Homebrew Aranea Species Details

Aranea are a race of sentient spiders, peaceful in nature (as a culture, they don't feed on humanoids or other intelligent beings, only animals--which their settlements often breed as feedstock for that purpose). They are often confused for lycanthropes, because they can shapeshift from their natural spider form into a humanoid form, and a form that’s a hybrid of the two. However, this is an innate magical racial ability, not lycanthropy; they cannot spread this ability to anyone but their own children.

In their natural spider form, their brains are not located in their head, but rather is housed within a remarkably hardened hump on the top of their abdomen. The pedipals of their spider form are a pair of short arms with many-jointed fingers and double-jointed thumbs protruding down and forward from the base of their head, which they use in the same way humanoids use such arms and hands.

Aranea Traits

Your aranea character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom scores each increase by 1

Darkvision

You can see in dim light as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. You can discern color in dim light, but all colors fade the dimmer the light gets. How much color is discernible in a given area of dim light is determined by the DM

Ultravision.

You can see in the ultraviolet end of the spectrum. Many substances look different under ultraviolet light. Blood, feces, and urine glows. Many feathers, fish, flowers, and coral have glowing patterns, and the chlorophyll in plants is a glowing blood red. Many minerals such as amber, opal, quartz, and ruby glow. Even the faintest radiation of an electrical field has a brightly glowing corona when viewed with ultravision.

Gain advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks while tracking a creature that is below its maximum hit points, and on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks or passive scores made to notice bodily fluids, electricity, or minerals and other substances that glow under ultraviolet light as determined by your DM.

Keen Senses

You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Poison Resistance

You have resistance to poison damage, and you have advantage on saving throws against poison.

Spider Climb

You can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Web Walking

You ignore movement restrictions caused by webbing.

Shapeshifting, Humanoid

As a bonus action, you can transform from your spider or hybrid form into your humanoid form. Any items that were merged with you reappear where they’re supposed to, whether that is being worn, carried, or held in your hands.

Shapeshifting, Hybrid

As a bonus action, you can transform from your spider or humanoid form into your fearsome spider-humanoid-hybrid form. Any items that were merged with you reappear where they’re supposed to, whether that is being worn, carried, or held in your hands. Gain the following:

  • You have proficiency in the Intimidation skill, and your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses the Intimidation skill.
  • You have a dense but thin carapace. If you aren’t wearing armor, you can calculate your AC as 12 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit. While you are wearing light or medium armor, you instead gain a +1 bonus to AC.
  • You have poisonous fangs and ferocious claws. You possess the following natural weapons, which are unarmed strikes. You may use either of these in place of the normal 1 bludgeoning damage unarmed strike.

Natural Melee Weapons
Unarmed strike (bite)     1d4 piercing Finesse
Unarmed strike (claw)    1d6 slashing Finesse

If you hit a creature with your bite attack, the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus or take an additional 1d8 poison damage and is . If the roll for this save fails by 5 or more, the target is also poisoned for 1 minute. At the end of each of the target's turns, it can make another Constitution saving throw to end this poisoned condition. After a creature gains the poisoned condition with this trait, you cannot use it again until you spend an action to regain your use of it.

Shapeshifting, Spider

As a bonus action, you can transform from your hybrid or humanoid humanoid form, into your natural spider form.

When you shift into spider form, everything you are wearing magically merges with your new form. You must choose whether anything you are holding merges or drops to the ground. Magic items count as being on your person while merged in this way, but you can’t benefit from armor, shield, foci, or weapons merged with you. Gain the following:

  • Your pedipalps are small pair of fully functional arms with hands located directly to the side of and under your fangs, emerging from the lower rear portion of your large head. These extremities are capable of the same fine manipulation your humanoid or hybrid hands are.
  • You have a thick, dense carapace. You can’t wear armor, but have a base Armor Class of 13 + your Dexterity modifier due to this natural armor.
  • You have fearsome fangs and sharp claws. You possess the following natural weapons, which are unarmed strikes. You may use either of these in place of the normal 1 bludgeoning damage unarmed strike.

Natural Melee Weapons
Unarmed strike (bite)       1d6 piercing Finesse
Unarmed strike (claw)     1d4 slashing Finesse

  • If you hit a creature with your bite attack, the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus or take an additional 1d8 poison damage and is poisoned for 1 minute. At the end of each of the target's turns, it can make another Constitution saving throw to end this poisoned condition. After a creature gains the poisoned condition with this trait, you cannot use it again until you spend an action to regain your use of it.
  • You have spinnerets on the lower rear of your abdomen, able to create powerful spider silk and webs with them. As an action, you create webs at a range of 5 feet. Webs created in this manner are permanent until destroyed.

Choose one of the following options:

Dense Webs. Create a mass of thick, sticky webbing at a point within range that fill a 5-foot cube from that point. These webs are difficult terrain and lightly obscure their area; or

Trapping Webs. Create a 1-foot thick mass of nearly invisible, sticky webbing at a point within range that covers a 5-foot square in any orientation (including covering a surface). These webs are difficult terrain and are hard to see (disadvantage on any Wisdom (Perception) checks to see them, including passive Perception); or

Sensor Webs. Create a nearly invisible layer of sparse webs as thin as strands of hair at a point within range that covers a 5-foot square in any orientation (including covering a surface). These webs are not sticky, used to expand the aranea’s web sense, and are hard to see (disadvantage on any Wisdom (Perception) checks to see them, including passive Perception).

When you spend an action to make a section of web, if the webs aren't anchored between two solid masses (such as opposite walls or trees, even perpendicular walls or wall and ceiling) or another section of webbing, that section of web collapses on itself and is removed at the end of your next turn. However, when you spend an action to create webs before they’ve collapsed, that collapse is delayed for another turn. Only the first and last created sections of web need to be anchored in this manner. If you join any two adjacent cubes or squares of web, they are now considered part of the same web for the purpose of creatures with web sense.

Each creature that starts its turn in sticky webs (option 1 or 2) or that enters them during its turn must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Intelligence modifier + your proficiency bonus). On a failed save, the creature is restrained as long as it remains in the webs or until it breaks free.

A creature restrained by the webs can use its action to make a Strength check against your web save DC. If it succeeds, it is no longer restrained and that 5-foot cube or square of webbing is destroyed.

The webbing has AC 10, 5 hit points per 5-foot cube, resistance to bludgeoning damage, immunity to piercing, poison, and psychic damage, and vulnerability to fire damage.

However, the webs are flammable, with even a single point of fire damage setting a 5-foot cube alight. When a 5-foot cube of webbing takes fire damage, it burns until the start of the next turn of whatever set it aflame. It takes 1 round for a 5-foot cube to burn away, dealing 2d4 fire damage to any creature that starts its turn in the fire. An effect that ignites a flammable object immediately destroys a 5-foot cube of webbing.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Aranean. You can speak normally in all three of your aranea forms.

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