I'm using a Drider as a boss in an encounter and want to add some minions. I think I'm gonna use a phase spider, but I also wanted some swarms of spiders for effect. Are there any combat tactics you'd recommend? I know they can occupy the same space as a player, so maybe nobody else can attack the swarm without hitting the player affected.
One idea a friend had was to have one of the giant spiders spit webbing at a player, immobilizing them while another giant spider attacks with advantage.
a chasm in a tunnel, juuust too far for everyone to feel comfortable jumping safely without thinking about it first. luckily, there's a plank they can use to cross! oh, but it gets distressingly bendy in the middle so they'll probably want to cross one at a time just to be safe. you can elect to have visible webs below (a safety net! how thoughtful!) or not. hit them while they're split and distracted (even if they're preparing for it).
my strong recommendation is to put the plank visible but out of reach on the other side. the players will be a little less suspicious (and maybe quieter) if it looks like someone doesn't want them using this route. clever players will figure a way to get over or pull it to them, and they'll feel real clever. archers or ranged spiders off to the side hidden in folds of the crevasse walls could then lean out and pick off persons taking their sweet time on the balance beam. other teams above could crawl down and use the ceiling to cut off escape from both ends. someone might call to a nearby camp for reinforcements to come up the tunnel from the far side.
if you elect to include the webs below you can choose to show them a few dinner-plate sized spiders that seem uninterested. maybe a bat is being cocooned. however, their voices echo loudly (which maybe spooked a bat!) so they'll probably want to be much more quiet here. surely setting fire to the very flammable webbing also sounds like it would be too flashy (which is probably a dm leap of logic/faith). iff they leave it, then the ambushers can have another tactic: they can shoot blunted arrows and make charging attacks with shields with the intention of pushing characters off into the webs. the fist sized spiders could swarm and quickly restrain anyone dropped. even if they do set fire to this (probably enraging and calling in some giant spiders early) the smaller spiders could work to quickly run new lines and begin a new more narrow web that'll still catch someone falling from the plank.
for anyone that goes over the edge and misses the web then it really isn't bottomless: a great deal of dark sand has accumulated not far below. if the falling firebug is felicitous, then there might be some dedicated cocooned corpses to cushion their fall! this sand was deposited by an underground river that floods seasonally. heading in one direction might take you to a camp of Driders at a spot where the sand thins and the river can be seen seeping through in a washed out channel.
I'm using a Drider as a boss in an encounter and want to add some minions. I think I'm gonna use a phase spider, but I also wanted some swarms of spiders for effect. Are there any combat tactics you'd recommend? I know they can occupy the same space as a player, so maybe nobody else can attack the swarm without hitting the player affected.
One idea a friend had was to have one of the giant spiders spit webbing at a player, immobilizing them while another giant spider attacks with advantage.
Any other ideas?
a chasm in a tunnel, juuust too far for everyone to feel comfortable jumping safely without thinking about it first. luckily, there's a plank they can use to cross! oh, but it gets distressingly bendy in the middle so they'll probably want to cross one at a time just to be safe. you can elect to have visible webs below (a safety net! how thoughtful!) or not. hit them while they're split and distracted (even if they're preparing for it).
my strong recommendation is to put the plank visible but out of reach on the other side. the players will be a little less suspicious (and maybe quieter) if it looks like someone doesn't want them using this route. clever players will figure a way to get over or pull it to them, and they'll feel real clever. archers or ranged spiders off to the side hidden in folds of the crevasse walls could then lean out and pick off persons taking their sweet time on the balance beam. other teams above could crawl down and use the ceiling to cut off escape from both ends. someone might call to a nearby camp for reinforcements to come up the tunnel from the far side.
if you elect to include the webs below you can choose to show them a few dinner-plate sized spiders that seem uninterested. maybe a bat is being cocooned. however, their voices echo loudly (which maybe spooked a bat!) so they'll probably want to be much more quiet here. surely setting fire to the very flammable webbing also sounds like it would be too flashy (which is probably a dm leap of logic/faith). iff they leave it, then the ambushers can have another tactic: they can shoot blunted arrows and make charging attacks with shields with the intention of pushing characters off into the webs. the fist sized spiders could swarm and quickly restrain anyone dropped. even if they do set fire to this (probably enraging and calling in some giant spiders early) the smaller spiders could work to quickly run new lines and begin a new more narrow web that'll still catch someone falling from the plank.
for anyone that goes over the edge and misses the web then it really isn't bottomless: a great deal of dark sand has accumulated not far below. if the falling firebug is felicitous, then there might be some dedicated cocooned corpses to cushion their fall! this sand was deposited by an underground river that floods seasonally. heading in one direction might take you to a camp of Driders at a spot where the sand thins and the river can be seen seeping through in a washed out channel.
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