I failed the Spider Queen once. Never again.
Pellanistra the Drider
Aw. I don’t need to put the word ‘dragon’ in the title anymore. That’s kind of depressing.
You know Quelaag from Dark Souls? Yeah, these guys are that. Just strap a drow on top of it and bam! you’re done. Also, give them a shirt.
Lolth, queen of the spiders, will often observe drow for those with potential. When she finds one, she’ll summon it to the Demonweb Pits to test their faith and power to earn the right to rise up her ranks. Those that fail are transformed into these horrific monsters, driders, and are placed back into the material plane.
In their new forms, driders are often quick to go mad. They flee to the Underdark, becoming hermits and hunters. Some will wander the darkness alone, while others will leed flocks of giant spiders. A few brave few will even return to drow society in order to settle some dispute or fulfill a vow, even though drow fear and shun these monsters.
There’s some fun stuff to do with this lore. Perhaps the party could encounter a drider and her spider hoard in the Underdark. Maybe they can offer to help one fulfill their unfinished business from their life as a drow. Or you could have them convince one to help them overthrow Lolth in exchange for breaking its curse. The possibilities are vast, interesting, and pretty fun!
Unlike its design.
In terms of appearance, this monster leaves much to be desired. It’s just a dark elf with a spider body. Sure, that captures the lore to a T… because that’s exactly what it is. But in terms of a creative, interesting design? This is definitely on the lower end of the spectrum.
But you know what? I can forgive that. So long as it makes an interesting fight!
Holy hell, this thing is tricky!
In terms of defenses, it isn’t all that impressive. The AC is certainly high, but the HP is on the lower end of triple digits, which a suitably leveled party should be able to handle. Unless they rely on charm or sleep magic, cause this bitch is resistant to the former and immune to the ladder.
It has three spells that it’ll throw at you in battle, those being dancing lights, darkness, and faerie fire. None of these are especially dangerous, but they’ll each provide a unique challenge to the players. As will its unique movement, which allows it to freely move up walls, ceilings, and webs.
Actual attack wise, the drider isn’t all that impressive. It’s got a bite, longsword, and longbow move, which gives it some decent variety in range. However, even with multiattack and poison, it leaves much to be desired in terms of damage numbers. Unless you’re the squishiest wizard of all time, or in the level one to three range, it won’t be a problem.
Oh, and it’s also super weak to sunlight. Get it into the light and all of her moves will be at disadvantage. If you’ve got some way to bring her into the light, you should do it without a second thought.
This could make for a pretty interesting fight! How do the players handle the monster moving in and out of range by walking up walls? Or its spells? Can they identify its weakness and how do they exploit it? With a little creative application, you can do a lot of fun stuff with a drider fight!
All in all, this is a fairly decent monster. The design isn’t all that great, but it makes up for it in interesting lore and a fun boss fight. Not amazing, but still really good.
With all that in mind, let’s put the Drider on the Best of the Bestiary!
- Beholder
- Death Tyrant
- Dragon Turtle
- Green Dragons
- Red Dragons
- Blue Dragons
- Black Dragons
- White Dragons
- Silver Dragons
- Couatl
- Behir
- Aboleth
- Bronze Dragons
- Brass Dragons
- Copper Dragons
- Gold Dragons
- Chuul
- Chimera
- Death Knight
- Bone Devil
- Dracolich
- Ankheg
- Shadow Demon
- Marilith
- Drider <——————-
- Aarackockra
- Azer
- Demilich
- Spectator
- Cambion
- Animated Armor
- Banshee
- Basilisk
- Yochlol
- Bulette
- Cloaker
- Darkmantle
- Doppelganger
- Pit Fiend
- Erinyes
- Chain Devil
- Bearded Devil
- Barbed Devil
- Spined Devil
- Ice Devil
- Nalfeshnee
- Glabrezu
- Chasme
- Barlgura
- Horned Devil
- Balor
- Shadow Dragon
- Vrock
- Dretch
- Goristro
- Hezrou
- Manes
- Quasit
- Planetar
- Imp
- Displacer Beast
- Carrion Crawler
- Rug of Smothering
- Bugbear Chief
- Bugbear
- Vine Blight
- Twig Blight
- Needle Blight
- Bullywug
- Cockatrice
- Lemure
- Solar
- Deva
- Cyclops
- Centaur
- Dinosaurs (All six of them)
- Flying Sword
- Crawling Claw
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