Bats!

Continued from Overview of the Dungeon

The DM: Lexent is assaulted by a flush of who knows how many bats that come flooding out of the darkness. There's no chance to see the room beyond; Lexent is attacked four times and the other bats burst into the rest of the room. Lexent, I hit you three times, taking 1, 1 and 2 damage.

The DM: Vafrandir, roll a d6 for initiative.

The DM: Those are three separate attacks, so none of them have enough to stun Lexent.

Vafrandir: 3

The DM: I have a 6. Two bats swing around Lexent's head; the rest of the swarm continues through Vafrandir, who gets attacked 5 times as they rush past him into the main room. I hit once with a 16, causing 2 damage. The other one that hits rolls — I don't believe this! — two criticals back to back, for triple damage, causing 3 total. This second attack ends in the bat sinking its teeth into Vafrandir's shoulder, through his robe and tunic, clutching.

The DM: I need to make a correction here, Vafrandir. According to the giant bat description, , the "clutch" only means that the bat will hang on and attack at +3 to hit each round after, until it is killed.

The DM: Both bats miss Lexent.

The DM: Cruelly, let’s wait to continue next time. The bats will be spread from Lexent in 0824 to 1524; you’re uncertain how many bats there are at this time. We’ll start with the party’s attack on Tuesday.

Vafrandir: A challenge behind each door! Until then, out.

The DM: Out. Hope you guys are well. See you Tuesday.

Vafrandir: What are my options for attacking this bat clutching me? I assume I can't swing my sword at it.

The DM: In. Been working on the rules. The bat page is linked a few lines up. I’ll repeat the important lines here:

Attacking a bat while being "clutched" gives a -2 to hit penalty to the defender. Others may attack the bat with weapons, all attack rolls of 2, 3 or 4 counts as damage done to the bat's victim. If the bat is stunned, it will cease to clutch and drop dazed to the ground. Up to eight bats can clutch a single medium-sized opponent.

So, essentially, you attack it normally, but you risk causing bad damage to yourself; the smaller the weapon you use here, the better, as you only need to stun the bat to have it drop off.