Some monsters come out of a sick need by game masters to kill adventurers. Others come as a response to a particular aspect of powermongering that adventurers capitalize on. And then there are those inspired by art.
Paul Jaquays, an artist himself, was inspired by the artwork of Aaron Arocho, who is clearly one sick bastard. You can tell Jacquays was inspired because he spends a whole paragraph explaining the awesome horror that is the Harvestman.
In short, Harvestman are hand-spiders, with fingers for legs. It has an evil face in between one of the fingers, and one extra finger for a total of six.
What's that? Spiders have eight legs? Shut up man, you're getting in the way of a good monster…
Harvestmen are everything awful about spiders in the form of hands, so they also spin webs like spiders and have a poisonous bite.
The thing that's strange about Harvestmen is their size. If these are hands crossed with spiders, and they're the size of spiders, they're not very large. If these are spiders crossed with hands, and they're the size of hands…well, they're still not very large. And yet Harvestmen can flick people with their fingers for 1d4 damage and can knock you over, even crush you, with their spider-hand-bodies. So they must be pretty big.
That's right, they can crush you. What is the sound of one Harvestman clapping? A squished adventurer.
Speaking of clapping, the minimum number of Harvestmen encountered is two and a maximum of 40. Someone designed this critter with a sense of humor. Later editions of Dungeons & Dragons classified quantities of monsters in flocks, gangs, and other groupings. I propose a new one:
- 2: A clap of Havestmen.
- 4-20: An ovation of Harvestmen.
- 21-40: An audience of Harvestmen.
If there are more than 10 Harvestmen your adventurers are in for a real treat. There's a Harvest Mother. This 8 HD beast will accompany up to 1d3 egg sacs.
Why is that important? Does it matter how many egg sacs are in the Harvest Mother's lair? Do we really need to roll for them?
The good news is that this is the easiest monster to portray as a miniature. Just draw a really mean face on your hand.
| Harvestman (CR 2, HD 4d8+4) N Large Aberration Init +3 Spd Climb 20 or 30 Senses Darkvision (Ex): 60 ft.; Tremorsense (Ex): 60 ft. | Listen +0, Spot +7 AC 14 (FF 11, Touch 12) hp 22 (Disabled -1/Dying -12/Injury 12) Saves: Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +1 Atk +4 base melee, +5 base ranged; Grapple +9; Face 10'x10'; +4 Melee (2 Fingernails 1d4+2/crit 20/x2) and +2 Melee (Bite 1d3+1/crit 20/x2); SA: Poison (Ex) , Web (Ex) , Crush (Ex) Abilities STR 15, DEX 17, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 10, CHA 2 Feats: Multiattack, Stealthy. Skills: Climb + 14, Hide + 8, Jump + 7, Move Silently + 5, Spot + 7. Web (Ex): Harvestmen often wait in their webs or in trees, then lower themselves silently on silk strands and leap onto prey passing beneath. A single strand is strong enough to support the Harvestman and one creature of the same size. Harvestmen can cast a web eight times per day. This is similar to an attack with a net but has a maximum range of 50 feet, with a range increment of 10 feet, and is effective against targets up to one size smaller than the Harvestman. The web anchors the target in place, allowing no movement. An entangled creature can escape with a successful Escape Artist check (DC 26) or burst it with a Strength check (DC 32). Both are standard actions. The web has 12 hit points. Harvestmen often create sheets of sticky webbing from 5 to 60 feet square, depending on the size of the Harvestman. They usually position these sheets to snare flying creatures but can also try to trap prey on the ground. Approaching creatures must succeed at a Spot check (DC 20) to notice a web; otherwise they stumble into it and become trapped as though by a successful web attack. Attempts to escape or burst the webbing gain a +5 bonus if the trapped creature has something to walk on or grab while pulling free. Each 5-foot section has the hit points listed on the table, and sheet webs have damage reduction 5/fire. A Harvestman can move across its own sheet web at its climb speed and can determine the exact location of any creature touching the web. Poison (Ex): Bite, Fortitude save (DC 16), initial and secondary damage 1d6 Strength. Crush (Ex): A Harvestman deals 1d4+3 points of damage with a successful grapple check. |
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