Cildabrin

This spiderlike horror has long pincers in place of its forelegs, and a scorpion’s tail in place of the spider’s spinnerets. The body itself is chitinous and blue-black, but tufts of dark brown hair, like those of a tarantula, grow out of the joints. The creature’s eight turquoise eyes don’t seem to reflect any light.

Cildabrins are subterranean hunters that prefer temperate or warm underground regions. Incapable of spinning normal webs, cildabrins roam their territory like great wolves, looking for any prey they can catch and tear to shreds with their powerful pincers. Once they catch their food, it is poisoned into submission or killed. The cildabrin then retreats to its lair⁠—​a warm, dark cave⁠—​to eat at its leisure. It devours its prey like a scorpion rather than a spider; its pincers tear off shreds of flesh small enough for the creature to chew with its mandibles. A cildabrin has no interest in any gear or valuables its prey carries, beyond the possibility that scattering such items around its territory might attract more prey.

Sages speculate that cildabrins might be a created race, not one that evolved naturally. Those who espouse this theory point to the aberration’s remarkable similarities to two other natural kinds of arachnid creatures: hunting spiders (such as tarantulas) and scorpions. Cildabrins seem incapable of true speech but can communicate with other arachnids. They are sentient; they merely lack the means to vocalize sounds.

When roaming underground, cildabrins sometimes stray perilously close to dungeons, sewers, crypts, and other subterranean elements of civilization. Despite legends to the contrary, it does not seem that cildabrins are tools of the drow. The dark elves fear these terrible beasts at least as much as other humanoids do. In fact, some religious sects among the drow consider the appearance of a cildabrin to be a dire omen. For their own part, these aberrations seem to prefer dwarf flesh above all else.

Combat

As a solitary hunter, a cildabrin prefers to stalk its prey. It slowly closes the distance to the quarry after using its spell-like silence ability, and then leaps to the attack. If hunting a lone figure or a small group, a cildabrin remains in melee, trying to kill or incapacitate as many targets as possible. If engaging a large or powerful group of prey, a cildabrin uses its Spring Attack feat to snatch up one or two targets, tries to trap any remaining foes in its spike stones, casts darkness to cover its escape, and then flees to kill and consume its prey later in safety. Its long claws and segmented, scorpionlike tail give it exceptional reach in combat.

Constrict (Ex): A cildabrin deals an extra 1d6+10 points of damage with a successful grapple check.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a cildabrin must successfully attack with a pincer. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking attacks of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, the cildabrin establishes a hold and deals constrict damage. Cildabrins gain a +4 racial bonus on grapple checks.

A cildabrin might choose to grapple with one pincer only (grapple bonus +3), especially against Small opponents or opponents that have been weakened by its poison. This tactic leaves the monster free to move or use its other attacks against different opponents.

Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 20, initial and secondary damage 1d6 Str. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day⁠—​darkness, silence (DC 16), spike stones (DC 16). Caster level 11th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

Skills: Cildabrins have a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and a +4 racial bonus on Spot checks. A cildabrin can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.

Source: Lords of Madness, page 141.