The Giant Cave Spider

A creature from my menagerie ... This is a pretty low key monster without magic or special powers. It's effectiveness is in the gruesome size and frightful reality that such spiders in fact actually exist. I like to throw this kind of thing into my game often. I have magical creatures of course, but they are interspersed with nature's finest monsters in order to provide context and a bit of naturalistic flare to my world. It's more funnerer that way. :)

The Giant Cave Spider

The Cave Spider's habitat are holes in cave walls.  They can range in size from 2 to 24 inches, while Giant Cave Spiders can grow up to 72 inches. Their bodies are bumpy, ridged, broad and flat, with a segmented two-section abdomen. They have a pair of median eyes at the front of the carapace, and possessed three smaller eye pairs placed further back on each side, for a total of eight eyes.

They tend to have poor eyesight. Their forelegs which serve in part as sensors, are spiked for grabbing and retaining prey, much like those of a mantis.  The first pair of very long and thin legs can extend several times the length of body, are whip-like, and have numerous sensory receptors. Typically, it will extend one of these legs out in front of it as it moves, and uses the other to probe the terrain to the side.  It will also use these long whip legs to probe for prey, and will even put them behind the pray to corral it into range of the gripping forelegs.  Once the prey is in range the Cave Spider snaps into action with blinding speed (+2 Initiative, +2 Armor Class for Hyper-Reflexes and Insect Plating). Once the pray is secured the Cave Spider will use it's long front fangs to suck the inner juices out while the victim is still living.

Courting rituals involve the male depositing stalked sperm, which have one or more sperm masses at the tip, onto the ground, and using his probe legs to guide the female over them.  She gathers the sperm and lays fertilized eggs into a sac carried under her abdomen. When the young hatch, they climb up onto the mother's back.

Cave Spiders will diet consists of insects, small rodents, and sometimes larger animals depending on the environment.  They do not typically hunt outside of the cave in which they live, but they may do so if food is scarce within the cave.  They can survive for two or three weeks without food.

Elthos Stat Block
Min Strength:   4 Max Strength:   6
Min Wisdom:     2 Max Wisdom:     3
Min Dexterity:  3 Max Dexterity:  6
Max Level:      3
Movement:       8 (fast)

Cave Spider (Character Example)
Race (Gender) Class..... Cave Spider (M) Freeman                 XP Base:  40
Character Level (CL)....   3         Bonus    Movement:   8 ->   8
Strength................   4 ........(+0)     Weapon             DMB ALM TAL
Wisdom..................   2 ........(-1)     Fangs 1d6           +1  0   6
Dexterity...............   5 ->   7  (+3)     Spiked Legs         -1  0   6 
Mystic Attack Level (MAL)  2                  
Mystic Armor Class (MAC)   2
Life Points (LP)........  12                  Armor        ACM DXM DAB MOV TAC
Mystic Points (MP) .....   6                  Body: Hyper*  +3  +2  +0  +0
Current Experience......  80                  Body: Insec*  +2  +0  +2  +0
Money................... 270                  Armor Total:  +5  +2  +2  +0  6