Good-aligned spider deities?

[Inevitability]

I saw the Spider Plague spell from the Spell Compendium, and its option to summon celestial spiders in particular. This made me wonder: are there any good-aligned deities associated with spiders?

For the record, I know other clerics can cast the spell. I'm just curious.

[Darth Ultron]

There are some in myth:Spider Grandmother or Spider Woman (Navajo, Pueblo, Tewa, Kiwa,
Hopi & Cherokee), Areop-Enap (Micronesia), Biliku (India), Arachne
(Greek), Anansi (African), Nareau (Gilbert Islands, current Kiribati),
Tule (Sudan & Zaire), Uttu (Sumerian spider goddess of weaving and of
clothing.)

but I don't think there are any in D&D.

[Extra Anchovies]

Halmyr (CWar p. 148), LN deity of strategy, skill, and planning, would admire the humble arachnid. It carefully weaves its web, laying a trap to subdue their enemy without once engaging them in battle - the mark of a true master of war.


To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

(I win but never fight - that's the Art of War! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdhHaCrlhBo))

If setting-specific content is available, Eberron's Traveler (http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/The_Traveler) could well have a connection to spiders, having both the Artifice and Trickery domains, but it's CN and has the Chaos, Liberation, Travel, and Celerity domains, so it wouldn't much approve of spiders' stationary, immobilization-based means of hunting.

Bralm (CDiv p. 121) is a neutral goddess of insects and industry, but she's very evidently a fan of bees, with an emphasis in her portfolio on teamwork and community.

Personally, I don't think spiders are reflective of Good; they're usually rather selfish creatures, caring only for themselves and their offspring with even mates being potential food for female spiders.

[weckar]

Anansi (African)No, just no. Not Evil, but CERTAINLY not Good.

[Inevitability]

Personally, I don't think spiders are reflective of Good; they're usually rather selfish creatures, caring only for themselves and their offspring with even mates being potential food for female spiders.

Many animals display selfish behavior, though, and we still get CG and LG lion deities. You know, that animal whose behavior includes murdering offspring of rivals and lazily waiting for others to secure food for it.

[the_david]

Can't you just homebrew your own deities like Gygax intended? Well, I suppose you're screwed if your DM is a really big fan of the Forgotten Dark Eberronlance...

It's gonna need the Good domain if it wants to be a good deity. (Sean K. Reynolds said so.) Using webs and poison isn't particularly lawful, so that would be either neutral or chaotic. Maybe the Chaos domain, if you'd prefer chaotic. The Spider domain is an obvious one. Trickery would be appropriate, with all the webs and poison.

As for a dogma, spiders kill insects which is helpful, which is the closest thing to good you've got...

[Afgncaap5]

Can't you just homebrew your own deities like Gygax intended? Well, I suppose you're screwed if your DM is a really big fan of the Forgotten Dark Eberronlance...

As much as I love Greyhawk and Eberron, this might be the best way to go. I'd either modify an existing god to appear as a spider often or have an affinity for them, or I'd make something entirely new. as Extra Anchovies suggested, Halmyr having a fondness for spiders (and even appearing as monstrous spiders on occasion) might be appropriate, and The Traveler would fit as, if not a good spider god, then at least a trickster-hero god. (While I agree that The Traveler probably wouldn't appreciate a spider's stance of "I'll wait here and hope food falls in my trap", it's worth noting that a recurring motif with The Traveler is the construction of things, followed by their destruction, so that something new and hopefully better can come after it. Spider webs, while being crazily strong, are often destroyed and rebuilt by spiders, so there's a bit of a connection there, even if it's a stretch to make it.)

If homebrewing your own... I'd go the "trickster deity" route. It might be fun to make it an elvish deity who regularly infuriates Lolth and often makes Correllon Larethian get pushed to the brink of insanity. "This is the tale of how the good spider god stole Correllon's arrow strings, replaced Lolth's web with them, and launched the spider queen into the sea. Coincidentally, this is also the story of why we aren't welcome in the lands of the merfolk."

Alternatively, if you wanted something more lawful than chaotic, it might be reasonable to make it a deity whose focus is on home, family, and hunting. Weirdly enough, Ehlonna might be a good model for a deity like this (even though she's neutral instead of lawful). Take what prey stumbles your way, and when your home is demolished build it anew.

[Clistenes]

Attrecoppea, LN/LG Petty Goddess of Very Small Spiders. (http://rendedpress.blogspot.com.es/2015/05/expanded-petty-gods-free-in-pdf.html)

She is mostly good. She protects homes against bugs, but she feels bitter about her work not being properly acknowledged by mortals.

[Eldan]

There are some in myth:Spider Grandmother or Spider Woman (Navajo, Pueblo, Tewa, Kiwa,
Hopi & Cherokee), Areop-Enap (Micronesia), Biliku (India), Arachne
(Greek), Anansi (African), Nareau (Gilbert Islands, current Kiribati),
Tule (Sudan & Zaire), Uttu (Sumerian spider goddess of weaving and of
clothing.)

but I don't think there are any in D&D.

As it so happens, the Sumerian powers are in On Hallowed Ground, a Planescape book.

It features:
Enlil (NG Greater, War, Air)
Inanna (LE Greater, War, Love)
Ki (N, Greater, Nature)
Nanna-Sin (CG, Lesser, theMoon)
Nin-Hursag (N, Lesser, Earth)

And, yes:

Utu. Who here is a chaotic good sun god. Doesn't mention spiders at all. But then, he only gets something like four lines, and mostly about what his domain looks like.

[Telonius]

Any deity that's associated with weaving could probably work. Mystra's lawful neutral, but it would certainly fit in. A Good-aligned nature deity like Ehlonna could have some spiders in her domains.

[Bohandas]

Attrecoppea, LN/LG Petty Goddess of Very Small Spiders. (http://rendedpress.blogspot.com.es/2015/05/expanded-petty-gods-free-in-pdf.html)

She is mostly good. She protects homes against bugs, but she feels bitter about her work not being properly acknowledged by mortals.

Is there a way to get this without being put on some site's stupid mailing list?

[Elkad]

Is there a way to get this without being put on some site's stupid mailing list?

The traditional ways are "use your other mailbox, the one that gets all the spam" (in my case, a Yahoo box I've had for about 25 years) or use a redirected address mask from a place like opayq.com, so you can kill the redirect if it gets to be a problem.

[Efrate]

Spiders fall into two category, hunters and trappers. Hunters actively hunt down their prey, trapper make a trap (web, etc) to lure prey in. Just make it a hunter, and any good god of hunting can easily fit. MM1 also lists both types as being potential spiders,with hunters not having webs IIRC. Corelleon probably has some fancy hunting spiders, if nothing else than as a barb to Lolth. There is the whole thing about him being evil but...