SPIDER, Polar

Combat: Polar spiders bite for 1-6 points of damage and inject poison on a successful hit. If a saving throw vs. poison is failed, the toxin will severely slow the victim’s metabolism, inducing a fatal hypothermia within 1d3 turns. Victims might still be saved if they are kept warm and immobile for at least six hours. The base chance for success is 5%, +1% per point of Constitution.

     Once per day, a polar spider can leap across a distance of up to twice their length and strike at a +2 bonus to hit. This assumes that the spider is leaping from level ground; if it is perched upon a crag, it can do so for as many times as it can set itself in place.

     Polar spiders are immune to all cold-based attacks, but suffer twice normal damage from fire. Furthermore, their hair is so thick that blunt weapons inflict but half damage.

     If a polar spider attacks in whiteout conditions, it gains a -3 bonus to its surprise roll.

Habitat/Society: Polar spiders typically lair in shallow caves or natural pits or depressions in the earth, and spin their webs to conceal the entrances. These webs are not designed to snare their prey; rather, they merely alert the spider that something edible may be outside. Polar spiders are intelligent enough to spin enough silk to hold up a fair measure of snow on top of it; should any hapless prey fall through the silk and into the spiders' lair.

     Polar spiders aren't picky about their food, so long as it's warm-blooded: seal, penguin, local inhabitants, what have you. During a blizzard, dozens of spiders will leave their lairs to actively search for prey. Polar spiders are intelligent enough to devise simple but effective strategies for isolating prey, and will even take down a young polar bear or walrus if given the chance. Their powerful infravision (120') helps the spiders locate their prey.

     Polar spiders lay relatively few eggs, and the occasional scarcity of food for the young helps keep their numbers down. While both males and females care for the young when food is available, parents and young will resort to cannibalism when it is not.

     As a rule, polar spider young do not leave the lair. If encountered, they attack as 2 HD monsters, and inflict only 1d4 points of damage on a bite. Saving throws against their poison are at a +2 bonus.

     Whatever treasures polar spiders might have in their lairs is purely incidental, and comes from their infrequent human, isaki, or humanoid victims.

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