Animal Lord, Bat King

Family: Animal Lords

Small fey (shapechanger), neutral

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 150 (20d6 + 80)
Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
16 (+3) 20 (+5) 19 (+4) 19 (+4) 17 (+3) 16 (+3)

Saving Throws Dexterity +10, Constitution +9, Wisdom +8, Charisma +8
Skills Acrobatics +15, Arcana +14, Deception +8, History +14, Nature +14, Perception +8, Stealth +15, Survival +8
Damage Resistances lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities poison, psychic, thunder
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, incapacitated, poisoned, stunned
Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 18
Languages all, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 13 (10,000 XP)

Special Traits

  • Bat Passivism. No bats or werebats can willingly attack the Bat King. They can be forced to do so through magical means.
  • Keen Hearing. The Bat King has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.
  • Legendary Resistance (3/day). If the Bat King fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.
  • Magic Resistance. The Bat King has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
  • Magic Weapons. The Bat King’s weapon attacks are magical.
  • Rejuvenation. If he dies, the Bat King’s soul reforms on the Astral Plane. In 1d6 days, it inhabits the body of another bat on the Material Plane which becomes the Bat King with all of the hp and abilities thereof. Only killing every bat on the Material Plane will prevent this trait from functioning.
  • Shapechanger. The Bat King can use his action to polymorph into a Medium dark-skinned, bearded human man of slight stature, into a Medium bat-humanoid hybrid, or back into his true Small bat form. His statistics, other than his size, are the same in each form with the exception that only the Bat King’s hybrid and bat forms retain his flying speed. Any equipment he is wearing or carrying transforms with him.
  • Speak to Bats. The Bat King can communicate with bats as if they shared a language.
  • Innate Spellcasting. The Bat King’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 16). He can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

Actions

  • Multiattack (Humanoid or Hybrid Form Only). The Bat King makes two melee attacks.
  • Blood Bite (Bat or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (5d6 + 5) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with werebat lycanthropy.
  • Oblivion’s Mace (Humanoid or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (4d4 + 5) bludgeoning damage.
  • Screech (Recharge 5-6). The Bat King lets loose an ear-shattering screech in a 20-foot cone. Each creature in that area that can hear the screech must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature takes 33 (6d10) thunder damage and is deafened for 1 minute. On a success, the creature takes half the thunder damage but isn’t deafened. This attack deals double damage to objects and structures.
  • Summon Bats (2/day). The Bat King magically calls 2d4 swarms of bats. In an urban environment, he can call 1 werebat instead. The called creatures arrive in 1d4 rounds, acting as allies of the Bat King and obeying his spoken commands. The creatures remain for 1 hour, until the Bat King dies, or until the Bat King dismisses them as a bonus action.

Legendary Actions

The Bat King can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The Bat King regains spent legendary action at the start of his turn.

  • At Will Spell. The Bat King casts one of his at will spells.
  • Detect. The Bat King makes a Wisdom (Perception) check.
  • Flight (Bat or Hybrid Form Only). The Bat King flies up to his flying speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

About

A dark-skinned man of smallstature wearing a voluminous gray robe squints about curiously, his upturned nose doing the expression no favors. With his thick, black hair and beard worn close-cropped, he looks to be some sort of monk or scholar.

The Bat King is the eternal enemy of the demon lord of bats. Their struggle takes place in forms and areas largely invisible to daylight-dwellers but is fierce nonetheless. While the demon lord of bats rules the underworld and fire, the Bat King’s followers are found in forests, jungles, and caverns closer to the surface. Some cults of the demon lord of bats seek to capture and corrupt the Bat King’s followers, turning ordinary animals into the skin bats and giant vampire bats found in service to various cults. The Bat King strives to keep his people free of their malign influences and seems to have an informal alliance with the Bear King and the bearfolk in the Shadow Realm and elsewhere.

Redeemer. The sworn foe of the demon lord of bats, the great corruptor of his children, the Bat King spends much of his time devising ways to dispatch the demon lord’s many servants. His time in human form is spent conducting research to that end. He does, however, make good use of his bat form when eavesdropping.

Hit and Run. Traveling from land to land, searching the libraries and vaults of the great cities for anything that will aid him in his task, the Bat King returns often to the cities nearest to the jungles of the world. On that border between civilization and savagery, he flits to and fro, striking and fleeing. He has been killed many times, but his enemies have never dispatched him permanently.

Secret Ally. The Bat King knows his limits and is always looking to form alliances of mutual interest against his foes. He rarely reveals his identity to allies for the safety of all involved but is otherwise straightforward in his dealings.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Creature Codex. © 2018 Open Design LLC; Authors Wolfgang Baur, Dan Dillon, Richard Green, James Haeck, Chris Harris, Jeremy Hochhalter, James Introcaso, Chris Lockey, Shawn Merwin, and Jon Sawatsky.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Creature Codex. © 2018 Open Design LLC; Authors Wolfgang Baur, Dan Dillon, Richard Green, James Haeck, Chris Harris, Jeremy Hochhalter, James Introcaso, Chris Lockey, Shawn Merwin, and Jon Sawatsky.

This is not the complete license attribution - see the full license for this page