Apr 14

Apr 14 Deep Dive - The Berbalang

Berbalangs are mythical creatures in Filipino culture where they are winged ghouls who eat human flesh, because of course they do. In Dungeons & Dragons, they scour the Astral Plane for lost knowledge, something they aren’t known for in the real-world legends. In any version, they seek out the flesh of the dead, devouring it greedily, though they quickly flee if attacked or, if you are on Earth, you happened to have a blade coated in lime juice.

AD&D - Berbalang

Frequency: Very Rare
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
Psionic Ability: Nil
Level/X.P. value: III/65+2 per hit point

The Berbalang first appears in the Fiend Folio (1981) to a pretty sleepy start. We don’t mean that in a bad way, but rather that they spend a lot of time hibernating. And by a lot of time, we mean a lot. They spend almost all of their life, except for three days each month, hibernating, but they aren’t waiting for spring. While they may look passed out in their hiding spot in a dark cave, they are actually projecting themselves into the Astral Plane where they hunt down weaker creatures… and for mating rituals.

This odd creature looks like a gangly imp with leathery skin and bat wings. Its eyes are very watery and white, capable of seeing deep into the darkness. They are bipedal humanoid-ish creatures, though their heads are rather oblong and their hands end in wicked claws. There isn’t much else we can tell you about these creatures, besides they look gaunt and in need of food. Since they basically only eat once a month, we suppose we can understand how they keep themselves so physically trim.

While the Berbalang is off, looking for a mate on the Astral Plane, it knows that its sleeping body is quite vulnerable to hazards on the Material Plane, like an adventurer’s sword or a wandering monster looking for a bite to eat. To avoid any potential issues, like being eaten by an owlbear, Berbalangs hide their bodies in deep dark caverns, in hidden niches, and in places far from civilization… though not too far. It wants to be very well hidden because if its body is discovered and destroyed, the Berbalang in the Astral Plane will also die since it is only a projection.

A Berbalang isn’t completely helpless if you find its hibernating body and begin dressing it up for tea time. It takes up to 100 rounds from you first poking and prodding its body before it is able to leave the Astral Plane and return to its body, depending on how ‘far’ it has traveled in the Astral Plane, the further it has drifted the longer it takes to return. Once it does arrive, it will show no hesitation in attacking you, unless you are strong. The moment it gets hurt is the same moment it begins flying away looking for a safe space to make its new home and hide in.

Berbalangs also return to their physical body every month for three days, though technically not really. Instead, when it returns to its physical form, it then projects an illusion of itself in the material world and then goes out to a nearby town, within three miles of it, and looks for a corpse to eat. If it can’t find a dead body, it has no problem making one. The source material specifically states it is looking for a ‘freshly-killed human corpse’ so, if you are a dwarf, half-elf, orc, goblin, or anything else, you are going to be pretty fine wandering around town at night, even if you are a zombie. If you are a human, you should probably stay inside during the three days the Berbalang is looking for a meal before it returns to the Astral Plane.

When the Berbalang attacks, it uses its two claws and then ends it with a nasty bite. If you hit the Berbalang in the fight, no matter how little damage, it immediately tries to fly away back to its body. Their bravery is quite frail and would rather sulk around in a secret cave than deal with getting hurt. The reason for their shyness around getting hurt is because it affects when they can project themselves into the Astral Plane. They have to wait a number of days based on how much damage they took, which means even a single point of damage delays their plans of going into the Astral Plane and hooking up with other Berbalangs. If you do happen to kill the projection, there is a 75% chance that the Berbalang will die, which is another reason why it doesn’t like taking damage even as a projection.

If it is successful in its hunt, the ravenous Berbalang’s projection will carry your corpse back to its cave. Along the way, the projection will be consuming your body, which it can do horrifyingly fast. It can quickly devour everything except your bones and equipment within a turn, and since there are 10 rounds in each turn, and each round is 1 minute, you’ll be devoured inside of 10 minutes. We aren’t entirely sure how a projection of the Berbalang is able to sustain the physical body of the Berbalang, or how an astral projection could mate and create baby-Berbalangs, but we suppose that that is just Berbalang magic so that their physical bodies are safe, hidden away from the world.

You would think that monthly attacks from a man-bat reject would cause a cry for help from adventurers, and Berbalangs would quickly find themselves rooted out and destroyed, but they are clever. Every few months they will uproot themselves from their safe caves and find a new place to settle down, making sure they are at least within three miles of a nice source of human to feast on.

2e - Berbalang

Climate/Terrain: Any land or the Astral plane
Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Solitary
Activity Cycle: Nights of the full moon
Diet: Special
Intelligence: Very (11-12)
Treasure: D
Alignment: Chaotic evil
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 6
Movement: 6, Fl 24 (B)
Hit Dice: 4 + 1
THAC0: 17
No. of Attacks: 3
Damage/Attack: 1-4/1-4/1-6
Special Attacks: Nil
Special Defenses: Nil
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: M (4’-7’ tall)
Morale: Average (10)
XP Value: 65

**Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix**, 1989 TSR Inc.

The creepy Berbalang makes its debut in the Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (1989), and while it doesn’t include a ton of new information, there is a little bit there. Let’s start with a better description than what was provided before. The average Berbalang has black skin that looks like worn leather, two large bat-like wings, and creepy glowing eyes. The eyes freak us out, as they are watery, all white, and we can only imagine are hostile to anyone who intrudes upon their secreted lair.

The Berbalang still roams the Astral plane, hunting lesser creatures for sport, while its physical form remains unconscious on the Material Plane. The Berbalang relies on its ability to fly, swooping down with claws outstretched and mouth open, ready to rip you to shreds and take a big bite. If you are a bit more dangerous than it might have expected, it flees for safety. We know why that is, because if their projection is destroyed, they may go through a system shock and die for real, but the text is a little ambiguous if that includes its astral projection or just its projection it forms to eat humans on the Material Plane.

The rest of its information holds the same as before, which means you want to find its hibernating body on the Material Plane and kill it. Luckily, you’ll have 1d100 rounds to deal with the slumbering monster before it awakens and attempts to flee. If it does somehow survive a confrontation with you, be it you awakening it before the full moon or you destroying its projected image, you have just made a hated enemy. It will seek to avenge itself upon any who have interfered with it, turning you into its meal next month.

**A Guide to the Astral Plane**, 1996 TSR Inc.

Luckily for us, the Berbalang is finally shown a bit more love in A Guide to the Astral Plane (1996). It turns out the Berbalang isn’t as solitary a creature on the Astral Plane as they are on the Material Plane. These creatures get together, probably over a cup of coffee or tea, and chat about the mysteries of life. The Berbalang congregate in structures specifically built by them with a silvery-mist covering on the outside to make it very hard for outsiders to actually find their enclaves. There are also plenty of exits that dot the structure so that they can flee if they are ever discovered.

While you are probably assuming that Berbalangs only meet to discuss the best ways of devouring human and how much fun it is to murder, you would be terribly mistaken. See, the Berbalang are actually great thinkers who spend a lot of time in meditation in the Astral Plane. This book also talks about how they like to follow people around and are sometimes known as stalkers. They rarely attack while on the Astral Plane, which means someone is throwing a lot of negative propaganda at them, and simply like to observe other people and what they are up to.

All of this culminates in them meeting up with others of their kind in their structures where they then begin to discuss time, the beginnings of the universe, the meaning of life, and other deep thought questions that our own philosophers have struggled with since the dawn of man. A suspicious adventurer might assume that their ideas would lead to a lot of pain and suffering, but it is the opposite. These creatures are actually quite benevolent and are optimists about the multiverse, how society will behave in the future, and all the great things that already exist. They are upbeat and positive, viewing pretty much anything with a can-do attitude and great expectations for the future.

You might be confused at about this point, as you probably know them best for murdering people on the Material Plane and devouring them. They hide in dark caves and prey on weaker creatures. There is no way that they can be so optimistic about life and yet be such horrible creatures. Well, they might be upbeat about the multiverse, but they have a different viewpoint about themselves. They believe that the Berbalang, as a race, has no rightful place in the multiverse. They are loathsome, murderous monsters, and deserve no kindness or love from anyone or anything. They consider themselves to be reprehensible creatures and so they conduct themselves as such.

To say that Berbalangs have misunderstood themselves would be putting it lightly. If they could only see that if they would stop murdering humans, and maybe started eating dwarves or goblins, then everyone would think quite highly of them. We can only hope that these philosophers one day bring that ever-burning optimism to their own kind.

4e - Berbalang

Level 10 Solo Skirmisher
Medium immortal humanoid / XP 2,500
Initiative +13 / Senses Perception +6
HP 408; Bloodied 204
AC 25; Fortitude 22, Reflex 25, Will 21; see also psychic deflection
Speed 6, fly 8
Saving Throws +5
Action Points 2
Claw (standard; at-will) +14 vs. AC; 1d8+6 damage.
Summon Duplicate (minor, not while bloodied; at-will) Conjuration, Psychic The berbalang manifests an exact duplicate of itself in an unoccupied adjacent square. It can have no more than four duplicates at once, and duplicates cannot summon other duplicates. When a duplicate appears, it makes an initiative check and joins the battle on that initiative count. All damage a duplicate deals is treated as psychic damage.
A duplicate has the same statistics as the berbalang except for its hit points. When the berbalang manifests a duplicate, the berbalang loses one-quarter of its current hit points and the duplicate appears with that quantity of hit points. The berbalang’s maximum number of hit points remains the same.
Duplicates last until the berbalang reaches 0 hit points, absorbs them, or uses sacrifice. A duplicate must stay within 10 squares of the berbalang at all times or it disappears.
Absorb Duplicate (standard, at-will) Healing The berbalang absorbs a duplicate adjacent to it and regains 50 hit points.
Berbalang Sneak Attack A berbalang or a duplicate that flanks an enemy with another duplicate deals an extra 1d8 damage on melee attacks against that enemy.
Sacrifice (standard; at-will) Psychic Area burst 1 centered on a duplicate; the berbalang can cause one of its duplicates to explode in a burst of psychic gore; +11 vs. Fortitude; 2d8 + 6 psychic damage, plus the target is dazed (save ends). Miss: No damage, but the target is dazed (save ends). Hit or Miss: The berbalang takes 25 damage.
Psychic Deflection (immediate reaction, when the berbalang is damaged by an attack; at-will) Psychic The berbalang can deflect the damage it takes from an attack to one of its duplicates. Any effects or secondary attacks included in the attack are also deflected to the duplicate. The damage a duplicate takes in this way is considered psychic damage.
Alignment Evil / Languages Supernal
Str 16 (+8) Dex 22 (+11) Wis 13 (+6) Con 14 (+7) Int 14 (+7) Cha 15 (+7)

The Berbalang comes with a few updates in the Monster Manual (2008), though we aren’t sure how different they are compared to previous editions. There is little information provided on these creatures, and little of it touches on what we have previously learned about them. We do know that they can still find their way into the Astral Plane, specifically Pandemonium, thanks to them showing up in a single sentence in The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea (2010), along with the mention of vampire lords.

If you thought maybe they had finished their self-reflection and realized that, deep down inside, they can be good, you are very wrong. These creatures are just looking to devour your flesh and bones to get at your delicious memories. If you happen to be a not-human, don’t worry, you are now on the menu as it will eat the flesh of all humanoids as it seeks to devour memories, which are locked away within your flesh and bones, how convenient!

There are even enclaves and distant villages that have made deals with Berbalangs. Instead of burying or cremating the recently deceased, the village elders made a deal that the Berbalang gets to eat it. There is the small problem of, if they don’t suffer a pandemic or some murderhobos for a few months, they may run out of those who die of natural causes. In this case, to prevent the Berbalang from just rampaging through their village, they’ll instead draw lots and sacrifice a villager to be eaten, saving everyone else from having their memories eaten from their bones.

If you end up fighting a Berbalang, get ready to start seeing double, triple, quadruple, and even quintuple. A Berbalang can create up to four duplicates of itself either during or before combat. These duplicates have the same stats as a real Berbalang, though far fewer hit points as they only get a quarter of the real Berbalang’s current hit points.

These duplicates not only attack you with claws and teeth but also like to dance around you. They are great for creating flank buddies with the real Berbalang, meaning that they are going to end up doing extra damage to you thanks to their sneak attack. If flesh wounds aren’t enough to put you down, the real Berbalang can also cause their duplicates to explode in a burst of psychic gore. This sudden explosion is enough to assault your minds and momentarily daze, making you lower your defenses to the Berbalang’s attacks.

If you can hold your own against the Berbalang, you can start removing some of its duplicates without even hitting them. The Berbalang can absorb its duplicates, regaining a few hit points and giving you a chance to catch your breath. If you keep slashing away at the poor Berbalang, who just wanted to devour your memories, it’s not above running away. As it flees, it will leave behind a duplicate to distract you, hoping that you will stop being so mean to its real, physical body. We suppose they still have a bit of their old optimism from before if they think a genuine murderhobo is going to give up that easily.

5e - Berbalang

Medium aberration, neutral evil
Armor Class 14
Hit Points 38 (11d8 - 11)
Speed 30 ft., fly 40 ft.
STR 9 (-1) DEX 16 (+3) CON 9 (-1) INT 17 (+3) WIS 11 (+0) CHA 11 (+0)
Saving Throws Dex +5, Int +5
Skills Arcana +5, History +5, Insight +2, Perception +2, Religion +5
Senses truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages all, but rarely speaks
Challenge 2 (450 XP)
Spectral Duplicate (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). As a bonus action, the berbalang creates one spectral duplicate of itself in an unoccupied space it can see within 60 feet of it. While the duplicate exists, the berbalang is unconscious. A berbalang can have only one duplicate at a time. The duplicate disappears when it or the berbalang drops to 0 hit points or when the berbalang dismisses it (no action required). The duplicate has the same statistics and knowledge as the berbalang, and everything experienced by the duplicate is known by the berbalang. All damage dealt by the duplicate’s attacks is psychic damage.
Innate Spellcasting. The berbalang’s innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 13). The berbalang can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: speak with dead
1/day: plane shift (self only)
Multiattack. The berbalang makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d10+3) piercing damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (2d4+3) slashing damage.

**Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes**, 2018 WotC

It takes a few years before the Berbalang appears in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (2018). We start with good news, sort of. There is no information about whether or not the Berbalang exist solely on the Material Plane and only send out a projection into the Astral Plane. What this means is that maybe, just maybe, they don’t live on the Material Plane and instead reside solely on the Astral Plane, and so you don’t have to worry about being a Berbalang snack unless you are also on the Astral Plane. It’s not much, but we’ll take a win where we can get it.

They are found on the long-dead remains of forgotten gods, studying the bones, scrawling secrets on the bones, and using their spells to question the fallen titan, seeking out secrets. They are obsessed with knowledge and secrets, especially esoteric secrets and long forgotten knowledge, even if that knowledge isn’t really worth that much. They just have a need to gather secrets, storing this information on to the bones of whoever it was that gave them that information. They are experts in extracting secrets and some Githyanki utilize them as their spies, watching over locations in the Material Plane and gathering up valuable intel on their enemies.

Just like previous incarnations, Berbalang can create duplicates of themselves, though not to the same degree as in 4th edition. Just like in the old editions, when they conjure a duplicate, they fall unconscious and so they seek out nice places to hide their body. This copy then roams the planes hunting down knowledge, anything the duplicate learns, the real Berbalang learns as well. They are often found spying on the servants of gods, seeking out the hottest gossip to jot down on some bones they keep around. Though, these duplicates don’t roam for too long, as the original can’t eat, drink, or protect itself while the duplicate persists. While we don’t know for sure that they eat more than they used to, there is no mention of their monthly prowl looking for a corpse to tide them over. Also, they probably don’t live on the Astral Plane if they are looking for food a lot, as you don’t need food, drink, or air to live while on the plane, so there goes our hopes of a Berbalang free world.

You might be wondering just what the Berbalang are up to with all this procured information. Well, it’s not to start philosophical debates with each other about how great the multiverse is. No one really knows why they are seeking this information, but if you can bring a Berbalang a big, fat, juicy secret, they are willing to share their knowledge with you. If you don’t know any secrets, then you have another option, but it requires risking your life. You can head to the nearest dungeon, kill the most obscure creature you can find, and gather its bones. You then bring those bones to the Berbalang who may accept your offering and then provide you the information you are looking for.

The Berbalang do make an appearance in the adventure Six Faces of Death from Dragon+ (Aug. 2018). A Berbalang named Bunch is featured throughout the adventure, serving the skull lord Vargo. He is essentially Vargo's second in command, possessing the knowledge of its plans and in control of all other creatures on the island. Bunch's room is full of bones and skulls on which it has scribbled the secrets the dead creatures once knew. His payment for serving the Skull Lord is that he gets to keep all the skulls of Vargo’s enemies, which seems like a pretty good deal to us.

The Berbalang is an odd creature that haunts the Astral Plane. Maybe they are gentile philosophers, misunderstanding their own existence in the world, or perhaps they are deadly predators seeking out knowledge and the bones of the living. Regardless, they may hold lost secrets that could unravel the worlds they scour.

If you would like to introduce these creatures into your own campaigns, consider reading about them in our post: The Knowledge of Gyaan, an astral library built by the Berbalang in the skull of an ancient god.