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View Full Version : Aranea, Aranea... what the hell?



Parvum
2008-02-09, 02:05 PM
Aranea (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/aranea.htm) is a magical beastie, somewhat like a spider but with a brain in it's back. It has:
a) A level adjustment
b) Opposable thumbs
c) A humanoid ("not killed on sight") form that can be maintained indefinitely
d) Medium size
e) Mental abilities within 4 of 10
f) Advancement by character class

Now, the level adjustment and HD may be hefty, but I'm still interested in these things as characters. Problem is, I have no clue what the hell they are. They have 'usually neutral' (which, I beleive, basically means that they aren't supposed to be regular PC fodder, but otherwise not considered alignment-wise) and the tendency to take hostages in combat to negotiate. That's about all.

Where can I get some information on where these things came from? Were they just dumped into the MM and forgotten? I'd love to just pull something from my arse, but I've received the impression that this would be unsupported, and asking to play as one is already skating on thin ice. What is there?

Kurald Galain
2008-02-09, 02:10 PM
STFG.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aranea_%28Dungeons_%26_Dragons%29

Spiryt
2008-02-09, 02:16 PM
STFG.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aranea_%28Dungeons_%26_Dragons%29

Well, you must admit that this article doesn't in fact anwer any OP question.

I was also interested about Araneas. Does MM tells something about what the hell they are?

Collin152
2008-02-09, 02:17 PM
STFG.


Bless you.

Kurald Galain
2008-02-09, 02:27 PM
Well, you must admit that this article doesn't in fact anwer any OP question.

Well, actually it does. His question "Where can I get some information on where these things came from?" is perfectly answered by the article, which points to the Isle of Dread and Castle Amber adventure moduels.

These creatures are not from any classic mythology, to the best of my knowledge.

Spiryt
2008-02-09, 02:37 PM
Well, actually it does. His question "Where can I get some information on where these things came from?" is perfectly answered by the article, which points to the Isle of Dread and Castle Amber adventure moduels.

These creatures are not from any classic mythology, to the best of my knowledge.

I understand, but I assume that OP already seen that, he's just asking for more info. It's not much in wiki, and I doubt that The Isle of Dread and Castle Amber are very easy to get after 25 years.

Bag_of_Holding
2008-02-09, 02:54 PM
Dragon magazien 351 has some limited info about the Isle of Dread. It has a bit about aranea as well, but I'm afraid I can't give them out here. If you're really desparate to read about them, I'd suggest you go to the nearest comic shop or something. :smallwink:

bosssmiley
2008-02-09, 06:18 PM
Arenea...

"Champions of the Princess Ark" for the OD&D Mystara setting featured a secret kingdom of these guys as the BBEGs of an area called the Savage Coast. It was horribly obvious that something was up in Herath though; their kingdom was the one and only kingdom with no readily apparent schtick.

Areneas as presented there were good for paranoia, intrigue and psychological horror games ("They could be anyone!"). Heck, if you throw in the idea of their two forms having no memory of one another and completely contradicting agendas it could get really creepy. Memorable? Scary? Oh yes. :smalleek:

They were the sort of monster that it paid the GM to play as an NPC first and foremost, the MM stat block + blurb format really doesn't do their potential any justice.

Irreverent Fool
2008-02-09, 06:33 PM
Aranea (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/aranea.htm) is a magical beastie, somewhat like a spider but with a brain in it's back. It has:
a) A level adjustment
b) Opposable thumbs
c) A humanoid ("not killed on sight") form that can be maintained indefinitely
d) Medium size
e) Mental abilities within 4 of 10
f) Advancement by character class

Now, the level adjustment and HD may be hefty, but I'm still interested in these things as characters. Problem is, I have no clue what the hell they are. They have 'usually neutral' (which, I beleive, basically means that they aren't supposed to be regular PC fodder, but otherwise not considered alignment-wise) and the tendency to take hostages in combat to negotiate. That's about all.

Where can I get some information on where these things came from? Were they just dumped into the MM and forgotten? I'd love to just pull something from my arse, but I've received the impression that this would be unsupported, and asking to play as one is already skating on thin ice. What is there?

This is precisely why I disagree with WotC's stance that the stats are more important than the fluff. Many monster entries in the books have heavily truncated 'ecology' sections and practically no history of the creatures in question. They've said explicitly that they intend to take this even further with 4th edition.

So I guess your answer is - make up an entire society and reason for being for the creatures on your own. That's what Wizards says anyway.

Dan_Hemmens
2008-02-09, 06:38 PM
This is precisely why I disagree with WotC's stance that the stats are more important than the fluff. Many monster entries in the books have heavily truncated 'ecology' sections and practically no history of the creatures in question. They've said explicitly that they intend to take this even further with 4th edition.

So I guess your answer is - make up an entire society and reason for being for the creatures on your own. That's what Wizards says anyway.

Since D&D has no default setting, I can see why they've taken that stance. Since different races can have *completely* different backstories in different settings, there's not much point in having a "default" explanation.

Caracol
2008-02-09, 06:39 PM
A wizard did it.

its_all_ogre
2008-02-09, 08:13 PM
they are awesome, main thing is they're spiders. so they'll be eating meat presumably, cause all spiders eat other creatures.
next, they have web abilities and poison, they could craft some interesting garments possibly and even sell their own venom.
with their alternate form they can fit into any society they want, living in a town disguised as a local sorcerer, which they have levels of too.

low level bbeg potentially, a behind the scenes type of guy rather than an in your face type.
i'm using them in my campaign now and they're just slightly odd, pcs are very wary of them cause they live off the land, no farming, growing of crops or keeping of livestock.....

AtomicKitKat
2008-02-09, 08:30 PM
I figure they're inspired by the original Aranea from Greek legends. You know, the weaver who beat Athena at weaving and bragged about it, only to be turned into the ancestor of all spiders?

Zincorium
2008-02-09, 08:45 PM
I figure they're inspired by the original Aranea from Greek legends. You know, the weaver who beat Athena at weaving and bragged about it, only to be turned into the ancestor of all spiders?

You mean Arachne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachne)? Aranea might be a different spelling of the same character, but Arachne is how most people know it. Kind of like Heracles vs Hercules.

Irreverent Fool
2008-02-09, 08:59 PM
Since D&D has no default setting, I can see why they've taken that stance. Since different races can have *completely* different backstories in different settings, there's not much point in having a "default" explanation.

So you're saying none of the monster entries should have story or background because they might not ALWAYS be exactly the way they're described? Should we not describe wraiths as 'hateful of all life' because in some specific campaign settings they might not be?

I can't help but disagree. Those exceptions to the default should be (and are) described in the specific campaigns. The exceptions are documented. It's still helpful to have a general background. That way, you have something to fall back on as a DM. I like homebrewing. My Orcs and Elves have very different cultures than the usual MM versions and I state that to my players before the game. Everything else is pretty much as-written.

Monsters should be more than a stat block and special abilities for the players to kill. They don't need to be much more, but they ought to have a secondary reason to exist at least.

Belteshazzar
2008-02-09, 09:08 PM
I tend to have small groups of them inhabit thick forests, caves ect. They tend to be somewhat backwards and one of them I plan on using in a campaign is a redneck bounty hunter (rogue/shadowdancer) who plays a banjo and uses ghost sound to intimidate his enemies. Nice and creepy like too...

Demented
2008-02-09, 10:07 PM
Sadly, in a search for "aranea creature", this thread is the 11th result. =P

They may have been an underdark creature (http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?arch_stuff82)... Some relation to the drow, also having a (poor) relationship with the formians.
Though, it may not be DnD standard.

Several drow fansites also seem to mention the Aranea. They apparently don't get along. (Does Calimshan mean anything to anyone?)

Worira
2008-02-09, 10:40 PM
It's a country in FR.

Rimx
2008-02-09, 11:09 PM
The Savage campaign setting has Aranea as a pc race. It's available for download at wotc classic download page (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads) as an rtf file and on the Vaults of Pandius (http://www.pandius.com/index.html) as a html or pdf file(Savage Coast page (http://www.pandius.com/svgecst.html)). Here's their MM entry (http://www.pandius.com/aranea.html), there's also an undead version called the Arashaeem (http://www.pandius.com/arasheem.html) Pandius also has the Herathian Master Spy (http://www.pandius.com/hmstrspy.html) and Herathian Speciality Magic (http://www.pandius.com/webointr.html).

The aranea first appeared in in X1 Isle of Dread, but they didn't gain their shape shifting abilities until the "Voyage of the Princess Ark" series in Dragon. In the adventure Tortles of the Purple Sage(Dungeon 6,7) there's a trapdoor spider variant that lives on the plains. IIRC in M5 Talons of Night their said to be descended from planar spiders (http://www.pandius.com/planar_s.html).

Fhaolan
2008-02-10, 02:10 AM
I have all the official sources that the Aranea has appeared in, including Isle of Dread and Castle Amber...

They don't help much, unfortunately. It all boils down to: intelligent magic-using spider-thing with a big brain that lives in forested areas, high in the trees in web-nests. They are traditional enemies to the Phanaton, who are intelligent monkey/raccoon-things that live in forested areas, high in the trees in woven vine-nests. Later versions described the Aranea as shapeshifters who have taken control over some regions by pretending to be whatever the local dominant race is. According to legend, they died out long ago, and were unredeemably evil. In reality they still exist, but are rare, and are not actually evil, just manipulative.

That's pretty much it. They're not part of Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk, so they haven't been expounded on much. They were in the nameless 'generic' setting for classic D&D that eventually got rolled up with Blackmoor and became Mystera. Like most of the intelligent creatures in classic D&D they were very lightly sketched out, with little or no background detail.

Late in 2nd edition AD&D there was an attempt to 'upgrade' Mystera's monsters for the Savage Coast setting, and they expanded the Aranea a little, but not much. They then got wrapped into 3.x, but no real support for the setting was released in 3.x. So Aranea are like many creatures in D&D, a vague sketch with limited backstory.

EDIT: After Mystera was discontinued, Dave Arneson published his version of Blackmoor through Zeitgeist Games. I'm not sure if the Aranea survive in that version, but they might.

Dan_Hemmens
2008-02-10, 03:05 AM
So you're saying none of the monster entries should have story or background because they might not ALWAYS be exactly the way they're described? Should we not describe wraiths as 'hateful of all life' because in some specific campaign settings they might not be?

"Hateful of life" isn't background. It's decidedly current.


I can't help but disagree. Those exceptions to the default should be (and are) described in the specific campaigns. The exceptions are documented. It's still helpful to have a general background. That way, you have something to fall back on as a DM. I like homebrewing. My Orcs and Elves have very different cultures than the usual MM versions and I state that to my players before the game. Everything else is pretty much as-written.

Monsters should be more than a stat block and special abilities for the players to kill. They don't need to be much more, but they ought to have a secondary reason to exist at least.

A background isn't a reason to exist, it's just background.

Irreverent Fool
2008-02-10, 05:12 AM
"Hateful of life" isn't background. It's decidedly current.

A background isn't a reason to exist, it's just background.

Semantics. I think you understand where I'm coming from.

Dan_Hemmens
2008-02-10, 05:33 AM
Semantics. I think you understand where I'm coming from.

I understand where you're coming from, but I think that there's an important difference between the details of a creature (wraiths are dark shadows which hate all life) and a specific origin story.

Shape-shifting spider-things is all I really need from the Aranea. Anything which tied them to a specific setting wouldn't be any use to me.

Xyk
2008-02-10, 10:26 AM
Aranea is also a monster class in savage species. They have some info there.

Beleriphon
2008-02-10, 11:34 AM
aranea

noun
a genus of orb-weaving spiders including common garden spiders and barn spiders

So an aranea is a genus of spider, thus the game designers picked a spidery name for a spidery creatue. Bingo-bango-bongo one generic spider monster for the MM.

Armoury99
2008-02-10, 12:49 PM
I think the most likely inspirations are the intelligent spiders from Tolkein's mythology (Shelob, Ungoliant, the Mirkwood Spiders), added with the general fear and distaste for them that pervades the human psyche, added to a "wouldn't it be cool if a spider could..." philosphy.

'Real world' examples of mythical spider/shapeshifters include
Tsuchigumo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuchigumo) and Anansi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anansi) - although personally I'd lay money that its the first option above.

So you can pretty much make up your own background for Aranea. Here's what I wrote for one of the projects over at Planewalker.com (http://www.planewalker.com/index.php) by way of example:

The Spider Clans

Among the mad edicts of the emperors of Pan Thaera was the breeding of ever more grotesque and dangerous animals for use in the arena. Among the more insane ideas (of an empire famed for its insanity) was the work of Prince Sortho, who thought it would be a grand idea to crossbreed the demons known as bebilith with giant monstrous spiders.

The result was a colossal creature, empowered with fiendish energies and malicious intellect. Sortho called her Lehabwah, which meant She Who Speaks in the royal tongue of Pan Thaera, for this abomination had a voice and the mind to use it. Too prized for the arena, Prince Sortho raised her from birth to be his personal bodyguard and assassin.

Lehabwah had other ideas.

As soon as she was large enough, she killed her creator and fled the royal dungeons. She ran deep into the wilderness of Thaera, and spun thick webs about all about her, like a silken palace. There she swelled to even greater size, controlling a vast territory of web-hung jungle.

When the empire fell to the Harmonium, Lehabwah’s existence was an affront that could not be allowed to continue. Armies sallied forth against her but were unsuccessful, for in the years between escape and invasion she had learned the magic arts, and lured many monstrous spiders into her palace of webs. Eventually a small band of the Free Folk crept in slew her. Beside her bloated corpse they found a great egg-sack, large as a house, fresh but empty. The Harmonium armies moved in swiftly with fire and sword to slay her children. The stench of the burning could be smelled for miles, the smoke seen for leagues, and on and on it went, until the palace and all its inhabitants were ash. They say however, that eight of her offspring survived and scuttled off to the far corners of the world. Who or what their father was, no man can say.

So take heed traveller, in the far and remote wilds. Listen out for tales of spiders with the bodies of men, of giant eight-legged monsters that hunt like packs of wolves, and arachnid shape-shifters who wear the skins of men. And if you should come across a forest glade or mountain path obscured by spiders’ webs, then stay quiet, and find another road.

For the children of Lehabwah have settled in that place.

- a tale of the Free folk

The Spider Clans are a reclusive people - if people they truly are - and it is said that there are only eight such colonies in all of Ortho. Only four are known for certain: one remains in the deep jungles of mainland Thaera, one occupies the Spider Heights of Iironda, one has been recently discovered in the jungles of Hazhkan, and the last (of which most is known) lies almost on top of Harmony’s Glory, in a mountain valley so high it is perpetually fogged by clouds.

Relations with the rest of Ortho are minimal, but the spider creatures that live there insist that they are peaceful and that the children of Lehabwah do not share their ancestor’s fiendish heart. The colonies on Thaera and near Harmony’s Glory have both been inspected by the Harmonium and have become part of Ortho’s provinces, albeit reclusive ones. The newly-discovered Hazhkan colony is still in negotiations over such matters however, and who knows what allegiance the unknown colonies (if there are any) may harbour?

Society

What little is known of the Spider Clans comes from the work of a handful of exigency squads who initiated diplomatic contact and solved the problems that occasionally flared up between these colonies and the rest of Ortho. Of these, most is known about the colony known as the Duchy of Arane:

This colony lies high amidst the summits of the Spires of Perfection. It is only a few days travel from Harmony’s Glory, yet the terrain is so inhospitable that it was not discovered for many years, until discovered by a soldiers fighting the elven undead that still lurk in that part of the Spires. The ‘duchy’ occupies several interconnected valleys at cloud level, isolated from the rest of Ortho save by a perilous climb. Within the valleys, the air is forever damp with cloudmist, making it hard to see the endless webs that hang from shrouded trees. Its humanoid population numbers only in the hundreds, but the arachnid population number in their hundreds of thousands - perhaps even millions.

The valley is ruled by Arane, who calls herself the Duchess of Webs. Her demonic blood may be somewhat diluted, but she has lost none of the size and intelligence for which her monstrous mother was famed. Aside from countless spiders of all sides, Arane is served by humanoid spiders known as ettercaps (named after the gulping noise they make; the only sound they can produce that’s not part of the clicking language of spiders), and a breed of spider-human shapeshifters she apparently created to be her eyes and emissaries to the rest of the world. Named after their Duchess, they are known as Aranea. This name has been taken into the common tongue, and is used to describe the shifter-spiders of other colonies as well.

Arane’s people are peaceful and civilised, though their eating habits are of the vilest manner imaginable: They suck the blood of still living prey. Thankfully they eat only animals now, or so they claim - for generations their have been unsubstantiated accusations of lone travellers going astray near their lands.

The valleys provide all that the Spider Clan needs. Vermin of all kinds abound in the area, especially the larger varieties, and these are the Clan’s staple food. Civilised needs are provided for by the ettercaps, who gather the silk of Arane’s many workspiders, weaving it into goods for use and trade. The Spider Clan are also skilled woodworkers, but they do not mine. What hard tools they need are crafted of flint and obsidian, or out sioloc - a light but hard substance formed from hardened saliva and raw fibroin. What metal tools it cannot do without, it gains in yearly trade with the Harmony’s Glory.

The ettercaps’ work is overseen and administered by the Aranea, who describe themselves as the Duchess’ grandchildren, creatures bred to bridge the gap between human and spider. The ettercaps were an earlier attempt the Aranea say, but they do not elaborate on the magic used to accomplish this. If any other experiments bred and nurtured by the Duchess of Webs, they have never been witnessed by the Harmonium.

The Duchess admits that she is in contact with at least some of her sisters in other parts of Ortho, word passed - she claims - from spider to spider and web to web across the continents of the world. Anonymity of her brethren is unfortunately part of her treaty with the state of Ortho, so those colonies not yet found by human hands remain hidden, much to the Harmonium’s chagrin. All we know is that each Spider Clan is rules by a Duchess like Arane – one of the daughters of Lehabwah.

The Spider Clans are well known to hold a racial obsession with the number eight, believing it to be the best number for measurement, quantity, omens, and just about everything else. Personnel in diplomatic and trade delegations (on both sides) must always number eight, as must each consignment of goods in or out, and each group of Spider Clan workers. All their dwellings have eight entrances, eight windows, eight rooms, and so on. In the past failure to venerate this custom while in Spider Clan lands has lead to violence, but even as peaceful members of the great harmony these days, they treat such errors are grave diplomatic incidents.

Civilisation & the Harmonium

In exchange for relative independence and privacy, the Spider Clans scrupulously obey the laws of the Ortho and pay taxes in the form of spider-silk, cloth woven into bolts with a skill no human hand could muster. They travel but rarely, have few needs, and little desire to see the wider world.

It’s not certain if the majority of their inhabitants can even understand civilised religion, but the Spider Clans have formerly adopted the worship of the Lords of Order, though in strange and alien guise. Native ceremonies are unfathomable to most, but enough aranea seek clerical training to convince the temples that heresy is absent from their faith. Small numbers of the shape-shifters also join the Harmonium and travel into Ortho proper, to better understand their neighbours… and report all back to their Duchesses.

Little else is known of the Spider Clans. Reports from Arane’s realm say that all the various breeds seem to live together in harmony, like a single giant family. If there are divisions and politics between the spiders, it is certainly hidden - and most likely incomprehensible - to humanoids. The Clans are obscure because relations with other races are usually formal and brief: The Spider Clans do not often encourage others to visit them. Each colony allows access by Harmonium soldiery or representatives of the state on official business of course, as well as a handful of merchants who exchange the few wares the Clan needs for fine silks. Others rarely chose to disturb the Spider Clans; their grotesque appearance seems to be innately unnerving and disturbing to humanoids. Few can stand to be in their presence for more than a few days, those who must often returned deeply traumatised – even mad. Despite the natural revulsion which we humanoids have for their kind however, the Spider Clans seem nothing but loyal.

Hope you find it useful.

RTGoodman
2008-02-10, 01:24 PM
So an aranea is a genus of spider, thus the game designers picked a spidery name for a spidery creatue. Bingo-bango-bongo one generic spider monster for the MM.

I wouldn't even say they looked it up that far - if I remember correctly, aranea is a faux-feminine version of a word that just means spider (araneus or something), and also itself means "spiderweb" or "cobweb." They probably brought out Ye Olde Latin DictionaryTM (or found someone who knew it) and went from there.


Anyway, an Aranea makes an appearance in Red Hand of Doom as a sort of undercover spy for the Red Hand. In one of the "it could happen" encounters about halfway through, I believe, the PCs can fight her. I left my copy at home, so I can't look it up, but it might have some information on Araneas as a race, or you could at least draw some inspiration from the one they've presented.

Mewtarthio
2008-02-10, 03:17 PM
Areneas as presented there were good for paranoia, intrigue and psychological horror games ("They could be anyone!"). Heck, if you throw in the idea of their two forms having no memory of one another and completely contradicting agendas it could get really creepy. Memorable? Scary? Oh yes. :smalleek:

What about the hybrid form? Does it get the memories of both while giving memories to neither? Set itself up as a manipulative schemer, arranging events so that its other forms will play into its hands?

Zenos
2008-02-10, 03:25 PM
I seem to remember from Isle of Dread that Araneas were good friends with Ogres.

CASTLEMIKE
2008-02-10, 07:22 PM
Old adventure at Wizard's:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20041126a

Aranea art work at Wizard's:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ag/20030712a

In ECS you could have them created by Mordain the Fleshweaver.

Mr. Friendly
2008-02-11, 08:57 AM
Well, just think. If Araneas had tons of fleshed out information and detailed societal information, the thread would be filled with people complaining that there was too much fluff tied into the monsters so now they can't use them in their games! /whine /cry

WotC cannot win one way or the other. No matter which they choose (more fluff vs. more crunch) they get legions of people who complain about it.

I think everyone has listed all the sources of the Aranea. I honestly thought they were coolest in Isle of Dread.

The current incarnation I find intriguing though. They make very useful infiltrators.

Also from a PC crunch standpoint, they are one of the better high LA monstrous critters. You definately get bang for your buck, since you get 3 levels of magical beast that count as Sorcerer levels. Then you get webs, poison and shapechanging on top of that. That you are a Magical Beast with the Shapechanger subtype gives you sooooo many immunities all by itself.

AtomicKitKat
2008-02-11, 12:31 PM
Also from a PC crunch standpoint, they are one of the better high LA monstrous critters. You definately get bang for your buck, since you get 3 levels of magical beast that count as Sorcerer levels. Then you get webs, poison and shapechanging on top of that. That you are a Magical Beast with the Shapechanger subtype gives you sooooo many immunities all by itself.

They're alright, but that +2 LA on top of 3 HD hurts like mad for a full caster. They work better as Gishes, or using the Sorc levels to qualify for something else(eg, the much-maligned Dragon Disciple, or the similar Fiend-Blooded, etc.) that improves their non-caster side.

Bag_of_Holding
2008-02-11, 06:28 PM
They're alright, but that +2 LA on top of 3 HD hurts like mad for a full caster. They work better as Gishes, or using the Sorc levels to qualify for something else(eg, the much-maligned Dragon Disciple, or the similar Fiend-Blooded, etc.) that improves their non-caster side.

Problem would be the fact that the LA is +4 not +2. An aranea is a 7th-level character all by itself! I don't think it's a viable monstrous race to be played as a PC.:smallfrown:

Rimx
2008-02-12, 12:03 AM
Problem would be the fact that the LA is +4 not +2. An aranea is a 7th-level character all by itself! I don't think it's a viable monstrous race to be played as a PC.:smallfrown:

It wouldn't be hard to pare down the aranea a little. If you replace their 3.5 stats (+4 Dex, +4 Con, +4 Int, +2 Wis, +4 Cha) with their 2nd ed stats (+2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Str, -2 Con) you could probably chop off at least +1 LA.

AtomicKitKat
2008-02-12, 10:08 AM
Problem would be the fact that the LA is +4 not +2. An aranea is a 7th-level character all by itself! I don't think it's a viable monstrous race to be played as a PC.:smallfrown:

Yes, but those 4 HD provide 3 Sorceror levels. The main problem is that it's still 3 caster levels behind a Sorceror of the same ECL.