OSR: Aranea: Telepathic Spiders in the Walls

Ideas plundered from Mother of Learning, a series I heartily recommend.

by benedickbana

Aranea

Number Appearing: 1d4

Alignment: Any

Languages: N/A, they are telepathic

Treasure:

HD 1d3+1

AR 3

Atk Weapon (1d8+1) or Psychic Power

Mor 12

Saves (7+HD) or less

Wall-Crawler: Aranea can walk on walls and ceilings as easily as on the ground.

Web-Weaver: Aranea can produce strong fibers, which they can spin into webs, ropes, or other constructs. These webs are strong enough to be difficult to cut, but are vulnerable to fire.

Telepathic: Aranea are all telepathic, able to communicate with any creature with a mind within 100'. They can also sense the presence of other minds within that same range, unless those minds are shielded in some way.

Psychic Powers: Almost all Aranea possess psychic abilities beyond telepathy. The number of abilities an individual Aranea has is equal to HD-2. If the result above 0, the Aranea has that many Psychic Powers. For example, an Aranea with 4 HD has 2 Psychic Powers (4-2 = 2). To determine what these abilities are, roll on the table below.

Tactics:

- Perform reconnaissance, don't engage without information

- Use probing attacks to determine weak spots

- When attacking, strike suddenly and decisively

- When in doubt, retreat and do not engage

What Psychic Powers does the Aranea have?

1d8

1- Telekinesis. As an action, the Aranea can move an object that is within 100' as if it was picking it up. The Aranea cannot move any object heavily than a horse. Living creatures make a STR or COG check versus the Aranea's roll (d20+HD). If the Aranea wins, it can move the creature.

2- Mind Control. As an action, the Aranea can attempt to take control of a creature's body. The Aranea targets a creature and forces that creature to make a COG check. The Aranea rolls 1d20+HD. If the Aranea wins, the Aranea controls that creature's body until the Aranea's next round, at which point the controlled creature can make another COG check to try and break free of it's control.

3- Pyrokinesis. The Aranea can fire bolts of fire that do 2d6 fire damage on a hit, save for half. These fire bolts light flammable objects on fire and function as normal fire.

4- Cryokinesis. The Aranea can fire lasers that do 2d6 cold damage on a hit, save for half. Anything hit by this laser has it's temperature massively dropped, so water freezes, metal becomes brittle, etc.

5- Mind Blast. The Aranea can do 2d6 psychic damage, save for half, to any creature within 100'. This cannot reduce a creature below 0 HP.

6- Transmute Material. The Aranea can change up to a bathtub's worth of material into another substance. To do this, the Referee should determine a DC and roll 1d20+HD. If the Aranea equals or exceeds the DC, the material is transmuted. The difficulty of the transmutation should depend on how similar the substances are. Turning lead to gold is easier than water to glass.

7- Cast Illusion. As an action, the Aranea can target X creatures. Each creature must make a COG check- on a failed check, the creature sees an illusion that the Aranea creates in his mind. The illusion includes all senses, but cannot do damage. The COG check has a DC equal to 15-X.

8- Invisibility. As a free action, the Aranea becomes invisible. It remains invisible until it attacks or uses another Psychic Power besides telepathy.

Aranea are large, man-sized spiders. Terrifying in appearance, these enormous arachnids are far worse than an "ordinary" giant spider, as they are intelligent and gifted with psychic abilities. They use these abilities to protect themselves and communicate with each other. They regard most other creatures as little more than brutes- even other intelligent races fall into this category if they do not have potent magical abilities. To the Aranea, if you can't do magic or are psychic, you're only a few steps above a common beast.

They tend to be arrogant about their psychic abilities, as these enable them to easily defeat many creatures. This is usually a fairly safe bet to take, as most creatures cannot resist their telepathy-aided coordination and psychic might. That being said, it can get them into trouble when they come into contact with a creature that can resist their psychic abilities or an intelligent opponent who is well-prepared.

Other Types of Aranea:

Aranean Mage: An Aranea who can use magic. +1 HD and +X MD, where X is the Aranea's HD. The Aranean Mage knows X Psychomancer spells, where X is her HD.

Aranean Matriarch: The leader of an Aranean Web, typically, though not always, the strongest psychic present. +3 HD, minimum of 3 Psychic Powers.

Aranean Male: All Aranea are female- their males are smaller and subsentient. They have venom and hunt like a pack of dogs. They exist only to protect the Web and mate with the females. Despite their lack of higher reasoning, are still intelligent enough to avoid obvious traps and use hunting strategies. About as smart as an intelligent dog. 1 HD, AR 2, Atk Bite 1d6+2 + Venom (1d6 COG damage per round, save each round until you pass or take 3d6 COG damage), Mor 14, Saves 8 or less. Have the Abilities: "Wall-Crawler" and "Web-Weaver" (see above). If their venom drops you to 0 COG, you fall into a catatonic state for 1 hour. While in this state you are extremely vulnerable to psychic suggestion and manipulation.

<Sidebar>

Variants methods for making Scary, Psychic Spiders:

The Spell Variant:

Instead of "Psychic Powers", Aranea gain the following ability:

Innate Spellcasting: All Aranea have MD equal to their HD. Their spells do not trigger Chaos or Corruption and their MD burn out on a roll of "5" or "6". Aranea know the spells: Detect Attention, Detect Thoughts, Hypnotic Laser and Telepathy.

More powerful Aranea could gain access to spells like Mental Dominion, Psychic Scream, Rewrite Memories and Telekinesis.

The Free-Form Variant:

Instead of "Psychic Powers", Aranea gain the following ability:

Natural Mind Mage: Aranea can cast spells relating to minds, memories and emotions as per a Free-Form Wizard. When attempting to use this ability, the Referee should determine what the Aranea will do and decide on a DC. The Aranea should roll 1d20+X (X is their bonus to Mind Magic). If the Aranea equals or exceeds the DC, they succeed on the roll.

Basic Aranea get +0 or +1 to their Mind Magic, while Aranean Mages or Matriarchs get larger bonuses.

</Sidebar>

by highdarktemplar

Aranean Culture:

Aranea are very collectivistic, sticking to themselves. They do not like to associate with non-psychics or those not skilled in magic, regarding such folk as lesser. They are often dismissive of humans, some genuinely, but others hold such attitudes out of insecurity. After all, humans have no natural gifts and have managed to produce such wonders, while the Aranea have produced much less in terms of great achievements in Art, Architecture or Magic. This is not due to lack of intelligence or creativity, mostly it is caused by the fact that the Aranea have crude grabbing implements, nothing so useful as a human hand.

Additionally, Aranean and Human are very different in terms of mind and body, so any human magic would have be to "translated" into a format they could actually use, a fact that has prevented them from advancing as fast as humans have, even when they can plunder secrets directly from the minds of uncautious Magi.

Aranea tend to have names that are based on memories or images taken from the minds of their mothers. These are often translated into multiple words, such as "Glistening Stalactite Shimmer". When dealing with humans, younger Aranea sometimes describe their names in the most grandiose way possible, such as "Glittering Cave Crystal Lances".

Aranean Webs:

Aranea form communities called Webs composed of fifty to several hundred Aranea. They prefer areas that are close to human civilization, but not so close that a human could easily enter their territory. These communities are usually led by a single powerful Aranea who takes up the mantle of leadership as the Matriarch.

In most cases, the Matriarch will rule in an executive fashion, though her actual degree of power varies depending on the Web. In some she reigns like a Sun Queen, while in others she may only put forward her decrees when the Council of Elders approves of her decision.

Besides often being in obscure locations, Aranean Webs utilize many other means of defense, including but not limited to booby-traps, static illusions or false passages that lead to dead ends or dangerous places. In some cases, they rely on their natural mobility as giant spiders, building in places that would be extremely hard to reach if you couldn't walk on walls. There is also the old classic of just erasing the memories of anyone who finds the Web, while implanting suggestions into the mind of the affected not to come back to that area.

The latter is not always done, however, as sometimes the mind will reject an implanted suggestion and just make the creature more curious about what happened on that day where they cannot remember anything. The same goes for implanted memories as well- if not realistic or fitting the subject's original personality, the creature can reject them out of hand or at least doubt them.

The other way that Aranean Webs defend themselves is by getting their enemies to fight each other. The more powerful Webs will capture and psychically dominate less intelligent creatures, typically monsters, and use them as expendable muscle.

They typically use dangerous animals for this task, as they know that kidnapping intelligent creatures from their tribes could easily provoke retaliation. Aranea typically look down on most other non-magical species, but at the same time, they aren't willing to risk the Web just to secure a few Orc mind-slaves.

by scenesbycolleen

Generate an Aranean Web:

What alignment is this Web?

1d3

1- Good. The Web is good- it does it's best to live in peace with it's neighbors.

2- Evil. The Web is evil- it seeks it's own objectives and doesn't care who it hurts to get in the way.

3- Neutral. The Web is Neutral- it seeks it's own betterment and isn't above a little brutality, but it follows some ethical standards.

The Leadership of a Web always follows the Web's Alignment, as they are the ones who made it that way. Any random Aranea from the Web has a 50% of sharing an Alignment with the Web.

This Web is...

1d4

1- Small. The leadership of the Web is likely to be very cautious, possibly bordering on paranoid. The Web is likely to be reclusive and defensive.

2- Comfortable. The leadership of the Web are careful, but will occasionally take risks. The Web is likely to be rational and ruthlessly pragmatic.

3- Large. The leadership of the Web are comfortable taking risks, they have a fall-back in case things go poorly. The Web is likely to be expansionist.

4- Overly Large. The leadership of the Web are very comfortable with risk. The Web is extremely likely to be expansionist, whether through war to take territory or through setting up satellite Webs nearby.

This Web is governed by...

1d4

1- Democracy. 1d6+1 strong personalities fight over control of the Web. Chaos and disorder are the order of the day.

2- Constitutional Matriarchy. The Matriarch has power, but a Council of other Aranea can veto her decrees if they wish.

3- Executive Matriarch. The Matriarch holds most of the power, her council has little power and can only occasionally hinder her.

4- Sun Queen. The Matriarch's authority is unquestionable, her decrees carry the weight of divine law.

The Matriarch (if there is one) is...

1d4

1- A poor leader. The Matriarch is too weak, self-serving, incompetent, malicious or some combination to be an effective leader.

2- A well-meaning, but weak leader. The Matriarch is a good administrator, but she will struggle heavily in any sort of crisis situation.

3- A competent leader. The Matriarch is an effective, if not exceptional leadership.

4- An exemplar of leadership. The Matriarch is the Aranean equivalent of Napoleon or Alexander the Great. She maneuvers the ship of state through the toughest waters with ease.

This Web is notable for in...

1d10

1- Trade with locals. These Aranea trade with local humanoids, probably secretly. Knowing there is a colony of telepathic spiders living in the sewers would not be good for business.

2- Stealing from the locals. These Aranea systematically steal from the locals, altering or erasing memories as needed to cover up these thefts. They may have human thieves either helping them or brain-washed through the use of Mind Magic to help them.

3- The study of magic. These Aranea admire the study of High Art and are working to adapt magic to their needs.

4- The plundering of a nearby dungeon. These Aranea sneak into the dungeon and steal treasures or valuable resources from them.

5- The use of an ancient work of Runic technology from a long-vanished civilization. The Aranea don't really know how it works, but sometimes they can make it function properly and that is a massive boon for them.

6- The cultivation of Psychic Abilities/Mind Magic. The Aranea of this Web focus on cultivating their natural gifts and are well-known by other Aranea to have more advanced abilities.

7- Acting as couriers for goods or information. The Aranea stealthily transport either goods or information across their territory. They may facilitate trade between monstrous factions or between groups that would typically never trade, such as Orcs and Elves.

8- Hunting and Gathering.

9- Farming mushrooms or underground flora.

10- Their devotion to a local Spirit or lesser Deity.

Their Web is defended primarily by...

1d6

1- Being hard to reach. Think: At the bottom of a deep, vertical shaft or hanging from the stalactites of a massive cavern.

2- Deadly booby-traps. The nastier the better.

3- Dominated Monsters that savage intruders. The Aranea have brain-washed the local (unintelligent) monster population into acting as their private security.

4- Magical wards and traps. These Aranea know something about magic. Trying to enter their territory will end with being burned, zapped, splashed with acid or worse.

5- Bad reputation. Those who go to where the Web is located come back with missing memories, at best, or destroyed minds at worst. That's if they come back at all.

6- Proximity to other danger. This danger is something that isn't too much of an inconvenience to the Aranea, such as lake of acid or a swarm of giant, vicious, but easily controlled, flesh-eating wasps.

by ShiroiAngelz