slay living bats whenever they encounter them.
Bonebats seem to enjoy killing. Indeed, if uncontrolled, they will from time to time go on killing flights. During such flights, they will fight all creatures of their own size or smaller that they encounter until they have killed at least twice. Bonebats never fight other bonebats.
Bonebats are usually constructed by evil priests and wizards working together. An intact giant bat skeleton, or a skeleton assembled from the bones of several bats, is required. A spell known as Nulathoe's nine-men is cast on the skeleton. In the case of a bonebat, this spell links the skeletal wing bones with an invisible membrane offeree to allow flight. Fly, detect invisibility, infravision, and animate dead spells complete the process. Further spells may be necessary to train the bonebat to serve as an obedient aide, but the spells listed here must be cast within two rounds of each other, and in the order given, or the process will fail.
Battlebat
Battlebats are bonebats onto which other bones-usually claws, talons, stings, or spurs-have been grafted.
Battlebats are in all regards identical to bonebats except that they turn as wights, gain one additional Hit Die, are Armor Class 8, have two or three additional attacks (typically 1-4 hit points of damage from claw rakes or 2-5 hit points of damage from sting jabs, either of which may be temporarily tipped with poison by a battlebat's controller), and fly at only 15 (Class D). Their XP value is 1,400 each.