Aerobatics. The tarantula takes half damage from falls, and takes no damage from falls of more than 100 feet.
Bristly. At the start of each of the tarantula's turns, it deals 10 (3d6) piercing damage to each creature grappling it.
False Appearance. From more than 300 feet below the tarantula, it is indistinguishable from a normal cloud.
Pounce. If the tarantula moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a bite attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 21 (6d6) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 21 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Spider Sky-Climb. The tarantula can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check. It can also climb on clouds as if they were solid objects unaffected by the tarantula's weight.
Sky-Web Sense. While in contact with a web or cloud, the tarantula knows the exact location of any other creature in contact with the same web or cloud.
Sky-Web Walker. The tarantula ignores movement restrictions caused by webbing or clouds.
Standing Leap. The tarantula's long jump is up to 150 feet and its high jump is up to 100 feet, with or without a running start. When it dashes, it gains 100 additional speed for that turn only that can only be used to jump.
Multiattack. The tarantula makes either two leg attacks and one bristle attack, one leg attack and two bristle attacks, or three bristle attacks.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 21 (3d8 + 8) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, taking 45 (8d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. If the poison damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target is stable but poisoned for 1 hour, even after regaining hit points, and is paralyzed while poisoned in this way.
Leg. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d6 + 8) bludgeoning damage.
Bristle. Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, range 120/240 ft., one creature. Hit: 12 (3d4 + 5) piercing damage. Saving throws to maintain concentration caused by this damage are made with disadvantage.
Bristle Cloud (Recharge 5–6). The tarantula launches a barrage of bristles in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw, taking 20 (8d4) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The bonus to AC provided by a shield also applies to the saving throw. Saving throws to maintain concentration caused by this damage are made with disadvantage.
Description
Many adventurers have heard tales of the massive cloud birds known as rocs, but few have heard of the gigantic spiders that compete with them for territory. Cloudweb tarantulas are sometimes prey for the rocs, and at other times they are predator. These spiders, which typically grow to over sixty feet long, prefer to hunt by ambush, and their battle against the giant birds is often decided by the element of surprise.
Cloudweb tarantulas earn their name by their habit of binding clouds together with their special webbing. The spider can launch thin strands of web many miles away to reach one cloud from another, then slowly pull them together until they touch. The clouds combine into one massive bed of clouds, and the cloudweb tarantula uses it as both a nest and a staging area for hunting. Some-times they will gather clouds around a mountain peak, and many tarantulas will gather to hunt atop the clouds that eternally cover the mountain's apex.
The tarantulas appear to have strange white fuzz or fur covering their body, which is actually very thin, long bristles that they use to walk weightlessly on clouds and to camouflage among them. Cloudweb tarantula bristles and silk are both prized by artificers and craftsmen for their special properties, and so adventurers often hunt the tarantulas for them, taking great care not to harm the bristles or the clouds while slaying the spider.
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