Homebrew Drider Species Details

Physical Description

Driders are drow who have failed Lolth's trials and were both blessed and cursed with a new, spider-like form. They possess the upper bodies of drow, and the lower bodies of giant spiders. Their drow halves retain all of their typical physical features, including dark blue skin resembling polished obsidian, stark white or pale yellow hair, and very pale eyes that retain the same color shades as regular drow eyes would. The spider half of a drider is typically black and chitinous, propelling the creature along the ground atop eight wicked, spindly spider legs. Due to the space taken up by their spider halves, most driders tend to be up to 8 ft tall, and almost as wide.

History

Driders are drow servants of Lolth who undergo a painful process after failing one Lolth's test. Failure in the procedure usually results in death. Most are evil, but rarely, a drider may break this role. A drider appears much like a centaur, except exclusively for drow and with a spider's body rather than a horse's. Because of this, driders have a venomous bite and can shoot webbing at their foes, as well as ignoring any movement restrictions.

While one might think this form might elevate a drow's status, this is actually a great shame, because the drow see driders as beings so absolutely weak and pathetic that Loth herself had to step down to make them better, and are usually shamed and exiled from drow society, if not killed. Driders can be found scattered across the hostile wilderness of the Underdark, surviving off what meager prey that can manage to kill. Driders can grow to despise their drow brethren for making them outcasts and try forgetting their pasts, although trusting them is still unwise since they are as likely to help you as they are to turn you in to the drow in hopes of redeeming themselves, though usually, this hope will only lead them to disappoint. Driders are rarely found outside of the Underdark, but desperation can lead to some driders living on the surface, though usually as hermits, pirates, or other nefarious professions. Like the drow most driders have evil and hatred pounded into their being, although their transformation can bestow them with humility, and in some cases, even a different perspective. Driders are a complicated and dangerous lot to be sure, but no matter what happened to them and what they've experienced, they are still drow, and one who would mess with the drow surely has a death wish.

Society

Driders mostly live independently or with others of their kind in order to be more in touch with the spiders they worship. They are rejected by the majority of drow society and either move to the outskirts of the city to act as the lowest of the drow caste system and as the first wave of defense, or take their chances as group hunters in the harsh terrain of the Underdark.

Drider Names

Though driders are sexless, their upper half gives away the kinds of names they once had. Before becoming a drider they will often have drow names and may keep them after their fall from Lolth's grace. Some change their names, taking on titles in their rejection of their past.

Drider Traits

Driders are arachnid-elven hybrids, with the body of a giant spider and the torso, arms, and head of an elf emerging from the head of the spider form. Like giant spiders, driders have large abdomens and eight arachnid legs, with which they can navigate webs with ease. Individuals of drider ancestry possess certain traits

Spider Climb

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

Web Walk

The drider ignores movement restrictions caused by webbing.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity, Strength, and Wisdom score increases by 1.

Age

Although elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood and an adult name around the age of 100 and can live to be 750 years old.

Size

Driders are taller than elves, thanks to their giant arachnid lower half, standing roughly 7-9 feet tall. Their arachnid lower half extends back four to five feet. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking and climbing speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you 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.

Sunlight Sensitivity

While in sunlight, the drider has disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Fey Ancestry

You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

Trance

Elves don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and Undercommon.