Spider [Dragonlance]

A whisper spider has a fat abdomen, many glowing red eyes and eight jointed legs, its body covered in short black bristles with two gray stripes down its back. It races across its webs and can jump six feet in any direction.

It hunts with lures and tricks, weaving its silk into decoys: a phony spider, a fluttering flag, a sheer curtain for cover, or any form it has ever observed. It also lays sheets of web ten feet on a side to pin prey for a killing bite, and can shoot strands up to two feet that treat the target as AC 10, though it cannot also bite in a round it does so. Anyone who touches its web must save vs. wand or be stuck as if by a web spell. A bite forces a save vs. poison at -2; on a failure the victim is dazed and helpless for 2d4 turns while the venom runs its course. Pressed flat to the ground, the spider is 80% undetectable, and it moves so quietly that foes suffer -5 on surprise rolls.

Its lair is a large web hidden among branches or in a cave, with loot from eaten victims stored in a nearby hole or hollow tree. The female carries her young on her back for the three to four months they take to mature.

The trap door spider shares the plump body, many eyes and eight legs of its cousin, but wears long, silky brown or gold hair with red bands on its legs. It digs a shaft about ten feet wide that may plunge 100 feet, sometimes ending in two rooms, one of which holds treasure, and hides the mouth under a lid woven of mud, silk, twigs and weeds.

Vibrations reveal approaching creatures at 50 yards. Once one draws within ten feet of the lid, the spider bursts out so fast and quietly that the target suffers -5 on surprise. A normal hit means it has grabbed the victim and starts hauling it down the shaft to eat; while holding on, it makes no other attacks. The victim breaks free with a Strength check at -2, or two or more companions with combined Strength of 20 or more can tear the victim loose. Its bite forces a save vs. poison or an extra 1d6 damage, and it can spit strands of silk a distance of three feet.

The female spins an egg sac on the tunnel wall, and the hatchlings climb out to fend for themselves.

In both kinds, females eat their mates half the time; luckier males escape. A female lays about 100 eggs, but under 20% hatch. Few predators bother the adults, though giant snakes sometimes take one, while the young fall prey to bats, frogs, birds and small mammals. Both kinds eat whatever warm-blooded animal they can trap, especially humans, monkeys, boars and herd beasts.