I want to feature an Aranea in an upcoming game, but I'm having a really hard time getting in character. For reference: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/additionalMonsters/aranea.html
I can't figure out how person-like they would be and I can't put myself in her shoes. Are they women who can turn into spiders, or are they monstrous magic-using spiders who can take human form?
Are they hatched or born?
How are they raised?
Do they have a distinct culture?
Do they hunt for pleasure or only for food?
Can they reproduce with other species (since there are apparently no males)?
Why do they want to research magic (power, compulsive curiosity, something else)?
Is anyone aware of a product that has explored Aranea in greater detail than the blurb in the Bestiary?
Are they women who can turn into spiders, or are they monstrous magic-using spiders who can take human form?
First line "An aranea is an intelligent, shapechanging spider with sorcerous powers."
since there are apparently no males?
Where are you getting this from?
Is anyone aware of a product that has explored Aranea in greater detail than the blurb in the Bestiary?
Closest I've see was a book that had a plane where Aranea were enslaved by the interplanar/intersellar antpeople known as Formians and had a rebellion and web cities.
Aranea go back to several previous editions. Here is a forgotton realms wiki entry that may help, although a lot of it is setting specific. There were also featured in the Savage Species 3.0 book but there wasn't much about culture or society.
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The Herathian aranea of the Mystara setting would really complicate matters, as they think of their two forms as separate creatures and sometimes have a tough time integrating the activities of their two forms.
Outside of that setting, I would play them as intelligent spider creatures who are very comfortable being in humanoid form.
Thanks for the advice!
@Milo: I didn't mean it literally :P I mean, can their motivations be easily understood in human(oid) terms and do they care about human friendship, community, and comforts... or is it more appropriate to play them as monstrous creatures with their own priorities who sometimes change into human form when it is convenient.
As to the part about there not being any males, I'd just always seen them depicted and referred to as female. I took a closer look at all of the OGL/PRD/other content I can find and it doesn't specifically say their humanoid form is female- thanks for pointing that out!
And I do rather like the idea of Formians being a natural enemy, and perhaps Ettercaps too...
@Dave: Thanks for the link!
@David: We're not in Mystara, but thanks for the reference!
I'm leaning toward aranea who value community, security, and knowledge. With their +6 charisma modifier I'm thinking of them as the sort of people at the center of social networks who know everybody and bring out the best (or worst, for Evil aranea) in those around them.
BTW, some googling for Mystaran aranea gave some good resources and writeups on their culture and psychology- apparently the Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium was the place to look. There's a lot of insight and good writing in there that I can probably apply to my game. The most helpful links were:
http://pandius.com/aranea.html
http://pandius.com/aranea2.html