rmnimoc
2018-10-09, 03:39 AM
A friend and I had a disagreement as to the best way to turn a character into a x/spider hybrid. In the classic spirit of debates, I decided to poll the opinions of a third party.
The first method is True Polymorphing the character into a drider. It's elegant in its simplicity and it'll probably work 10 times out of ten regardless of DM. It's probably the only way to get a strict RAW DM to let you be a drider. Downsides are that if you get knocked unconscious you revert back to what you were before the spell, it doesn't come online until you get 9th level spells, and leveling up could be a bit confusing, if the DM even lets you level.
The second method is a bit more complicated. Beastmaster Rangers can have an animal sidekick up to Challenge 1/4, such as a panther, a wolf, an eagle, or other such things. Unfortunately normal Giant Spiders aren't an option at Challenge 1, but their medium cousins, Giant Wolf Spiders, certainly are. Unfortunately they're a bit small to ride and being able to ride is essential for this to work, but luckily there's a solution. Cut yourself in half. Halflings are Small and stand at about half the height of an elf or human, so half a human would likely also be small. Besides, it's not like you need a lower body for this next part, you're about to get a better one. This next step is the most important: Mount the spider and Sovereign glue yourself to it. Leveling is simple, you just level like any other character. This comes with no weird rule interactions and no real potential for cheese. Most DMs probably won't tell you you can't, since gluing two people together is basically the entire reason Sovereign Glue exists. Nothing short of a legendary item or a wish can undo this. That said, you aren't really a drider, you're more like Quelaag from Dark Souls, though whether that's as upside or a downside is a whole other debate. Like the other option, it doesn't come online until pretty late in a campaign, though I wouldn't be too surprised if a DM let you quest for some mostly empty Sovereign glue earlier, since it's not like this is actually a power boost. This actually is straight up worse, mechanically, than just being a halfling riding a spider since you can't dismount and you might be missing a bit of HP from literally cutting yourself in half. A strict RAW DM might not allow this, since I can't think of any effect that that cuts the body in half at the waist. You need to have a someone nearby to stabilize you, since being cut in half is usually pretty fatal and spider companions aren't know for being good doctors. If the spider dies, you're going to have to awkwardly drag yourself around with your hands and around 150 pounds of dead spider attached to you.
So, which method so you guys think is the better way to make yourself into a drider? If you guys have other ideas, I'd love to hear them.
The first method is True Polymorphing the character into a drider. It's elegant in its simplicity and it'll probably work 10 times out of ten regardless of DM. It's probably the only way to get a strict RAW DM to let you be a drider. Downsides are that if you get knocked unconscious you revert back to what you were before the spell, it doesn't come online until you get 9th level spells, and leveling up could be a bit confusing, if the DM even lets you level.
The second method is a bit more complicated. Beastmaster Rangers can have an animal sidekick up to Challenge 1/4, such as a panther, a wolf, an eagle, or other such things. Unfortunately normal Giant Spiders aren't an option at Challenge 1, but their medium cousins, Giant Wolf Spiders, certainly are. Unfortunately they're a bit small to ride and being able to ride is essential for this to work, but luckily there's a solution. Cut yourself in half. Halflings are Small and stand at about half the height of an elf or human, so half a human would likely also be small. Besides, it's not like you need a lower body for this next part, you're about to get a better one. This next step is the most important: Mount the spider and Sovereign glue yourself to it. Leveling is simple, you just level like any other character. This comes with no weird rule interactions and no real potential for cheese. Most DMs probably won't tell you you can't, since gluing two people together is basically the entire reason Sovereign Glue exists. Nothing short of a legendary item or a wish can undo this. That said, you aren't really a drider, you're more like Quelaag from Dark Souls, though whether that's as upside or a downside is a whole other debate. Like the other option, it doesn't come online until pretty late in a campaign, though I wouldn't be too surprised if a DM let you quest for some mostly empty Sovereign glue earlier, since it's not like this is actually a power boost. This actually is straight up worse, mechanically, than just being a halfling riding a spider since you can't dismount and you might be missing a bit of HP from literally cutting yourself in half. A strict RAW DM might not allow this, since I can't think of any effect that that cuts the body in half at the waist. You need to have a someone nearby to stabilize you, since being cut in half is usually pretty fatal and spider companions aren't know for being good doctors. If the spider dies, you're going to have to awkwardly drag yourself around with your hands and around 150 pounds of dead spider attached to you.
So, which method so you guys think is the better way to make yourself into a drider? If you guys have other ideas, I'd love to hear them.