D&D General When did araneas become shapechangers?

[Ath-kethin]

The title says it all.

I distinctly remember an incarnation of the aranea that described them as having two natural forms, both the giant spider and humanoid, so when killed they remained in whatever form they were in at death.

But in trying to find that passage/statblock now, I not only came up short (the entries I can find all describe the "natural form" as being that of the spider), when I go back to the original entry from X1, they aren't listed as shapechangers at all!

Does anybody have an insight as to

1) when they became shapechangers (and ideally, why that change came about) and

2) where I might have seen the bit about both forms being "natural" for these creatures?

Thank you!

 

[Bacon Bits]

Probably in 3e. They have an SRD entry in 3.5 which lists them as Magical Beast (Shapechanger). That edition used the Shapechanger subtype for basically any creature capable of assuming other forms magically.

 

[Azzy]

I think in 2e, when they were ported over from Basic. IIRC, they were definitely shapechangers in Red Steel. There might have been an earlier module or Dragon article that made them shapechangers, but I'm not familiar enough with Mystara modules.

 

[Bacon Bits]

There is quite a lot of information on the entry on 1d4chan. I wouldn't normally recommend that site due to it's associations and community -- in general I still would avoid it -- but it's a really complete entry.

 

[CleverNickName]

The aranea were first introduced in X1 - The Isle of Dread, back in 1981...but like you said: they weren't shapeshifters. They were just really smart spiders.

They were described as shapeshifters in the Savage Coast campaign setting, like @Azzy said, which was published in the mid-90s as part of the larger World of Mystara. You can read more about them and their lore over on the Vaults of Pandius website, here and here and here, without having to visit 1d4chan.

 

[Tonguez]

The BECMI Aranea has an ability called Spider Shifter which talks about the natural spider form and their chosen alternate Humanoid form. ​

​

Red Steel states that Savage Coast Aranea acquire their Humanoid form soon after birth, the change is automatic and both are considered True forms. They can change between them at will and with no limitations, nonetheless the humanoid form is magical rather than natural form. Red Steel also says that the Aranea can take a third demi-spider form mixing traits of their two main forms (A trueseeing cast on the demispider has an equal chance of detecting the humanoid or the spider)​

​

AD&D is the first time its referred to as Shapechanging and both forms are treated as True forms (ie not detectable)​

​

In 3e they get Supernatural Change Shape ability and three forms. Its natural form is the Spider, while the other two are supernatural Humanoid and Demispider And can be detected with Trueseeing​

 

[Ath-kethin]

The aranea were first introduced in X1 - The Isle of Dread, back in 1981...but like you said: they weren't shapeshifters. They were just really smart spiders.

They were described as shapeshifters in the Savage Coast campaign setting, like @Azzy said, which was published in the mid-90s as part of the larger World of Mystara. You can read more about them and their lore over on the Vaults of Pandius website, here and here and here, without having to visit 1d4chan.

View attachment 127405

That resource was excellent, and I appreciate your posting it. Unfortunately, however, it doesn't really answer my question.

You can bet I bookmarked those pages, though.

 

[Ath-kethin]

The BECMI Aranea has an ability called Spider Shifter which talks about the natural spider form and their chosen alternate Humanoid form. ​

​

Red Steel states that Savage Coast Aranea acquire their Humanoid form soon after birth, the change is automatic and both are considered True forms. They can change between them at will and with no limitations, nonetheless the humanoid form is magical rather than natural form. Red Steel also says that the Aranea can take a third demi-spider form mixing traits of their two main forms (A trueseeing cast on the demispider has an equal chance of detecting the humanoid or the spider)​

​

AD&D is the first time its referred to as Shapechanging and both forms are treated as True forms (ie not detectable)​

​

In 3e they get Supernatural Change Shape ability and three forms. Its natural form is the Spider, while the other two are supernatural Humanoid and Demispider And can be detected with Trueseeing​

Which BECMI source has the Spider Shifter ability? It's not there in X1 unless I'm blind.

The Red Steel book is what I was thinking of; it explicitly stated that when killed, an aranea stays in the form it had just before death.

Thank you!

 

[Iry]

1) when they became shapechangers (and ideally, why that change came about) and

Hundreds of years ago.

 

[Ath-kethin]

Hundreds of years ago.

Wow. I had never ever heard of those!

That's awesome, thanks!