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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Khur" data-source="post: 2011154" data-attributes="member: 5583">Brotherhood of the Spider is part of the Devil's Workshop Lost Classes PDF line of single prestige classes. This particular class was penned by Brian-Joseph Baker. The PDF has three pages of usable game material (with any other pages taken by the OGL), with a single illustration by Jason Walton.The art and design of the document is good. It's slick-looking. Unfortunately, while they're nice, gamers aren't paying for looks.Despite an attempt (like other Lost Classes) to mimic a superhero icon (this time Spiderman), the whole of this class is very poorly written. The fact that it doesn't really follow the Player's Handbook structure of other classes in the Lost Classes series is actually irrelevant. Official prestige classes don’t follow that structure either.Firstly, the history is not just crafted poorly, it's unbelievable, hinging on the fact that a male drow dissident (to the Church of Lolth) is banished from a drow city. Drow priestesses don't banish those who question their authority; they kill such persons…gruesomely. This history also relies upon Wizards of the Coast's intellectual property, such as the Underdark, the structure of drow society, and a clear OGL violation--the use of Lolth.The class itself has requirements that seem to have been given little thought, most of which seem to have no bearing on the class's abilities and no relevance to the aforementioned history. Brotherhood of the Spider even goes so far as to require very high Strength and Dexterity scores along with a minimum level in fighter. The ability requirement is poor craft, but the level requirement is simply a prestige class design no-no. Considering this latter 5-level requirement, the skill requirements insure that very few characters will ever be able to take this class without serious multiclassing (the easiest of which is about 7 levels of monk). Of course, all members of the Brotherhood must be drow, but not necessarily male.If this weren't bad enough, the class abilities of the Botherhood lack professional development as well. In five levels, a brother gets +2 to Str, +2 to Dex (no bonus type indicated for either), ability to climb (20 ft. climb move), shoot webbing (very powerful webbing), to jump 50 ft. (Jump DC 15), a danger sense (immune to sneak attacks, Spot DC 10 to pinpoint danger), and a poison bite (static DC, low damage). The only limitations on any of these abilities are a couple of skill checks indicated above.Finally, more crippling to Brotherhood of the Spider is its price. Even I, a champion of the incredible entertainment value roleplaying games and supplements provide for their prices, cannot see paying a dollar each for prestige classes. EN Publishing's Librum Equitis Compiled contains 50 classes. Would you pay $50.00 for it?Let this Lost Class remain lost.</blockquote>

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