Bats aren't birds....they're mammals.
But yeah, you should be able to modify it for avian lycanthropes with fly speeds or not, just try and modify from that base.
Uh, why doesn't the lycanthrope template work out of the box? It works on any animal, not just mammals. There's a were-crocodile, for example.
The were-bat, atleast the one here, isn't strictly following the lycanthrope template since it has a fly speed in hybrid form. It should only gain the speeds of the base animal when in animal form.
There's also the better-written, though 3PP, monstrous lycanthrope template.
In hybrid or animal form it gains the special attacks, qualities, and abilities of the base animal.I'm pretty sure Fly Speeds are usually considered a Special Quality (if innate) or a Special Ability (if accessed via some power, like supernatural flight), so...
Except we also have
Speed: Same as the base creature or base animal, depending on which form the lycanthrope is using. Hybrids use the base creature’s speed.
which clearly doesn't give you the animals speeds in hybrid form.
It would be weird if we had a fairly clear section relevant to the subject be superseded by an at first glance non-relevant section (the line you quote is found under the headline "special attacks") where you have to guess what's included. Not impossible, the template is as I said badly written, but definitely counter-intuitive.
There's a were-raptor (as in bird, not Sickle-toed proto-bird) in one of the Ironfang Invasion bestiaries.
There's a were-raptor (as in bird, not Sickle-toed proto-bird) in one of the Ironfang Invasion bestiaries.
AP115, trail of the hunted, page 88-89.
Blymurkla, from AP: WERERAPTOR (HYBRID FORM), Speed 30 ft., fly 80 ft. (average). So it seems fly speed is treated differently from other speeds.
or, as often happens, the authors or the AP didn't read the rules properly when adding new stuff, or did and chose to ignore them but didn't explain it was a special case
or, as often happens, the authors or the AP didn't read the rules properly when adding new stuff, or did and chose to ignore them but didn't explain it was a special case
The only way I see that happening is if they took werebat and modified it into a wereraptor.
It seem pretty far fetched that they'd make the SAME mistake as 4 years before. For the same reason, it seems as unbelievable that they independently figured they'd ignore the rules. Also note that the werebat is in a hardback and under the scrutiny of the DEV's, so it's less likely to be a 4 year old mistake.
What it really boils down to is even if it's how you think, is they keep doing it, it's going to be a pattern and followed anyway. Also keep in mind, the game has unwritten rules the DEV's don't let us in on unless they bring it up in a FAQ. This could be one of them.
The Werecrocodile also has a swim speed in hybrid form, though curiously, the Wereshark does not.