Gianter Spiders
Hello everyone, and welcome to another exciting Foursaken Feature, where we bring you new and exciting content for your fourth edition game. This week I've been spending a good deal of time considering spiders; check out this week’s Grave Plots if you don't believe me. During my deliberation, I began to wonder just what became of the staple giant spider in fourth edition. Scoping out the Monster Manual, I saw that fourth edition actually has some pretty neat giant spiders with some interesting powers. Not to be outdone, I decided to create some giant spiders of my own with the goal of making them even bigger and more exciting.
Dire Fang Spider
These massive apex predators stalk the jungles and remote forests of the world, seeking their next meal with great enthusiasm. Unable to create webs, the dire fang spider relies on ambush tactics to catch its prey, and dire fang spiders favor attacking solitary targets, though they will not hesitate to attack small groups, especially when hungry. Being macro-predatory creatures, dire fang spiders tend to inhabit areas that support large numbers of large animals, such as bears or elk, which comprise the majority of its diet.
Tactics
In combat the dire fang spider prefers to focus on a single target, approaching a weak-looking creature and using its grabbing bite power to grab his foe. Once grabbed, a dire fang spider unleashes his powerful shredding fangs attack. Typically a dire fang spider is at the top of his food chain in any environment in which it takes up residency, and it isn't used to being out muscled; thus, once they become bloodied, they often flee.
Goliath Spider
These truly massive creatures may very well represent the pinnacle of spider evolution. Resembling the world’s most primitive spiders with forward facing fangs, the Goliath spider is the king of a macrofauna world, rapidly vanishing from the modern world. In the face of a shrinking environment, Goliath spiders have begun to venture out of their secluded homes in search of prey, gorging themselves on creatures such as elephants, dragons, and entire towns.
Tactics
The Goliath spider dominates any battlefield it steps onto, both in terms of size and sheer fighting prowess. Not one to mess around when it comes to finding its next meal, the Goliath spider begins combat by charging his main target using his Goliath charge power. Once the battle begins in earnest, the Goliath spider uses his powerful tree trunk-like legs to crush his foes, utilizing his crushing march power to take on multiple foes at once.
Brood Queen Spider
These huge bloated creatures resemble gigantic versions of mundane spiders, but are in fact magical beasts of hellish and sinister intent. As the name might suggest, brood queen spiders are terrifying creatures renowned for their unusual and nightmarish form of reproduction. Brood queen spiders incubate swarms of their young inside their bodies, and then spew them out at living creatures so that they can feed. Long ago, adventurers hunted brood queen spiders to near extinction; however, over time they've begun to claw their way back out of the shadows and threaten to overrun civilization once more.
Tactics
In combat, brood queen spiders revel in the pain of their foes, unleashing her horrendous spawn to devour her enemies before using her inject brood special ability on a lightly armored target. While at least one brood remains active, either on the battle field or in the stomach of her foes, she prioritizes her bite attack to help wound her youth’s targets. Once she is bloodied, she uses her incubate power to recover her special attacks and continues to fight with wicked, passion-fueled abandon.
Broodspider Swarm
The juvenile form of the brood queen spider, these monstrous creatures possess a wicked appetite and will voraciously devour any living creature within reach. So long as a brood queen spider remains close by, the broodspider swarm will defend her at all costs. Left to their own devices, however, the broodspider swarm will quickly devour itself, until only a single spider remains. Lacking the protection of the swarm, it becomes very unlikely for the lone brood spider to survive to adulthood, and only the cleverest of these spiders survive the ten years they require to mature.
A single juvenile brood queen spider suffers a -20 penalty on all of its rolls and on each of its defenses.
Tactics
A broodspider swarm serves a brood queen spider to the best of its ability. In her absence, they are driven by a mindless hunger and will attack anything that moves, including each other.