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Manly Man
2013-11-19, 08:54 AM
Arachne

When the word ‘arachne’ is said, the first thing that springs to mind for most is the terrific visage of a spider, a glossy shell with eight, daggerlike legs and poisonous fangs. For the race that bears such a name, they think of their own kind, not of the arthropods who they may have more than a mere cultural relation to. The arachne, as a race, wholly embrace the idea that they share some kind of brotherhood with the eight-legged arthropods. Called spiderfolk by some, they do not deny the fact that they are found off-putting; indeed, they are, like their smaller brethren, keen to take a more solitary approach to life, thereby avoiding the stigma attached to be akin to what most other races regard as queer and bizarre.

Physical Description: Arachne are spindly and sinuous, for the most part, standing about as high as a half-elf. Their skin has a range in color almost as wide as that of humans, but they almost always have a slightly ashen look to them, whether they are a pasty white or dusty black-brown. Their hair is almost invariably multi-colored, with a wide array of natural hues, ranging from white, salt-and-pepper gray, and black to honey brown, orange, yellow, and bright, almost blood red. However, just as their hair is diverse, their large eyes are universally a solid black, dark as the night sky under which some may find them frolicking or hunting. Some say the eyes are proof that they are soulless creatures, while others find them to be a thing of beauty, second only to onyx in their blackness, as well as their luster. The rest of their facial features are fairly humanoid, but very gaunt, with a long jawbone and sharp chin. At first, their mouths appear thin and small, but they can open them very wide, displaying the long fangs which their jowls house. Unlike most humanoid races, males are noticeably smaller than females, and all of them, especially the women, have a fairly hourglass shape to their figure.

Society: In an oxymoronic sort of way, the arachne are both socialites and hermits at the same time. Their towns and cities are loose, scattered, and tend to have little activity. However, along with their supposed lack of organization comes a sort of fraternization. They tend to keep to themselves, but should a neighbor be in need of help, they are very supportive of one another. They also have a keen eye for trouble, and are both creative and pragmatic when solving issues such as delinquency or the occasional lost adventurer. They are largely carnivorous, befitting their more spidery traits, and find things that some other races consider repulsive to be delicacies instead. Rare is the arachne who would turn down a plate of fat insects and grubs with a side of honey for dipping.

Relations: Just as they are not especially fond of openness with each other, arachne emphasize reclusiveness towards strangers even more. This does not usually translate to downright xenophobia, but they are usually glad to be rid of visitors, since there are so many who find them to be far too unsettling to be bearable, and shun them in return. In spite of such tendencies, anyone who is not so short-sighted as to regard arachne as freaks and instead offer them kindness can expect it in return, and they make caring, watchful friends. They do not harbor any true hatred for another race, excepting one: the drow. They feel that the dark elves pervert the true nature of the spiders they integrate into their demon-worshiping culture, and are in return seen as fascinating, intriguing, and tempting creatures by the drow, who sometimes kidnap them to be used in horrific rituals and experiments. An arachne will usually attack a drow if it can find any kind of advantage, such as being able to strike from an area unseen. If such an option is not available, they will usually go to lengths to make one.

Alignment and Religion: Arachne do not deny their apathetic attitude towards what others think of them, and usually have a knack for individualism. However, they do recognize that there is a pattern to almost everything, since in even the most tangled of webs, each string has a purpose. For this, they tend to neutrality on at least one axis. Good arachne usually worship Shelyn, with the occasional reverence of Desna as well. Lawful ones can be found paying homage to Erastil or Abadar, as well as Asmodeus, though such are rare. Chaotic examples of their kind are a diverse lot, and follow a wide variety of gods, going from Cayden Cailean for his sense of liberty, and Calistria in emphasis of the predatory nature of her lust and trickery, though only the truly demented will worship Lamashtu or Rovagug, and those few will almost never admit their association with said deities. Evil arachne have a great fondness for Norgorber, Urgathoa, or Zon-Kuthon, feeling connections to the treachery they represent.

Adventurers: Although they usually prefer not to venture far from their homes, the arachne that do have done so for many different reasons. Some wish to escape the reclusiveness of their society, while others take up the mantle of the adventurer out of curiosity, a desire to experience new things, or simply the greatest motivator of all: gold. Not many other people will involve themselves in trade with the arachne for their silken textiles, and so even the smallest of coins is seen as an appreciable and valuable gift. For that, most arachne adventurers are specialists of some kind, so as to be more attractive in the eyes of those looking for someone to hire. Rogues, fighters, and monks are common, and those that join a church have found that they make excellent inquisitors. They also make especially deadly rangers and ninjas, taking advantage of their agility and flexible mobility.

Male Names: Abrax, Baltazar, Deimos, Habel, Myron, Pavlos, Silas.

Female Names: Agathe, Chara, Dariea, Gia, Jocaste, Kyma, Podarge, Thais.

Arachne Racial Traits

+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma: Arachne are nimble and sagely, but their spider-like nature makes them disturbing to most, and have developed a sort of anti-social temperament in return.

Medium: Arachne are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to size.

Expert Climber: Arachne have a climb speed of 20 ft., and are to be treated as though constantly under the effect of a non-magical spider climb spell, excepting that they cannot climb on smooth surfaces. They also are given an effective +16 racial bonus on all Climb skill checks.

Bite: Arachne are able to deliver a bite (1d3) as a secondary attack. As a free action, when biting, they may choose to inject a numbing, paralytic poison (Injury; Fort save DC 10 + ˝ arachne's HD + Constitution modifier; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d3 Dex; cure 1 save. They may deliver a venomous bite per day up to as many times as they have points of Constitution modifier, with a minimum of once per day.

Blindsense: Arachne get blindsense out to 30 ft.

Silk: Arachne can, as a full-round action, produce five feet of silk from their fingertips. Through the pulling, stretching, and twisting motions required to produce the silk, they can make up to 5 ft. of silk rope per round. An arachne may produce up to 10 ft. of silk rope per day for every point of Constitution modifier it has, with a minimum of 10 ft. per day. While there are other ways to use the silk (making cloth, for example), it is up to the DM to decide how flexible this ability is.
If an arachne is falling, as an immediate action, they may produce silk to catch themselves, so long as they are able to make contact with a surface of some kind while falling. The amount of silk used is 5 ft. for each 1d6 of damage the fall would have caused if the point of contact were the bottom of the fall. If the arachne runs out of silk before the fall ends, they continue to fall, using what remains of the fall after the point where the silk is depleted to determine damage.

Stitchery: Arachne are known for their skill in weaving silk and other fine textiles, and receive a +2 racial bonus on all Craft and Profession checks involving tailoring, embroidery, or cloth in any other manner.

Seismic Sensitivity: Arachne have incredibly touchy senses of feeling, and strong vibrations can throw them off balance far more easily than most. When standing on a surface that is shaking violently, such as the ground during an earthquake, or a building nearby a stomping creature sufficiently large to rattle the foundations, they are forced to either stand completely still, or take an additional -4 penalty to any Acrobatics checks that stacks with whatever other penalties are associated with the shaking.

Tenderbreath: Arachne have a strange susceptibility to gaseous chemicals, and as such have a -2 penalty on all checks involving inhaled poisons. Also, whenever they are in areas with heavy amounts of smoke, such as burning house or forest fire, they are immediately sickened (no save), and every hour they remain the smoky area requires a DC 13 Fortitude save. If they fail the save, they are instead nauseated.

------

I had been trying to come up with a race that could have more than just a cultural influence from the spider, but still be relatively balanced enough to not cause a huge mess when making characters. I'd asked some friends online about it, who usually have widely differing philosophies, and they had all said it looked balanced enough, but I would like the Playground's opinion on this. I plan to involve a few racial variants, like ones based on jumping spiders, tarantulas, or ones that emphasize the poisonous bite. Ideas for racial feats would be good too; I'd been considering one to let them grow up to four extra arms, though they would have to wait a good while before they could get that, such as having to wait until character level 6th to get the first extra pair, and then 12th for the second, having to take the extra feat once for each pair. Thoughts?

JoshuaZ
2013-11-19, 09:33 AM
It looks reasonably balanced.

It might be fun to have a racial feat that lets them duplicate the Web spell as an extraordinary ability.

Manly Man
2013-11-21, 06:02 AM
It looks reasonably balanced.

It might be fun to have a racial feat that lets them duplicate the Web spell as an extraordinary ability.

I could probably do that. I do, however, have a few other ideas for racial feats. I wasn't trying to turn Spider-Man into a playable race, even if it seems as such.

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Widower

Your venom is unusually virulent.

Prerequisites: Arachne, character level 3rd.

Benefit: The save DC for your bite's poison is increased by 1. Also, you may choose to add 1d2 Str damage to the effects of the poison, 1 Con, or increase it to Dex 1d4.

Special: This feat may be taken multiple times. Its effects stack, increasing the damage as follows: 1, 1d2, 1d3, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d4, 2d6. You may not go past 2d6.

Neurotoxin

Rather than paralyze your foe's body, your venom instead strikes them dumb.

Prerequisites: Arachne, Widower.

Benefit: Pick one physical ability score. The damage done to that ability by your poisonous bite changes to a corresponding mental ability score, as follows: Str:Int, Dex:Cha, Con:Wis.

Special: This feat may be taken multiple times. Its benefits do not stack. Each time it is taken, you select different ability score.

Helping Hands

You further embrace your arachnid traits, and painfully grow limbs.

Prerequisites: Arachne, character level 7th.

Benefit: The next time that you attempt to rest, you instead take half of your total hit points in damage; this does not trigger death from massive damage. Another pair of arms bursts from your sides, leaving you a bloody mess. These arms are fully functional, although they take some getting used to, and so for one week after having grown them, you take a -2 penalty to all Dexterity checks and Dex-based skill checks involving your new arms. You otherwise follow all rules for creatures with extra limbs.

Special: This feat may be taken again at 13th level or higher. You grow a third pair of arms, following the same procedures for having acquired the second pair. You cannot grow more than two more pairs of arms.

Silken Burst

With a few rubbings of your hands and a flick, a wad of silk fluid shoots from your fingers and explodes upon an enemy, enveloping them in a sticky mess.

Prerequisites: Arachne, Dex 13.

Benefit: once per day for each point of Constitution modifier, you may use web bolt (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/w/web-bolt) as an extraordinary ability. The save DC is 10 + 1/2 arachne's HD + Dexterity modifier.

------

Again, thoughts? I realize that some of this may come across as broken, but it does at least require a pretty heavy feat investment for the poison to be especially effective, and you at least have to wait for a while to get a bunch of arms.

nonsi
2013-11-25, 12:59 AM
Lose "Widower" and make the poison damage scale with HD, then it could actually be worth something.

Manly Man
2013-12-08, 09:25 PM
A couple of racial variants.

Variants:

Saltice (pronounced sahl-TEE-chay)]

- Ability modifiers: +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Wis
- Skill modifiers: +2 on Acrobatics and Stealth checks. This replaces Stitchery.
- Silk: They produce silk at 1 ft. per round, but can produce twice as much as normal when using it to catch themselves in a fall.

The saltice are an example of a race that split into subraces out of necessity. Long ago, groups of arachne had migrated into forests and jungles, abandoning the snug seclusion of the rest of their kind. The trees gave them a feeling of both openness and solitude at the same time; there was space to do whatever they wanted, and yet an escape to privacy was a mere tree climb away. They grew to love the feeling of wind whipping over them from the treetops, and in less than a century, had adapted to the new environment, becoming less like the base arachne who are akin to orb-weaver spiders, and more like jumping spiders.

Saltice are a nomadic bunch, rarely staying in one spot of the forest for long. Those that live in flowery areas have also developed more colorful hair, skin, and tastes in fashion. With their love of fun and lack of hermitism, however, also came a notable carelessness, and many fancy themselves to be daredevils of a sort. Bards are among the most common to see take to the adventuring life, and the females have a reputation as seductresses.

Theraphae

- Ability modifiers: +2 Str, +2 Wis, -2 Cha
- +2 CMB involving grappling. This replaces Stitchery.
- Silk: As normal, except that they cannot use it to slow their falling.
- A Fistful of Needles: A theraphae can, once per day for every point of Constitution modifier, grab a fistful of their hair and fling it away in a cloud as it crumbles to dust. The dust affects all in a 10 ft. cone, blinding them as the spell glitterdust for those who fail their Reflex saves, but only inducing a -12 penalty on Stealth checks. The save DC is 10 + 1/2 theraphae's HD + Dexterity modifier.

As the saltice adopted lifestyles befitting the forests, the ones known as theraphae have instead gone to the other side of the spectrum, and live in rolling hills. Much like the tarantulas they have come to resemble, they build their homes into the hillside itself, living in the comfort and warmth offered by the very earth into which they burrow. They, like the arachne, are reclusive, but are more indifferent about passerby, usually ignoring them unless personally addressed or their community is threatened. However, they are also more defensive when aggravated, and will not hesitate to put someone in their place if they believe the situation calls for it.

Theraphae are fond of wrestling and other full-contact sports. In fact, a favorite tactic of theirs when in battle is to bearhug their enemies to death, taking advantage of their extra strength, and delivering a bite or two while they have the upper hand. Those with extra arms are even more likely to do so. Because they are stronger, but less dexterous than others of their kind, theraphae are sometimes mocked by the saltice as clumsy oafs, but they are not the sort to get terribly angry about it, as they have the self-esteem to wave it off as something entirely unworthy of their attention.

The Witch-King
2013-12-09, 06:02 PM
I like it! I like it a lot and I might use them myself if I run a campaign.

Don't you think they need their own good spider goddess though to better counterpoint Lolth and the drow?

I've always liked the idea that there were good spiders and spider spirits out there (after all, anyone with Summon Monster II who's good can summon a celestial giant spider) and that the drow were just avoiding summoning them (or incapable of summoning them since they were celestials). Besides which, if anyone should have a spider goddess for a patron deity, it's these guys.

Anyway -- thanks so much for posting this!

Manly Man
2013-12-09, 09:52 PM
I haven't really gotten into messing with the cosmology of Pathfinder yet, but I might do so pretty soon, once I get a bit more knowledgeable about it.

Manly Man
2015-05-11, 04:04 PM
Bumping this back to life, so that a particular reviewer can talk about it without the thread being closed for necromancy. I might edit a thing or two as well.

NineThePuma
2015-05-11, 06:17 PM
I'm not the original reviewer, but I'll take a crack at it anyway.


Arachne

~fluff~

The Physical Description is very nicely written and manages to look fairly well off, though the lack of chitin mentioned makes me question if they're spider people. :smalltongue: Their Society doesn't actually feel like it's talking about their society, though, with little mention of how they organize their communities or anything, though I might be spoiled by people who do and the actual books don't do that. Between that and their Relations, the race's attitude toward others can be summed up as "leave me alone unless you're friendly, and if you are, I'll be friendly back" which is fine but doesn't really feel super unique or interesting for racial characterization. Alignment and Religion basically feels like Humans under another name. Adventurers show a Martial Wisdom bent, which is pretty neat.


Arachne Racial Traits

+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma: Arachne are nimble and sagely, but their spider-like nature makes them disturbing to most, and have developed a sort of anti-social temperament in return.

Medium: Arachne are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to size.

Expert Climber: Arachne have a climb speed of 20 ft., and are to be treated as though constantly under the effect of a non-magical spider climb spell, excepting that they cannot climb on smooth surfaces. They also are given an effective +16 racial bonus on all Climb skill checks.

Bite: Arachne are able to deliver a bite (1d3) as a secondary attack. As a free action, when biting, they may choose to inject a numbing, paralytic poison (Injury; Fort save DC 10 + ˝ arachne's HD + Constitution modifier; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d3 Dex; cure 1 save. They may deliver a venomous bite per day up to as many times as they have points of Constitution modifier, with a minimum of once per day.

Blindsense: Arachne get blindsense out to 30 ft.

Silk: Arachne can, as a full-round action, produce five feet of silk from their fingertips. Through the pulling, stretching, and twisting motions required to produce the silk, they can make up to 5 ft. of silk rope per round. An arachne may produce up to 10 ft. of silk rope per day for every point of Constitution modifier it has, with a minimum of 10 ft. per day. While there are other ways to use the silk (making cloth, for example), it is up to the DM to decide how flexible this ability is.
If an arachne is falling, as a swift action, they may produce silk to catch themselves, so long as they are able to make contact with a surface of some kind while falling. The amount of silk used is 5 ft. for each 1d6 of damage the fall would have caused if the point of contact were the bottom of the fall. If the arachne runs out of silk before the fall ends, they continue to fall, using what remains of the fall after the point where the silk is depleted to determine damage.

Stitchery: Arachne are known for their skill in weaving silk and other fine textiles, and receive a +2 racial bonus on all Craft and Profession checks involving tailoring, embroidery, or cloth in any other manner.

Seismic Sensitivity: Arachne have incredibly touchy senses of feeling, and strong vibrations can throw them off balance far more easily than most. When standing on a surface that is shaking violently, such as the ground during an earthquake, or a building nearby a stomping creature sufficiently large to rattle the foundations, they are forced to either stand completely still, or take an additional -4 penalty to any Acrobatics checks that stacks with whatever other penalties are associated with the shaking.

Tenderbreath: Arachne have a strange susceptibility to gaseous chemicals, and as such have a -2 penalty on all checks involving inhaled poisons. Also, whenever they are in areas with heavy amounts of smoke, such as an especially seedy bar, they are immediately sickened (no save), and every hour they remain the smoky area requires a DC 13 Fortitude save. If they fail the save, they are instead nauseated.Tenderbreath and Seismic Sensitivity are both particularly difficult to plan around, given that the former is vague enough that the DM can rule it to be in plat even if you don't think it would be as a player. The latter covers effects that I don't think have rules already existent.

The actual poison, bite, and Silk aren't especially good. Silk's slow-fall ability should probably use language similar to a Monk's slow fall (and also should use an immediate action rather than a swift, because if one starts falling off turn they're guaranteed to fall 300ft before they get an action, which is a rather intense amount of damage). The Spider Climb notes can probably be dropped entirely, or have the climb speed swapped for a permanent supernatural spider climb effect =V


Widower
Your venom is unusually virulent.
Prerequisites: Arachne, character level 3rd.
Benefit: The save DC for your bite's poison is increased by 1. Also, you may choose to add 1d2 Str damage to the effects of the poison, 1 Con, or increase it to Dex 1d4.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times. Its effects stack, increasing the damage as follows: 1, 1d2, 1d3, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d4, 2d6. You may not go past 2d6.

Neurotoxin
Rather than paralyze your foe's body, your venom instead strikes them dumb.
Prerequisites: Arachne, Widower.
Benefit: Pick one physical ability score. The damage done to that ability by your poisonous bite changes to a corresponding mental ability score, as follows: Str:Int, Dex:Cha, Con:Wis.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times. Its benefits do not stack. Each time it is taken, you select different ability score.

Helping Hands
You further embrace your arachnid traits, and painfully grow limbs.
Prerequisites: Arachne, character level 7th.
Benefit: The next time that you attempt to rest, you instead take half of your total hit points in damage; this does not trigger death from massive damage. Another pair of arms bursts from your sides, leaving you a bloody mess. These arms are fully functional, although they take some getting used to, and so for one week after having grown them, you take a -2 penalty to all Dexterity checks and Dex-based skill checks involving your new arms. You otherwise follow all rules for creatures with extra limbs.
Special: This feat may be taken again at 13th level or higher. You grow a third pair of arms, following the same procedures for having acquired the second pair. You cannot grow more than two more pairs of arms.

Silken Burst
With a few rubbings of your hands and a flick, a wad of silk fluid shoots from your fingers and explodes upon an enemy, enveloping them in a sticky mess.
Prerequisites: Arachne, Dex 13.
Benefit: once per day for each point of Constitution modifier, you may use web bolt (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/w/web-bolt) as an extraordinary ability. The save DC is 10 + 1/2 arachne's HD + Dexterity modifier.
Widower and Neurotoxin are both pretty lame feats, for different reasons. Widower quickly escalates the damage to be mildly ridiculous if you build for it while Neurotoxin is pretty dang painful, given the ability to deal a loooot of Cha damage pretty fast.

Helping Hands is totally misnamed and undercosted, imho, for providing up to an extra 4 limbs with which to Multiweapon Fight.

Silken burst is pretty okay. Not worth making a big deal out of, in my opinion.


A couple of racial variants.

Variants:

Saltice (pronounced sahl-TEE-chay)]

- Ability modifiers: +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Wis
- Skill modifiers: +2 on Acrobatics and Stealth checks. This replaces Stitchery.
- Silk: They produce silk at 1 ft. per round, but can produce twice as much as normal when using it to catch themselves in a fall.

The saltice are an example of a race that split into subraces out of necessity. Long ago, groups of arachne had migrated into forests and jungles, abandoning the snug seclusion of the rest of their kind. The trees gave them a feeling of both openness and solitude at the same time; there was space to do whatever they wanted, and yet an escape to privacy was a mere tree climb away. They grew to love the feeling of wind whipping over them from the treetops, and in less than a century, had adapted to the new environment, becoming less like the base arachne who are akin to orb-weaver spiders, and more like jumping spiders.

Saltice are a nomadic bunch, rarely staying in one spot of the forest for long. Those that live in flowery areas have also developed more colorful hair, skin, and tastes in fashion. With their love of fun and lack of hermitism, however, also came a notable carelessness, and many fancy themselves to be daredevils of a sort. Bards are among the most common to see take to the adventuring life, and the females have a reputation as seductresses.

Theraphae

- Ability modifiers: +2 Str, +2 Wis, -2 Cha
- +2 CMB involving grappling. This replaces Stitchery.
- Silk: As normal, except that they cannot use it to slow their falling.
- A Fistful of Needles: A theraphae can, once per day for every point of Constitution modifier, grab a fistful of their hair and fling it away in a cloud as it crumbles to dust. The dust affects all in a 10 ft. cone, blinding them as the spell glitterdust for those who fail their Reflex saves, but only inducing a -12 penalty on Stealth checks. The save DC is 10 + 1/2 theraphae's HD + Dexterity modifier.

As the saltice adopted lifestyles befitting the forests, the ones known as theraphae have instead gone to the other side of the spectrum, and live in rolling hills. Much like the tarantulas they have come to resemble, they build their homes into the hillside itself, living in the comfort and warmth offered by the very earth into which they burrow. They, like the arachne, are reclusive, but are more indifferent about passerby, usually ignoring them unless personally addressed or their community is threatened. However, they are also more defensive when aggravated, and will not hesitate to put someone in their place if they believe the situation calls for it.

Theraphae are fond of wrestling and other full-contact sports. In fact, a favorite tactic of theirs when in battle is to bearhug their enemies to death, taking advantage of their extra strength, and delivering a bite or two while they have the upper hand. Those with extra arms are even more likely to do so. Because they are stronger, but less dexterous than others of their kind, theraphae are sometimes mocked by the saltice as clumsy oafs, but they are not the sort to get terribly angry about it, as they have the self-esteem to wave it off as something entirely unworthy of their attention.
Glitterdust multiple times per day with a scaling DC is slightly ridiculous. The others are fine though, in my opinion.

PsyBomb
2015-05-11, 07:21 PM
Lose "Widower" and make the poison damage scale with HD, then it could actually be worth something.

I actually disagree with this. The bite is an awesome secondary attack, just not something to rely on.

Anyway, couple of comments on the race. Love the concept, and the strengths of blindsense and spider climb are balanced by the drawbacks. Helping Hand is HIDEOUSLY overpowered, though. Nine got most of the rest, though I will also note that Fistful of Needles doesn't note what it replaced (didn't pay nearly enough with the loss of Silk utility )

Manly Man
2015-05-12, 01:20 AM
The Physical Description is very nicely written and manages to look fairly well off, though the lack of chitin mentioned makes me question if they're spider people. :smalltongue: Their Society doesn't actually feel like it's talking about their society, though, with little mention of how they organize their communities or anything, though I might be spoiled by people who do and the actual books don't do that. Between that and their Relations, the race's attitude toward others can be summed up as "leave me alone unless you're friendly, and if you are, I'll be friendly back" which is fine but doesn't really feel super unique or interesting for racial characterization. Alignment and Religion basically feels like Humans under another name. Adventurers show a Martial Wisdom bent, which is pretty neat.

Not gonna lie, much of how I wrote down everything is based off of how the races are described in the Core Rulebook. This is the first race of my own that I've put up on this site, and so I didn't want to take too many chances. I can indeed fluff them better; their religion I put like that mostly as a stand-in, because I want to make a spider goddess for them, but as I mentioned in another post, I'm not familiar enough with Golarion's cosmology to interfere with that. As for how they look, I'm better at drawing that up than describing it, so I'll have a go at that to make it more clear. It might take me awhile, but I can do that.

Thanks for the compliment about Wisdom. I've been wanting to have a go at making one into a Stalker, or possibly a Mystic (the theraphae would probably be better for that)


Tenderbreath and Seismic Sensitivity are both particularly difficult to plan around, given that the former is vague enough that the DM can rule it to be in plat even if you don't think it would be as a player. The latter covers effects that I don't think have rules already existent.

I honestly find it strange that they don't have rules on unstable footing, whether it's from the ground moving, crumbling, rocking, or whatever, especially considering that there are seaborne campaigns. As for smoke, at least there's rules for that (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/environment/environmental-rules#TOC-Smoke-Effects). I'll adjust the wording on it, since, now that I think about it, even the seediest of bars wouldn't have smoke heavy enough to make someone choke like that.


The actual poison, bite, and Silk aren't especially good. Silk's slow-fall ability should probably use language similar to a Monk's slow fall (and also should use an immediate action rather than a swift, because if one starts falling off turn they're guaranteed to fall 300ft before they get an action, which is a rather intense amount of damage). The Spider Climb notes can probably be dropped entirely, or have the climb speed swapped for a permanent supernatural spider climb effect =V

I knew something seemed off about the wording. I'll fix that right quick. Keeping the climb speed, though.


Widower and Neurotoxin are both pretty lame feats, for different reasons. Widower quickly escalates the damage to be mildly ridiculous if you build for it while Neurotoxin is pretty dang painful, given the ability to deal a loooot of Cha damage pretty fast.

Just wondering, if the feats are lame, why did you explain ways for them to be overpowered? As for the feats themselves, I wanted to give it a sort of theme that makes them harness what there is of the arachnid in their heritage, and in this case, it's having potentially deadly venom. Neurotoxin is because, well, a good few deadly spiders' venom in real life is a neurotoxin that kills nerves and in very rare cases can cause brain damage. With the kind of feat investment it would take to have a powerfully venomous bite, I'd say it's perfectly fair, considering how many enemies there are (especially upper-level, when the ability would begin to be stronger) that are immune to poison or have ridiculously high Fortitude saves. If you were to devote every feat you could to Widower, you could do up to 2d6 Constitution damage and either 1d4 Dexterity or 1d2 Strength with a Fort save of 26 plus your Constitution modifier, for Con mod/day. The 2d6 Constitution damage is doable by level 17 if you do that, and it would take up all of your feats (save your first feat and whatever bonus feats you might get) up to that point to do so.

For a comparison, a 13th-level initiator with an investment in Primal Fury can do 2d4 Constitution damage every other round with blood-spray strike (which also does another 8d6 on the normal damage roll), no save, and can do it all day long. An arachne doesn't get that kind of damage until 15th level, and not without very heavy feat investment, as well as, like I mentioned, having a limit on how often it can be used per day. I'd hardly call that overpowered.

Another ability to compare to is soul crusher (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/path-of-war/disciplines-and-maneuvers/black-seraph-maneuvers/soul-crusher). While it's an 8th-level maneuver, it does better Charisma damage on average than the poison could at max, again with no save, and no worries about immunity to poison (or critical hits, if we bring blood-spray strike into the mix), with the only limits being that it's supernatural and that it can't be used every round.


Helping Hands is totally misnamed and undercosted, imho, for providing up to an extra 4 limbs with which to Multiweapon Fight.

True enough. I still want them to be able to get extra arms, even if it's with a feat or two, but I can definitely see where the undercost is. Perhaps it can't be taken until the 9th level with Con 13 and Dex 15 (or Con 15 and Dex 17), and the second time you can take it is at 15th level?


Silken burst is pretty okay. Not worth making a big deal out of, in my opinion.

Duly noted.


Glitterdust multiple times per day with a scaling DC is slightly ridiculous. The others are fine though, in my opinion.

I really want to keep something on the theraphae that involves their hair being used as an offensive tool, as tarantulas (at least New World ones) can do that. The urticating hairs can blind you, they make your skin itch and burn like stinging nettles, and if it gets into your nose and throat, they can actually swell shut and suffocate you to death (although someone who's dumb enough to have their face that close to a tarantula's butt is probably asking for it). Seeing as ranged suffocation as a racial ability would be rather overpowered, that's obviously out of the question. I want to keep the blindness somehow, but if you think that it should be nerfed further, I'm not sure what particular status effect would best represent it. Maybe it would dazzle enemies for one round per point of Dexterity modifier, and with a feat later on, cause blindness?


Anyway, couple of comments on the race. Love the concept, and the strengths of blindsense and spider climb are balanced by the drawbacks. Helping Hand is HIDEOUSLY overpowered, though. Nine got most of the rest, though I will also note that Fistful of Needles doesn't note what it replaced (didn't pay nearly enough with the loss of Silk utility )

I think I was going to knock down the theraphae's poison damage to 1d2 Dex, seeing as there are no tarantulas that have a deadly bite (they're just incredibly painful, what with having inch-long or bigger fangs).

NineThePuma
2015-05-12, 01:56 AM
Not gonna lie, much of how I wrote down everything is based off of how the races are described in the Core Rulebook. This is the first race of my own that I've put up on this site, and so I didn't want to take too many chances. I can indeed fluff them better; their religion I put like that mostly as a stand-in, because I want to make a spider goddess for them, but as I mentioned in another post, I'm not familiar enough with Golarion's cosmology to interfere with that. As for how they look, I'm better at drawing that up than describing it, so I'll have a go at that to make it more clear. It might take me awhile, but I can do that.

Thanks for the compliment about Wisdom. I've been wanting to have a go at making one into a Stalker, or possibly a Mystic (the theraphae would probably be better for that)It's not badly written fluff! Sorry if I gave that impression. It's just very... indistinct fluff. If I wanted to visit a kingdom full of spider people outside Golarion's, I'd know that they're spread out a bunch and that they tend to eat insects and stuff. Which isn't really enough, imho, to build a culture around.
I honestly find it strange that they don't have rules on unstable footing, whether it's from the ground moving, crumbling, rocking, or whatever, especially considering that there are seaborne campaigns. As for smoke, at least there's rules for that (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/environment/environmental-rules#TOC-Smoke-Effects). I'll adjust the wording on it, since, now that I think about it, even the seediest of bars wouldn't have smoke heavy enough to make someone choke like that.I was going to point to the smoke effects but the smoke effects are ALSO very vaguely defined. =X
I knew something seemed off about the wording. I'll fix that right quick. Keeping the climb speed, though.Well, I didn't mean "get rid of the climb speed" I meant "Spider Climb + Climb Speed wouldn't overlap that way" and suggested taking one or the other out.
Just wondering, if the feats are lame, why did you explain ways for them to be overpowered? As for the feats themselves, I wanted to give it a sort of theme that makes them harness what there is of the arachnid in their heritage, and in this case, it's having potentially deadly venom. Neurotoxin is because, well, a good few deadly spiders' venom in real life is a neurotoxin that kills nerves and in some cases can cause brain damage. With the kind of feat investment it would take to have a powerfully venomous bite, I'd say it's perfectly fair, considering how many enemies there are (especially upper-level, when the ability would begin to be stronger) that are immune to poison or have ridiculously high Fortitude saves. If you were to devote every feat you could to Widower, you could do up to 2d6 Constitution damage and either 1d4 Dexterity or 1d2 Strength with a Fort save of 26 plus your Constitution modifier, for Con mod/day. The 2d6 Constitution damage is doable by level 17 if you do that, and it would take up all of your feats (save your first feat and whatever bonus feats you might get) up to that point to do so.

For a comparison, a 13th-level initiator with an investment in Primal Fury can do 2d4 Constitution damage every other round with blood-spray strike (which also does another 8d6 on the normal damage roll), no save, and can do it all day long. An arachne doesn't get that kind of damage until 15th level, and not without very heavy feat investment, as well as, like I mentioned, having a limit on how often it can be used per day. I'd hardly call that overpowered.

Another ability to compare to is soul crusher (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/path-of-war/disciplines-and-maneuvers/black-seraph-maneuvers/soul-crusher). While it's an 8th-level maneuver, it does better Charisma damage on average than the poison could at max, again with no save, and no worries about immunity to poison (or critical hits, if we bring blood-spray strike into the mix), with the only limits being that it's supernatural and that it can't be used every round.They're lame, because they don't really do anything exciting. They both build something you can already do and eventually make it moderately ridiculous. You're listing "2d6 con by level 17" except that unless I'm completely misremembering how Paizo does poisons, that's "8d6 con by level 17 if they don't manage to make any of the saves" which is kind of... yeah.
True enough. I still want them to be able to get extra arms, even if it's with a feat or two, but I can definitely see where the undercost is. Perhaps it can't be taken until the 9th level with Con 13 and Dex 15 (or Con 15 and Dex 17), and the second time you can take it is at 15th level?Honestly, I'd have permanent ability damage as a penalty on top of costing a feat. Extra arms are ridiculous, especially since you can MHF and be swinging around 3.5*Str Bonus on all attacks, or have 6 attacks per iterative with MWF.
I really want to keep something on the theraphae that involves their hair being used as an offensive tool, as tarantulas (at least New World ones) can do that. The urticating hairs can blind you, they make your skin itch and burn like stinging nettles, and if it gets into your nose and throat, they can actually swell shut and suffocate you to death (although someone who's dumb enough to have their face that close to a tarantula's butt is probably asking for it). Seeing as ranged suffocation as a racial ability would be rather overpowered, that's obviously out of the question. I want to keep the blindness somehow, but if you think that it should be nerfed further, I'm not sure what particular status effect would best represent it. Maybe it would dazzle enemies for one round per point of Dexterity modifier, and with a feat later on, cause blindness?

I think I was going to knock down the theraphae's poison damage to 1d2 Dex, seeing as there are no tarantulas that have a deadly bite (they're just incredibly painful, what with having inch-long or bigger fangs).I don't think that having a specific "Tarantula" breed of spider people is entirely necessary, but... Glitterdust is literally a spell that wins encounters, even in pathfinder. It falls off because of a low DC, which isn't relevant to this particular example of it.