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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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PFS StandardDrider

The first fleshwarping process mastered by the drow remains both their most successful and most infamous: the drider. Fusing the body of a drow with that of a giant spider, driders are a sexually dimorphic fleshwarp—the only fleshwarp known to be able to produce young. While female driders have the upper torsos of elegant drow women with mouths featuring sharp poisoned fangs, male driders have hideous, mutated countenances that further blend the humanoid form with that of a spider; the difference in appearance is perhaps a reflection on the matriarchal nature of drow society. In combat, all driders are equally dangerous.

Although the fleshwarping process was originally intended to be a punishment for drow who fell from grace, the significant powers and strengths gained from the horrifying transformation are attractive to some drow, and an increasing number of lower-ranking citizens in drow cities volunteer themselves for the painful procedure. In return for mandatory time (typically measured in decades) serving as a guardian, soldier, or other public servant, such volunteer driders are later allowed to lead their own lives, typically in caverns located in a city’s periphery. The painful truth is that for most driders, they do not live long enough to see this reward, for the drow have a penchant for working their fleshwarped slaves to death or deploying them in deadly war missions in which survival is a only a remote possibility.

Most driders use arcane magic, but driders who use divine magic are well known, while a rare few use occult or primal magic. A drider’s innate spells remain the same regardless of the magical tradition, but those who use different types of magic as prepared spells may well have entirely different spells prepared than the drider presented below.

Recall Knowledge - Aberration (Occultism): DC 22
Unspecific Lore: DC 20
Specific Lore: DC 17

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Changes from being Weak are marked in red below.
NOTE: The -2 damage penalty to non-strike offensive abilities (-4 if the ability is limited, such as spells) is NOT factored in.

Weak DriderCreature 5

Legacy Content

CE Large Aberration 
Source Bestiary pg. 159
Perception +13; darkvision
Languages Elven, Undercommon
Skills Arcana +12, Athletics +10, Intimidation +12, Religion +11, Stealth +13
Str +4, Dex +3, Con +3, Int +2, Wis +3, Cha +4
Items +1 composite longbow (20 arrows), glaive
AC 22; Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +13; +1 status to all saves vs. magic
HP 75; Immunities sleep
Speed 30 feet, climb 20 feet
Melee [one-action] glaive +14 [+9/+4] (deadly 1d8, forceful, reach 10 feet), Damage 1d8-2+10 slashingMelee [one-action] fangs +14 [+9/+4], Damage 1d6-2+10 piercing plus drider venomRanged [one-action] composite longbow +14 [+9/+4] (deadly d10, magical, propulsive, range increment 100 feet, reload 0, volley 50 feet), Damage 1d8-2+8 piercingRanged [one-action] web +13 [+8/+3] (range increment 30 feet), Effect web trapArcane Innate Spells DC 18 (-4 dmg); 4th clairvoyance, suggestion; 3rd clairaudience, dispel magic, levitate; 2nd darkness (at will), faerie fire (at will); Cantrips (3rd) dancing lights, detect magic
Arcane Prepared Spells DC 22, attack +15 (-4 dmg); 3rd fireball; 2nd acid arrow, invisibility; 1st magic missile (x2), ray of enfeeblement; Cantrips (3rd) ghost sound, mage hand, ray of frost
Drider Venom (poison) Saving Throw DC 21 Fortitude; Maximum Duration 6 rounds; Stage 1 1d8 poison damage and enfeebled 1 (1 round)Web Trap A creature hit by a drider’s web attack is immobilized and stuck to the nearest surface (Escape DC 19).

All Monsters in "Fleshwarp"

NameLevel
Dreshkan4
Drider6
Ghonhatine10
Grothlut3
Irnakurse9
Mulventok7

Fleshwarp

Source Bestiary pg. 158
Some creatures, notably drow, are not happy with merely killing their enemies. They revel in the total degradation of their foes through the horrifying transformative technique known as fleshwarping. Though the fleshwarping process was not created by the drow, many believe they perfected it. The drow torture their enemies in vats of churning magical reagents, reshaping their flesh and psyche alike into horrid and monstrous things. The reconstitution of flesh results in countless variations of fleshwarps, and the following are just a couple of examples of these horrors.

Although twisting victims into horrid shapes is a well-known pastime of evil drow, other subterranean monsters have stolen these practices or developed them independently. The worm-like seugathis sometimes warp other creatures whose territories abut their lightless lands; the fleshwarps below result from morlocks and urdefhans, respectively.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Failed Fleshwarps

Not every fleshwarp emerges from its vat capable of survival. Many perish within minutes, as organs fundamental for life simply fail or collapse in on themselves. Fleshwarpers can usually recycle failed fleshwarps back into the mix quickly enough, but now and then, remnants known as fleshdregs are stable enough to live pain-wracked lives of their own. These foul creatures often infest fleshwarper holdings, like rats or other vermin do in less awful locations.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Other Fleshwarps

Grothluts may be the weakest example of a fleshwarp, and driders the most successful, but others exist as well. Ghonhatines are lumbering fleshwarps formed from xulgaths, while the tentacled irnakurses are formed from surface-dwelling elves. Sinspawn are fleshwarps as well, of course, although their methods of creation differ drastically from the techniques mastered by drow.