AC 17 (natural armor)
HP 114 (12d10 + 48; bloodied 57)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Proficiency +3; Maneuver DC 15
Skills Perception +6, Stealth +6, Survival +6
Damage Resistances poison
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 16
Languages Undercommon, one more
Spider Climb. The drider can use its climb speed even on difficult surfaces and upside down on ceilings.
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the drider has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Perception checks that rely on sight.
Web Walker. The drider ignores movement restrictions imposed by webs.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The drider makes a claws attack and then either a bite or longsword attack. Alternatively, it makes two longbow attacks.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15). While grappling a target, the drider can’t attack a different target with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one grappled creature. Hit: 2 (1d4) piercing damage plus 13 (3d8) poison damage.
Longsword (wielded two-handed). Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 4) slashing damage.
Longbow. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 120/600 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) poison damage.
Combat
The drider attacks from hiding when it can. It starts combat by grappling a target with its claws. If successful, it bites; otherwise, it attacks with its longsword. It doesn’t bite creatures it knows to be resistant to poison damage, such as other driders.
Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or Nature check, characters can learn the following:
DC 10 Half-humanoid, half-spider creatures, driders are the monstrous products of a terrible magical ritual.
DC 15 Like the spiders they resemble, driders can climb walls and ceilings, and their bite is highly poisonous.
DC 20 Though shadow elves were the first to create driders, anyone can perform the ritual—or become a victim of it. Many driders were once powerful spellcasters themselves.
Stalking the tunnels and caverns of the subterranean abyss, driders are former humanoids twisted by foul magics, their lower half replaced by that of a monstrous spider. They retain memories from their previous lives, but their thoughts and sensibilities are warped by arachnid hungers. They prefer to take their victims alive—adults for fresh meals and children to raise as their own.
Taboo Transformation. The shadow elves first invented the technique to transform a humanoid into a “drow-spider,” but most tribes now outlaw the perilous spell. Power-hungry arcanists and occultists of all heritages scour Underland ruins to obtain the forbidden rite. Some seek to transform into driders themselves, while others cast the spell to make the most of their least-useful minions.
Spider Psychology. Defiled in both body and mind, only the strongest ambitions follow a drider into their new life—with most other emotions consumed by an insatiable hunger for humanoid flesh. They hunt with merciless cunning. Some driders cooperate with their own well enough to weave immense underground colonies, but many find their hunger more compelling than any alliance.
Only two things capture a drider’s attention more than food: artifacts and offspring. The utility of magic items is obvious to driders, and they often hoard objects with even a hint of enchantment. Many driders, unable to reproduce yet compelled by arachnid sensibilities, harbor a deep-seated but misguided concern for humanoid children. Driders fancy themselves the adopted parent of any ill-fated child they kidnap, and will lay down their lives to shield their children from harm.
1 Mistakes a Small size party member for a child; wants to adopt them
2 Obsessed with finding a way to reverse the magic that transformed them
3 Taunting a lone traveler it has captured in its web
4 Knows these caverns well; will guide the party for a price
1 A web-choked tunnel with disturbing images scratched into the walls
2 A cradle made from humanoid bones
3 Pages torn from a tome detailing the ritual to become a drider
4 A haunting lullaby echoes from further down the tunnel
Driders scuttle underground and in fey forests.
CR 5–10: Drider ; drider with 1d4 giant spiders ; drider with 1 or 2 ettercaps
Treasure 450 gp, child’s doll, prayer book (25 gp), gold and quartz necklace (250 gp), potion of poison , tan bag of tricks
CR 11–15: 2 driders ; drider with 3 or 4 phase spiders ; drider with mage and 1d4 giant spiders
Treasure 1,200 gp, silver mask (250 gp), electrum necklace with black pearl pendant (750 gp), longsword set with topaz (750 gp), dagger of venom