Converting "Real World" Animals and Vermin

[Shade]

Fair enough.

How about this one?

Net-throwing/Fishing spider
FREQUENCY: Common
NO. APPEARING: 1-10
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVE: 3”*12”
HIT DICE: 4+4
% IN LAIR: 70%
TREASURE TYPE: C
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1/1
DMG/ATTACK: 2-8
SPECIAL ATT.: See text
SPECIAL DEF.: Nil
MAGIC RES.: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Animal
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: L
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

These two types have distinctive, though similar, ways of capturing their prey. The net-throwing spider hunts by night with a rectangular web of looped silk which she throws over her prey, entangling it. Another species of net-throwing spider uses a 10x10-foot web which she lays on the ground and camouflages. She then attaches draglines to each corner ‘and conceals herself above the net, holding the ends of the draglines with her legs. Anything that walks over the net is caught up in the web and hoisted aloft to the spider.

Fishing spiders run numerous lines up and down from the ground to their web in a spreading fan shape. The lines break when anything runs into them and thus entangle the creature, allowing the spider to draw it up to her web.

 

[freyar]

Sound like regular web spiders to me.

 

[demiurge1138]

Yeah, in 3.x ordinary spiders can throw webs. Skip these guys too.

 

[Cleon]

Sound like regular web spiders to me.

Great minds think alike.

That's how I treated them in my conversion, the only difference is they do not spin large webs (i.e. they have the standard 3E web spiders' net-throwing, but not its web-sheets.). I gave them the ability to drag their netted victims closer like the bolas spider does, just to give them some slight difference from the standard version.

 

[Shade]

How about this one?

Giant Hunting Spider
Armor Class: 8
Hit Dice: 2 (M)
Move: 120' (40')
Attacks: 1 bite
Damage: 1d6
No. Appearing: 1d4 (1d12)
Save As: Fighter: 2
Morale: 7 (wild), 8 (tamed)
Treasure Type: Up
Intelligence: 0
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 20

Hunting spiders are fur-covered spiders the size of dogs and are used as watch-animals and hunters in several primitive societies. They may be found in any terrain, arctic to tropical, and the fur of any individual will match its normal surroundings.

In the wild, hunting spiders run in packs to bring down their prey. They do not build webs, but stalk their prey over almost any terrain, and attack with large but nonpoisonous jaws.

Originally appeared in AC9 - Creature Catalogue (1989).


We might play up their pack hunting abilities, maybe giving them a short-range hivemind or the like.

 

[freyar]

Maybe not hivemind, but perhaps extra teamwork bonuses. The have extra HD compared to other "dog-sized" (Tiny or Small) spiders, so that's another potential point of differentiation.

 

[Cleon]

Maybe not hivemind, but perhaps extra teamwork bonuses. The have extra HD compared to other "dog-sized" (Tiny or Small) spiders, so that's another potential point of differentiation.

I believe they're the size of a Riding Dog (e.g. Medium), hence the (M) after the Hit Dice.

Here's my initial proposal from the Unconverted Vermin thread:

The Giant Hunting Spider doesn't look much different from a regular Medium Hunting Spider that lacks venom.

Guess we could make it an animal-intelligence Magical Beast so it can be trained. We'd need to add a Good Reflex save (+6) and BAB (add 1 to BAB, grapple and attacks) plus ten-sided HD (2d10+2 with 13 hp) for its Magical Beast levels and some skill ranks (Hide 2, Spot 3?) and a feat (Weapon Focus (bite) for bite attack +6?) for its Int 1.

That just leaves the CR - it's lost its venom and immunity to mind-affecting spells, but gains some better stats. I think I'd leave it CR1.

I think that about covers everything, although I do like the idea of a teamwork bonus. Where you thinking some kind of improved Aid Another (+3 instead of +2) or something like "Pack Attack: If two or more giant hunting spiders attack the same opponent, all the spiders gain a +2 competence bonus on their attack rolls."

 

[demiurge1138]

We could give them some sort of swarmfighting ability, so multiple could fit in the same 5ft square, and gain bonuses for doing so.

 

[freyar]

We could give them some sort of swarmfighting ability, so multiple could fit in the same 5ft square, and gain bonuses for doing so.

That I like!

 

[Cleon]

That I like!

Good idea. Something like:

Swarmfighting (Ex): Two giant hunting spiders can enter the same space and move and fight without penalty. If both the spiders attack the same opponent they both receive a +2 competence bonus to attack and damage checks against that opponent.
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