Spider

A spider is an air-breathing chelicerate arthropod. Spiders are found all over Faerûn. They are arachnids that come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and coloration. Spiders are characterized by two body segments, eight legs, and no chewing mouth parts and the ability to spin webs of silk in which they capture their prey and feed upon their still-living bodies.

In a fantasy world, spiders can reach impossibly massive sizes, being larger than human and sometimes even bigger than whales. These monstrous spiders retain the characteristics and mannerisms of their smaller cousins, but are far more dangerous in that they can feed upon much larger prey.

Some spiders build giant webs to capture their prey. These creatures lie in wait for food to come to them. Other spiders are active hunters, stalking their territory for any living creature within the area. There are even breeds of spiders that live within small burrows and grab prey as it walk near the trapdoor entrances of the spider’s lair.

A large number of hand-sized venomous spiders would sometimes group themselves into a swarm.

Species

 * Giant spider : Any spider of a giant size. Also known as "monstrous spiders", they are found in a variety of appearances and sizes and come in hunter or web-spinner varieties. Goblins use giant spiders as mounts.
 * Guardian spider : A huge black spider that could be summoned by the drow matron mothers of Ched Nasad.
 * Hairy spider : A variety of small, web-less, hairy subterranean spider.
 * Phase spider : Aggressive predators that can move between the Ethereal Plane and the Prime Material Plane.
 * Sword spider : A variety of subterranean spider with razor-sharp tips on its legs.
 * Wraith spider : Undead giant spider.

Related Creatures

 * Aranea : The aranea is an intelligent, shape-shifting spider thought to have been created by a Calishite wizard to infiltrate drow armies.
 * Drider : The drider is a drow aberration whose lower half is that of a spider. They inhabit the Underdark and require blood for sustenance. Driders are created from drow who fail a loyalty test to Lolth.
 * Ettercap : The ettercap is an aberration between a humanoid and a spider. They have gray or purple bodies with white underbellies and sharp, chitinous claws. They often keep spiders as pets.
 * Jade spider : Jade constructs in the shape of a spider used by the drow to protect Menzoberranzan and other drow locations.
 * Snow spider : A warm-blooded mammal with eight legs and an arachnid form.

Locations
Spiders inhabit the forest known as the Neth Stand.

Spiders were common in the Underdark, particularly in drow settlements, where they were revered by worshipers of Lolth.

Cultural
Drow often made objects and buildings in the shape of spiders. In cultures that venerated Lolth, it was forbidden to kill a spider; those who did so were punishable by death. They were often kept by the drow, as what depended on a given spider's size. The smallest one were kept as pets by children, those that were big enough to kill mice, meaning hand-size were kept as familiars by wizards, those that were as big as a horse were used to ride upon, and those that were the size of dogs, were used like guard dogs in temples to Lolth. The last category were sometimes imbued with a demon to make old ones regain their vitality combined with a nasty personality.

Novels

 * Daughter of the Drow
 * Dissolution
 * Insurrection
 * Condemnation
 * Extinction
 * Annihilation
 * Resurrection
 * Night of the Hunter

Games

 * Baldur's Gate
 * Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
 * Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
 * Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
 * Menzoberranzan (game)
 * Neverwinter Nights
 * Neverwinter Nights 2