S
Sunseeker
Guest
I am going to be participating in an upcoming Drow campaign and my character intends to undergo one of Lolth's infamous Tests with the outcome of becoming a drider(in the good way where you get all the cool bonuses and are half spider, but aren't a crazy, murderous psycho....at least not any more than a Drow is to begin with). The DM is cool with this, and we're using the WOTC Drider web(pun!)-template(http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20011118a). But I am confused. It states at several points that the creature's size increases by one from it's original size, but it does not specifically mention if that means I gain the large-size bonuses (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#sizeIncreases). It does state further down some drider-specific bonuses, but I've seen a variety of templates wherein things become "large" but there is no mention of the bonuses from a size increase, nor an indication that they shouldn't get them.
Judging from the examples given at the bottom, my assumption is that you don't gain the bonuses from normal size-increases, only the drider-specific ones, but I'm not entirely sure how to dissect the stats of the given Hill Dwarf. A Hill Dwarf gains no bonuses to their STR, but the Drider template gives +4, with only a 15 str, I'm assuming either a 10 base+1(for being EL 6)+4 template or 11 base +4 template. Because a large creature would gain +8 str for it's size alone, in addition to +4 for the template, that would make it a 22 str at least.
*Personally, a 15 str on a EL 6 monstrous humanoid seems rather pathetic. That's your average starting score for a PC, particularly a fighter.
So, what say you? Am I right in thinking that if there is a size increase from medium to large, then those modifications should be compounded with the drider template? Or do templates wherein size changes occur but include modifiers of their own replace the normal modifiers gained? Most of the time when I see "increase size" on a template, it doesn't specify one way or the other? Should I just have my DM rule on this? Has there been an official ruling?
Judging from the examples given at the bottom, my assumption is that you don't gain the bonuses from normal size-increases, only the drider-specific ones, but I'm not entirely sure how to dissect the stats of the given Hill Dwarf. A Hill Dwarf gains no bonuses to their STR, but the Drider template gives +4, with only a 15 str, I'm assuming either a 10 base+1(for being EL 6)+4 template or 11 base +4 template. Because a large creature would gain +8 str for it's size alone, in addition to +4 for the template, that would make it a 22 str at least.
*Personally, a 15 str on a EL 6 monstrous humanoid seems rather pathetic. That's your average starting score for a PC, particularly a fighter.
So, what say you? Am I right in thinking that if there is a size increase from medium to large, then those modifications should be compounded with the drider template? Or do templates wherein size changes occur but include modifiers of their own replace the normal modifiers gained? Most of the time when I see "increase size" on a template, it doesn't specify one way or the other? Should I just have my DM rule on this? Has there been an official ruling?