Hello zoologists of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 72nd episode of our beast series. Now this one is actually relatively important because this marks the first swarm we’ve ever covered heck yeah! A lot of people have been bringing them up in the comment sections, i think they’re pretty great now to highly recommend using swarms in your game. But that being said, let’s take actually a look at what a swarm is.
Before we dive into far into the stats though the swarm of bats is what we’re talking about in particular it is the cr one quarter creature and it is found in the basic rules. Now let’s take a look at the stats.
Swarm of Bats Stat Block 5E
- Type: Medium swarm of Tiny beasts, unaligned
- Armor Class: 12
- Hit Points: 22 (5d8)
- Speed: 0 ft., fly 30 ft.
So the swarm of bats 5e is considered to be a medium swarm of tiny beasts, that is unaligned. Hope that makes sense. AC of 12, 22 hit points coming in at five d8. Speed of 0 feet and a fly speed of 30 feet which makes sense because it’s a swarm of bats. Now let’s take a look at their actual stats though. You can also check out this swarm of rats 5e.
Stats
- STR: 5 (-3)
- DEX: 15 (+2)
- CON: 10 (+0)
- INT: 2 (-4)
- WIS: 12 (+1)
- CHA: 4 (-3)
- Damage Resistances: Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing.
- Condition Immunities: Charmed, Frightened, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Prone, Restrained, Stunned
- Senses: Blindsight 60 ft., Passive Perception 11
- Languages: —
- Challenge: 1/4 (50 XP)
You’ll notice are quite dexterous, quite wise and that’s really about it. Nothing else really worth writing home about. Under damage resistances you’ll see bludgeoning, piercing and slashing. And under condition immunities you’ll see charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, restrained and stunned which is quite a bit my goodness.
Under senses you’ll see blindsight of 60 feet, and the passive perception of 11. So something that i want to point out is all of this makes logical sense. Whether or not you want to homebrew it where if it’s like an AOE effect that it is affected then maybe that could make sense. But for the most part, i like this, i think it makes sense.
Other Traits
- Echolocation: The swarm can’t use its blindsight while deafened.
- Keen Hearing: The swarm has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.
- Swarm: The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny bat. The swarm can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.
Under other traits you’ll see echolocation can use its blindsight while deafened. The swarm also has access to keen hearing which gives it advantage on perception checks that rely on hearing and there is the swarm ability. Once again it doesn’t make logical sense, it’s pretty cool though. Don’t miss this giant bat 5e.
Actions
Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 0 ft., one creature in the swarm’s space. Hit: 5 (2d4) piercing damage, or 2 (1d4) piercing damage if the swarm has half of its hit points or fewer.
Very cool stuff! In terms of how i would use this particular creature, i’d probably use them as a trap or a way to guarantee that a party is of substantial level to progress forward. But it’s what i mean is imagine a whole corridor of just one swarm of bats after another and the party is forced to run through taking opportunity attacks or what-have-you from each of them. You can also pick your favorite swarm of bats dnd 5e spells from the list.
As kind of a way to gauge whether or not the party’s of adequate level to handle that dungeon. I think that’d be a pretty creative way of using them although i gotta admit they are pretty fun creature to use in general especially against early level players and all they can really dish out is a bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage. So i do think it is rather interesting.
Conclusion
That being said, let me know how you would use the swarm of bats dnd 5e familiar in your games down beneath in the comment section. Also be sure to mention if you have any thoughts, questions, comments or concerns as well. I hope you all have a great day and as always happy researching.