Every Friday, I’ll be sharing a new homebrew dragon. These dragons will be inspired by real world animals with the premise that each one is a real animal that has lived an incredibly long time. You can find the statblocks on GM Binder.
10 Facts About Dragon Bats
- Draconic Ascension: Bats achieve dragonhood by surviving 1,000 winter solstices. Dragon bats are massive compared to their original bestial forms. Their fur turns a blue-black to match the night sky, and light cast from below when it flies causes spots on its coat to shimmer like stars.
- Close Colonies: Dragon bats still reside with their bat colonies, even after ascension. A dragon bat’s den may be home to dozens of giant bats and hundreds of their smaller relatives.
- Nocturnal Navigators: Dragon bats are typically nocturnal, leaving caves deep within the mountains to hunt over miles of field and forest before dawn. Those that dwell in the underdark have less defined schedules.
- Insect Eaters: Dragon bats prey on all manner of insects, especially insects of unusual size. Dragon bats have been known to carry off thri-kreen and even to attack remorhaz nests.
- Undead Enmity: Dragon bats may come into conflict with vampires. They do not readily bow to the will of such creatures, and their colonies will not respond to a vampire’s call.
- Alien Alliances: Strangely, dragon bats make fast friends with fey. A dragon bat’s lair may hold an entrance to the Feywild, and lesser fey disguised as bats or other small creatures may dwell with the dragon bat, exchanging small errands for its protection on the Material Plane.
- Instrumental Inventory: A dragon bat’s hoard typically features numerous musical instruments and other objects that make sounds that please the dragon bat. Dragon bats adore music and will learn to manipulate objects in their treasure room to the best of their ability. Musicians with a knack for negotiation can make fast friends of a dragon bat so long as they’re willing to put their talents on display regularly.
- Easygoing Echolocators: Dragon bats are perhaps the least temperamental of all draconic creatures. They use their powerful hearing to avoid unfriendly critters whenever possible but will gladly lurk outside an inn to hear a bard play if locals don’t respond to them with hostility. They will also gladly share territory with others of their kind so long as food proves plentiful.
- Gold Guano: Dragon bat guano is prized by alchemists and legendary among farmers. To an alchemist, it has many uses, but to a farmer, it is among the most potent fertilizers in the world.
- Batty Beliefs: Dragon bats are not universally loved by their neighbors. When giant insects aren’t readily available, they prey on livestock, and many people believe they’re vampiric. They’ve also been rumored to carry plagues. Ill fortune and the machinations of powerful creatures like hags or vampires are often wrongly attributed to dragon bats.
Shimmershade
Dragon Bat
- Age: 1,000 years
- Bio: Shimmershade has only recently gained his dragonhood, but he was quickly discovered by fey exploring a portal within his cave who were eager to befriend him and expand his hoard. He and his fey retainers travel to villages by night where they are greeted with food and music in exchange for their mercy and protection.
- Alternative Characterization: Shimmershade understands very little of his current predicament. He was lured into his current lair centuries ago by an archfey with a long and complicated plan in mind and has been tended by that archfey’s servants ever since.
- Lair: Shimmershade lives in a crystalline cavern deep in a forested valley.
- Hoard: A bone amulet given to him by the fey (Amulet of the Dragon Bat), an instrument of the bard (canaith mandolin), 200,000 gp in coins, an array of silks and other linens with a total value of 2,500 gp, and a collection of gems and jewelry with a total value of 2,500 gp.
Amulet of the Dragon Bat
Wondrous item, very rare (requires attunement)
This amulet is made from one of the inner ear bones of a dragon bat. While wearing it you gain the following benefits:
- Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
- You gain proficiency in acrobatics.
- You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.
- You gain blindsense out to 60 ft. so long as you are not deafened.
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