Monster of the Month - Ettercaps
Now dear internet readers if you remember my first Monster of the Month post on Spiders then you remember my distinct feelings on the creepy crawlies. IRL they creep me out and we have an understanding that as long as I don't see them they can go about their bug eating way but as soon as visualization is made then I will burn the house down. I find this feeling, on a less drastic note, echoed in most people so have always found it wonderful to throw unique spiders at my players. But what could be more creepy and unique then what is essentially a humanoid spider.
If you don't believe me in that description it is literally taken out of the WotC Monster Manuel (5e). They are humanoid spiders who cultivate and tend to spiders and other predatory insects like they were livestock. Can we just stop and appreciate how utterly terrifying that would be to encounter? So its kind of sad how little love these monsters have gotten over the years with only three varieties of Ettercaps in the WotC publications:
I'm going to rant in my rant for a second. Why the ever loving hell would you need a reduced threat Ettercap? They are already bloody CR 2! Its not like its a freaking Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon (CR 66 I believe) that will utterly destroy your players by blinking at them. If anything they could stand to be beefed up some to make them exciting to battle and to handle their own when tossed at players at higher level. But mini rant over for now cause you know what we will be doing soon.
The variant for the Ettercap isn't really a huge detour from the norm despite its variant label since all it does is replace the claw attack with a web garrote attack. I guess some Ettercaps watched American mobster films and decided that they were going to be just like them and garrote people all of the time. Sadly they don't wear fedoras while doing this. While I do appreciate the unique flavoring this gives the monster, and the humanoid viciousness this shows, you can see I also see the fact that it doesn't up its CR but maintains it a joke. We need some humanoid spiders with some real teeth... on second thought that is terrifying, erase it from your mind.
Lore wise our dear Ettercaps lair in deep remote forests. They hate Fey and are mortal enemies because Ettercaps have a taste for them. Any forest they live in becomes corrupted and overly infested with spiders, giant insects and other evilish predators. Ettercaps also love to kill their prey in silence to take them out before anyone knows what is going on. They love traps, snares, and elaborate webbings to catch their food. These are all things that are openly stated and talked about in the Monster Manual (5e) so these are the things we will be working with while we create our own mad Simic Combine creations. Remember lore is a generalization of a creature and there will always be outliers and exceptions.
Ettercap Mage
If a dark forest draped in webbings isn't creepy enough, or the fact that you feel like you are being stalked does put you on edge enough. Then that thick fog rolling in from nowhere shouldn't be a problem. Some Ettercaps have a natural ability to control the weather on a minor scale with fog, concentrated storms, and whipping wind. This lets them navigate wandering prey into even more confined spaces - caves and abri. It is then that the prey meets their end as they are devoured in the dark.
Memory Sucker and Face Stealer
Almost taking a note from Illithids and Doppleganers, some Ettercaps have evolved a more sinister means of hunting. Isolating a single person from a party they paralyze them before liquefying and sucking their brains out. With this goopy brain matter comes vague memories and the ability to take their prey's shape. Now they'll move among the rest of the party, striking as they get each one alone till there is no more. Later dragging their bodies away for their spider charges.
Mastermind
This kind of Ettercap not only loves traps, snares and marvelous webinations they take it a step beyond. Strategically placing their spider charges, giant insects and other lurking predators. Funneling intruders through a labyrinth of webbing littered with death. They pluck the strings of a macabre dance till their prey is exhausted, lost and has given up. It is then that the Ettercap comes to strike.
Ghostly Attackers
A forest doesn't only get corrupted in a mundane sense by the presence of Ettercaps. No the very place turns evil and dark. Things begin to bump in the night from the earth itself, taking on the form of a ghoulish Ettercap. It doesn't need to eat, not in the way its living Ettercap creators need to, but it does enjoy it. Some say these twistings are corrupted dryads, others that they are just evil itself given a form. But just about everyone hopes they'll never have to find out.
Experimental
What could be more terrifying then a humanoid spider? How about one with 4 arms or who has decided to take up gills and live in the water. As long as their have been monsters there have been experiments, its the nature of the business. But as of late strange things have been seen nearby that nobody is prepared to talk about. Ettercaps with two heads, some with 4 arms, and some who seem to no longer breath the air.
When it comes to them only being found in forests, just throw that right out the window. There could be any number of reasons why an Ettercaps place of lair could change. A development could be encroaching on what use to be a seasonal breeding ground. Some dumb adventurers could have taken some eggs thinking they were something else and they were left in a cave when they started to hatch. Something could be taking over their normal space and forcing them elsewhere and into conflict with the populace. Maybe a smart Ettercap Mastermind is giving the orders to take over towns and turning them into web infested horror nests. Technically as a DM you don't have to give a reason for them to be found outside of a forest but giving one makes things a little more believable. And hey I just gave you a bunch so feel free to use as needed.
With that little rambling over with, I’m JustKay your regular DM Dalliance on the web and I’ll see you next post.
PS - Side note, the group I play a Mombarian in fought some Ettercaps and kept their eggs. The DM has a counter on our campaign calendar on when they are suppose to hatch. I look forward to telling you what tomfoolery befell us.