Arachnea
Large • Fiend (Devil) • Lawful Evil
Armor Class 15
Hit Points 120 (16d10 + 32)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Initiative +3 (13)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 (+1) | 17 (+3) | 15 (+2) | 14 (+2) | 16 (+3) | 14 (+2) |
Skills Deception +5, Persuasion +5, Stealth +9
Damage Immunities poison
Senses blindsight 10 ft., darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Infernal, telepathy 120 ft.
CR 6 (XP 2,300; PB +3)
Speak with Spiders. The arachnea can communicate with spiders as if they shared a language.
Spider Climb. The arachnea can climb difficult surfaces, including along ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Web Walker. The arachnea ignores movement restrictions caused by webs, and it knows the location of any other creature in contact with the same web.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The arachnea makes two Claw attacks. She can replace one of these attacks with a use of Puppet Strings or Web.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6, reach 5 ft. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage plus 10 (3d6) poison damage.
Birth Children (1/Day). The arachnea births 1d4 + 2 swarms of spiders in unoccupied spaces in her space. The spiders follow her verbal commands and can immediately use their reaction to move up to their speed.
Puppet Strings. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6, range 30/60 ft. Hit: The target is grappled. While grappled, the target has disadvantage on attack rolls against the arachnea. Until the grapple ends, the arachnea can’t use this ability on another target. As an action, the affected target can make a DC 14 Strength check, ripping the strings of it on a success. The strings can also be attacked and destroyed (AC 15; hp 10; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and psychic damage).
Web (Recharge 6). Dexterity Saving Throw: DC 13, each creature in a 30-foot cone. Failure: The target becomes restrained until the web is destroyed (AC 10; HP 15; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to poison and psychic damage).
BONUS ACTIONS
Puppeteer. The arachnea forces a creature grappled by its Puppet Strings to use its reaction, move up to 30 feet and make a melee weapon attack against a target of the arachnea’s choice. The target can’t move farther away than 60 feet away from the arachnea this way.
Arachnea
Large • Fiend (Devil) • Lawful Evil
Armor Class 14
Hit Points 60 (8d10 + 16)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Initiative +3 (13)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 (+1) | 16 (+3) | 14 (+2) | 12 (+1) | 14 (+2) | 12 (+1) |
Skills Deception +3, Persuasion +3, Stealth +7
Damage Immunities poison
Senses blindsight 10 ft., darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Infernal, telepathy 120 ft.
CR 3 (XP 700; PB +2)
Speak with Spiders. The arachnea can communicate with spiders as if they shared a language.
Spider Climb. The arachnea can climb difficult surfaces, including along ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Web Walker. The arachnea ignores movement restrictions caused by webs, and it knows the location of any other creature in contact with the same web.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The arachnea makes two Claw attacks. She can replace one of these attacks with a use of Puppet Strings or Web.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5, reach 5 ft. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage plus 5 (2d4) poison damage.
Birth Children (1/Day). The arachnea births 1d4 + 2 swarms of spiders in unoccupied spaces in her space. The spiders follow her verbal commands and can immediately use their reaction to move up to their speed.
Puppet Strings. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5, range 20/40 ft. Hit: The target is grappled. While grappled, the target has disadvantage on attack rolls against the arachnea. Until the grapple ends, the arachnea can’t use this ability on another target. As an action, the affected target can make a DC 12 Strength check, ripping the strings of it on a success. The strings can also be attacked and destroyed (AC 15; hp 10; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and psychic damage).
Web (Recharge 6). Dexterity Saving Throw: DC 13, each creature in a 30-foot cone. Failure: The target becomes restrained until the web is destroyed (AC 10; HP 15; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to poison and psychic damage).
BONUS ACTIONS
Puppeteer. The arachnea forces a creature grappled by its Puppet Strings to use its reaction, move up to 30 feet and make a melee weapon attack against a target of the arachnea’s choice. The target can’t move farther away than 40 feet away from the arachnea this way.
Arachnea
Large • Fiend (Devil) • Lawful Evil
Armor Class 17
Hit Points 105 (14d10 + 28)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Initiative +4 (14)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 (+2) | 18 (+4) | 16 (+3) | 15 (+2) | 17 (+3) | 15 (+2) |
Skills Deception +6, Persuasion +6, Stealth +12
Damage Immunities poison
Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Infernal, telepathy 120 ft.
CR 9 (XP 5,000; PB +4)
Speak with Spiders. The arachnea can communicate with spiders as if they shared a language.
Spider Climb. The arachnea can climb difficult surfaces, including along ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Web Walker. The arachnea ignores movement restrictions caused by webs, and it knows the location of any other creature in contact with the same web.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The arachnea makes two Claw attacks. She can replace one of these attacks with a use of Puppet Strings, Birth Children, or Web.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8, reach 5 ft. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage plus 13 (3d8) poison damage.
Birth Children (1/Day). The arachnea births 1d4 + 2 swarms of spiders in unoccupied spaces in her space. The spiders follow her verbal commands and can immediately use their reaction to move up to their speed.
Puppet Strings. Ranged Weapon Attack: +8, range 30/60 ft. Hit: The target is grappled. While grappled, the target has disadvantage on attack rolls against the arachnea. Until the grapple ends, the arachnea can’t use this ability on another target. As an action, the affected target can make a DC 14 Strength check, ripping the strings of it on a success. The strings can also be attacked and destroyed (AC 15; hp 20; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and psychic damage).
Web (Recharge 6). Dexterity Saving Throw: DC 13, each creature in a 30-foot cone. Failure: The target becomes restrained until the web is destroyed (AC 10; HP 15; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to poison and psychic damage).
BONUS ACTIONS
Puppeteer. The arachnea forces a creature grappled by its Puppet Strings to use its reaction, move up to 30 feet and make a melee weapon attack against a target of the arachnea’s choice. The target can’t move farther away than 60 feet away from the arachnea this way.
QUICK REFERENCE
USING MONSTER VARIANTS
Monster variants allow the GM to adjust encounters to better match the party’s strength, narrative needs, or world-building logic. A weaker variant may represent a juvenile, wounded, or lesser specimen, while a stronger variant can serve as a leader, champion, ancient creature, or apex predator.
Variants can be used to fine-tune difficulty without changing the core identity of the monster, making them ideal for scaling encounters, reinforcing hierarchy within a faction, or creating memorable boss-style enemies. You can even use the same stat block but different variants in the same encounter if you want.
Design Note. Each monster is primarily balanced around its normal version. Weaker and stronger variants are derived adjustments and may not always preserve every tactical nuance or “feel” of the original creature. GMs are encouraged to review variants carefully and adjust abilities or tactics as needed to best suit their table.