GIANT SPIDER (Aranea gigantes)
Role: Nightmare Fuel
PL 9 (120)- Minion Rank 8, Sidekick Rank 24
Normal Version: PL 7-8
STRENGTH 7
STAMINA 6
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8
DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -4
AWARENESS 0
PRESENCE -5
Skills:
Athletics 4 (+11)
Close Combat (Bite) 2 (+10)
Expertise (Survival) 8 (+4)
Expertise (Craft Webs) 7 (+3)
Intimidation 15 (+12 Size)
Perception 8 (+8)
Stealth 6 (+9)
Advantages:
Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Bite), Improved Hold, Improved Initiative 3, Startle
Powers:
"Arachnid Physiology"
"Arachnid Senses" Senses 1 (Radius Sight) [1]
"Tremorsense" Senses 4 (Ranged Touch- Accurate 2 & Extended) [4]
Speed 3 (16 mph) [3]
Leaping 2 (30 feet) [2]
"Chitinous Exoskeleton" Protection 3 [3]
Movement 2 (Wall-Crawling 2) [4]
Extra Limbs 4 [4]
Burrowing 2 [2]
"Natural Size" Growth 3 (Str & Sta +3, +3 Mass, +1 Intimidation, -1 Dodge/Parry, -3 Stealth) -- (12 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [7]
"Spider-Bite" Strength-Damage +1 Linked to Weaken Stamina 6 (Extras: Progressive +2) & Affliction 4 (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Paralyzed) (Extras: Progressive +2) (Quirk: Takes 3-4 Rounds to Start -2) (29) -- [31]
- AE: "Irritating Hairs" Dazzle Visuals 4 (8)
- AE: "Webbing" Snare 8 (Flaws: Touch Range) (16)
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Bite +10 (+8 Damage, +6 Weaken & +4 Affliction, DC 23, 16 & 14)
Initiative +15
Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +9, Fortitude +8, Will +0
Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Spiders cannot speak to humans, nor use their legs to easily manipulate objects.
Total: Abilities: 18 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 63 / Defenses: 7 (120)
Era: Modern
Range: Fantasy Realms
Stereotypes: Evil monsters.
Colouring: Nearly any.
Size: Up to 12 feet long (700-1,500 lbs.)
Encounter Groups: Solitary.
Diet: Vegetation, flesh (via enzyme-draining)
Tactics: Stealthy approach followed by a sudden diving attack with lethal venom
-There's scary animals, and then there's SCARY ANIMALS. Giant Spiders show up all the time in various media as one of the token "enlarged normal animal" minions (not just Giant Mechanical Spiders, either), but not alot of people really react the way you probably would. A
World of Darkness White Wolf book illustrated this quite well (quoting indirectly here- don't have the book): "Look at a spider. Have you ever really taken a close look at it's face? No part of it looks like what a person looks like, which is utterly horrifying. Now imagine that thing the size of a Volkswagen." I'm not particularly arachnophobic (I have smacked Spiders off me with my hands without shuddering, and had one living beside by bed's pillows in the windowsill for months), but holy frickin' bejeezus, I would fill my pants with dung and run screaming to the other end of the continent of a spider that was more than eight feet long showed itself.
-Because of that, I can't imagine a more horrific Minion to throw at the heroes. Lots of various games stat up Monstrous Spiders (including M&M, which has a fairly decent PL 7 version, and D&D, which has various Drow-based ones), but this one here's a nastier monster, a PL 9 nearly-pp-balanced thing that can either be a suitable Riding Monster for a villain you REALLY want to get across as weird, or as a solitary (or worse, GROUP) hunter, lying wait in it's web.
-This Giant Spider is quite dangerous, just below the "standard" starting level for PCs. It's big, strong, tough and has a deadly toxin in it's fangs, and has a Snare (though it can't just fire it out- it's a trail that it leaves behind when it moves, like an actual spider. Only a few Spider species can 'throw' a web, and they have to make a funky little net to do it).