Puppeteer Spider

Puppeteer spiders are macabre ambush predators. Their silk is imbued with dark magic and enables them to animate corpses to kill prey and protect their lairs.

Strings Attached. A puppeteer spiders covers its lair and hunting ground with interconnected webs. Unlike other web-spinning spiders, puppeteers spiders often attach large parts of their webs to ceilings instead of commonly-traveled paths. The reason is that their webs' primary use doesn't lie in trapping prey directly; it is a conductor for necromantic energy. The puppeteer spider connects medium or smaller corpses to its webs via long strands. As long as they are connected, these corpses animate as mindless undead under the spider's control. When a creature wanders into a puppeteer spider's lair, its minions suddenly rise and kill it. The spider will then feast upon the kill and add it remains to its web.

Fighters Beyond Death. If slain, the residual negative energy in a puppeteer spider's body will reanimate its own corpse for about 8 hours. The creature's fate ultimately remains unchanged, but it may be able to defend its lair and eggs before its time is up. The ability also serves as a deterrent for larger predators. Many species have realized that going after a puppeteer spider is often more trouble than it's worth.











Puppeteer Spider Thralls A puppeteer spider's lair is usually guarded by skeletons and zombies who follow its mental commands. If the spider is unconscious or isn't within 200 feet of a given thrall, the thrall will follow its previous instructions. Long strands of silk connect the thralls to the web that animates them. A creature that would deal 5 or more slashing damage to a thrall may instead sever the target's connecting strand. A thrall who moves more than 100 feet away from the spider's webs also automatically has its thread severed. Thralls do not voluntarily leave this range without explicit orders. A thrall that is not connected to a web becomes unconscious until it is destroyed or the spider reconnects it with its Animating Silk action. It reverts to an inanimate corpse if it doesn't get reconnected within 8 hours. Thralls also reverts 8 hours after the spider's death or continuous absence from its lair. Zombie thralls have a reduced CR of 1/8 (25 XP).