Stripped Spider

The most common spider in the cold swamp.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Appendages

Eight jointed walking legs made of seven segments and tipped with claws. The front legs are saw-like for cutting up prey. In addition, the spiders use specialised and sensitive hairs on their legs to pick up scent, sounds, vibrations and air currents.

Biological Traits

Hot Venom

Like most spiders, the stripped is cold-blooded but its venom is considered a fire effect.

Targets must make a DC 17 CON saving throw or take d6 CON damage. Then they must succeed on another DC save or be stunned for d3 rounds by searing pain. Targets that cannot feel pain are immune to this additional effect.

A target with resistance to fire gets a +1 bonus to their saving throws against the venom for every 5 points of fire resistance.

A target with immunity to fire is immune to the venom entirely.

A target with vulnerability to fire takes a -4 penalty to their saving throws against the venom.

Genetics and Reproduction

Females about to give birth normally conjugate together and lay their eggs all together in a huge fruit of spider eggs. Female spiders protect their eggs by making a silk ‘bed’ and then covering them with a silk ’blanket’. She then wraps them in more silk to make the egg sac. She hangs the sac in a high place, usually between trees, to keep safe and guard until the babies hatch. When the babies hatch they often stay inside the sac to eat the remains of their egg's yolk. Some mothers stay until the spiderlings leave the sac, others will either leave or die before seeing their babies.
An intermediate stage to classical sexual reproduction takes place. Males ejaculate onto ready-made small sperm webs and then transfer their sperm to syringe-like structures on the tips of their front appendages
The first to hatch face certain doom.

Growth Rate & Stages

Mite Hatchlings

The first to hatch attempt to cross the canopy where they freeze solid and serve as a platform to other newborns who meet the same fate.
Spiders who hatch last find a causeway of their frozen fellows (called spider veins - [AC 10; hp 5; vulnerability to fire damage]) where they are able to move about in relative safety and protected from the cold.

Spiderlings

Ice spiderlings are small, juvenile arachnids that blend seamlessly into their snowy, glistening surroundings. Despite their small size, spiderlings are aggressive hunters. They have a pack mentality and work together to take down large prey.
Unique to the wilds, swarms of the younger spiders ride on their master sibling to better get around on the difficult terrain. They are known to nip at exposed flesh, causing painful bites that immobilize their victims.

Master Spider

Only one in a million spiderlings grow to becom master spiders
They are enormous, menacing creatures with thick, chitinous exoskeletons that resemble ice-covered rock. Their bodies are covered in sharp, icy spikes that are the remains of their own frostbitten dead flesh.
Their powerful legs are capable of crushing ice and their mandibles are large enough to snap a tree in half. Unlike their smaller counterparts, master spiders prefer to patiently ambush their prey in a territory pre-prepared by their accompanying spiderlings.

Master Spider

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	15 (+2)	12 (+1)	2 (-4)	12 (+1)	5 (-3)

Armour Class: 14
HP: 26 ( 4d10+4 )
Speed: 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Proficiency Bonus: +2
Skills: Perception +5, Stealth +6
Abilities:

Bite: d10+3 piercing damage

Ecology and Habitats

Grass Trees

Grass stems, or culms, give the spiders ready-made burrows and nests for their eggs.

Loose Soil

Individual spiderlings can dwell in soil crevices or dig burrows in softer ground. All spiders are predatory, eating mostly hard-bodied insects and worms.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Cannabalism

The spiders, especially the younger ones, are reliant on their fellows in their years.

Scavenger

Some spiders can be found feeding upon dead organisms, bird dung, and other fecal material.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Cooperative Hunting

Every master spider has, on average, 4d6*5 spiderlings riding atop them. Of which, 2d6 are actively scouting out-of-sight from their mobile base for viable targets.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Liquid Fire Starters

For some reason, the master lose their venomous bite. Only the hatchlings and the spiderlings can be milked for substances used in an effective liquid that easily catches fire in the biting cold.

Facial characteristics

Eyes

As with all spiders, it possesses eight single lens eyes that are blind to the world.

Mandables

Its mouthparts contain specialized fangs capable of piercing tough exoskeletons.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Blindness

As a consequence of being continually expose to the polaris, their multiple eyes glow white in their blindness. When one spiderling grows to become a master spider, they lose their web spinning ability and are incapable of accurately perceiving their environment. They become reliant on their far smaller siblings to give them a general direction for food.

Lifespan

15 years

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Average Height

Hatchlings: Varies
Spiderlings: 2 - 4 in
Master Spider: 10ft

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Average Weight

Hatchlings: Varies
Spiderlings: 170g
Master Spider: 480lbs

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Average Length

Hatchlings: Varies
Spiderlings: 4.5 - 11 in
Master Spider: 33ft

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Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Bluish grey frozen hairs growing over several layers of exoskeleton

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Swarm of Hatchlings

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
3 (-4)	13 (+1)	10 (+0)	1 (-5)	7 (-2)	1 (-5)

Armour Class: 12
HP: 22 ( 5d8 )
Speed: 20 ft., climb 20 ft.
Proficiency Bonus: +2
Skills: Hide +9, Listen +3, Move Silently +3, Spot +3
Abilities:

Can occupy another targets's space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a tiny insect

Can't regain hp or gain temporary hp

When a hostile target starts their turn stunned and within 10ft, they must make a DC 13 CON saving throw or lose 2d4+3 hp immediately and d4+2 at the end of their next turn due to blood loss. Half as many hp on a success.

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Spiderlings

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
5 (-3)	13 (+1)	8 (-1)	1 (-5)	10 (+0)	3 (-4)

Armour Class: 12
HP: 3 ( 2d4-2 )
Speed: 20 ft., climb 20 ft.
Proficiency Bonus: +2
Skills: Steath +3
Abilities:

Advantage on DEX (Stealth) checks made to hide in snowy terrain

Bite: 1 piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 11 CON saving throw or take 3d4 poison damage, or half as much damage on a success. If the poison damage reduces the target to 0 hp, the target is stable but poisoned for 1 hour, even after regaining hp, and is paralyzed while poisoned in this way