Mutant Monday

Arkansas Barking Spider


No. Enc.: 1d6 (1d6)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 60' (20')
          Web: 120' (40')
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 3+3
Attacks: 1 (bite)
Damage: 2d4, poison
Save: L2
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: VI
XP: 205

The Arkansas Barking Spider, a mutated species of Steatoda nobilis, is a 3' long spider with a dark brown globular abdomen with white markings in the shape of a skull and reddish-orange legs. They are web-spinning spiders that construct strong, sticky tangle webs (also known as cobwebs) in order to trap prey. Because they are web-spinning spiders, they have poor eyesight and use their vibration sense to locate prey and potential predators.

While Arkansas Barking Spiders are generally uninterested in humanoids and large creatures, preying primarily on small mammals and smaller mobile plants, they do employ a notable preemptive defensive measure when man-sized or larger creatures near their webs, by emitting a special gas cloud in a 30 foot radius which lasts for 1d3+6 turns in still conditions and 1d3+1 turns in windy conditions. Each round a target is in this gas cloud, the character must save vs poison or spend 1d4 rounds doing nothing but gagging, vomiting, and retching, and trying to get away from the silent but deadly gas. Any character that has failed the saving throw also suffers an AC penalty of 1 and +2 to all attack rolls. A gas mask or other filtering device will protect against this gas attack. For predators that persist in approaching the web, the barking spider will begin to a vocal warning consisting of their characteristic "barking."
For those foolish enough to actually get trapped by the web, they can break free in 2D4 turns, unless their strength is 19 or greater, in which case, they can break free in 2d4 rounds. For each round someone is stuck in the web, they will be attacked by half the number of Arkansas Barking Spiders that are present. For each bite, the victim may make a save vs poison against a class 6 poison.

Arkansas Barking Spiders typically make their huge (20-50' in diameter) cobwebs in caves or forests, hiding any treasures they accumulate in small holes.

Mutations: Toxic Weapon, Unique Sense (Vibration Sense, see Creatures of the Tropical Wastes), Webbing (WftW #7), Vision Impairment