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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HellHound" data-source="post: 923451" data-attributes="member: 3397">So, I was reading through the Aranea entry and noted the "Alternate Form" ability grants all the racial abilities of the humanoid form chosen...And from the evil mind of Hound...Aranea Dark Stalkers (Dark Stalkers are from the Fiend Folio) - in Dark Stalker form, the aranea loses its webs and poison abilities, but is more intelligent than the typical dark stalker, and still casts spells as a level 3 sorcerer.  So up into their webs the aranea stalkers crawl, where they transform into Stalker form. As stalkers, they gain the ability to cloak themselves in shadows 3 / day (40% miss chance), 3d6 sneak attack damage, 60 ft. blindsight, and a +8 bonus to hide and +4 to move silently. The 1st level spells these particular aranea have are: Mage Armor, Shield & Expeditious Retreat. With Expeditious retreat in effect, the Aranea has a movement rate of 100 ft per round (or 50 ft per round climbing), enabling it to strike quickly from around corners up to 100 ft away without charging (and thus able to turn corners while closing on their foes), strike with surprise for +3d6 damage, and then use the shadow cloak ability to add a 40% miss chance in addition to their massive AC from the mage armor and shield spells. Of course, the next round the aranea retreats, preferably to an upper-level location where they will be able to harry the party again in a few minutes time.  One such Aranea Dark Stalker is technically CR4... although I might consider moving that up a level or two. A single encounter with such a beast in an environment where it can retreat to safety with ease could deplete a party's healing capability very rapidly. If using the Monster Classes from Savage Species instead of the base aranea from the Monster Manual, with a single level of rogue, this monster will have all the prerequisites to become an assassin...Aranea Killer - Rog 1 / Ass 1 - CR 6 - a mere 5d6 sneak attack damage. The biggest problem here is that this killer's BAB is advancing too slowly, but as a CR6 NPC, she can probably afford a bit of Dex boosting to bring up her AC and attack bonus.</blockquote>

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