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Join Llewyn, Taylor, and Travis, a trio of nerdy adults, as they spend way too much time and energy on exploring the lore of Dungeons and Dragons. Listen and laugh with them as they are way too excited about DnD for adults and that's okay!
Dungeonpedia
97: Pop an Ettercap in a Fool
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This week, Travis is telling us about the repugnant arachnid ettercaps (yeah, they're not mushrooms; I think it's weird too).
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SPEAKER_01And I'm Travis Peasley. And also, I'm sorry, guys. I decided that it would be a good idea, apparently, to catch what everyone else had at work last week, and we couldn't record like at all last week. Like I was fucked up for the entire week, basically.
SPEAKER_02Even still, I'm I'm I'm worried that your your voice may uh may sound affected.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh my voice might start to go out towards the end of this, so also apologies for that one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Whatever the hell this was, is just a pain in the ass to get rid of.
SPEAKER_03Well, what I feel like we should also specify what it's not. Yeah, it's just definitely not that. Just in case, like, just in case.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's it's definitely not COVID. It's from what my doctor said was basically just like a advanced version of the cold. But not that advanced. But not that advanced. Like apparently this particular strand has been going around a lot since everyone started removing their masks.
SPEAKER_02It's just the cold, basically, except it's the cold, but like super fucky. It's the cold but more contagious, basically.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, pretty much. So everyone at work had it. I don't know how Taylor didn't end up getting sick.
SPEAKER_02I don't know how I didn't end up getting it either. I all every time you get sick, I'm sick before like I even realize what's going on. And then it's too late. And then it's too late.
SPEAKER_01It's been great.
SPEAKER_02But I I managed to avoid it and I'm I'm happy. Keep your germs to yourself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so hopefully no more sickness for any of us now. Yes. That'd be nice. Knock on wood. Yeah. So I uh pose a question to you two real quick. Oh no. Okay. Is it a hard question? No, not really. Okay, good. Do either of you have arachnophobia? No.
SPEAKER_02Not really.
SPEAKER_03I mean, you know I don't like dealing with spiders, but that's just because Honestly, the case in point of me not having arachnophobia today is that literally earlier today, Taylor found a spider. And Lewin dealt with it. And I and I took it outside. So I definitely don't.
SPEAKER_02The reason I I don't like dealing with spider spiders is because they can sense my fear and they lured it against me.
SPEAKER_01Listen, we have a contractual understanding with the spiders around here. They're not supposed to be in the house and we leave them alone. They come in the house, they die.
SPEAKER_03Well, except for the one that lives it today that got to live. Yeah. I try to only kill spiders if they're venomous, because I don't want them like coming coming back and like biting one of my biting one of my babies.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's it. Or you know, me or whatever. For me is I just don't want them to uh I don't want any spiders to to bite my babies.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Me, I could give less of a shit about, but not the children.
SPEAKER_03Because the children will go up and try to eat the spider. And yeah. Anyway, I do not have arachnophobia and I have receipts that I don't, so good job.
SPEAKER_01So that's good. And anyone that does have arachnophobia, well, I'm sorry, because this episode is about not exactly spiders, but like half spider, half sexy, half sexy. No, these things are not sexy.
SPEAKER_03You know, you all know, yeah. Not sexy at all. I mean, that's probably a challenge to some of our audience. Like, oh really?
SPEAKER_02Oh, really? I can't I I bet I can get down to some of these.
SPEAKER_01Alright, so challenge uh challenge issued. Travis is throwing the gauntlet. We're talking about edder caps.
SPEAKER_03Wait. That doesn't that sounds like a mushroom. It does.
SPEAKER_01That's what I thought too. It's not, apparently. Yeah, I was like, edder caps. Okay, so yeah, sort of like mushrooms, yeah. No, no, it's not. It's worse. Oh way worse. Um, so thank you to Angus for suggesting this in our Discord server. But you should go join if you're not already. Yes. That way you can suggest things too. I mean you can do that elsewhere, but like come party with us.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Come party with us. So, editor caps. Not a whole lot of like really deep information about like their backgrounds and whatnot. Still pretty interesting though. So from the uh Fiendfolio in first edition, they are described as a biped that is roughly man-sized with very long arms, a protruding pot belly, short legs, and hairy skin. Same. Jesus Christ. Their hands are clawed, and they have two poisonous fangs that protrude from each side of their mouths. And they're kind of spider-y.
SPEAKER_03Okay, yeah, no, I I looked them up and I see it. I okay, it's like it's like there were there were there was like two there was like two committees, right, on like spider human, like human humanoid hybrids. And one of them was like, we're gonna make them as sexy as possible, and they made dryers. And then the other ones were like, we're gonna combine all the undesirable traits of both and make them super not sexy. Now, granted, I'm sure someone out there has probably risen to the challenge and is like, yeah, I would fuck one of those.
SPEAKER_01But like if you look up pictures of them, especially from first edition, they are just not sexy. Like, there's nothing good about them.
SPEAKER_03Rude.
SPEAKER_01There's not.
SPEAKER_03So Yeah, it's not it's not pleasant to look at.
SPEAKER_01It it's not. Certainly. Um when it comes to like their attacks, they use their claws and their fangs. Nah. The claws just deal, like, you know, normal one to three points of damage. Right. And their bite inflicts poison damage that is one to eight. Okay. Not like anything terribly uh strong about them in first edition that's changed just a little bit later on. Now, the interesting thing about them is they are very not very, but they are low intelligence creatures. They're considered neutral evil for pretty much every edition, save for one, which I'm sure Oh. I wonder which one. Yeah. But they are also described as cruel, cunning, and treacherous. And also they have silk glands. Ooh, that's fun. Much like those of a spider located near the anus.
SPEAKER_03Oh, it was was that the word chosen. That was the exact word.
SPEAKER_01Good, good, good, good. So from these glands, they produce a thin, very tough, silvery like cord is how they described it. Right. Uh they use this to make various like assorted weapons and devices. They make like nets and garrotes, tripwires. Kimonos. Probably if they really wanted to. They they use their own like spider webbing, basically, and that's what they use for their weapons.
SPEAKER_03Is it just me, or does the word just the word gland itself sound bad?
SPEAKER_01I mean, gland itself sounds bad when you're talking about a humanoid-ish figure.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, I'm with you on that one. Like, even even if it has nothing to do with anything like untoward or or sexual, like adrenal gland. That sounds nasty as hell. I'm sorry. Maybe I'm just maybe I'm just, I don't know. Coloring it with your own perceptions. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Possibly.
SPEAKER_03I probably am. But even the word gland sounds in in and of itself sounds kinda eh. And then when you put it right next to the anus, it's like well, I'm glad they chose that word specifically, though. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It was it was great wording.
SPEAKER_03Not just like posterior or you know, whatever. Like, no, it's it's near the anus.
SPEAKER_01So also the thing that was kind of strange to me was they're not listed as having like any particular what is that word? Race? Not race. Society. Society, I guess. Like, they're not there's nothing that denotes them as being humanoid or beast or any sort of defining thing. They're just man-like creatures. So I don't know if they're humanoids or if they're beasts in this, or if that really makes a difference. It probably doesn't.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, I get some things, I feel like some things do kind of fall into that like that kind of weird gray area.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, this one definitely kind of Because you could say this is like a humanoid, this is an animal, you know, this is like a Faye or a dragon or whatever, but then some things are just like they're not unintelligent enough to be animals, but they're not distinctly f like Fey or whatever, so it's just kind of like eh, it's an edder cap.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I guess it's probably more just like humanoid-ish, but either way. So they usually don't actually like to fight like up close at all. They generally prefer to lay down their traps and then set up ambushes using them. Like they'll either lead someone that is attacking them to a trap or set up traps along like heavily traveled roads to ensnare and immobilize anything and then eat them. They're carnivorous.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they're spiders.
SPEAKER_01And they're carnivorous to the point that it doesn't matter what kind of meat it is. Doesn't matter. They have no specific favorite type of meat. If it's a meat, they will eat it.
SPEAKER_03Well period. I yeah, I you know, like let's let's be honest though, given what these books usually say, like their favorite meat's probably human meat, right? Like humanoid, demihuman, you know. Yeah, you can see it. Probably. Probably. Because it feels like it usually is. They're like, yeah, they'll eat anything, but their favorite is humans. Yeah. Tasty.
SPEAKER_01And they're solitary creatures, which that also doesn't change much. They only ever will appear in groups of two at the most. And even then it's very rare to find. Okay. But it also does note that they get along very well with all other types of spiders.
SPEAKER_03Aw, that's nice.
SPEAKER_01So they also generally like live around other spiders.
SPEAKER_03And this is DD, so there are giant spiders.
SPEAKER_01Correct. It's great.
SPEAKER_03That's a word for it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh, uh okay, no, I'll be quiet for now, because we might talk about this later, but I have thoughts. You have thoughts? Yes, I do.
SPEAKER_01So from uh the monstrous manual second edition, this actually indicates now that they are found in heavily wooded forests, which makes sense given yeah. Their whole nature. Yeah. Stease also works. Um the art has somehow gotten uglier. Oh yay! I don't I don't know. It's uh you just you'll have to look. It's so weird. I don't Okay. It's fucking it's it's it's just weird. Um except now their legs are described as being short and spindly while their arms reach nearly to their ankles. Still with the classic pot belly. Yeah. Um their hands only have a thumb and three long fingers that have razor-sharp claws at the end of them. So they're like four-fingered, I guess. Three-fingered and one thumb. I don't know. However you want to call that. Um they now have tufts of thick wirely What? Wirely. Thick wirely. Tufts of thick, wiry black hair that like covers their body.
SPEAKER_03Oh, like a tarantula.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, actually. Um their heads are almost like equine in shape. But they have these large, like, reptilian eyes that are usually blood red in color.
SPEAKER_03That's a that's a lot of words.
SPEAKER_01They're they're a mishmash of some weird.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, I don't like that. Like, it's because it's like, okay, they're s they're a humanoid spider person, kind of, with this this sort of like um that I can vibe with. Yeah, or when with the sort of like almost like extreme kind of gorilla-like proportions, you know, with the the really long arms and everything. And I'm like, okay, and then you said equine. I was like, wait, take it back. And then you said reptilian.
SPEAKER_01Yep, their head is equine, but they have reptilian eyes. On a spider body, on a spider gorilla body.
SPEAKER_03Love it. It's great, it's awesome. They're making some interesting chimeras nowadays. Right? Or rather in the 70s.
SPEAKER_01And it does actually like say that edder caps are ugly bipedal creatures. So they're just get the fuck out. Jesus Christ. They're just ugly.
SPEAKER_03I love when the source material just like drags me. Just like dunks on them. They're like, they're uh just unrepentantly ugly and terrible, and it's like, wow. I might be too if official source material described me in that way. I might be pretty pretty mad about it.
SPEAKER_01Right. So they have these like stooping gait and hunched shoulders, but even with all of that, they're still around six feet tall. Oh.
SPEAKER_03Dang.
SPEAKER_01So I feel like even if they if they weren't like hunched over and they could stand straight up, they were probably like very, very tall. Six and a half, seven foot tall, maybe.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, get a get a full extension on that bad boy.
SPEAKER_01Dude, they're big. Way bigger than they should be, given their the whole characteristics. Right. Yeah. So other than their long fangs that they still have, because you can't get rid of those, they're just frightening enough. Um, their mouth is also just full of razor-sharp teeth past that. Oh, awesome. So you have these poisonous fangs, and if those somehow happen to miss you, you still have a whole bunch of razor-sharp teeth that are just gonna saw into you. Love it.
SPEAKER_02So it's great. Awesome. Love it.
SPEAKER_01They don't have any form of like a formal language.
SPEAKER_02Right. Um Yeah, that that's kind of the vibe.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Instead, they kind of express themselves through a combination of high-pitched chittering noises, shrieks, and of course, some violent actions. It doesn't specify exactly how and what they use these violent actions for communicating on, but I'm going to assume it's a leave me the fuck alone.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, that that that's like sometimes you just you want someone to die and you communicate that by murdering them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So there. I mean, I guess. Jesus.
SPEAKER_01So, um, their poison their poisonous bite changed a little bit, and if you happen to be one of the unlucky adventurers to get bit by one of them, you face a pretty serious challenge.
SPEAKER_03Ooh!
SPEAKER_01Ooh, is it one of those good old Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. After successfully biting a creature, they will inject a highly toxic poison into the victim. Mm-hmm. The poison requires a saving throw versus poison. And on a failed save, that means you now have one D4 rounds until you die. Yay! Because the poison paralyzes your heart. Oh, love that. Oh, that's right. And it doesn't mention any way of stopping it after you failed the first save.
SPEAKER_03Well, at least it's not immediate.
SPEAKER_01No, you have one D4 round, so you could live for six seconds or twenty-four seconds.
SPEAKER_03It's just enough time to pray to your God. Pretty much for forgiveness. Yeah. Or, you know. Well, I mean, I guess if you're I don't know how quickly it takes someone to die from their heart being paralyzed. So pretty quickly. Okay, gotcha.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, pretty, pretty quickly, I would assume.
SPEAKER_03I wonder if I wonder if that was like them not mentioning any particular thing that you can do about it. If that was an oversight, or if it was just like you're fucked. Fuck you.
SPEAKER_01Fuck you.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna vote for the fuck you.
SPEAKER_01Probably.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Now that being said, they are generally like weaker creatures. So Really. Really? Like weaker as far as like their health and what have you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So they're like their Thacko score is 15.
SPEAKER_03You could breathe and yeah, like you could breathe in that thing's general direction. It would do damage to it. Yeah, and you're gonna do damage to it.
SPEAKER_01So they're relatively easy to kill, but if they happen to bite you and you fail that save, then you're fucked.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's like they're they're weak, but they have like the one big fuck you. Okay. I I That's fair. That's probably the worst thacko score I've actually ever heard of.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a thacko of 15.
SPEAKER_03I was like, what the fuck is that is pretty bad. That is awful. That is like that's like whenever you're like, hey, the door's locked. Okay, I hit the door with my axe, and the DM's like, I'm not even gonna make you roll like against the door's AC. Because like it's not gonna dodge out of the way. It's a door.
SPEAKER_01That's like when that axe even hits it, the lock just pops off. You're good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, like that's just that's like don't even bother rolling to hit this door because I know you're gonna hit it. 15.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Shit. So as I said, they are like I have a fucking AC of 15. Yeah, that would be about equivalent, I think. I don't know. You're pretty quick. You you might have a attack score. Like a 13. You're probably harder to hit than they are. Yay. Uh yeah, so they are master trap makers. Um a lot of the traps, like I said earlier, involve immobilizing the victim. So that way, if they catch one of them in the traps, they will just run up and bite them.
SPEAKER_05Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01To poison and kill them immediately, basically.
SPEAKER_02Just immediately go for the berserk move. I mean, why not? I know.
SPEAKER_04I'm I'm I'm I'm not uh I'm not hating on this at all.
SPEAKER_01Straight up just says without hesitation, if someone gets trapped, they go and attack. There's no hesitation. Like, oh, they're trapped. Bite.
SPEAKER_03I saw you hanging out with Hellminster. I won't hesitate, bitch. I wish I could hang out with Hellminster. He seems like a cool guy. Anyway.
SPEAKER_01So, due to the nature of how they make these traps, again, with their weird spider-like silk glands, it specifies that like every Eddercat prefers different trap designs. So if you were using them and your players ran into them multiple times, each time would be different.
SPEAKER_05Oh, that's nice.
SPEAKER_03They're artisans. Of traps that they use to murder people and then eat them. That's nice. Yeah. They're artisans.
SPEAKER_01Uh their layers are often located on the ground, but it does specify that sometimes they do tend to build them like higher up in very large, sturdy trees.
SPEAKER_02I'm very sorry. I just needed to communicate this. Um, you said layers, and like now I know that you meant they're not ogres. Yeah, I was thinking they have layers? Ogres have layers. Nope, they are not ogres.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so they weren't mushrooms, they're onions. Yes. Oh. So our mines didn't go to the same place because mine went to um trapdoor spiders.
SPEAKER_04Oh.
SPEAKER_03Which I feel like is a f it would be a fun concept for that.
SPEAKER_02If you're a DM for a fun con.
SPEAKER_01You should be familiar with that, actually.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because you ran into Trapdoor Spider like in our first session of Pathfinder. She wouldn't be.
SPEAKER_03I wouldn't be.
SPEAKER_01Well, I wasn't you specifically.
SPEAKER_03I wasn't there. We weren't friends, yeah. Well, I was friends with Taylor. So here's the Travis was like, who's this random man in my apartment? And now here we are.
SPEAKER_01Here we are. Surprise.
SPEAKER_03Talking about glance.
SPEAKER_01Yay. Um they tend to make their nests out of like a frame of their silk strands, basically, that they fill with rotting leaves and moss. Okay. So I'm sure it smells pleasant.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean, I I mean I think that that That like natural, like foresty detritus actually smells really nice.
SPEAKER_02I mean, it probably just depends on like how advanced in the decay process it is. Because I feel like very early on in the decay process, it probably it smells pretty bad. Like it smells very mildewy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Maybe I'm just weird.
SPEAKER_02No, no, I know exactly yes, you are. But I know exactly what you're talking about. I just feel like that's later on in the decay process. Yes. Smells really good. That's true.
SPEAKER_01So uh here's the fun part. Say, you know, you run into them, you risk the possibility of death from one single bite, you kill them, you go into their layers, you find nothing.
SPEAKER_03No!
SPEAKER_01They're not big no treasures at all in their layers.
SPEAKER_02Usually they're the anti dragon.
SPEAKER_01They are the anti-dragon. Usually you might be lucky enough to find treasures laying around from their previous victims, but they exist solely to eat, basically. They have no desire for any possessions, they just build, talk to spiders, and eat people. Same.
SPEAKER_03Life goals. I don't want to eat people. Don't take me off that list.
SPEAKER_01Please. Uh I do have some information about their young. Yes. Yes. It's not a lot, okay. So the rare occasion that you do encounter them in pairs, they are always a mated couple. Right. But you will never encounter them with their young. Okay. Okay. Because they abandon them as soon as they are born.
SPEAKER_03No. Oh, I was hoping it was one of those, or it was like they have like little egg, like a little egg sack on their back. And then you hit them with a broom and they go out like that one can't yell though. I've seen the video.
SPEAKER_01I've done that in real life.
SPEAKER_03Like I said, I said at the top of this episode, I don't, I don't mind spiders. I don't have arachnophobia. I've met some very nice tarantulas in my life. But if that happened to me, that particular discreet situation, I would fucking have a heart attack and die. Yeah. Honestly. It's terrible. Just like the but yeah, I just imagine them like they have a little egg sack on their back that they got their babies in. Nope.
SPEAKER_01They abandoned their gum.
SPEAKER_03Oh fuck.
SPEAKER_01Like as soon as they're born, they're like, alright, get the fuck out. And they like just leave it. They don't care. Mood.
SPEAKER_02Fuck! I'm mostly joking. Mostly.
SPEAKER_01Mostly. So fuck. Once they have killed a creature, they just immediately go into the whole devouring stage. Right. They devour as much of the corpse as possible. And an endercap can typically consume an entire deer or a large humanoid in a single sitting.
SPEAKER_03That is not a small feat. No. No. That is like.
SPEAKER_01No, it's bad.
SPEAKER_03That is like either slightly larger or slightly. Well, I would imagine mass-wise, some deer might be like a little bit bigger than them. But that's either like that's like around their size. So they're literally eating their body weight probably in one sitting. So like they're considered medium. Just an oh well, yeah, that's right. Yeah. So they're probably eating more than their body weight in one sitting.
SPEAKER_01Which is just not healthy.
SPEAKER_02I mean it is if you're going spider periods of time without eating.
SPEAKER_03Which I would imagine that I would imagine that they do. Yeah. Because it isn't like they just they don't just go out and pluck a pluck a fruit off of a bush and eat that, you know. Like they it's a whole song and dance with them. Yeah. So I'd imagine kind of like real spiders, they probably don't eat super duper often.
SPEAKER_02So when they do, it's like they say everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And also, 40% of the time, there will be two D4 spiders of some monstrous type, can be any monstrous type. There's more than that. That can be found cooperating with an edder cap. Nice. And on the off chance that a creature is killed by an edder cap in the web of a giant spider, they actually end up sharing the corpse with the spider instead of just devouring it entirely themselves.
SPEAKER_03Well, that's nice. They know how to share.
SPEAKER_01So they do have some semblance of like camaraderie. Maybe. They work with spiders, and if one gets if they kill one of their victims in the web of a spider, they share it. That's nice. So, you know, they have that going for them.
SPEAKER_03They don't just go over to their friend's house and eat all of their food. They share it. They share their food. That's nice. That's nice.
SPEAKER_01There is a reason for people to hunt ettercaps, though.
SPEAKER_03They're venom? They're bad.
SPEAKER_01Correct.
SPEAKER_03Hey!
SPEAKER_01They're venom. There is a very strong market that has sprung up for the eddercat poison. Which, by the way, it's kept in little sacks above their uh big fangs. That makes sense. Which is how they inject it.
SPEAKER_03I feel like that's pretty accurate for like IRL spiders.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's highly valued due to both the extreme toxicity and just because it's really difficult to obtain.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Now, the poison glands of an edder cap only hold one ounce of poison at any given time. So very small amounts. However, one ounce is worth up to about 1,000 gold on the market.
SPEAKER_03Wow. Wow. Wait, so is that one ounce per gland or is it one ounce total?
SPEAKER_01I think it's one ounce total.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so one ounce per ettercap. Right.
SPEAKER_01Gotcha. So if you want to make a living out of hunting eddercap and getting their uh poison, it would probably not be hard.
SPEAKER_02Well, you gotta gotta make sure that you're strong enough to not get bit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Or, you know, just like breathe on them and they'll die. Right.
SPEAKER_01I would think that if you become like a master hunter for them, you would develop ways to like cover pretty much your entire body with from being bitten by them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And still be able to like kill them. Right. Or at that point just shoot a fireball and walk away.
SPEAKER_03Does it does it specify um like any stats about their venom itself?
SPEAKER_01No, just that it's deadly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because I could I feel like if I were a DM and I wanted to sell my players some Eddercat venom, I feel like you slap that bad boy on like an arrow and it would produce the same effect as an Eddercat bite, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Uh pretty much that's how it is. Oh, okay, okay. I guess in like later editions it would be considered a uh what's the word?
SPEAKER_02I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Like a damaging poison.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Right.
SPEAKER_01Can only be used by being like applied to an open wound, basically. Right. Because you have some that are like you can only inhale them, you can only ingest them. Yeah, yeah. And then there's just the wounding. So yeah, you would put it on like an arrow tip and then shoot them, and if they fail to save, then they die. You just sit there and watch them, and then they just freeze up and funk.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Down they go. Hmm.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Vivid. Are they handed their own venom?
SPEAKER_01Probably. I would assume so. It doesn't mention anything about that, like anywhere, so I would say probably spiders.
SPEAKER_03I love asking and uh pondering just completely asinine questions. Same. Because like you like kill one edder cap and then use their venom to kill another one. It's just, I don't know. Like diminishing returns at that point, but for some reason the idea is funny to me.
SPEAKER_01It would be pretty funny though. So when it comes to finally getting like a solid definition of what they are considered, that finally shows up in the 3.5 monster manual. Yay! Uh they are aberrations. Oh apparently. But also their description has changed slightly in this edition anyway, so it could just be the difference in what they look like and how they're perceived to be made of, I guess. Right. Um they do still have like their long, slender arms and legs, and of course, you still just can't get rid of that pot belly. But their heads are no longer equine-shaped. Thank God. Instead, they are now simply just the head of a spider.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01With a pair of like bulbous black eyes.
SPEAKER_03You know, that upsets me less. I don't know why. Do they just have two? Do they just I almost said two pairs? Do they just have two eyes?
SPEAKER_01So it says a pair of like bulbous black eyes, but then when you look at the art, it looks like they do have the traditional like multiple spider eyes, but I don't know if they're actually functional.
SPEAKER_03Or if it was just somebody didn't communicate to the writers, they just said draw a spider head. Yeah. It's hardly possible. Or, you know, they maybe meant to just put bulbous black eyes, but they actually put a pair of because that's a common, you know, f like descriptor in front of eyes. Whatever eye words, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just bulbous black eyes. That's what they have. But I assume that the spider eyes are probably just non-functional. I don't know though. Or I suppose you can just determine that yourself.
SPEAKER_03I mean, at a certain point, I feel like it's like splitting hairs. Yeah. Yeah. Like potentially.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I would agree. At a certain point, it just becomes like you really don't need to specify anything more unless you're giving them a specific like ability that would come from having this eyesight.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, or if it's like a giant spider, like you would maybe run a chance of say incapacitating only one of its eyes at a time. So then it would be. But you know, when it's kind of human-sized, it's like eh. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um and in this, they are described as revolting. Instead of just ugly.
SPEAKER_03They are now revolting. They've been upgraded to revolting.
SPEAKER_02Good for them.
SPEAKER_01Right. They've been upgraded. Yay. Yay! Uh also it does now specify that they savor the taste of still living flesh.
SPEAKER_03Oh. Oh, love it.
SPEAKER_01So they will often consume incapacitated prey before they die. Which is a horrible, horrible way to go, I would think. Like you're incapacitated, but you're still aware.
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah, that's not great. Don't love that.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. I love the wording here. It says that they often keep spiders in the same way others keep bees. Huh. And then it goes on to say they will even keep monstrous spiders as pets, and that these spiders are as loyal as a dog is to a human.
SPEAKER_03So pretty fucking loyal.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So they spider keep and then have pet spiders. Pet giant spiders.
SPEAKER_03Oh, imagine one of them in a little beekeeping uniform. They probably wouldn't need to, but you know.
SPEAKER_01Just for this stuff. Um we now have a weight class for these little things. Little. I say little, but really not little. They're 200 pounds. That's it. Yeah, they're six feet tall, two hundred pounds.
SPEAKER_03That's well, I guess spiders are spiders are pretty heavier than me with the same height.
SPEAKER_01Spiders are pretty light.
SPEAKER_02Because they're just they're also very muscular.
SPEAKER_03Because they're just kinda, you know, they don't have bones.
SPEAKER_01So Yeah. Oh, and now they also speak common? Cool. I don't know what the reasoning behind giving them language is, but to be terrifying, I guess. I guess, yeah. Can you imagine that thing talking in common like at you? Yeah. Just this humanoid body with these long arms and legs and then a fucking spider face.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't like it, actually. Thank you. Yeah, no, I can. Yeah, that's fair.
SPEAKER_05Hmm.
unknownHmm.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And their poison doesn't kill you in front of that anymore. Good. They got rid of that, thankfully. They nerfed that. Yes. Um, it now does an initial 1d6 dexterity damage, and then it can do a secondary 2d6 dexterity damage.
SPEAKER_02Oh good.
SPEAKER_01And it's a fortitude saving throw DC of 15 to avoid that. I mean, still not good when you consider, you know, receiving that much dexterity damage at a single time. Yeah. Pretty can still be pretty nasty, but at least you don't die immediately.
SPEAKER_02True.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, they can now also throw a web eight times per day, which can work on creatures up to medium size. The web, when it hits, will anchor a target in place, preventing any sort of movement.
SPEAKER_03Do they s do they throw from their butt?
SPEAKER_01It doesn't specify, but I'm gonna see probable.
SPEAKER_03Or do they do a little Spider-Man?
SPEAKER_02I I was hoping for Spider-Man just because I was picturing those little hands doing it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the little like Yeah. They're little like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, they have more they have more fingies than um Turians and Quarians do. I was gonna say like Turian hands, and then I realized they have more fingies than Turians and Quarians. Anyway. Anyway. I still kind of want it to come out of their butts, though. Okay, that's fair. Uh either way. That's not important. The effect is important, Lewin. God. Right. Back on track.
SPEAKER_01Um you can attempt to escape the webbing when you get caught in it. It's a DC-13 escape artist check, or you can just try to muscle your way through it with a DC-17 strength check. Depending. Pretty high check. Yeah, I mean, it the webbing is not insignificant by any means.
SPEAKER_03And when you play the kind of characters I usually play, you're gonna do the escape artist check. Actually, no, I've been I've been playing some tanks lately, come to think of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Hmm. Anyway. So also, because I just pulled from the 3.5 monster manual, uh, I looked at the third edition monster manual and they're pretty much the same, minus a few kind of weird things, as far as like their DC for escaping the webbing is actually higher. Yeah. In third edition, it's a DC twenty for escape artist or a DC twenty-six for a strength check. To bust through the webbing. Um even for third edition, that's relatively high. Yeah. It is. Uh of course, the webbing does have like it only has six hit points.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01So like someone can walk over and hack at it and pretty much bust it pretty quickly. Or you can hit it with fire because of the fact that it's like a weird silk webbing.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01It takes double damage from fire.
SPEAKER_03Okay. So you could like just pull out your lighter and just go up. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, they can also make sheets of uh sticky webbing that can cover from five to sixty square feet.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's a lot of square feet. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh these are usually positioned in order to snare flying creatures. Oh, I see. Okay. And if you're writing one writing a flying creature, not an edder cap. Although I suppose if you're writing an edder cap, I would also be interested to see how that goes.
SPEAKER_03But Travis, let me tell you, there's a website for that. Oh God. Oh, Jesus Christ, not. I'm sorry. I'm deeply sorry. Are you thinking you are?
SPEAKER_01I don't think you are either.
SPEAKER_03No. Can I can I offer a more innocent visual to cleanse your palate? And that's an EdderCap uh riding a giant spider as like a steed. Okay, thank you.
SPEAKER_01That that's better.
SPEAKER_03Okay, there you go.
SPEAKER_01So if you're riding a flying mount, it is a DC twenty spot check to notice the webbing. And if you get caught in one, it acts like the web that they can throw, basically.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01It anchors you, you can't move. You can blah blah blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, do XYZ checks or burn it or whatever.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So uh next we have the favored of all editions. Oh yes. Fourth edition.
SPEAKER_03Oh, wait, I have a I have a guess as to what's gonna happen. This is the one that fucks with their alignment.
SPEAKER_01Correct.
SPEAKER_03Yay! What do I win?
SPEAKER_01What do I win?
SPEAKER_03That thing is pretty obvious.
SPEAKER_01You win an ad break.
SPEAKER_03Yay! My favorite!
SPEAKER_01Just kidding. Yeah. Let's go take a break. I need some water, and then we'll talk about that.
SPEAKER_04Yay!
SPEAKER_01Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for listening to Eddercaps.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's an um well. I I came into it thinking that I was going to receive uh mushrooms.
SPEAKER_03Mushrooms and I have Well, not that not that kind of mushroom. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01No, instead you get weird humanoid spectrum.
SPEAKER_03Spiders, but not sexy things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's great. But love the bait and switch. You know what's not a bait and switch though? What? Um, well, all the dice from our uh lovely affiliate partnership, Metallic Dice Games.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah. It's just a bait. It's just a bait, and then you receive the bait and you have a good time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. They don't even like well, okay. I was gonna say they don't even try to catch you with the bait, but like that's kind of what happens with dice in general, so it's not even a them specific thing.
SPEAKER_03Listen, they can't help it that they're so pretty. Yes exactly.
SPEAKER_01So we do still have the affiliate partnership going with Metallic Dice Games. If you want, you can go there, get all the lovely, fantastic dice, dice accessories, dice trays.
SPEAKER_03Exclusive sets of dice available only on metallicdice games.com.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And uh when you finally load that shopping cart up, just uh type in Dungeonpedia for the discount code, and you'll get 10% off for the entire order. So get everything at once, and then just get everything discounted.
SPEAKER_03Yep, and go there instead of an editor cap layer, because you won't find any treasures there. We will on metallic types.com. Correct. We've tried to say it at the same time and it didn't work. Usually it does, but not that time.
SPEAKER_01And we do, of course, still have our Patreon if you would like to support us more directly, which is just at Dungeonpedia. There have been quite a few suggestions thrown around in Discord about possible other tiers. So be on the lookout for those. I'm working on trying to figure out some logistics to one of them. So it'll be great. Yeah, it'll be great. Uh we just gotta figure a few things out, so check it out there.
SPEAKER_02Also, something you can check out that'll be really fun, is our Discord.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh it is open to anyone and everyone who wants to join. The link is on our Twitter page, and we have a really fucking good time on there posting pictures of minis, talking about episodes, talking about DD in general. Posting pictures of our pets. Posting pictures of our pets.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's not just the pet pictures channel's lit, guys. It's not all about Dungeons and Dragons.
SPEAKER_02We have uh multi-faceted people. Correct.
SPEAKER_01Sharing memes. Lots of memes. Lots of memes. Lots of memes.
SPEAKER_02That's great. You can uh join our Discord by clicking the link that's on our Twitter. And again, our Twitter is at Dungeonpedia, so it's our Instagram. You can follow us there for updates, for just fun little posts. We'll reblog art or retweet art all the time.
SPEAKER_03Reblog, rest in peace. Rest in peace, that platform.
SPEAKER_02And also art that might be pertinent to whatever episode comes up. So sometimes if we'll talk about a specific art, we'll make sure that it gets posted onto uh.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we might not post any art at these guys this week because they're ugly. Or maybe we will because they are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I'm definitely gonna have CJ post some of these uh ugly bastards up there.
SPEAKER_02If you have an episode suggestion or just want to talk or whatever, whatever. I mean, first of all, Discord. Second of all, our email is dungeonpedia.podcast at gmail.com. That way it doesn't get buried in messages and we can, you know, respond to you in a relatively timely manner.
SPEAKER_03Speaking of things getting buried, like on your Twitter feed, for example, you can subscribe to us on whatever platform that you listen to to get notifications as soon as we post new episodes. And if those platforms allow it, we would appreciate if you left a rating or review or both, as those really help us uh stand out from the surprising lack of other DD lore podcasts. But that's beside the point. They're still very much appreciated. Yes. And what's also appreciated is spreading the word, telling your friends, your family, the spider who has lived in your bedroom all winter. It's not winter here, but it's winter in the southern hemisphere.
SPEAKER_01So yeah. Oh yeah. Admittedly, I kind of forgot that that was a thing. So I do too.
SPEAKER_03I do too. And then when I remember that the southern hemisphere seasons are switched for The northern hemispheres it fucks with you. It blows my mind every fucking time. Like I'm not a winter baby.
SPEAKER_02How how do y'all live? How do y'all do it? Uh another person I would like to ask how he does it is uh Alexander Nakara.
SPEAKER_01How does he live in the southern hemisphere?
SPEAKER_02No. How does he make the beautiful song Black and all of his other beautiful works?
SPEAKER_01Ah, that is actually a very good question.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I I feel like it might be a little above our skill level. But thank you, regardless.
SPEAKER_01Definitely above our skill level.
SPEAKER_03What's not above our skill level though is talking about spider people. Oh yeah, no, that's like right now.
SPEAKER_02That's like right up our alley. In fact, that might be why we have a podcast.
SPEAKER_03That might be what we're doing right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Which we should uh get back to that.
SPEAKER_01Yes, let's uh crap. Yeah, let's go.
SPEAKER_03Oh god. I just remembered. Ugh. Alright, let's get it over with.
SPEAKER_01Yep. So I just I just I have to note that the very first note I wrote down for these things from the fourth edition monster manual is literally because of course they did.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's always a good a good indicator of how things might be going.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So we all know that fourth edition already has an issue with very little lore for any of their creatures, but this is probably like the shortest bit that I think I've ever seen from Fourth Edition.
SPEAKER_04Oh, that's not optimistic.
SPEAKER_01It is literally just this. Oh boy. A spiritual kinship with arachnids allows Edercaps to live among and communicate with spiders and scorpions, and to keep such creatures as pets. And Eddercap uses such beasts as a human hunter uses dogs or drakes. That's it.
SPEAKER_03Wait, so are they are they still like like spider human looking? Because what you're describing to me is just like a human who's like a spider candy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01A spider what?
SPEAKER_03I don't want to explain it. Taylor, you you explain this. You're the one who brought it up. I'm the one who brought it up.
unknownOh god.
SPEAKER_02No, I'm not going to explain it. In fact, actually, no. Let's just go with spider furry instead. Okay, yeah, there's a there's a good that's a good way to put it.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Um, well, give me a second. I have to actually pull up the hairy.
SPEAKER_03I don't a rose hairy. I don't think that's better. I'm just trying to be more technical here. I don't like it. Like I don't a leggy. Nope. Okay, bye. Nope. Okay, bye. A silky? No, that's something else. I'm just being don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_01I don't I don't like it. I don't either. Okay, so I had to pull up like the actual picture because naturally the fourth edition monster mill doesn't give like any like meaningful physical descriptions. Yeah. So basically, what they are now are spiders, basically, they're just larger spiders with like an extended abdomen. That's basically what they are. And even like their type, it literally says, quote, medium natural humanoid parentheses spider.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02What the f Yeah. Parentheses spider. Yes, that's that's not what I was.
SPEAKER_01So they're medium natural humanoid spider.
SPEAKER_03Everyone knows. Medium natural humanoid spiders. That's my favorite kind of character to play. It's it's great. Okay. Well, so okay, so they at least do still look like spiders. Okay.
SPEAKER_01They said like pretty much nothing but spider at this point.
SPEAKER_03Well, they're like, they're even more humanoid spider. You know what I mean? Like not they don't have that unique Eddercap look anymore. They just look They just look like humanoid spiders, essentially. Pretty much. Literally spider fairies. But like what you were describing to me was like a little bit of just like a person who really likes spiders, you know? Like maybe a little bit of um like a Magic Brian type, you know?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, they're just spiders. They're just humanoid spiders. Thank you, Taylor.
SPEAKER_03They're just humanoid spiders who hang out and command other spiders.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And like I'm not even upset about them being changed from aberrations because I mean the only time we ever got a specific detailed thing of what they were were in the previous edition.
SPEAKER_03So I And even then it didn't really explain why they were aberrations. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01So like I don't care, change it to what you want. And just it's just so bizarre with how they changed it physically.
SPEAKER_05Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01Because it's just so different. I don't know. And, you know, of course, because fourth edition puts everything into like two or four different types, classes, what have you. So there are two types of Etercaps. There is the Fang Guard and the Web Spinner. And they're unaligned. I knew it. Shocking literally nobody at this point.
SPEAKER_03Well, I wasn't sure if they were gonna be like unaligned or just either of the two evils, and we were gonna talk about how dumb that was, but everything is like unaligned in fourth edition, I guess.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So the Feng Guard. Um they don't use claws to attack anymore. Uh instead, they now apparently use a great axe.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they use actual weapons now, I guess.
SPEAKER_03Which I mean, that's not like that's fair, I guess. I just don't like the idea of one of these things wielding a weapon.
SPEAKER_01It is a little frightening. But also, like, they don't have just the two long arms anymore. They have basically like spider legs. Mm-hmm. Slash scorpion legs. It's like a spider scorpion body. Mm-hmm. It's so weird. Yeah, so I guess they just wield great axes now because they don't have the claws.
SPEAKER_03Which that would be weird to me because I can see like they often wield a great axe or whatever, but then if they don't have one, like they get disarmed or whatever, it's like, oh okay, and they have this claw attack. That would make more sense to me, but they didn't ask.
SPEAKER_01So Um They do still have their uh poison spider bite, but instead of a save against like the initial poison, the Fangard instead makes a secondary attack versus the fortitude of whoever they're biting. And then the poison will stun the target until the end of the Eddercap's next turn, and they take ongoing five poison damage, I guess, until it ends or until you save against it successfully.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's kind of uh I mean, I'm not necessarily faulting fourth edition, but because I I feel like sometimes that kind of thing just does happen. Like you find a random description of how an attack um or ability works, and you're like, why did you choose to do it that way instead of just doing it, you know what I mean? Like instead of just doing like like why like why would you have them make a check against their fortitude as opposed to just having them make a fortitude save? But I feel like that kind of thing just happens every now and again. Like, I'm not I'm not necessarily faulting just fourth edition for that because I've seen some um, like even some specifically last week with the uh the nightshades where I was like, why would you choose to do it that way?
SPEAKER_02Yeah instead of you know what I mean? No, I I understand what you mean. But also ugh, ugh.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um they also have a standard at-will ability that is web tangle, and it like literally it just immobilizes the target. It doesn't do anything else.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01It just immobilizes. That's all it says. Alrighty. Just immobilizations.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Yeah. I mean that that doesn't not make sense because you know. Yeah, I mean, it makes sense. It's just I don't know, like, why I'm just always bored. Like, I'm sorry. A lot of the time a lot of the time when we don't when we are discussing some of the fourth edition stuff, I'm just like, eh, whatever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, I get it. I get it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And then of course we have the web spinner, which instead of a great axe, they use a long spear. As opposed to a short spear.
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah, no, literally, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, they have the same spider bite and the web net abilities as the Fanguard does. And they have a zone attack. Because, I mean, surprisingly the Fangard didn't, but the Web Spinner does. It is a it's called Webb Terrain. It's an area burst within uh two to ten feet, and it's a attack versus reflex, I guess. Either way, the target or in this case targets are immobilized if they're hit, and then the zone itself is filled with spider webs and is considered difficult terrain until the end of the encounter.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01So they just shit out webbing everywhere. I mean in a single burst. And uh that's it. We're done on Word of the Fifth Edition.
SPEAKER_03Okay, real quick.
SPEAKER_01Oh boy.
SPEAKER_03Before before I didn't know where to I didn't know where to put this, but I just like noticed this when I was uh Googling them. Um apparently vis-a-vis their names, apparently it comes from uh a Middle English word adder cop, which roughly translates to poisonous or venomous spider, and that's apparently where we get the word cobweb. So it's kind of like a variation, and I guess specifically in DD it came from J.R.R. Tolkien's use of the word adder cop because J.R.R. Tolkien invented the trope of the fantasy giant spider.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03Thanks for that.
SPEAKER_01Huh. I did not know.
SPEAKER_03So that's a it's apparently seems like it was kind of like a little bit of just a variation on the word Adder cop.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. Huh. I'm glad you found that because I didn't.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I just like noticed that and I was like, yeah, that I mean, and obviously, like I didn't go and look up like follow the source for it, but given the similarity between the words, that checks out to me.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, I mean it checks out to me too.
SPEAKER_03But they I guess they I was gonna say they should have chosen a different syllable, but because then it wouldn't make me think of mushrooms, but I guess they couldn't call them etter cups. Because then that made me think of teacups. Teacups.
SPEAKER_01So in fifth edition, um they didn't go back to being aberrations, instead, they are now just considered to be monstrosities. Which I guess also kind of makes sense given their mix of everything.
SPEAKER_03Just the whole everything. Just the like again, the everything.
SPEAKER_01We've had three different like set distinctions on what they are considered. So at this point, I don't even care if it doesn't go back to what it originally was because it was one instance and it's whatever.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and plus, like, there was never really any explanation given for how they were aberrations in the first place. Yeah. Besides them being, you know, pretty just aberrant. Yeah. Yeah. In the literal sense of the word, not, you know, not the from the from the outer plains aberrant.
SPEAKER_01And their whole existence has actually changed quite drastically now, too. They are humanoid spiders. Right. That tend, feed, and watch over spiders the way a shepherd oversees a flock of sheep.
SPEAKER_03Aw, that's nice.
SPEAKER_01So they're like spider herders, I guess? S spiderds. Spyherds. Spideherds. Spideherds. There we go. Shepders. Um they do have their uh strands of silk that they can stream from glands that are in their abdomens now. Oh, so not quite by their butts. No. It is their abdomen. Uh this lets them apparently, and I already know where this is gonna go, so I'm prepared, shoot sticky strands of webbing to bind, entrap, or strangle victims. Really, I d nothing. Really. Listen. I feel like you did that on purpose. The fact that I said the phrase shoot sticky strands and just got nothing. Listen.
SPEAKER_04I'm trying to be I'm not saying that for Travis, actually. Listen.
SPEAKER_03I listen, the the okay, listen, the writing comment earlier, I was like, I say I say too many gross and borderline horny things on this podcast. I need to rein it in.
SPEAKER_01Especially following that up with to bind. Like, I expected something.
SPEAKER_03That's typically not the use of the never mind.
SPEAKER_01Uh um, so they do still use Semen.
SPEAKER_03There you go. Are you happy? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yes. They do still use the silk to make their special elaborate like snares and traps and all that. It mentions specifically that they are quiet killers.
SPEAKER_03Ooh, spoopy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean that spiders typically are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And uh, whenever like a traveler or an explorer ventures into their territory, they actually will end up like stalking them for a while first. Ooh, spoopy. Very spoopy. And uh some of these adventurers die from just wandering blindly into the traps or sections of the forest that is just like enclosed by webbings. Others end up dying by the hands of the Eddercap using strands of webs to uh garote them. Ooh or envenom them with their poisonous bite.
SPEAKER_03Ooh! Dang.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. They have zero desire to live in harmony with nature, and the forest that is infested with them apparently transforms into this gloomy, often choked with webs and infested with giant spiders, giant insects, other various like predators and giant insects that kind of. So you'll know if you're in an territory because if you wander into a place that looks suddenly dead and covered with webs, it's probably time to turn around.
SPEAKER_03Noted. Got it. Okay. Also, that means that you don't have to feel bad about killing them because since they don't care to live in harmony with nature, that means they're probably not a vital part of the ecosystem or care to be. So you can just kill them and not feel bad about it.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Woo! And if like the floors being covered in webs wasn't enough to deter you, the maze of webs are often strewn about, or I'm sorry, the maze of webs that are strewn about are often just covered, or maybe not covered is the exact word, but have bones and like lost treasures of the previous victims just like dangling from them. Oh treasure. So like the treasure might be inviting, but the dangling bones are probably not.
SPEAKER_03Probably not as much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um and because of what you said earlier, just now, Lewin, uh, they are actually natural enemies of fake creatures.
SPEAKER_03Oh, fun.
SPEAKER_01Because of the fact that they don't want to live in harmony with anything. Right. They will often set web snares to catch sprites and pixies, which they will then just devour. Right. Just a little snacky snack. And they will encase a dryad's tree in webbing.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's fucked up.
SPEAKER_01In a vain attempt to trap the dryad.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02Trapped.
SPEAKER_01To trap the dryad.
SPEAKER_02To trap the dryad, to make them listen to trap.
SPEAKER_01Not the worst thing ever, I guess, but you know, being encased in the webbing is probably not great.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_01Unless you're into that. I suppose, yeah. Um, there are some of the like more timid Fae that will approach outsiders and ask for help in dealing with the Eddercap infestation because they just don't have the means to do that. The means to take care of it themselves. And there's also nothing listed under their languages section, so I'm going to assume at this point that we're just back to them not having any spoken language.
SPEAKER_02Which makes the most sense to me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yes. It that makes the most sense to me. Them having like no spoken language makes perfect sense.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Because something tells me that a spider mouth is probably not arranged in the best way to speak, you know, the languages of people. Yeah. I like I don't know, because I don't actually I don't know that much about spiders really.
SPEAKER_01I mean, they're more arranged in a way to make chittering noises.
SPEAKER_03And you know, uh bite things and vet on them.
SPEAKER_01Which they do have their poisonous bite, does the initial one d8 plus two piercing damage and then one d8 poison damage. On top of that, you have to make a DC11 constitution saving throw to avoid becoming poisoned for one minute. Which in fifth edition, poisoned means that you have disadvantage on attack and ability roles.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01So, I mean, not great.
SPEAKER_03I mean, certainly not great. Would I be correct in assuming that these guys are maybe a little bit more of a little bit weaker spec? Because DC 11 is not. It yeah, it's not outrageously high of a constitution save.
SPEAKER_01Uh let me double check that because I want to say yes, they are like definitely weaker.
SPEAKER_03It sounds kind of like more of the problem with them is if they are allowed to get the jump on you or having to deal with an area that's infested with them. You know what I mean? Not just like you just randomly find one in your shoe, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, um, they are considered challenge rating two. Their hit points are 8d8 plus 8, and it gives like the you know middle ground of like 44. Their AC is all just from natural armor at a 13. So they are pretty weaker versions of themselves. Right. Or their previous cells, I guess.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01They do have like a ranged attack, which is them shooting their webbing, which is on a large or smaller creature. Uh on a hit, the creature ends up being restrained by the webbing, and you can use an action to make a DC eleven strength check to escape the webbing. You can also destroy it. The webbing has an ACF-10 with five HP, so like one smack will do ya.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And one of the things that I actually liked the most is they gave an attack variant for them. Ooh. Um, because they do still have their claw attacks and their bite. But this variant replaces their claws. And the attack is called uh webgarote. Ooh. It's a melee weapon attack on a medium or small creature as long as the edder cap has advantage on the attack. It deals bludgeoning damage, and then the target becomes grappled until you break the grapple, the target can't breathe, and the edder cap has advantage on roles against it. So it's literally strangling you with its web. With its web. And you know, there are rules for 5th edition that you can only survive a certain amount of time.
SPEAKER_03Not being able to breathe is bad. The rules for DD has have decreed that not being able to do that. Yeah, just just D D. Yeah, it's weird how in DD not being able to breathe is a bad thing. So strange. Just DD, though.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Um when Angus mentioned this in Discord, he also mentioned a variant of it in Pathfinder that I had to look up, and they are called nightmare edder caps.
SPEAKER_03Oh. These things sound like a nightmare already. Pretty much.
SPEAKER_01Uh the description for them is the strange humanoid looks like a gangly distorted caricature of an edder cap with spider-like fingers and an enormous wicked grin.
SPEAKER_03Ooh, spooky.
SPEAKER_01So kind of spider's grin. I don't know. So the nightmare part is just a template that you can use to pretty much any creature you can make a nightmare creature. But they specifically they specifically put in like a nightmare editor cap as the example. Example. There we go. Brain did a dumb rap.
SPEAKER_03Oh my!
SPEAKER_01Looking up the pictures for you. Oh my. They're uh they're pretty nasty. That being said, I actually also want to.
SPEAKER_02That is horrifying, actually. Wait, is this their actual this looks like a fucking xenomorph?
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, kind of. Like, look at those things. Those things are just horrifying. Actually, they kind of remind me of uh Andario from Diablo 2, specifically. That was just the one that I happened to click on, but yeah, they're ugly ass little things. Like all of them. So one of the things that is added to being a nightmare creature in general is a ability called Night Terrors.
SPEAKER_03Great. Okay, I know that it probably is like the inflicting of it, but it's like, congratulations, you've been given night terrors.
SPEAKER_01You've been given night terrors. So they actually have the ability to enter a target's mind with a dream or nightmare like spell like ability. I don't like that. So once they do that, they can use this night terror's ability. Which it then attempts to control the target's dream. If the target fails a will saving throw, it remains asleep and trapped in the dream world with the nightmare creature. Thereafter, the nightmare creature controls all aspects of the dream. Each hour that passes, the target can attempt another saving throw to try to awaken. Uh you will automatically awaken after eight hours, or if the nightmare creature releases it. For whatever reason. For one reason or another, yeah. The target takes 1d4 points of charisma damage each hour it is trapped in the dream. If it takes any charisma damage, it is fatigued and unable to regain arcane spells for the next 24 hours. The target dies if this charisma damage equals or exceeds its actual charisma score.
SPEAKER_03Are you ever so uncharismatic you fucking die? Yes.
SPEAKER_01From being horribly frightened.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because this thing decides to fucking take over your goddamn dreams.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I'm assuming at that point that's kind of like.
SPEAKER_01Freddy Kruger?
SPEAKER_03Well, I mean, I was gonna hold back on the nightmare on Elm Street jokes, but I'm glad you didn't. Um, but it I mean at that point it's kind of even not like it's not even that you're so like uncharismatic that you die, because that would have happened to me by now. But it's kind of like like some kind of like death of the mind or something, like like ego death or something.
SPEAKER_01I don't Yeah, it's it's very weird, but yeah, they have this lovely nightmare version of the fucking nightmare on Elm Street type. Yeah, it's just fucking horrible. Like everything about it is not good.
SPEAKER_03It's um bad, actually, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, actually it's bad. I I would agree with that statement. It looks like a fucking xenomorph.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it does look like a xenomorph.
SPEAKER_03And at first I thought this was like fan art, like really.
SPEAKER_01The book bestiary.
SPEAKER_03Which is it looks like a fucking xenomorph.
SPEAKER_01The Pathfinder Bestiary 4, if anyone is curious.
SPEAKER_03It looks like a fucking albino-ass xenomorph with some body mods and some spider friends.
SPEAKER_01It also has illusion resistance and protection from good.
SPEAKER_03Like, okay, I know that means something in DD, but that's just funny.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh, it has damage resistance of five versus good or silver attacks.
SPEAKER_03Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Oh yeah. So uh three times a day it can cast detect thoughts.
SPEAKER_03That's terrible. It can also cast and does it tell them to to be gone after it finds them?
SPEAKER_01Well, that's just detecting the thoughts. And yes, I get the joke.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Don't don't worry, it didn't go over my head. Just you saying that happened to coincide with this next bit where they can also cast suggestion.
SPEAKER_02Perfect on thought.
SPEAKER_01So they can detect your thoughts and then suggest them to leave. You're welcome.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Oh.
SPEAKER_03I I hate it. I love it, kinda. Not the nightmare part, the thought part. Okay. Of course you do.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so I actually overlooked this at first, but here's another fun bit.
SPEAKER_03I love kernels that you find later. Um fun. Okay. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So there's also something that is a nightmare lord. Which Freddy Kruger are, I mean, basically pretty much they're nightmare creatures. They just have this uh They're just better. They're just more powerful, yeah. Just beefier. Um they live in the dimension of dreams. They tend to roll over the lesser nightmare creatures. Dark guy? Maybe. And being a nightmare lord, they get the ability Dream Slave. Instead of killing a target with its Night Terror ability, a nightmare lord may instead enslave it with a permanent dominate monster effect. Oh, yeah. The enslave creature is healed of all charisma damage taken from the night terrors. So they can just choose to enslave you instead.
SPEAKER_03Awesome! That's great. I love that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's it's fantastic, right?
SPEAKER_03Hey. Um. I was gonna say it's better than being dead, but probably not. Probably not. Is there any mention uh uh this is gonna sound more suggestive than I mean it to, but I guess uh I mean is there any mention of what they do with these dream slaves? Like do they use them as their agents in the waking world?
SPEAKER_01Or is it use them for or is it as kinky as it sounds? They probably use them for virtually everything. Oh good, so it's as kinky as it sounds. Lovely. Yeah, I mean, probably. Uh they also gain the ability to cast invisibility and plane shift.
SPEAKER_03Oh, good. Because that's important.
SPEAKER_01Plane shift from the material plane to the dimension of dreams. Or back, either way. The DOD Dimension of Dreams. So the nightmare variants in Pathfinder are fucking horrifying. So thank you for uh giving us that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was it was bad, actually. Yeah, I didn't like it at all. Thanks. It was great.
SPEAKER_01But that is all that I have for this week on the Eddercaps and their horrifying nightmare variants.
SPEAKER_02The the nightmare fuel, if you will. Literally.
SPEAKER_01The nightmare fuel. And slavery.
SPEAKER_03Oh boy, yay, we found another way. We found a way to work slavery in this episode. Slavery is bad, even the nightmare kind. I would I would I would go as far as to say, especially the nightmare kind.
SPEAKER_04Well, no, I don't know if I'd go that far. I would say that they're all bad.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04They are all bad. Probably about equally.
SPEAKER_01This is a new form of slavery that I didn't know existed.
SPEAKER_02New fine forms of slavery. Oh god. Oh god. You mean like, nope?
unknownNope.
SPEAKER_02Nope.
SPEAKER_01Dead.
SPEAKER_02Nope.
SPEAKER_01D-E-D. Dead.
SPEAKER_02Slavery's bad. Slavery's bad, kids. Thank you guys so much for listening. Um, again, slavery is bad. Uh don't forget to follow us on our Twitter, on Instagram. Uh join our Twit or Join our Twitter. Join our Discord, which you can find the link to on our Twitter.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Jesus.
SPEAKER_02As always, we appreciate you guys spreading the word to your friends and families and acquaintances and people you meet on the internet. And spiders. And spiders. I mean, tell your spider friends. Tell your spider friends.
SPEAKER_01Just be careful.
SPEAKER_02We we really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01We do. Um, again, if you have anything you would like to suggest as a topic for us to cover, you can always send us an email at dungeonpedia.podcast at gml.com. We'll gladly accept it there. Or our Discord if you join it. Or our Twitter if you basically anywhere. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, um, I think with that, uh, I'm done. I don't want to think about these guys anymore.
SPEAKER_01Or are you sure?
SPEAKER_03I'm pretty sure. So I think with that, we will catch you next week here on Dungeon Pedia.
SPEAKER_01So, nightmare variants.
SPEAKER_03So, no.
SPEAKER_01It can be anything though. It doesn't have to just be an editor cat.
SPEAKER_03Well no, you've unlocked a new level. Nightmare. Nightmare nightmares.
SPEAKER_01Nightmare nightmares.
SPEAKER_03Like the horses?
SPEAKER_01Nightmare Gelatus Cube.
SPEAKER_03Like the horses, you know? I'm done. Nightmare Squared.