Hairy Spider

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Hairy Spider Swarm (SwarmCR 1)

Neutral - Diminutive - Vermin
Lore: Know (Nature)
2 17
Basic DC Full DC
Initiative
Initiative Icon 2.png
0
Perception:
12 +2
Passive Active
Ambush:
10+
on a d20

Senses:

Movement Types:

Defense

AC
Shield Icon 3.png
14
Man Def
Shield Icon 3.png
15
Monster Health
62 31 2
Hit Points Bloodied Hit Dice
Saving Throws
Fort: +0
Refl: +0
Will: +0

Strong Against:

  • (Swarm Role) Hardened (½ damage): slashing (physical, common), piercing (physical, common)
  • (Swarm Role) Immune (no effect): Critical Hits and Flanking
  • (Swarm Role) Immune (no effect): Any attack that targets Maneuver Defense
  • (Swarm Role) Immune (no effect): Any spell that targets a specific number of creatures, except mind-affecting spells (if this creature has an Int score).
  • (Mindless) Immune (no effect): all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, fear, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms)

Weak Against:

  • (Swarm Role) Vulnerable (1.5x damage): area of effect spells (including Channel Divinity)

Offense

Size: Diminutive
10 ft. 0 ft.
Space Reach
To-Hit
+3
Sword Icon 3.png
Man Off
+3
Sword Icon 3.png
Action
0
Points
  • (Component Creatures: 1 ft. / 0 ft.)

Standard Attack (Melee):

  • 1x Spider Bite (Swarm -- Auto-Hit) (1d4/19-20 x2)
    as piercing (physical, common)
    Spider Venom

Full Attack (Melee):

  • 1x Spider Bite (Swarm -- Auto-Hit) (1d4/19-20 x2)
    as piercing (physical, common)
    Spider Venom

Standard Attack (Ranged):

Full Attack (Ranged):

Siege Damage: Not siege capable

Statistics

1
STR
17
DEX
10
CON
INT
10
WIS
2
CHA

Skills:

Languages:

Feats:

Special Abilities

Spider Venom (Ex) Automatic

Any damage inflicted by a Hairy Spider has a chance to inflict a weak poison:

Spider Venom    (Injury vector; Tainted intensity)
Save: Fort DC 14;     Frequency: 1/round for 3 rounds
Effect: 1d2 STR Dilution and 1d4 poison (physical, uncommon) per interval
Fruition: none
Fruition Duration: n/a

Personal Space Issues (Ex; Swarm Role) Automatic After Damage
Any living creature that takes damage from a swarm also becomes Distracted. While sharing a space with the swarm, affected creatures cannot get rid of the Distracted condition. At the end of any of an affected creature's turn in which they are outside of the swarm's space, the Distraction condition automatically ends. However, it is re-applied if they take further damage from the swarm.

Sum of the Parts (Ex; Swarm Role) Always On
Swarms, troops, and hordes follow the squeezing rules based on their component creature size, NOT the size of the swarm, troop, or horde as a whole. This means these groups of creatures can easily move through doorways that are sized appropriately to their component creature sizes. They can even stop in such spaces without suffering squeezing penalties. In such cases, the swarm's shape is unaffected, except that its space excludes any blocked spaces. That is, its space doesn't deform into a non-square shape, it's just treated as not occupying any blocked spaces within its space. This means it cannot threaten through blocked spaces, since it isn't technically occupying them.

Multiple swarms, troops, and hordes can share the same squares without squeezing or movement penalties. They can move through, and even stop on top of (or within) the spaces of other swarms, troops, or hordes.

Swarms, troops, and hordes can also move over, through, and into spaces occupied by enemy creatures without provoking attacks of opportunity, even if they pass through or leave a threatened square. Furthermore, creatures inside the space of a swarm, troop, or horde are treated as flanked while they remain in that space (though this doesn't usually matter much, since swarms, troops, and hordes automatically hit with their attacks).

Finally, a maximum of two swarms, troops, or hordes can attack a single given creature in a round, even if more than two swarms, troops, or hordes are threatening that creature. There simply isn't enough surface area of the enemy creature for more attacks to be inflicted.

Hairy Spider

Hairy Spider Swarm

This creature possesses the Swarm role, and therefore counts as 2 monsters for purposes of encounter size, XP award, and treasure.

This monster frequently has the Swarm role, but may be set to other roles if desired.

Hairy Spider is the name given to dozens of kinds of monstrous spiders that can be found all over the world. The name is not very descriptive, as 'hairy' spiders come in all sorts of varieties, and some kinds aren't even very fuzzy. But to the panicked eyes of adventurers, guards, and civilians who have stumbled upon one of these gigantic spiders, they all look alike: legs and eyes and fangs, scuttling and hairy.

Now, 'gigantic' is a poor choice of words. It is possible to find spiders out in the bad parts of the world that are big enough to step over castle walls. Hairy spiders are rarely bigger than your face. But.... They are spiders...as BIG AS YOUR FACE. For many beginning adventurers, that's plenty huge to merit a scary tale at the tavern later. Assuming you survive...

Hairy spiders hunt all manner of things such as bugs, mice, and squirrels. As a result, they can be found in ones and twos and six-packs almost anywhere.

Far worse is when they gather together. Hairy Spiders are prone to bunch up into huge swarms, and that's even scarier than just one that you find hiding in your boot in the morning.

Massive swarms of hairy spiders are occasional hazards encountered in dark and abandoned places. Individual spiders of this size are of no great threat to a prepared adventurer, although they can still give one a good startle, and bad luck can see one defeat even a doughty sort. Several thousand spiders packed atop one another in a seething mass of scuttling legs and poisonous fangs?

That's enough to threaten any adventurer and startle just about anybody.

Combat Tactics

Hairy Spiders, in all their varieties, are mean, territorial little things. They will attack you if you get too close, that's almost guaranteed. They will lurk, using their good stealth, and when you are too close to easily evade, they will move in and start biting. Once they begin attacking, they will not stop, being remarkably driven by their instincts. In individual numbers or small groups, these attacks are bad enough, but Hairy Spiders are prone to forming huge swarms, as if they aren't scary enough on their own.

Spider swarms lurk, hiding, then rush to the attack just like individual spiders do, but spider swarms wish to engulf you. They will charge as fast as they can to get into the space of their prey. About the only 'tactic' they use is their fondness for crawling on ceilings. Whenever possible a spider swarm will crawl up to a ceiling and drop onto victims as a sudden rain of leggy creepy crawlers. Bleah.

Note that multiple swarms can move into, stop and occupy up to half the spaces that other swarms occupy. No more than two swarms can inflict effects on a single target.

Out of Combat

Hairy Spiders, and the swarms they are fond of becoming, can live nearly anywhere — in forests, shrubbery, amidst crops, attics, basements, sewers, caves, dungeons, dense meadows, swamps, basically anywhere that food is likely to pass nearby. They prey on any animals or humanoids that come too close, and only require such a meal about once a week, thought they'll always save some for later, in their rather prodigious webs.

Rewards

XP: 800 (Swarm role included.)

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 438 gp.

Weight: 20 lbs.     Volume: 0.8 cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 10 Nothing Found
11 - 14 1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
15 - 17 1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
18 - 19 1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
20 Roll on Table 2
### Nothing to see here!
### Or here. Move along.
Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5 3 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
6 - 10 3 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
11 - 14 1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
15 - 17 1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
18 - 19 1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
20 Roll on Table 3
### Or here. Move along.
Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5 3 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
6 - 8 3 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
9 - 11 3 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
12 - 14 3 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
15 - 17 1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
18 - 19 1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
20 1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)