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Here is a spider-based PC race for use in my upcoming Pathfinder Game. All I have here is the crunch, with the fluff to be filled in later. I'm also not completely set on the name, so any suggestions or feedback regarding anything in this post will be appreciated.
This is pretty much how I'm set on using the race, and yeah, I know the web thing is kinda like spiderman, but I think that it is something cool for a race to have. Let me know what you guys think cause I'd love to hear your opinions on this
Here is a spider-based PC race for use in my upcoming Pathfinder Game. All I have here is the crunch, with the fluff to be filled in later. I'm also not completely set on the name, so any suggestions or feedback regarding anything in this post will be appreciated.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Strength: Arachnida are very attractive and graceful, but aren't as strong as other races of their size.
Medium Size: As medium creatures, Arachnida have no special bonuses or penalties due to size
Humanoid Type
Low-Light vision: An Arachnida can see twice as far as a human in poorly lit conditions.
Bite: Arachnida have very sharp canine teeth that can be used to make a bite attack that does 1d4 damage, and can also be used to deliver their poison (see below)
Poison: With a successful bite attack, an Arachnida can use it's needle-like canine teeth to inject poison into it's opponent, dealing 1d3 strength damage for both the primary and secondary effects. This ability can be used 1/hour, and has a fortitude save equal to 10+con modifier+1/2 HD. The poison can also be used to coat a weapon, but the poison will only retain it's potency for 10 minutes after being exposed to the air without being treated for storage. Arachnida are immune to their own poison, as well as the poison of any other Arachnida.
Web: Throughout the course of the day, an Arachnida can produce an amount of rope-like web equal to 10ft per point of constitution. This web is treated like silk rope in all respects except what is stated here. It will remain for 1 hour until it becomes brittle and useless, unless it is alchemically treated, and the exact method is a closely guarded Arachnida secret. It can be fired from glands that are located in the wrists with a range increment of 10ft, and will automatically adhere to any surface it strikes. If used to climb, it will support up to 200 pounds of weight at one time before the adhesive will give out. It provides a +2 bonus on climb checks and adds +2 to the escape artist DC if used...
One practical consideration: how are these people going to keep up with their need for blood in a dungeon setting? Bring livestock down into the dungeon? They've got good flavor, but that needs considered.
Also, what are their favored classes?
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The blood drawback is one I have considered, and depending on the situation they can either drink from downed foes or even party members if the need is dire; it doesn't have to be a complete drain, just enough, say, to fill a flask.
Oh, Favored classes.... let me edit that real quick...
EDIT: notice I said living creature; I wasn't specific on purpose. It just has to be blood. In game terms, I would say that draining blood with permission and trying only to satiate their need would deal 1-2 damage to the doner.
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EDIT: notice I said living creature; I wasn't specific on purpose. It just has to be blood. In game terms, I would say that draining blood with permission and trying only to satiate their need would deal 1-2 damage to the doner.
Blood Drain typically does Con damage (in the cases of Stirges or Vampires), so it might be appropriate to have the 'feeding' require inflicting 1d4 pts. of Con damage to sustain the Arachne.
This could prove nasty at lower levels, but once the party has access to 2nd level Lesser Restoration, it's not an insurmountable thing.
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It would make more sense, and as you said that would prove nasty at low levels, but they could sustain themselves on enemies as well, making them have two different types of stat damage.
Here's a thought... 1d4 points of constitution damage to someone else once every two days, or they take 1d4 points of con damage. Afterwords, they need to drain the same amount of con that they loss.
To drain from someone that isn't willing, they would need to grapple and establish a pin. Or, as I had in mind when making the race, they can use the web to trap them, using a little more every so often if they wish to save them for a later feeding.
Looks good. I'd make the blood drain do 1d4 Con damage, but require a grapple and pin.
Also, I think Blood Sustenance should be required every 2 days, if that's not provided, the Arachnida takes 1d4 Con damage every day it doesn't feed. It would regain 1 point of lost Con damage for every point it drains.
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1d4 con damage per day might be a little bit too lethal, but I guess that would be a good way to enforce it.
The mouth? I thought about that, and I thought about a lot of locations for the web glands, and what I was trying to think of was a location that wasn't kinda gross, and one that was also convenient. I wanted them to be able to "launch" the web, and that doesn't seem quite as possible under the tongue... If I did change it, it wouldn't be an effect that they could immediately use, like was the initial effect, but I might make it last longer...
Could you give us a little bit of fluff about these guys? Like a physical description? So far, they seem really neat!
EDIT: Maybe give them Favored Class: Spellthief. They're sorcerous and skillful.
I'm afraid I dislike the idea on the whole of another animal-man.
If you don't like the name, how about Cobfolk?
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Arachnida look very much like humans of small stature. Both genders stand anywhere from 4'8" to 5'6" feet tall, and they usually weigh a little over 100 pounds, with little difference between the two. Their hair is almost always dark, with the exception of the rare few with stark white hair, which are regarded very highly in their society. Their eyes are always blood red and are usually regarded as strikingly beautiful, or incredibly unnerving, depending on the situation. The most distinct feature, aside from their eyes, is their needle-like canine teeth, which they can use to deliver a nasty bite, not to mention a strength-draining poison.
Society: Arachnida live in tribes or villages that can range in population from 100 souls to 1,000, with each group led by a matriarch. Females are dominant in Arachnida society, with the men usually being subservient to the women.
Alignment: Arachnida living in tribes under the rule of a Matriarch tend towards neutrality, with an equal amount of law and chaos, and they do tend more towards evil than good as a society, but as with any society, the individuals can vary greatly. The most common alignment for an Arachnida is either neutral or neutral evil.
EDIT: I think I will change the location of the web glands to the mouth, and change the duration of the web to 1 hour per point of constitution modifier (minimum 1 hour). Obviously, with so many things based on Con for this race, it makes the blood dependency all the more important.
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Okay, here's the changes so far...
Weapon Proficiency: Arachnida are always proficient with nets.
Here are two feats we used for our spider villain race, Aneishi, for NeoExodus: A House Divided that I think might go very well with your race. Enjoy!
Blood Drinker - Aneishi
Aneishi believe that drinking the blood of their victims gives them great power.
Prerequisites: Aneishi
Benefits: You benefit from ingesting blood. If you drink a pint of fresh blood, you gain a +1 morale bonus to all attack and damage rolls, skill and ability checks, and saves for one hour. The blood must have come from an individual that was living within the past four hours. You can only gain this bonus a maximum of once per day, and it does not exceed +1 no matter how much blood you drink.
Furthermore, the blood of an individual can only give you this bonus once. After you have tasted a specific individual’s blood, it will no longer benefit you; you need the blood of another individual to use this feat again.
Blood Drain - Aneishi
You can drain a target of life giving blood.
Prerequisites: Aneishi
Benefit: An Aneishi drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution damage in any round when it begins its turn attached to a victim by a grappling attack. An Aneishi can only deal a maximum of 12 points of Constitution damage then they will detach itself with the Aneishi’s appetite satisfied and be unable to us this feat for 24 hours. This ability does not affect elementals, plants, or creatures that lack a Constitution score.
Society: Arachnida live in tribes or villages that can range in population from 100 souls to 1,000, with each group led by a matriarch. Females are dominant in Arachnida society, with the men usually being subservient to the women.
Alignment: Arachnida living in tribes under the rule of a Matriarch tend towards neutrality, with an equal amount of law and chaos, and they do tend more towards evil than good as a society, but as with any society, the individuals can vary greatly. The most common alignment for an Arachnida is either neutral or neutral evil.
Everyone will be thinking drow/drider, which is why you should take great care to distinguish this race from them. I think the 'Nightmare Mommy'-male dread of female control (not saying that to rip on you, just to describe what has been done with the drow already) social organization hurts you in that regard. Maybe make them completely egalitarian or ruled by a race of feeble, Vorta-like clones, I dunno. Otherwise I think it's kinda cool.
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I was just kinda thinking about how black widows eat the male after mating and whipped all of that up on the spot. I can't imagine that a race that drinks the blood of others can be anything better than neutral as a whole. My group never looked into drow more than killing them, as I've used them as fodder for starting a few of my campaigns. And we've never used Driders, so I'm good there, too. Maybe if I was publishing this that would be a problem, but as it stands this is for private use and I know my players wouldn't draw the same connection, or at least wouldn't care.
I'm afraid I dislike the idea on the whole of another animal-man.
Good thing they're an insect-man. ;)
Now, weird question, but where does the silk come from? I like these guys a lot.
I can't imagine that a race that drinks the blood of others can be anything better than neutral as a whole.
Well, even if they are intelligent, what if they have evolved to require blood for survival? Does feeding on blood completely preclude their being good? It's an ethical football you can kick around, and maybe adds some depth and complexity to your campaign. Maybe they have evolved some kind of symbiosis with those they feed on. (For a really fresh spin on vampires, I would recommend 'Fledgling,' by Octavia Butler. That might give you some interesting ideas about possible vampire ethics and social organization.)
Do they need humanoid blood, or just mammalian blood? Does the blood from different species have different effects, like vampires getting a little buzz off of lycanthrope blood in LKH's Anita Blake series?
I actually like your concept here.
Just to help you with some ideas here is a hombrew race I made called Arachnoids (based off the Insectile template from Wizard of the Coast Savage Species.
Here is a link to my google doc
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-g1CfGYDuTB5zgBsNEDUwFoS4oeSrQXwJZxCH4W zqc0/edit?usp=docslist_api