Hello everybody, reading the discussion lines below I got into the mood to share some knowledge about driders with you. I hope you don't find this lecture too boring.

Driders are a form of Lolth's punishments. They are result of a horrible transformation process in which the victim - often a drow who has failed one of Lolth's tests (Lolthanshwi).

The life of a drow is filled with those tests andthere will be a time when every drow will fail. Drow rarely die of old age - they are consumed, killed, transformed, murdered, ...

The spell for drider transformation is a gift of the spiderqueen to her favored priestesses. They have the power to pray for it and Lolth will grant it to the priestess - if she finds her worthy.

The victim's shape will change and this process is cruel, brutal and goes along with terrible pain. When all is over, the drider is outcast but his new form is not perfect. The connection between drow torso and spider part is a wound that will never heal. It is a constant source of incredible pain - pain that will drive insane most driders.

Drider form is a horrible punishment - NOT a gift at all.

Driders are dirty - they don't wash themselves - they are often driven by mad instincts and in most times they wear the torn pieces of their former clothing or armor. Their faces are not beautiful - they show their torrments and insanity.

Driders often hate nothing more than drow and they will attack them on sight - even more if they are followers of Lolth.

I hope this pieces of knowledge was interesting to somebody.

Greetings Wayne

Thanks Wayne. Interesting.

In your opinion, could Driders ally themselves with, or serve, drows that do not follow Lolth, more specifically Vhaeraunian clans?

Hmm, good question. Driders in general are by their chaotic, unpredictable nature not the first choice for allies. It is - based on their insanity and unsteady nature - hardly possible to have them as allies for a long time.

But of course you may work together with them for a short term goal.

Vhaeraunites - on the other hand - in my understanding rely on stealth. They try to pursue their goals unnoticed, silent and in secrecy. Give this basic strategy driders will not make good allies since they are everything but stealthy. But they will make great diversions since they draw the attention towards them. Given the evil nature of Vhaeraun a Vhaeraunite would not see a drider as a ALLY, but as a wonderful distraction for his enemies to pursue his own plans.

Of course there is no rule without an exception. The driders in AHTD are one of them. At least their leader still has a clear mind and is still capable to express his thoughts and to work on strategies. I've decided to do this that way to add some more roleplaying and story elements to this encounter.

Greetings Wayne

You might want to view the wikipedia entry for driders. Prehaps add more to the entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drider

Hmm, not much. It's merely a rough creature describtion. It would be good to have this enhanced, but where to find time to do so...

Thanks Wayne. This gives me something to chew on.

Driders are generally grunt troops and wandering encounters, unless they are in direct control through domination by a Lolth Priestess for use by Lolth even though they hate her with in all regards.

They do not ally with anyone save Keptolo, a god of drow males, who understands their chaotic nature. There have only been a few sited pages involving this type of allegance so it is open for DM/GM expansion.

Vhaeraunites on the other hand lean more towards neutral evil than true chaotic with the sense of "arranged" and directed attacks on the surface world and with use of stealth. Vhaeraun is more interested in destroying surface elves and not as much into the underdark.

The problem is most Driders do not have the mental "Freeness" to make such choices and usually are found in company of get this... Beholders, humm strange coincidence? Because Beholders can ease the Driders mental pain.

They do indeed attack any and all drow on sight no matter of allegance because of their former form.

Thanks for the additional info, kres.

Yes, this is great info, guys - thanks for posting!

Yes, this is definitely helpful since I wanted to have a drider ally himself with the player while in a certain area of a drow city...not sure if it would be possible if they are too unpredictable and chaotic. But, the drider is obsessed with killing the same drow priestess as the player.