Aranea traits
by John HareA little while ago I did a little (stress this word :) research on types of spiders and what kind of traits they might have and compare them to breeds of aranea. Now I don't have the SC box set or which ever product contains the AD&D version of the aranea so some of this may contradict given material.
Funnel Weavers/Grass Spider: this is one of the most common types of spider and I would use this as the base type for aranea.
Wolf Spider: These aranea are hunter/trackers with no web building abilities. The have good eyesight and can be considered to have either the hunting or tracking skill in addition to normal skills.
Spitting Spider: These aranea can (in spider form) spit webbed poison say up to 30' away (normal poison saves), however they are somewhat slow (-2 initiative modifier)
Water Spider: These aranea live by/in bodies of water and eat fish (and merfolk! :), in water their poison is treated the same as normal aranea but out of water it is more potent (because being in water dilutes the effects) and has a -1 to saves.
Trap Door: these aranea like to hide and surprise unsuspecting prey and thus gain the skill of camouflage when building their trap. Doesn't build webs.
Jumping Spiders: they don't build webs but do use safety lines, has jumping skill and if surprises its target does double damage, also has 360 degree vision.
Just some very rough ideas, some
which need to be balanced a bit more and of course in Bruce's
tradition special bloodlines would include phase spiders.