Monday, August 20, 2012

New Oe/BX/1E Monster: Giant Trogloraptor Spider

I woke up early this morning (because my wife woke up early this morning) and saw the news blurb about the first new named spider species in the U.S. in 140 years, not to mention it's a new genus and family from an evolutionary branch that started 130 million years ago! And the timing is serendipitous... over the weekend, I started working on a "Spider Index" (like the lycan index and giant index). Needless to say, when I saw this report, I HAD to stat this baby up as an old-school giant spider. Here you go!

DESCRIPTION

These spindly, auburn arachnids appear fairly fearsome, an irony considering their generally pacifist nature. They are not natural predators, hunting only when hungry or forced to defend themselves. Fearful of light, giant trogloraptors suffering a -1 penalty to both their morale and "to hit" rolls in the presence of an amount of light equal to a torch or greater. Furthermore, all light spells are treated as a fear spell, with the trogloraptor fleeing in fear (on a failed saving throw vs. magic).

As cave-dwellers, trogloraptors make their webs on the ceilings of the caverns in which they dwell, allowing them to "hang" in a position that is as equally defensive as offensive. With their legs akimbo, they are able to snap their two foreclaws closed when prey passes underneath (the name trogloraptor means "cave robber"). If not hungry or immediately threatened when intruders enter the spider's lair, a trogloraptor will recoil into a more defensive position until directly threatened/attacked. Should the trogloraptor remain in a recoiled position for 2 or more turns (while intruders are present, but unaware of the spider's presence), the trogloraptor will get the initiative and strike with a +2 bonus on its first attack (with each of its foreclaws). Trogloraptors are able to crawl equally well on walls and ceilings as ground, but may not strike from these positions unless hanging from webbing.

Should both foreclaws strike (with successful "to hit" rolls) during any attack (recoiled or otherwise) the spider is able to make a third bite attack. The venom of a trogloraptor is rather mild by comparison to other species of venomous spiders, though still deadly. On a failed saving throw (vs. poison) a sickness will set in and, unless cured, will kill any creature smaller than a typical human in 2-5 days and any medium-sized creature in 4-10 days. Creatures larger than human-sized affected by the poison will feel a mild discomfort that lasts 4-10 days (unless cured) but will be otherwise unaffected by the poison.
Oe/1E STATS
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
NO. APPEARING: 2-12
ARMOR CLASS: 7
MOVE: 12"(18")
HIT DICE: 4+4
% IN LAIR: 75%
TREASURE TYPE: J-N,Q
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2d6/2d6/1d6
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Animal
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: L (10' leg spread)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil


BX STATS
ARMOR CLASS: 7
HIT DICE: 4+4
MOVE: 10'
ATTACKS: 2 claws/1 bite
DAMAGE: 2d6/1d6 + poison
NO. APPEARING: 2-12
SAVE AS: Fighter: 2
MORALE: 7
TREASURE TYPE: L,P-T
ALIGNMENT: Neutral

4 comments:

  1. Woo! Can I use this in the zine, too? This is awesome!

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  2. Very interesting. Thanks for the article as well, this is facinating!

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  3. Sweet. Thanks for the heads up on the article, too. Really neat stuff.

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