Aranea
Aranea (CR 12)
Ages ago, Aranea's were a species of intelligent shapeshifting spiders, raised up by a group of deities as worshipers. Over aeons of time, many such races came to be, until the God's decreed a Great Contest, to see which races would be Civilized, and which would not.
The Aranea were one of the many, many losers of that contest.
Bereft of their Gods, the Aranea have slowly degenerated over the passing millenia, until they are little more than beasts in the wilderness, with an uncanny intelligence and supernatural ability to take the shape of a humanoid. Every aranea has a humanoid form, each one as unique as a human's face.
Sadly, aranea's have lost much of their limpid, soulful selves in the process of devolution, and aranea's today are little more than monsters, practicing robbery, mayhem, slavery, extortion, and even casual murder. Aranea's can be a plague to a small settlement, and once a nest of aranea's have begun their depradations upon a settlement, the only way to solve it is to burn them out, root and branch, before they can kill or enslave every member of a local community.
GENERAL
CR 12 Hit Dice 17
XP 19,200
N to NE, Medium, Magical Beast
Init +9; Senses Low Light 120', Perception +18
DEFENSE
AC 32, touch 20, flat-footed 27 (+7 armor, +5 dex, +5 natural, +5 deflection)
hp 249
Fort +12, Ref +15, Will +12
Aura: -
SR: -
Special Defenses: Second Self
Immunities: Immune to Aranea Poison
Weaknesses: -
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., Climb 40 ft
Space / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft.
Single Melee Bite +18 (2d8+13/x2) + Aranea Poison
Full Melee Bite +18 (2d8+13/x2)+ Aranea Poison, 2x Claws +18 (2d6+4/x2)
Ranged None, but see 'Throw Web' +10 ranged touch, range increment 10, max range 50 feet
Special Attacks Aranea poison, Throw Web, Illusory Image
Action Points 0
STATISTICS
Str 12, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 16
Base Atk +12; CMB +19; CMD 28
Feats
Skills Stealth +20
Languages Common
SPECIAL ABILITIES
- Throw Web (Ex)
Once per encounter, as a standard action, Aranea's may throw a specially prepared web. This is resolved as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of ten feet. Creatures struck by the web take 3d6+1 subdual damage from the exotic soporific herbs soaking it. (This is a poison effect and is negated by immunity to poisons.) In addition, Affected targets must make a reflex saving throw against a DC of 21. Those who fail the saving throw gain the Pinned condition. Those who make the saving throw gain the Grappled condition. Either condition may be removed by expending a standard action to carefully unwrap the narcotic webbing. Note that adjacent allies may spend a standard action to free a pinned or grappled victim, but doing so means they will take the subdual damage from the webbing.
- Aranea Poison (Su)
Bite—injury; save Fort DC 21; frequency 1/round for 1 round; effect 2d6 subdual hit points of damage that bypasses DR and 1d4 Wis damage; cure 1 save.
Note that Aranea poison is a special type of subdual poison: When a victim's Wisdom reaches zero they do not fall unconscious, instead they lose all ability to express their own will and will become obedient to any commands they are given.
- Illusory Image (Sp)
Up to three times per day, as a full round action, an Aranea may cast Illusory Image. This acts in all ways as [Project Image|http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/project-image]. Illusory Image lasts for 12 rounds or one minute out of combat, and has a maximum range of 220 feet. Aranea's will typically begin combats when they are not surprised by using illusory image to draw in foes while they hide close by. Out of combat, an Aranea will use Illusory Image to initiate tense negotiations or spring suspected ambushes. The save DC to penetrate the Illusory Image is DC21.
- Second Self (Sp)
At will, as a free action, an Aranea may use Second Self to assume their humanoid shape. This works as [Alter Self|http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/alter-self], except that an Aranea never changes their stats. In general, most Aranea's have Second Self forms as one of the base races, namely, Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Gnome, or Half-Elf. Some Aranea's may have Second Self forms as one of the more exptic races, but such are not common. An Aranea's Second Self is fixed: They always change into the same, recognizable, humanoid. In their Second Self form, and Aranea still has all of their abilities, such as bite attacks, Aranea poison, and Throw Web, if they have not used it already.
TREASURE
sell value of approximately 8,000 gp
COMBAT TACTICS
Aranea's do not wish to fight, ever. They are ambushers, pure and simple, whose only aim is to capture valuable slaves using their poison and webs, and perhaps carry out the occasional incidental robbery.
Whenever possible, Aranea's will use Illusory Image to set up a tableau for the players to witness, and when the images are 'discovered,', they will flee to where the real Aranea's are hidden. They will always use Throw Web as their initial attack, looking to Pin and Grapple as many high-damage foes as possible, and then will charge to the attack, using bites as much as possible to poison and subdue their victims.
If a combat goes poorly, they will use a five foot step to make space and cast illusory image in their own space. At the next opportunity, they will flee in one direction using a move action, and will downgrade their standard action to a move action to make the image flee in a different direction, or attack, or other wise serve as a distraction.
Aranea's are not skilled melee combatants, and will only rarely work to set up flanks for themselves or provide cover fire for each other. Any iinjured Aranea will seek to flee, without a thought to the welfare of its allies.
OUT OF COMBAT
Aranea's are slavers. They capture and sell slaves to other monstrous creatures, such as gnolls and hobgoblins, and to more legitimate slave dealers if such things exist in their world. Using their Bluff, Sense Motive, and Diplomacy skills, combined with their Second Self power, Aranea's can be found anywhere, in the wilderness or in a city or anywhere in-between. Oddly enough, Aranea's are not troubled by Doppelgangers, even though those other shapeshifters hunt Vampires with implacable fury.