Actions/Abilities/Traits: Basic Fantasy
Offense
1 spray or 1 grapple and bite
Circumstance: Combat
Special, see below
Special
Multiple Eyes
Due to their many eyes, they are hard to surprise, only being so affected on a 1 on 1d12 if their opponents are visible to them. Their vision is superior in that they can see invisible creatures 50% of the time and reduce the effects of partial invisibility or concealment by half (or double the chance of detection, depending on how the concealment is defined). Thus, individuals wearing an elven cloak are only 40% invisible to an octospider, while a halfling hiding in natural surroundings is noticed 20% of the time, or 60% when hiding in a dungeon. For Thieves, reduce the chance to hide by half.
Special
Spray Attack
The main attack form of an octospider is a spray of noxious chemicals from a hard-to-see orifice between and just below the front pair of eyes. An individual can perform a direct spray, attacking any single target within 40 feet, or may perform a wider spray covering a cone 20 feet long and 20 feet wide at the far end. When attacking a single target, a normal attack roll is made; when spraying an area, all targets must make an appropriate saving throw.
Further, the octospider has access to three different substances which it can spray.
The first spray is a caustic liquid that inflicts damage directly, doing damage based on the monster's hit dice as shown on the table below. If a wide spray is performed, a successful save vs. Dragon Breath reduces damage suffered by half.
Caustic Spray Damage:
1 HD: Direct 1d6, Wide 1d4
2-3 HD: Direct 2d4, Wide 1d6
4-5 HD: Direct 2d6, Wide 1d8
6 HD: Direct 2d8, Wide 1d12
The second spray is deadly poison; those subjected to a direct spray suffer a penalty on the usual save vs. Poison as given on the table below, while a wider spray delivers less poison and is thus easier to resist.
Poison Saving Throw Penalty:
1 HD: Direct -1, Wide +0
2-3 HD: Direct -2, Wide -1
4-5 HD: Direct -4, Wide -2
6 HD: Direct -6, Wide -3
The third spray is a kind of black gooey webbing that entangles the victim or victims. A direct spray entangles just one victim, who is allowed a save vs. Dragon Breath to avoid entanglement. The saving throw against a wide spray is rolled against Death Ray instead. This webbing is wet and sticky and does not burn, but it can be removed with application of at least a
Special
Grapple and Bite
An octospider can grapple a character and then deliver a bite, but generally does this as a last resort after spray attacks are exhausted. The bite damage is always just 1d4 points (even for the largest individuals). Use the normal wrestling procedures found in the Basic Fantasy RPG Core Rules, with the bite being delivered only as a second attack after a successful grab.
Special
Random Morale
Octospiders behave in a seemingly random and arbitrary fashion. Each group has a morale figure rolled as 1d6+6, for a range of 7 to 12. There is no particular or obvious reason for this fact; if adventurers escape from a group of octospiders, and then encounter them again, their morale should be re-rolled on each new encounter. All members of a group will have the same morale figure at any given moment.
Environments
any
A bulbous, fleshy spider-like creature with octopus tentacle legs and multiple eyes
An Octospider superficially resembles a giant spider in overall body plan, but the resemblance stops there. The main body is bulbous and fleshy, narrowing without seams to a kind of thick stalk at the bottom which then widens out into a flattened shape to which the eight legs are attached. The legs splay out to either side in a pattern very similar to that of an ordinary spider, but the legs are formed like the tentacular arms of an octopus, though shorter and thicker. The triangular pads on which they walk are covered with suction cups which allow them to climb vertical surfaces; they cannot, thankfully, cross ceilings or overhangs in this fashion. Two startlingly human-like eyes are positioned between the forelegs, with another eye between each other pair of legs including a single eye looking out from between the back legs. Finally, the octospider's beak through which it both eats and breathes is located underneath the lower body.
Generally octospiders are grayish in color, mottled with small indistinct spots of tan, and their skin is moist like that of most other Nazgorean creatures.
Octospiders possess all the features and limitations of other Nazgorean creatures, such as re
Basic Fantasy Field Guide Omnibus
Actions/Abilities/Traits: Basic Fantasy
Actions/Abilities/Traits: Basic Fantasy
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