Hook Spider

Spiders thrive almost everywhere in the neutral planes and the Outer Planes, surviving where nothing else mundane can, and more than one minor fiend or celestial has been eaten by one on its own home plane. The hook spider is simply a giant spider adapted to some of the bleakest, deadliest realms anywhere: the lower planes.

Its body is about the size of a goat or big dog, but each leg matches a man's height. The front pair are not used for walking; they end in strong, inward-curving hooks for catching and holding prey. Its mandibles can punch through plate armor. All eight eyes are primary eyes, set high on the head to see in every direction at once. Its natural coloring is dull yellow with red markings, but chameleon power means it is rarely seen that way.

Hook spiders are nearly as intelligent as humans and hunt with fiendish patience: they build traps from local materials and their own silk, rely on stealth, and coordinate perfectly as a pack. They strike only from ambush or against helpless prey, leaping up to 60 feet from cover so the target suffers -2 on surprise. Each spider attacks with two hooks and a bite. If both hooks hit the same man-sized or smaller target, the victim is held fast, unable to act, and the bite lands automatically; an open doors roll breaks the grip.

The venom works after two rounds, so nothing happens in the round of the bite or the next one. Then the victim takes 25 damage, or 2-8 on a successful save vs. poison. Removed from the spider, the venom goes inert in 1d3 turns.

Psionics are mostly used to set up surprise. A spider may hide with chameleon power or invisibility, or close the distance using shadow form or reduction; if it fully conceals itself this way, it gets automatic surprise. Its powers are the psychometabolic science shadow form with the devotions reduction, chameleon power, body equilibrium and body control, plus the telepathic science mind link with invisibility, contact and attraction.

They spin no webs but use their tough silk to make trapdoors, hunting blinds, nets and lassos worked with the forelegs. A victim has a 20% chance to spot a trap first (30% for rangers, druids and the like). Springing it takes an attack roll against which only Dexterity and magical bonuses count, not armor, and a save vs. paralyzation avoids being caught. A snared victim stays bound until making a bend bars/lift gates roll or spending a full turn cutting free with a dagger or similar small blade. The spiders like to snare as many in a group as they can, kill the ones still free, then return for the trapped.

A nest, or clutch, consists of sibling adults who cooperate closely, unlike most spiders. They let powerful fiends and other strong lower-planar natives pass untouched, but anything weaker than a scaled devil or twisted demon is prey. A nest claims a small spot, such as a grove, a rocky outcrop or a pond, and turns it into an elaborate hunting ground riddled with burrows for escape and ambush, with traps on likely paths. They hide so well that adventurers often stroll into the middle of a lair without noticing.

Though they can speak telepathically with other creatures, they seldom bother. They keep their bargains but think only of immediate gain and will not deal without it. Some scheming fiends lure meals into a nest in return for the spiders removing rivals or nuisances.

A nest has 2 to 8 adults and 10 to 30 spiderlings, which are identical to large spiders except in intelligence. Young leave big prey like humans and fiends to the adults and eat the scraps. A clutch holds just 3 to 6 eggs, and the parents put real effort into feeding and guarding their young.

Dangerous as they are, they sit fairly low on the infernal food chain. They make up for it by teaming up against moderately strong prey and avoiding anything mightier. Typical meals are mindless devils, lemures, spike devils, scaled devils and petitioners, while greater baatezu and creatures of that size are left alone.