Cheiropteran
- Armor Class
- 4 [15] (8 [11])
- Hit Dice
- 4
- Attacks
- Weapon (1d6)
- Special
- echolocation, immune to vision magic/illusions, silence penalty; optional priests/acolytes
- Move
- 9
- HDE/XP
- 4/120
Description
Cheiropterans look like bugbears with the heads of great, misshapen bats. They are the bat-people of the deep under-dark. They are born with eyes, but their priests sacrificed their eyes to Camazotz shortly after birth, so almost all cheiropterans encountered will be blind, their empty eye sockets sewn shut. It can still "see" through echolocation as a bat does. It is typically armored with a chain mail shirt and wears hard, heavy boots.
80% of a given force will be armed with halberds, and the other 20% with longbows. In addition to the treasure shown, an individual cheiropteran will carry 1d100 triangular bone coins. These are religious tokens, of value only to cheiropterans. It will also carry a strip of chewed rawhide. This is an ancestor-strip, bearing the teeth-marks of the preceding generations, and may be ransomed back to the cheiropteran leaders for as much as 10 gp. Priests will carry a silver holy symbol of Camazotz which is worth 25 gp on the open market, or 100 gp in ransom to the leaders.
For every 10 cheiropterans, one will be a corporal (AC 4 [15], 5 HD, XP 360). For every 30, one will be a sergeant (AC 3 [16], 6 HD, XP 500). If there are 50 or more, one will be a captain (AC 2 [17], 7 HD, XP 670). There is a 50% chance that a priest will accompany a party of cheiropterans. A priest is a Level 4-7 (1d4+3) Cleric (AC 4 [15] to AC 2 [17], (Level)d6 HD, XP in line with level), with full spell-casting powers. If a priest is encountered there will also be 1-3 acolytes of level 1-3 (AC 4 [15], (Level)d6 HD, XP in line with level). Females are only encountered in their lair, and if they must fight they do so as gnolls; there will be females equal to 50% of the number of males. Where females are encountered there will be one whelp for every female. Whelps will typically flee but can fight as goblins if they must.
Cheiropterans are immune to any magic involving vision, including most illusions. Magical silence affects them as Light (Dark) (Dark only) would affect a sighted creature.
Wandering cheiropterans are sometimes (35%) found together with 3d6 chupacabras, which they train as hounds. A cheiropteran lair has a 90% chance of also containing 5d6 chupacabras.
Source note: This creature is converted from The Basic Fantasy Field Guide of Creatures Malevolent and Benign – Omnibus Edition, 1st Edition Release 4, © 2010–2025 Chris Gonnerman, R. Kevin Smoot, James Lemon, Matt Sluis, and Contributors. The Basic Fantasy Field Guide textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.