Spider Dragon

D&D 3e (3.0/3.5) Rules

by daperdepa

Dragon, Spider

Its black dragon head rising threateningly over the thick webs, you realize far too late the true nature of the abomination confronting you. Spider eyes fixed upon you, four pair of arachnid legs scratching the ground, its massive body lacking a tail, one of Jiathuli's last children is about to unleash its fury.

Spider Dragon

Dragon (extraplanar, water)
Environment Subterranean caves
Organization Wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, and young adult: solitary or clutch (2-4); adult, mature adult, old, very old, ancient, wyrm, or great wyrm: solitary
Challenge Rating Wyrmling 1; very young 2; young 3; juvenile 4; young adult 6; adult 7; mature adult 8; old 10; very old 11; ancient 13; wyrm 14; great wyrm 16
Treasure Double standard
Advancement Wyrmling 8-9 HD, very young 11-12 HD, young 14-15 HD, juvenile 17-18 HD, young adult 20-21 HD, adult 23-24 HD, mature adult 26-27 HD, old 29-30 HD, very old 32-33 HD, ancient 35-36 HD, wyrm 38-39 HD, great wyrm 41+ HD
Level Adjustment Wyrmling +3, very young +4, young +5, others —

Spider dragons are the greatest success Jiathuli ever achieved, but also the reason behind her banishment from the Abyss. The demigoddess was able to persuade black dragons to crossbreed with whisper spiders in a ritual aimed to create her own draconic race, but her joy was nothing compared to Takhisis's fury when the Queen of Darkness knew of her treachery. Spider dragons are ferocious and cunning, but lack most magical abilities common to other dragons. Spider dragons prefer to lure prey into carefully crafted traps or narrow spaces where their breath weapon can make the difference. Physically, they still possess draconic features, but modified to a certain extent: no tail or wings, eight agile spider legs apt for climbing but not for swimming, and many arachnoid eyes adapted to living far from the light. Wyrmling spider dragons develop a draconic, chitin-reinforced skin that thickens as the dragon ages and dulls the usually-shining black scales.

Although Takhisis destroyed all but a lucky handful, spider dragons tend to be solitary. They mate at the young adult stage, with the female laying clutches of eggs among which all but one or two are devoured by the progenitors. Outside the Deathdark, Jiathuli's demiplane, they just appear in deep caves, unknown even to most dwarves.

Spider dragons speak Draconic and Common, which they use to mock or bluff enemies into battle.

Strategies and Tactics

Spider dragons barely possess a few magical abilities, all related to spiders. Because of this, they tend to employ a combination of brute force and the careful use of their breath weapons. When hunting, the dragon will closely follow a chosen prey to evaluate its skills and will attack when less expected, saving its acid breath until necessary. Inside its lair, it will hide behind a labyrinth composed of many layers of webs, mocking and luring their opponents into pits or narrow spaces where it can use the web breath to capture them for posterior enjoyment or the acid breath to kill a dangerous foe. Melee combat is used when the enemy is weakened enough not to be a risk.

Breath Weapon (Su): A spider dragon has two types of breath weapon. The first is a cone of web-like film. Creatures within the cone must succeed at a Reflex save to avoid a slow effect. Furthermore, everyone in a web-covered area suffers -3 to attack and damage rolls. Consider every 5-foot section of web to have 10 hp and DR 15/magic. The dragon is immune to this effect. The second variant is a corrosive line dealing acid damage as noted below. Creatures in the line of effect are allowed a Reflex save for half damage.

Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day—Summon spiders (old or older), poison (ancient or older), charm spiders (great wyrm); at will – spider climb (juvenile or older), web (adult or older).

Summon Spiders (Sp): This spell-like ability works exactly as the summon swarm spell, but only summon spiders.

Charm Spiders (Sp): It works exactly as mass charm monster but only functions with spiders of any kind.

Skills: Climb, Jump, and Spot are considered class skills for spider dragons. A spider dragon can always take 10 when climbing.

Table 1: Spider Dragons by Age
Age	Size	HD	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha	Base Atk/Grp	Fort	Ref	Will	Breath Weapon (DC)	Frightful Presence (DC)
Wyrmling	M	7	16	12	13	10	11	10	7	6	6	5	2d6 (14)	--
Very Young	L	10	20	12	15	12	11	10	10	9	8	7	3d6 (17)	--
Young	L	13	23	12	15	12	11	12	13	10	9	8	4d6 (17)	--
Juvenile	L	16	26	12	17	14	11	12	16	13	11	10	5d6 (21)	--
Young Adult	H	19	28	12	19	14	13	14	19	15	12	12	6d6 (23)	21
Adult	H	22	30	12	21	16	13	14	22	18	14	14	7d6 (26)	23
Mature Adult	H	25	32	12	21	16	15	16	25	19	15	16	8d6 (27)	27
Old	G	28	35	12	23	18	15	18	28	22	17	18	9d6 (30)	28
Very Old	G	31	37	12	25	18	17	20	31	24	18	20	10d6 (32)	30
Ancient	G	34	39	12	27	20	17	22	34	27	20	22	11d6 (35)	33
Wyrm	G	37	41	12	27	20	19	24	37	28	21	24	12d6 (36)	35
Great Wyrm	C	40	44	12	29	22	21	24	40	31	23	27	13d6 (39)	37

Table 2: Spider Dragon Abilities by Age
Age	Speed	Initiative	AC	Special Abilities	SR
Wyrmling	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	15 (+4 natural, +1 Dex), touch 11, flat-footed 14	Acid immunity	--
Very Young	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	17 (-1 size, +7 natural, +1 Dex), touch 10, flat-footed 16	--	--
Young	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	20 (-1 size, +10 natural, +1 Dex), touch 10, flat-footed 19	--	--
Juvenile	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	23 (-1 size, +13 natural, +1 Dex), touch 10, flat-footed 22	spider climb	--
Young Adult	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	25 (-2 size, +16 natural, +1 Dex), touch 9, flat-footed 24	DR 5/magic	21
Adult	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	28 (-2 size, +19 natural, +1 Dex), touch 9, flat-footed 27	web	24
Mature Adult	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	31 (-2 size, +22 natural, +1 Dex), touch 9, flat-footed 30	DR 10/magic	26
Old	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	32 (-4 size, +25 natural, +1 Dex), touch 7, flat-footed 31	summon spiders	29
Very Old	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	35 (-4 size, +28 natural, +1 Dex), touch 7, flat-footed 34	DR 15/magic	31
Ancient	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	38 (-4 size, +31 natural, +1 Dex), touch 7, flat-footed 37	poison	34
Wyrm	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	41 (-4 size, +34 natural, +1 Dex), touch 11, flat-footed 40	DR 20/magic	35
Great Wyrm	60 ft., web 60 ft.	+1	40 (-8 size, +37 natural, +1 Dex), touch 3, flat-footed 39	charm spiders	38

Fan Ratings

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