#mobat

(art by ShadeofShinon on DeviantArt)

And now it’s time to redo another one of the animal shaman archetypes for druids!

I still really like the animal shamans as an idea, but a lot of them are somewhat limited in their capacity to actually implement their abilities due to the lack of creatures on the summon monster list or unofficial lists of wild shape forms that match the right category.

While today’s subject certainly has that problem, I can appreciate what it is going or and the thematic elements of it, so without further ado, let’s talk about the bat shaman!

Bats are widely misunderstood creatures due to their mostly nocturnal nature, and have long cultural associations with death, darkness and evil, as well as being liminal beings on account of being flying mammals.

However, while many cultures associate bats with vampires, witchcraft or even death gods, many others view bats as bringers of fortune (particularly in China), and even associations with fertility and corn in the Zapotec civilization of Mesoamerica, which shows that even they realized the value of insectivorous bats in protecting their crops, as well as nectarivores that pollinate them.

Beyond folklore and superstition, bats are very social creatures that live in massive colonies together, flying out in droves, relying on their enhanced senses to traverse the night and find food, and are actually some of the most maneuverable creatures in the air.

I have to imagine, then, that druids that dedicate themselves to the bat totem, even those that play up their creature of the night status still understand the value of community and about recognizing the beauty and value of the poorly understood. They might serve as guardians of the night air from unnatural things on wings, or as priests of cultures that revere the animals as guardians of the harvest and the night.

Naturally, these shamans must either choose a bat (limiting them to dire bats in first-party products) or the Air or Animal domains, or the Darkness and Trickery subdomains by way of Night and Deception respectively.

Additionally, their wild empathy works best with bats.

They also gain the totemic transformation ability, able to gain sharp fangs, short-range echolocation, and with enough mastery, flight. Like other animal shamans, they can also speak to their chosen animal in this partially-transformed shape.

Like other animal shamans the bats they summon are tougher and can be modified to change the spell required. However, there is only one bat on the summon nature’s ally list (and none on the expanded lists granted by feats and other abilities). So, for context, this ability’s effective range is second level with a young dire bat, to fifth with a giant advanced dire bat (and a further plus two to seventh level if you summon multiple elephant-sized bats). That’s a decent range, but not a lot of variety. Still, such bats can make plenty of aerial attacks on foes, and fill the skies to create a lot of problems for foes that would use flight against you. Not the most damaging at later levels, but some good fodder.

They also gain wild shape at a later level, but boosted effectiveness when taking a bat form. But again, this is not extremely useful as the dire bat and different varieties of regular bat are the only forms available here. Useful for scouting and for aerial combat/fighting invisible foes, but not much else.

These druids also learn a handful of bonus techniques as well, namely those that improve reaction time, agility, and perception, as befitting those devoted to aerial creatures.

While fairly limited, the bat shaman offers some fun options nevertheless. Specializing in summoning flying creatures is pretty useful in combat situations, and having a flying battle form with greater potential is also useful especially when paired with feats like flyby attack. Also, consider taking summon guardian spirit with a celestial/fiendish/other bat as the base in order to get some more variety and an actual supernatural powerhouse added to your summons, and you can still spontaneously scale it up even if you improve it to require a higher level spell to cast later.

Sadly, even with their clear fascination with these misunderstood animals, the fact that these druids are so heavily associated with bats is going to get some negative reactions from people living in many civilizations. But how does your character react to this? Do they ignore the fear and go about their business? Seek to raise understanding? Downplay the connection in public? It’s some good food for thought there.

In the Twilight Coast, a land of endless night where the undead walk among the living in relative peace, bats have always been fashionable pets, not only for their association with the local vampires, but also for their connection to the mystical side of nature (and because they’re cuddly). More urbane bat shamans raise colonies of bats, occasionally selling a few to select owners they deem worthy, though their criteria of worth are often very strict.

The gargoyles of the metropolis of Golusia have taken to raising and breeding the bats that share their towers and belfries. Some of them become so in tune with the flying beasts that they can even commune with the cunning Golusian mobats, which can reach truly exceptional size, and come armed with more natural magic than their typical counterparts, flying alongside their stony shaman partners in terrible hunting packs.

What is the name of the Cybertronian in TF vs G.I. Joe who is responsible for Bruticus' torso, and the Cybertronian in the purple stealth bomber that transforms into a chestplate?

Dear Core Concealed,

I have two un-restored Mobats. My original and one I bought in a lot 20 years ago. Sadly, I only have one turret gun. Mobats are funny toys. You can buy a complete one for around $30 or you can buy a just the turret gun for around $30. 

I wasn’t going to spend $30 on only the gun and I really don’t need another Mobat so I decided to buy a 3D printed one for $6.95.

GI Joe Mobat Toy Tank 1982