Monstrous spiders are larger, more aggressive kinds of spiders. They are legendary, and greatly feared.
Description
All monstrous spiders are aggressive predators that use their poisonous bites to subdue or kill prey. Monstrous spiders come in two general types: hunters and web-spinners.
Hunters rove about, while web-spinners usually attempt to trap prey. Hunting spiders can spin webs to use as lairs, but cannot use their webs as weapons the way web-spinners can. A hunting spider has a +2 MV faster than the figures given in the statistics blocks.
As vermin, monstrous spiders have low IQ scores, and immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, etc. They also are able to see in dark like it is day out to 60 feet.
Monstrous spiders generally possess no treasure. For those that do, this treasure consists of possessions formerly owned by a creature that the monster has killed.
While the "smaller" varieties of monstrous spiders are known throughout the Middle Lands, the larger ones are very rare, but legendary. Spiders are considered the "Children of Tuuwell" in Urre and Yengzhi.
Stats
Tiny
Encounter: 1d6.
ST: 1.
DX: 10.
IQ: 1.
MV: 1.
AR: 0.
DM: 1 (bite).
Size: Sub-.
TR: None.
Behavior: Aggressive (14).
Habitat: Desert, Forest, Jungle, Underground.
Category: Fantastical Creature.
God: Xho’al Quuz.
Element: Void.
Special:
See below.
Small
Encounter: 1d6.
ST: 4.
DX: 10.
IQ: 1.
MV: 1.
AR: 0.
DM: 2 (bite).
Size: Sub-.
TR: None.
Behavior: Aggressive (14).
Habitat: Desert, Forest, Jungle, Underground.
Category: Fantastical Creature.
God: Xho’al Quuz.
Element: Void.
Special:
See below.
Medium
Encounter: 1d6.
ST: 8.
DX: 10.
IQ: 1.
MV: 3.
AR: -1.
DM: 1d3 (bite).
Size: 1.
TR: None.
Behavior: Aggressive (14).
Habitat: Desert, Forest, Jungle, Underground.
Category: Fantastical Creature.
God: Xho’al Quuz.
Element: Void.
Special:
See below.
Large
Encounter: 1d6.
ST: 16.
DX: 10.
IQ: 1.
MV: 5.
AR: -1.
DM: 1d6 (bite).
Size: 2.
TR: None.
Behavior: Aggressive (14).
Habitat: Desert, Forest, Jungle, Underground.
Category: Fantastical Creature.
God: Xho’al Quuz.
Element: Void.
Special:
See below.
Giant
Encounter: 1d6.
ST: 24.
DX: 10.
IQ: 1.
MV: 6.
AR: -2.
DM: 2d6 (bite).
Size: 3.
TR: None.
Behavior: Aggressive (14).
Habitat: Desert, Forest, Jungle, Underground.
Category: Fantastical Creature.
God: Xho’al Quuz.
Element: Void.
Special:
See below.
Monstrous
Encounter: 1d6.
ST: 40.
DX: 10.
IQ: 1.
MV: 8.
AR: -2.
DM: 3d6 (bite).
Size: 4.
TR: None.
Behavior: Aggressive (14).
Habitat: Desert, Forest, Jungle, Underground.
Category: Fantastical Creature (Vermin).
God: Xho’al Quuz.
Element: Void.
Special:
Poison. A monstrous spider has a poisonous bite. The victim must pass a 3/ST test for Medium or smaller spiders and a4/ST test for Large or bigger spiders. Failure means an additional 1d6 damage with no AR protection. Then the victim suffers an additional 1d3 damage per day until an antidote is administered or magical healing is applied.
Tremorsense. A monstrous spider can detect and pinpoint any creature or object within 60 feet in contact with the ground, or within any range in contact with the spider’s webs.
Web. Both types of monstrous spiders often wait in their webs or in trees, then lower themselves silently on silk strands and leap onto prey passing beneath. A single strand is strong enough to support the spider and one creature of the same size.
Web-spinners can throw a web eight times per day. This is similar to an attack with a net but has a maximum range of 50 feet, with a range increment of 10 feet, and is effective against targets up to one size category larger than the spider. An entangled creature can escape with a successful Escape Artist check or burst it with a 4/ST test.
Web-spinners often create sheets of sticky webbing from 5 to 60 feet square, depending on the size of the spider. They usually position these sheets to snare flying creatures but can also try to trap prey on the ground.
Approaching creatures must succeed on a 3/IQ Detect Hidden to notice a web; otherwise they stumble into it and become trapped as though by a successful web attack. Attempts to escape or burst the webbing gain a ST+3 bonus if the trapped creature has something to walk on or grab while pulling free. Each 5 foot section has ST 8.
A monstrous spider can move across its own web at its climb speed and can pinpoint the location of any creature touching its web.
Other Info
Mood: Hungry, Stealthy, Predatory.
Omens:
1 – Aura of silence.
2 – Sticky webs between trees and on surfaces.
3 – Piles of bones, stripped of flesh.
4 – Darker area of forests.
5 – Chittering sounds.
6 – Marks on trees and ground from something large moving around.
Rumors:
1 – Soldiers sent to investigate an area do not return.
2 – Travelers in an area disappear without a trace.
3 – There is a darkness in the forest or hills that is eating anyone who goes there.
4 – A monster exists in the forest that has a great hoard.
5 – The Temple of Tuuwell declares that an area is now ruled by His children.
6 – The beast in the forest is really a demon.
Design Notes
Giant spiders have a long history in fantasy gaming, I guess stemming from Shelob in The Lord of the Rings. I love them, too, but the trick is how to use them in the game and still inspire fear and loathing–even the small ones.
