FREQUENCY: Very rare
FREQUENCY: Rare ([Astral Plane])
FREQUENCY: Very rare ([Dungeon Level III])

NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 6" / 24"
HIT DICE: 1+1
% IN LAIR: See below
TREASURE TYPE: [D]
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-4/1-4/1-6
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Very
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
SIZE: M
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: III | 65 + 2

The berbalang is a solitary biped with leathery skin and bat-like wings.
Its eyes are white and watery and its powers of infravision are twice as effective
as elves' (120' range).

The creature spends the greater part of each month in an apparently
dormant state, hibernating preferably in a well-hidden cave. Though
seemingly comatose, the berbalang is actually roaming the Astral Plane where is spends
its time hunting and killing creatures weaker
than itself and engaging in bizarre courtship and mating rituals with other berbalangs.
If its body is discovered and interfered with during the creature's astral roaming,
the berbalang will return to the body and animate it; however this can take a long time
(1-100 rounds) depending on the berbalang's actual distance
away across the planes. If the body is destroyed, the astral berbalang
dies as well. For this reason the creature takes a great deal of care in
hiding itself and is very ingenious in this regard.

For three days each month at the time of the full moon, the
berbalang returns to its material body, only to alter its form of trance
and send forth a physical projection of itself upon the Prime Material Plane.
The projection flies in search of food -- a freshly-killed human corpse.
The projection is physical in the sense that it can receive and
inflict damage -- in this respect it is a duplicate of the original. The
berbalang can USE all of the senses of the projection and will
command (and essentially 'is') the projection in its quest for food.
The projection can range up to 3 miles from the material berbalang
body. The projection fights, if it needs to do so, in the same way as
the berbalang -- with its two claws (1-4 HP of damage each)
and a bite for 1-6 HP of damage.

If the projection is hit and suffers damage it immed. takes flight,
returning at flying SPEED (24" rate) to the body which will be unable
to project again for a number of days =equal= to the #number# of HP lost.
If the projection is 'killed' it disappears, and there is a
75% chance that the original will also die from system shock.

If the berbalang survives an attack, it will eventually seek revenge
upon its attacker, though this may be delayed while the body recovers.
If a wounded projection is followed back to the berbalang lair,
the followers may be taken aback when they confront the unwounded physical creature.

If the projection is forced back to the body before the berbalang was
able to feed, or if the projection was destroyed before feeding, a new
projection will go forth again as soon as possible (after the
compulsory period of recovery) regardless of the phase of the moon.

To keep from depleting its food supply or arousing too great a local
alarm, a berbalang will move its physical body to a new AREA every
three or four months. They always travel by night and avoid
confrontations when they are actually physically present. Since
berbalangs live on the edge of civilisation, where lack of organisation
allows them free rein, a berbalang is very rarely encountered in its
physical form unless adventurers happen upon its lair or follow its
projection back to its body.

If a projection kills a human it will immediately pick up the body and
fly, at full rate, back to the host which will immediately emerge from
its trance. While in flight, the projection will be feeding on the body
-- a fully-grown human can thus be devoured in one turn, leaving only
the bones, garments and equipment.

For the purposes of aerial combat, the berbalang and its projection
are both manoeuvrability class B.

How the berbalang derives sustenance when only its projection feeds,
and how it reproduces when all mating activity takes place on the Astral Plane,
are mysteries so far unexplained.
 

    by Albie Fiore