4E: they had a sticky web attack by the looks of it. At least, one drider stat block did for sure.
3E: they could cast web if you used the sorcerer spell options, but it was not innate.
Pathfinder: They did indeed gain a basic web attack, although in the time-honored tradition of 3.X stat blocks it doesn't define what it does within the actual stat block (but one can infer it requires cutting at it to reduce the HP total).
2E: Nope, apparently they have a paralytic bite at this stage but no innate webbing details. Eerie....
1E: The MMII defines them with the poison bite but again no web attacks, outside of any spells the DM might grant them.
Interesting....I have for 5E at least declared that yes, driders can spin webs, but no, not fast enough to make a difference in direct combat. It kind of makes more sense that they retain a paralytic bite (currently their bite only deals additional poison damage) and I rather like the idea that they both paralyze their prey and inject necrotizing poison at the same time. Then they can truss them up in cocoons at their leisure while they wait for the victim to liquefy.
...and now for some cool drider picks I found:
This reminds me of something you may be ineterested ni. If memory serves, there was a Drider "template" that could be applied to a character. Traditionally, according to D&D/FR lore, Driders are male Drow who are being punished for something. However, I had the idea of applying that template to other races, and came up with a dwarf drider, with his spider body being that of a hairy tarantula. Worked out pretty nicely in the one game I used him in. Just thought you might find that interesting. :)
ReplyDeleteI would be interested...the drider connection in the group right now is a player character who's cursed by lolth and can manifest as a sort of "were-drider." We've improvised some stats from the monster manual, but during an encounter in the woods the drider wanted to work up webbing to cross tree branches....and thus the discussion that led to this blog was born!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of tarantula dwarf driders. Nice!