Spider Climb. The spider can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Web Sense. While in contact with a web, the spider knows the exact location of any other creature in contact with the same web.
Web Walker. The spider ignores movement restrictions caused by webbing.
They are Many. Upon the spider's death, it's husk cracks open, spawning a swarm of young spiders in the space it occupied. The swarm stays in battle for 1d8 turns before scattering, the swarm deals 1d6 poison damage to one target standing in the swarm or within 5 feet of the swarm.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, taking 9 (2d8) 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.
Web of Spiders (Recharge 5–6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 30/60 ft., one creature. Hit: The target is restrained by webbing covered in tiny baby spiders. As an action, the restrained target can make a DC 12 Strength check, bursting the webbing on a success. The webbing can also be attacked and destroyed (AC 10; hp 5; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and psychic damage). If the restrained target fails to remove the webbing before the end of their turn the baby spiders bite the target, dealing 1d6 poison damage.
Necrotic Spit (Recharge 5-6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 30/60 ft., one creature. Hit: The target hit by this spray of oozing rot takes 1d10 Necrotic Damage, and must make a DC 14 Constitution Save, on a failed save they become Poisoned with the chance at catching a Disease.
Description
This breed of spider are unique to the Underdark and various caves across the lands, with sightings rarely seen in thick forests that rarely see sunlight.
The Corpse Spider when fully grown has a dark brown or black chitin exoskeleton, to many who have fought these beasts and lived to tell the tale they remake that the exoskeleton is almost as tough as most armors but the joints connecting the pieces together are very easy to pierce if struck.
Corpse Spiders usually lie in ambush when hunting, not relying on their webs outside of pinning down their prey, they inject their victims with a venom that quickly melts the surrounding area, the shock usually enough to kill their prey giving them ample time to feed on the meaty soup left behind, in other cases when the Spider catches it's prey it will lay eggs on the now open wound, usually thousands in a single clutch. When these eggs hatch they quickly consume the host's corpse from the inside out, in rare cases the host survives the encounter only to be eaten alive a few short days later in a very painful and slow way if left untreated.
Sometimes when the Spider can't find a host and it's eggs will soon hatch, it lays them on another Corpse Spider or even offer itself as host to it's young. The Spider will usually let nature run it's course at this point, sometimes even stockpiling food for it's children in a nest. When the eggs hatch they're quickly swarm the host spider and consume the soft flesh holding the joints of the exoskeleton together, and make their way through the host bit by bit.
After about a day of feeding the baby spiders will often act as a hivemind, filling the husk of their host and almost latching themselves together by their legs, to fill out the now missing organs of the beast. It's unknown how they do this while so young, and experiments with Corpse Spiders and their victims show this behavior only happens with Corpse Spider hosts. If by some miracle some of the host spider's organs still function, such as their spinnerets and venom glands, possibly being given enough nutrients by the hivemind now living inside it.
The spiders resume the same general hunting tactics as normal with the only real difference being the normal venom is now much more potent and the webbing it releases is covered in small spiders. When the husk is destroyed the swarm seems to lose the hivemindset it once had after a short while and will scatter, even stopping any attacks against prey it was once attacking.
Comments