Aranea Silklord

Aranea Silklord (CR 18)

Pure Evil - Medium - Magical Beast (Protean)

Lore:	Know (Arcana)
36		51
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

30

Perception:
40	+30
Passive	Active

Ambush:

8+

on a d20

Senses:

• Standard Senses

Movement Types:

Defense

AC

42

Man Def

42

Monster Health
747	373	34
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+15
Refl:	+20
Will:	+15

Strong Against:

• see Silken Self
• Immune (no effect): all Poison effects

Weak Against:

• (Protean 1) Vulnerable (1.5x damage): Silver

Offense

Size:	Medium
5 ft.		10 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+27

Man Off

+30

Action

0

Points

Standard Attack (Melee):

• 1x Silken Bite +27 (4d10+28/x2)
  as piercing (physical, common)
  plus: Aranea Poison
• 2x Silk-Laden Claws +27 (4d6+11/x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)

Full Attack (Melee):

• 1x Silken Bite +27 (4d10+28/x2)
  as piercing (physical, common)
  plus: Aranea Poison
• 1x Silk-Laden Claws +27 (4d6+11/x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)
• 1x Aranea Stinger +27 (4d6+11/x2)
  as piercing (physical, common)
  plus: Aranea Poison

Standard Attack (Ranged):

Full Attack (Ranged):

Siege Damage: Not siege capable

Statistics

17

STR

21

DEX

17

CON

15

INT

17

WIS

15

CHA

Skills:

• Bluff: 32
• Diplomacy: 32
• Knowledge (Local): 32
• Perception: 30
• Sense Motive: 32
• Stealth: 33
• All other skills: 25 (no ranks)

Languages: Common

Feats:

Special Abilities

Throw Web (Ex)

As a standard action, Aranea Silklords may throw a specially prepared web. This is resolved as a ranged touch attack at 1d20 + 31 vs. AC (always hits on a 17+ on the die), with a range increment of 20 feet, and a max range of 60 feet. Creatures struck by the web take 4d8+19 points of poison (physical, uncommon) from the soporific venom soaking it. (This is a poison effect and is negated by immunity to poisons, and can be reduced by appropriate types of DR.) In addition, affected targets must make a reflex saving throw against a DC of 28. Those who fail the saving throw gain the Pinned condition. Those who make the saving throw gain the Grabbed condition.

Aranea Poison (Ex)

When stung or bitten, victims are affected by Aranea Poison, which is a dreadful mind-affecting narcotic that eventually reduces victims to a state of passive obedience. Which the aranea find very useful. Aranea Poison    (Injury vector; Poisoned intensity) Save: Fort DC 28;     Frequency: 1/round for 3 rounds Effect: 1d4+1 points of WIS Drain and 4d8+19 points of poison (physical, uncommon) each round. Fruition: Victim becomes Secured, remaining conscious, but losing the ability to express their own will and can instead take only actions as requested by an Aranea or a creature designated by an Aranea. Fruition Duration: 1 week unless re-poisoned The fruition of an aranea's poison can be ended early with a Greater Restoration, Wish, Miracle, or any ability that behaves like one of these spells.

Silken Reality (Sp)

Concentration: 1d20 + 21 vs. a DC of 33 (12 needed on the die) As a standard action, an Aranea Silklord may cast Silken Reality. This acts in all ways as Project Image. Silken Reality lasts until the end of the encounter (or one hour if used out of combat), and has a maximum range of 300 feet. Araneas will typically begin combats (when they are not surprised) by using Silken Reality to draw in foes while they hide close by. Out of combat, an Aranea will use Silken Reality to initiate tense negotiations or spring suspected ambushes. The Will save to penetrate the Illusory Image is DC 28.

Silken Self (Sp)

Concentration: 1d20 + 21 vs. a DC of 33 (12 needed on the die) At will, as a standard action, an Aranea may use Silken Self to assume their humanoid shape. This works as Least Polymorph, except that an Aranea never changes its stats. In general, most Araneas have Silken Self forms as one of the core races (i.e. Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Gnome, or Fey-Kin). Many Aranea Silklords have Silken Self forms as one of the more exotic races. An Aranea's Silken Self is fixed: they always change into the same recognizable humanoid. In their Silken Self form, an Aranea can still use all of its abilities, such as bite attacks, Aranea Poison, Sting attacks, supernatural abilities, spell-like abilities, all movement types, etc.

Web Wall (Sp)

Concentration: 1d20 + 21 vs. a DC of 33 (12 needed on the die) Once per encounter, as a standard action, the Aranea Silklord creates a wall of thick, shimmering strands of spidersilk. This wall must stretch from one solid object to another one (a blocked square at each end), and has a maximum length of six squares with a height of twenty feet. The wall of webbing is a foot thick and makes all squares it enters blocked terrain that blocks line of effect but not line of sight. (You can peer through the Wall but it catches and stops attacks and spell effects.) To destroy one square of the Web Wall requires one Sunder success against a target of the Silklord's Maneuver Defense of 42. For each five points by which an attacker exceeds this target, an additional adjacent square of the web may be destroyed. When the Silklord creates the Web Wall, it may include enemy creatures in the area of effect. Each enemy so included are affected as if struck by the Silklord's 'Throw Web' ability (above). Each use of Web Wall can only affect an enemy creature once.

Aranea Silklord

Ages ago, Araneas were a species of intelligent shape-shifting spiders, raised up by a group of deities as worshipers. Over aeons of time, many such races came to be, until the Gods 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 millennia, 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.

Araneas have lost much of their limpid, soulful selves in the process of devolution, and Araneas today are merely monsters, practicing robbery, mayhem, slavery, extortion, and even casual murder. Araneas can be a plague to a small settlement, and once a nest of Araneas have begun their depredations 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.

Aranea Silklords are a powerful and skilled sub-breed of these Arachnoid monstrosities, who have all the abilities of their lesser brethren, including the ability to wear the guise of others, and also have the ability to hurl webs as attacks and to form barricades.

Combat Tactics

Araneas do not wish to fight, ever. They are ambush predators, 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, Araneas will use their high Climb speed to attack from trees or the upper stories of buildings, and will retreat using those same avenues if they encounter stout resistance.

Also, if they can, Araneas will use Silken Reality to set up a tableau for the players to witness, and when the images are 'discovered,', they will flee to where the real Araneas are hidden. They will always use Web Wall or Throw Web as their initial attack, looking to Pin or Hinder 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. Note that with their Climb speed, Araneas can use a charge maneuver to run down walls and trees to the attack. Note that Web Wall blocks line of effect for the Aranea as well as their enemies, so they will often use it sparingly once one or two are on the field of battle.

If a combat goes poorly, they will use a five foot step to make space and cast Silken Reality 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 otherwise serve as a distraction.

Araneas are not skilled melee combatants, and will only rarely work to set up flanks for themselves or provide cover fire for each other. It is not uncommon for Web Wall to hinder the Silklords as much as their enemies, although their high Climb and Brachiation speeds allow them to scamper up and over the Web Walls quite well. Any injured Aranea will seek to flee, without a thought to the welfare of its allies.

Out of Combat

Araneas 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 Silken Self power, Araneas can be found anywhere: in the wilderness, in a city or anywhere in-between. Oddly enough, Araneas are not troubled by Doppelgangers, even though Doppelgangers will hunt Vampires with implacable fury.

Silklords are more ruthless and mercantile than lesser breeds of Aranea, and they are often found in the employ of larger tribes of monsters, acting to keep a stable of slaves docile and working smoothly with their Aranea Poison. Fire Giants, Duergar, and Fomaori are all well-known 'clients' to Silklords, and their ability to blend in serves them well in such employment.

Rewards

XP: 153,600

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 67,889 gp.

Weight: 180 lbs.     Volume: 7.2 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)