Can Lolth morph out of her spider form?

[Mystic Muse]

I'm hoping the question is rather clear. Can lolth morph into a normal drow instead of her drider form or is it not an option?

[Tiki Snakes]

I'm hoping the question is rather clear. Can lolth morph into a normal drow instead of her drider form or is it not an option?

She often appears as both, across editions, depictions and so on.
Beyond that, I couldn't say, however.

[Volkov]

Yes, she has Alter form as a Salient divine ability.

[Mystic Muse]

okay. Just making sure.

[Myou]

Ahhh, lolth, even her name is silly.

As a deity lolth can do whatever she wants, she's a walking scuttling plot device.

[Volkov]

Ahhh, lolth, even her name is silly.

As a deity lolth can do whatever she wants, she's a walking scuttling plot device.

Deities and Demigods disagrees with you.

[Mystic Muse]

Ahhh, lolth, even her name is silly.

As a deity lolth can do whatever she wants, she's a walking scuttling plot device.

This is actually for a web comic of mine. not a D&D game. Because of this I want to make her at least a little bit consistent with the setting fluff.

However I don't have a ton of books I can read through so I usually have to ask people who know the settings better.

[Myou]

Deities and Demigods disagrees with you.

Deities and Demigods is toilet paper.

[Mystic Muse]

Deities and Demigods is toilet paper.

*looks at deities and demigods*
*looks at toilet paper*

No, I'm pretty sure deities and demigods is a D&D manual.

[Myou]

*looks at deities and demigods*
*looks at toilet paper*

No, I'm pretty sure deities and demigods is a D&D manual.

It's just in disguise.
It certainly works better as toilet paper than as a manual for describing divine beings mechanically in D&D.

[AbyssKnight]

Well, if you prefer a different source, Lolth is often depicted as looking like a normal drow in various novels as well.

The intro into.....Siege of Darkness, I believe.....makes a point of demons in the Abyss approaching her thinking she is easy prey, until they realize she is much more than just a dark elf girl.

[Starbuck_II]

Yes, she has Alter form as a Salient divine ability.

Alter Form won't help. That only helps if she was humaniod. She needs polymorph.

[Tiki Snakes]

Alter Form won't help. That only helps if she was humaniod. She needs polymorph.

You're thinking of Alter Self. That would be true.

She has Alter Form, he said. It specifically mentions even the adding or removing of a couple of limbs, even.

[KillianHawkeye]

It's actually the Shift Form divine ability which allows her to do this.

EDIT: Alter Form isn't powerful enough to change her into a completely different form, but it's a requirement for Shift Form.

[Shinizak]

Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic Has a lot of Drow and some Lolth in it.

[Geddoe]

Deities and Demigods version has Alter Reality, so her morphing into anything should be pretty easy.

[Devils_Advocate]

The questions that prompted this, I'm guessing, are "Why would Corellon curse Lolth to be a hideous spider-thing if she can just look however she wants anyway? For that matter, how could he so curse her if she retained that ability? Aren't being cursed with a form and being able to choose your form mutually exclusive?"

I think that Lolth may have been temporarily downgraded to unique demon status after her rebellion against the Seldarine before working her way back up to goddess. In which case, she was cursed, but she got better.

Needless to say, she carries a grudge about this.

[Mystic Muse]

So would she ever willingly spend time as a half spider?

[Sophismata]

So would she ever willingly spend time as a half spider?

It's her natural form. That's got to grate, particularly if you're vain (and used to be considered beautiful).

Sure, you can hide it, but you still know it's there. And so do the other Gods.

[Mystic Muse]

out of curiosity how old would Bahamut and Tiamat have been when Lolth was cursed? Would they even be alive yet?

[Altima]

The questions that prompted this, I'm guessing, are "Why would Corellon curse Lolth to be a hideous spider-thing if she can just look however she wants anyway? For that matter, how could he so curse her if she retained that ability? Aren't being cursed with a form and being able to choose your form mutually exclusive?"

I think that Lolth may have been temporarily downgraded to unique demon status after her rebellion against the Seldarine before working her way back up to goddess. In which case, she was cursed, but she got better.

Needless to say, she carries a grudge about this.

This is true--Lolth was originally (1st Edition originally) merely an overpowered demon after her failed attempt of splattyness on the rest of the Seldarine.

Then she gained a spark of divinity and all bets were lost.

Many deities in the Forgotten Realms have different forms they take, especially the more powerful ones. It just so happens one of Lolth's is a drow-headed spider or a giant spider.

A for why she'd keep it? Well, probably because every other intelligent race is smart enough to be arachnophobic. Those eight-legged abominations should never have existed in creation!

[hamishspence]

Quite a lot of 3.0-3.5 artwork, tend to go with super-drider, rather than drow-headed spider.

The one in Complete Divine appears to have eight arms, as well as eight legs.

[Altima]

Quite a lot of 3.0-3.5 artwork, tend to go with super-drider, rather than drow-headed spider.

The one in Complete Divine appears to have eight arms, as well as eight legs.

Because a female-headed spiders is rather...well, not aesthetically pleasing. I do prefer the super drider, Andariel look-alike, or what have you over the drow-headed spiders, but that is how she is said to have as her form.

[lord_khaine]

out of curiosity how old would Bahamut and Tiamat have been when Lolth was cursed? Would they even be alive yet?

Well, if you considder the race of dragons to be older then the answer would be quite old by mortal standard.

[blueblade]

Have to say, thanks for the merry trip through the divine abilities. All suitably ridiculous, particularly:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/div...divineSplendor

Which by RAW, cannot be switched off! It ain't easy being God after all...

[Kaiyanwang]

IIRC, in Faith and Pantheons (Forgotten Realms) is depicted at least once as a female (and quite hot) Drow.

[Grumman]

a female (and quite hot) Drow

Isn't that redundant?

[Myou]

Isn't that redundant?

More like an oxymoron.

[Zeta Kai]

Am I the only one that thinks it's silly for a stat-block to be the be-all & end-all of a god's powers? I think it's very strange to say "But Lolth doesn't have a polymorph spell in her salient ability list, so she's stuch in spider form forever, LOL." I know it's RAW, but I think the point has been made that RAW sucks.

[SpikeFightwicky]

Do drow commonly know that Lolth is a 'super-drider'? Seems odd that Driderism's considered a curse, though it's a step closer to Lolth (despite being a punishment for failure... I don't think kobolds would revile their failed clerics if they were cursed and turned into dragons). Or do they have a 'don't ask - don't tell' policy regarding Lolth's Drider form?