You smear the resin across your skin and speak a low druidic cadence of molts, husks, and old instincts. It sets in a heartbeat—cool, then warm—forming a living film that hardens into chitin where it must and loosens where it should. When you cast this spell, choose one of the following aspects: Spider, Ant, or Beetle. You gain the chosen aspect’s benefits and drawbacks for the spell’s duration. You can end the spell early as a bonus action.
While you aren’t wearing armor, your Armor Class equals 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit. If you have another feature that gives you a different way to calculate your AC, you choose which calculation to use.
Spider. Your body becomes light and taut, as if your bones were laced with invisible silk. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, to a maximum of 22. When a creature you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage you take by 1d10 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum reduction of 1), skittering aside at the last instant with unsettling precision. The spider’s alertness comes with a twitchy, hair-trigger dread: you have disadvantage on saving throws against being frightened. Your frame also thins into something hungry and sharp—your hit point maximum is reduced by 8 for the duration, and your current hit points are reduced by the same amount. When the spell ends, your hit point maximum returns to normal.
Ant. Your posture lowers and steadies, shoulders setting like a laborer born for burdens. Your Strength score increases by 2, to a maximum of 22. Your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift are tripled. The ant’s purpose is relentless, but simple; your thoughts feel easier to steer than they should, and you have disadvantage on saving throws against being charmed.
Beetle. A dense shell plates across you in overlapping segments, heavy and uncompromising. Your Constitution score increases by 2, to a maximum of 22, and you gain a +1 bonus to AC. You also gain 3d4 temporary hit points as the carapace seals tight and stubborn vitality floods your muscles. You brace instinctively against the world’s attempts to move you: you have advantage on Strength and Dexterity saving throws and ability checks made to resist being pushed, pulled, shoved, knocked prone, or otherwise moved against your will, and when an effect would move you against your will you reduce the distance moved by 5 feet (minimum 0). But the shell makes you slow and awkward; your walking speed becomes 15 feet, you can’t take the Dodge action, and you have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws as blasts and sweeping hazards catch your bulk where a lighter form would slip through.
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