Earthdawn 4E: Anatomy of a Creature 17 - Befouled Spider Adepts

This is the seventeenth 4E Anatomy of a Creature, an ongoing series about Earthdawn Fourth Edition. Introduction and Index.

Everything contained here is the work of a fan and not associated with FASA Games.

As promised, here are the Horror constructs featured in sessions 040 and 041 of my ongoing Earthdawn campaign, Mismatched Steel. There is nothing mechanical about them that is specific to Horror constructs - they can be used as normal creatures if so desired.

They were designed to function as a group and targeted as a seventh circle challenge, though this may not be quite right for all groups. The various abilities each of the four befouled spiders possesses complements the others and allows them to slowly cripple their opposition. Between poison, webbing, dispelling, armor reduction, etc., there are a lot of different ways they make life difficult.

The weakest for direct damage is the archer, who is best served by taking a supporting role and focusing on the high accuracy to generate extra successes for special maneuvers. Each of the other three has strategies to use, such as the beastmaster overwhelming an opponent with numbers and taking advantage of Surprise Strike, the warrior's very direct approach, or the spellcaster enhancing their action to an area attack that can possibly affect mystic armor.

From a design perspective, there are a lot of new things I tried out. Including a number of the special maneuvers and the enhanced attack the spellcaster is sporting. I'm looking at ways to offer more and different options without making things too complicated to track. The idea of a bigger attack that is less commonly used is appealing, but balancing something like that without an artificial limit can be tricky. This is one attempt at a work around.


Spider, Befouled Archer

Challenge: Journeyman (Seventh Circle)
DEX: 12        Initiative:                  14       Unconsciousness:      65
STR: 10         Physical Defense:  15       Death Rating:               75
TOU: 10        Mystic Defense:      14       Wound Threshold:    15
PER: 11         Social Defense:       11        Knockdown:                  18
WIL: 11         Physical Armor:      6        Recovery Tests:            3
CHA: 7          Mystic Armor:         8
Movement: 16 (Climb 16)
Actions: 2; Long Bow: 22 (16)
Powers:
Ambush (5)
Poison (10): The victim must resist the effects of a paralytic poison (Gamemaster's Guide, p. 171). The poison is Step 10 [Onset: 1 round, Interval: 4/1, Duration: 15 minutes].
Stealthy Stride (20): As the skill, Player's Guide, p. 170.
Webbing: The victim is wrapped in webs and Harried until freed. To escape, the victim must succeed at a Strength (12) test. If they are holding a small weapon (e.g. Size 1 or 2 for most characters), they may add the weapon's Damage Step to the Strength test. If the victim takes damage from fire, the damage is increased by +6 and the webbing is incinerated in a flash.
Special Maneuvers:
Dispelling Strike (Befouled Archer Spider): The befouled archer spider may spend an additional success from an Attack test to make a Dispel Magic test against one spell affecting the target. The Attack test result is used as the Dispel Magic result. This special maneuver may be used once per round.
Poisoned Soul (Befouled Archer Spider): The befouled archer spider may spend an additional success from an Attack test to inflict Poison on the target. This may not be used with Web Slinger and may only be used once per attack.
Web Slinger (Befouled Archer Spider): The befouled archer spider may spend two additional successes from an Attack test to inflict the Webbing power on the target instead of making a Damage test.

Spider, Befouled Beastmaster

Challenge: Journeyman (Seventh Circle)
DEX: 11        Initiative:                  13        Unconsciousness:      67
STR: 11         Physical Defense:   13       Death Rating:               79
TOU: 11        Mystic Defense:       11        Wound Threshold:    16
PER: 10        Social Defense:        13       Knockdown:                  19
WIL: 8         Physical Armor:       9        Recovery Tests:            4
CHA: 9         Mystic Armor:          6
Movement: 16 (Climb 16)
Actions: 3; Claws: 18 (17)
Powers:
Ambush (5)
Fury (2)
Poison (10): The victim must resist the effects of a paralytic poison (Gamemaster's Guide, p. 171). The poison is Step 10 [Onset: 1 round, Interval: 4/1, Duration: 15 minutes].
Stealthy Stride (19): As the skill, Player's Guide, p. 170.
Surprise Strike (5): As the skill, Player's Guide, p. 172.
Webbing: The victim is wrapped in webs and Harried until freed. To escape, the victim must succeed at a Strength (12) test. If they are holding a small weapon (e.g. Size 1 or 2 for most characters), they may add the weapon's Damage Step to the Strength test. If the victim takes damage from fire, the damage is increased by +6 and the webbing is incinerated in a flash.
Special Maneuvers:
Lead the Attack (Befouled Beastmaster Spider): The befouled beastmaster spider may spend additional successes from an Attack test to give all pack hunter spider allies +1 to Attack tests per success against the opponent until the end of the round. If the opponent is Harried by Webbing or affected by Poison, the bonus lasts until the end of the next round.
Poisoned Soul (Befouled Beastmaster Spider): The befouled beastmaster spider may spend an additional success from an Attack test to inflict Poison on the target. This may not be used with Web Slinger and may only be used once per attack.
Web Slinger (Befouled Beastmaster Spider): The befouled beastmaster spider may spend two additional successes from an Attack test to inflict the Webbing power on the target instead of making a Damage test.

Spider, Befouled Spellcaster

Challenge: Journeyman (Seventh Circle)
DEX: 9           Initiative:                  11       Unconsciousness:      62
STR: 8           Physical Defense:   11       Death Rating:               71
TOU: 9           Mystic Defense:      14       Wound Threshold:    13
PER: 12         Social Defense:        12       Knockdown:                 16
WIL: 12         Physical Armor:      5        Recovery Tests:            3
CHA: 8          Mystic Armor:          10
Movement: 16 (Climb 16)
Actions: 2; Ranged 20: 18 (15)
Powers:
Ambush (5)
Astral Attack: Attacks can target Mystic Defense instead of Physical Defense.
Astral Interference (20): As the talent, Player's Guide, p. 179. Treat as Rank 8.
Enhance Attack [Area] (Standard): The next Attack test the befouled spellcaster spider makes affects a 4-yard area instead of a single target. Any special maneuvers are applied to all affected targets.
Enhanced Sense [Other] (20): Astral Sight, as the talent, Player's Guide, p. 129.
Poison (10): The victim must resist the effects of a paralytic poison (Gamemaster's Guide, p. 171). The poison is Step 10 [Onset: 1 round, Interval: 4/1, Duration: 15 minutes].
Stealthy Stride (217): As the skill, Player's Guide, p. 170.
Webbing: The victim is wrapped in webs and Harried until freed. To escape, the victim must succeed at a Strength (12) test. If they are holding a small weapon (e.g. Size 1 or 2 for most characters), they may add the weapon's Damage Step to the Strength test. If the victim takes damage from fire, the damage is increased by +6 and the webbing is incinerated in a flash.
Special Maneuvers:
Dispelling Strike (Befouled Spellcaster Spider): The befouled spellcaster spider may spend an additional success from an Attack test to make a Dispel Magic test against one spell affecting the target. The Attack test result is used as the Dispel Magic result. This special maneuver may be used once per round.
Ethereal Attack (Befouled Spellcaster Spider): The befouled spellcaster spider may spend an additional success from an Attack test to affect Mystic Armor instead of Physical Armor.
Poisoned Soul (Befouled Spellcaster Spider): The befouled spellcaster spider may spend an additional success from an Attack test to inflict Poison on the target. This may not be used with Web Slinger and may only be used once per attack.
Web Slinger (Befouled Spellcaster Spider): The befouled spellcaster spider may spend two additional successes from an Attack test to inflict the Webbing power on the target instead of making a Damage test.

Spider, Befouled Warrior

Challenge: Journeyman (Seventh Circle)
DEX: 10        Initiative:                  14        Unconsciousness:      71
STR: 12         Physical Defense:   14        Death Rating:               83
TOU: 12        Mystic Defense:       12        Wound Threshold:    18
PER: 8          Social Defense:        10        Knockdown:                 20
WIL: 9          Physical Armor:      10        Recovery Tests:           4
CHA: 6         Mystic Armor:          8
Movement: 16 (Climb 16)
Actions: 2; Sword: 19 (20)
Powers:
Ambush (5)
Hardened Armor
Poison (10): The victim must resist the effects of a paralytic poison (Gamemaster's Guide, p. 171). The poison is Step 10 [Onset: 1 round, Interval: 4/1, Duration: 15 minutes].
Resist Pain (2)
Stealthy Stride (19): As the skill, Player's Guide, p. 170.
Webbing: The victim is wrapped in webs and Harried until freed. To escape, the victim must succeed at a Strength (12) test. If they are holding a small weapon (e.g. Size 1 or 2 for most characters), they may add the weapon's Damage Step to the Strength test. If the victim takes damage from fire, the damage is increased by +6 and the webbing is incinerated in a flash.
Special Maneuvers:
Armor Cutter (Befouled Warrior Spider): The befouled warrior spider may spend additional successes from an Attack test to reduce the target's Physical Armor by 1 per success after damage is dealt. This may not destroy thread armor. This may not be used with Web Slinger.
Poisoned Soul (Befouled Warrior Spider): The befouled warrior spider may spend an additional success from an Attack test to inflict Poison on the target. This may not be used with Web Slinger and may only be used once per attack.
Web Slinger (Befouled Warrior Spider): The befouled warrior spider may spend two additional successes from an Attack test to inflict the Webbing power on the target instead of making a Damage test.

Spider, Pack Hunter

Challenge: Novice (Third Circle)
DEX: 7        Initiative:                   11       Unconsciousness:      33
STR: 4         Physical Defense:   11       Death Rating:               39
TOU: 6        Mystic Defense:       8        Wound Threshold:    9
PER: 6         Social Defense:       10       Knockdown:                 14
WIL: 8        Physical Armor:       5        Recovery Tests:           2
CHA: 4        Mystic Armor:          3
Movement: 16 (Climb 16)
Actions: 1; Bite: 11 (12)
Powers:
Ambush (5)
Poison (10): If the spider's bite causes damage, the victim must resist the effects of a paralytic poison (Gamemaster's Guide, p. 171). The poison is Step 10 [Onset: 1 round, Interval: 4/1, Duration: 15 minutes].
Stealthy Stride (11): As the skill, Player's Guide, p. 170.
Surprise Strike (5): As the skill, Player's Guide, p. 172.
Webbing: The victim is wrapped in webs and Harried until freed. To escape, the victim must succeed at a Strength (12) test. If they are holding a small weapon (e.g. Size 1 or 2 for most characters), they may add the weapon's Damage Step to the Strength test. If the victim takes damage from fire, the damage is increased by +6 and the webbing is incinerated in a flash.
Special Maneuvers:
Web Slinger (Pack Hunter Spider): The pack hunter spider may spend two additional successes from an Attack test to inflict the Webbing power on the target instead of making a Damage test.