Arashaeem

Arashaeem keep all three aranean shapes. The spider form shows their corruption plainly: a monstrous arachnid with sagging, loose flesh and venom always dripping from its fangs. As humanoids they look like zombies in shabby noble finery, and the demispider is a slightly altered version of that. Rumor holds they are failed liches, but no one has proved it. They remember every language learned in life and speak each in hushed, menacing whispers. All are evil, and roughly half chaotic.

Sleep, hold and charm spells fail against them, as do poison and paralysis, in the manner of other undead, and spells of cold or electricity deal only half damage. Their venom and their webbing both paralyze for 1d6+2 rounds unless a save vs. poison succeeds or a spell or similar effect ends it. The venom needs a bite, but the silk only has to touch bare skin.

They still prefer spells, casting as 9th-level mages with the old aranean love of illusion and charm and refusal to touch fire magic. They strike from behind webs or drop quietly from above (-1 to the victim's surprise) and like to herd prey into webs before attacking from safety.

In spider or demispider form they can bite or entangle, each needing an attack roll. There is no limit to their venomous bites, and every web attack can paralyze. Each makes up to 90 feet of webbing a day. Harvested webs keep their paralytic power for only 1d6 days, but venom from the fangs and sacs keeps indefinitely and can coat blades and arrowheads. After the creature dies the venom weakens, paralyzing for only 1d4 rounds with +1 to the save. In the first moments after death, twelve ounces can be drawn off (12 sword or 24 dagger or arrow doses); after that it dries at 1 ounce per round.

Their shapechanging works as an aranea's, so they shake off polymorph after 1 round, and weapons built against shapechangers (a sword +1, +3 vs. lycanthropes and shapechangers) hit them at full effect.

Solitary and hungry for power, arashaeem rank among the deadliest undead thanks to their spells and intellect. They spend most of their time as spiders, savoring freedom after a life spent hiding, yet their upbringing holds so strong that even dead they keep the living araneas' secret. Instead they feed the old legends to extend their own reach.

Most folk believe they are outer-planar spirits. Anyone who does link them to araneas usually guess the whole race was cursed by the gods into ghosts, a story the araneas happily encourage. Some arashaeem bribe humanoids into service, building a base from which to reach the magical heights they missed in life; others simply hunt. All agree they were born to rule.

Unusually for undead, they have a real place in the food chain: some still need a curse-warding red metal to survive, and a hunger for flesh makes them natural hunters of the coast's thinking peoples. They are better known than the living araneas, and some adventurers hunt them for treasure and venom. Araneas watch for signs of one, since it threatens their disguise, and destroy it quickly and quietly.

An arashaeem lairs in a cave, ruined castle or thick patch of forest, strung with webs forming blinds, hidden passages and traps, and stocked with 10d10 Hit Dice of spiders it raises and trains. Typical traps include a dropping web net (save vs. death magic or be entangled automatically) or a rockfall propped up by silk that collapses when cut. Nearly every lair has at least one dead end where intruders are lured and sealed in. The silk resists fire slightly but will burn. Treasure and magic items hang high in the webs out of easy reach, which discourages intruders from simply torching the place.