Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Drider

[@HumbleMemeFarmer]

I'm thinking of ways to disguise a drider in plain sight, and I keep thinking of two options: big fancy ballgowns, and those cruddy horse costumes that need two people to operate, and I can't stop laughing at the latter.

[@christophermzdenek]

Ran a campaign some years ago that had a player running a Drider character. The backstory was great so I said okay. Its goal was to throw off the curse. About a dozen sessions in, it died and the Druid of the group did a reincarnation. Came back as a Gnome. I was actually super impressed with the player, as she retired the character at the end of that very session. The goal had been achieved. After all that, her next character was a human Fighter. She played it until the end of the campaign. Well thought out characters played by interested players are a boon for any DM.

[@bonefetcherbrimley7740]

"Well I am no longer a drider...But I am now a gnome." *Drider sighs in defeat."Good enough."

[@krispalermo8133]

20 years ago back in AD&D I played a drider wizard. He made his living as a rat catcher and sold silk fabric. Sold scrolls on the side. That campaign setting at my local game shop was about building strongholds and siege warfare.

[@Ice-im9zk]

Well I wanna be a drider bc I love animals and hybrid animals are cool as well… im trying to find a good way to spin it by doing research. I want the curse the whole game but idk if it would work

[@kailasmenon2068]

Along came a drider, which sat down beside her, and frightened Ms. Muffet away...

[@squirrellordsgaming2772]

When the Drider discovers her silk can sell for a ton of money on the open market. New NPC Store keeper for a clothing store who's now well to do.

[@randyranderson690]

Drider-man, drider-man. Does whatever a spider can, Spins a web, any size, Catches heroes just like flies Look out! Here comes the Drider-man. Is he real? Listen bud, he's real and feasts on blood. Can he swing from a thread? Take a look over head, if you seem him, then you're dead. Hey there, here comes the Drider-man! In the deep of the Dark, at the sound of prey Like a streak of light, he arrives to kill and maim. Drider-man, drider-man Evil, ugly Drider-man Once powerful, now ignored Juicy dwarf is his reward. To him, life is a cursed torture Wherever there's a foot-fall You'll find the Drider-Man!

[@williamcase426]

Very nice. 👏

[@AliasEliahus]

I actually always liked the unusual culture of the drow, had a drow wizard who fled from his home at a young age afew years after his mother passed and they found out he was practicing magic which in that house had forbidden to males. Needless to say the little diva made it his life's mission to piss of lolth by using seduction and magic to screw with other drow

[@squirrellordsgaming2772]

Had a Drow Character who was given such a task. She was sent to the surface world to recover an artifact which Loth wanted to use as a component to construct something..... The all powerful DM never told me what it was for.. She didn't use violence or theft to acquire the artifact, but was given the artifact by those who held it, after she completed an "impossible task" Which let to quite a humorous moment... She returned the artifact to her house, for she was just the House Alchemist and Handmaiden to the Royal house members. Blinded by pride, her masters didn't ask her how she got it, they just took the artifact and presented it to Loth. Loth was pleased with the success. But eventually, twenty years later, Loth decided my Character wasn't a "true" Drow, because her alignment had changed to Chaotic Good during her adventures on the surface world. Warned in a vision by another Deity who found my character as my DM put it: Strangely Endearing and Lovable for a Drow, for Wisdom was her dump stat..... My Character was at least wise enough leave her home city upon waking and was well on her way to the surface world when Loth decided my character was to be changed. She is now an NPC my DM loves to use as a shopkeeper for the Alchemy shop in the Capitol city in his campaign. She also has a daughter who had also escaped the Under dark and is now looking for her. That's where her story ends...

[@TenositSergeich]

In Pathfinder, drow do not only subject themselves to fleshwarping, specialty of House Parastric of Zinrakaynin and gift of their patron demon lord Haagenti, but also other creatures they would have more useful or amusing. From troglodytes come ghohatines - large, shortlived, obedient brutes, gnomes become gnomints - pathetic mushroom-like parasite beds, goblins are transformed into gublasks - insectoid beings with whiplike stingers for arms, and many other weird forms. The pinnacle, however, are mockingly called irnakurse, or "perfect ones" in Elvish - surface elves twisted into screeching, tormented tree-like forms, unable to lift their hand at drow anymore but lashing out at everything else with many arms and tentacles in unliftable pain. Needless to say, drow highly prize such pieces of art.

[@HumbleMemeFarmer]

Well, then.

[@Tenabrus]

The part at the beginning about the Fighter female being more likely/correct is incorrect. Drow females rule and it is a matriarchal society. But the ruling positions are based upon Lolth's favor and greatest favor is given to her clerics. Most fighters are males as the fighters hold some of the lowest positions in their society. Matrons > Clerics > Wizards only slightly above Fighters. The last two places are where many male drow end up who are in service to the powerful of drow society and the preference of fighters or wizards over the other is largely House dependent. The second point is that Males are rarely ever seen as clerics/priest of Lolth. I am aware of only 1 and he was pushed out and multiclassed as a wizard as well.The Females seen in literature that are not clerics/priestesses are in positions of power and leadership and abuse their position to bully the males in their command. However, the males outnumber the females even in these situations. They are the grunts while the females are task masters and management effectively. All that said you are 100% correct that female drow are larger and physically stronger (pre-occupational training) than male counter parts. And I appreciate the rest of your information on Driders. Enjoyable as always.

[@denewst01]

An interesting difference between driders & scorrow is that driders see their forms as a punishment from llolth, whereas for scorrow it's regarded as a blessing & symbol of particular favour from vulkoor - could be an interesting campaign idea for a drow who gets turned into a drider going crazy & seeing the new form as a kind of twisted blessing, a lowly male being permitted to serve directly isn't exactly normal after all.

[@AJPickett]

That is exactly how the Drider of 4th edition behaved, so there is lore supporting it.

[@boldcitylongsword9941]

I love that you put the Pathfinder lore in the video. I’m always excited to see what Paizo does with classic D&D elements, as they have to dance around any I.P. issues.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Thank you for pointing out the sexy dexy femininity of a drow warrior

[@markusnavergard2387]

Angering Lolth dosent seem hard to do.

[@robertwilson2516]

A Drider Lich in the Ravenloft setting? Now that gives me some ideas to spice up Curse of Strahd with a Drow expeditionary force acting as a rival third party looking for the artifacts of Ravenloft to usurp Strahd with the lich acting as the lieutenant for a drow vampire hidden in an upside down Ravenloft copy.

[@Derinma]

Yes! I'm going to run CoS soon and this gives me so many ideas

[@professorsponge1554]

Hm, this gave me a great idea for an NPC or even a PC. A lesser cleric of Lolth was turned into a drider to make an example of her rather than for simply being a failure. She was cast out, and due to her low station was not a very powerful drider. An adventuring party led by a cleric of Ilmater/Pelor/Sarenrae who took pity on the wretch and dragged her back to his temple in chains. the two conversed breifly, and his belief in redemption led this cleric to perform a 12 day ceremony, costing him years of his own life and robbing her of much of her vitality (level drain, reduce her to level 1). The drider is a dark elf again, and utterly confused by his sacrifice. She first stays to learn why he did this, what plot he could be weaving. Instead she finds him a genuinely kind soul that is as warm and cheerful as the sun. Slowly, getting her first real taste of life outside the cult of Lolth the ex drider beings to realize how desperately such things, love, friendship, even laughter are needed in the drow cities, and converts to the cleric's faith. she'd be rough around the edges, still suspicious and a bit aggressive but slowly change to someone who believes in redemption, compassion, and penance.

[@RPGmodsFan]

"Hell knows no fury like a woman scorned". Basically, do not p**s off Lloth.

[@AJPickett]

Wise.

[@thebible4484]

This video is old but it reminded me of something that's always bothered me: getting turned into a driver is a punishment from lolth. Driders are typically portrayed as being half drow and half spider. Lolth is often (not always) depicted pictorially as half drow and half spider. "I'm going to punish you by making you look like ME!" What the fuck

[@vigilabo3007]

The Bible I mean as a punishment I would want someone to look as damn ugly as me, that’s the worst punishment

[@cloak5857]

Presumably she could look however she wants since she's a god, she also doesn't have to live in a society of bigots.

[@MindFeather]

the demented very old drider merchant in our game was based entirely off Norman Bates from Psycho. he was a "family man" back when he was a drow, and his transformation into a drider (and exile from his family) have driven him quite mad. he compensates somewhat by wearing wigs, dresses, and the skin of other drow, as he imagines he is the other members of his own family who were long ago lost to him.

[@MindFeather]

as a result of his exile, our Drider devotes his time, energy, and resources to creating spider-hybrid creatures that are his "children," ala Dr Frankenstein. when the PCs first encountered him he was creating rat/spider hybrids via electricity and necromancy and power from the ethereal plane.

[@purplehaze2358]

"Hunting prey is the only thing that gives their life meaning anymore" Take heroine like a normal person.

[@thedarkmaster4747]

I don't know... Heroine's pretty soul destroying.

[@Haunted_Gallows]

It seems this got one single dislike. Lolth has spoken her displeasure, it appears.

[@SuperBigOrlando]

In my homebrew that we're playing over discord play a drow (chaotic good) who was abandoned on the surface as a baby (still coming up with the reason why), and was found by the local captain of the town guard. Therefore he was raised to worship Corellion (ironic af) and to do whatever possible to help people. But his nature fights within him because he has drug and gambling addictions. It's a fun character to play but I have to admit it is a stretch based on the in game lore especially with driders because for his background he would probably be turned into one if caught.

[@krispalermo8133]

A drow father didn't want his third son Offered Up to Lolth. So he and his two other sons died trying to get their youngest family member away from Lolth's priestess .

[@purplehaze2358]

2:34 *Has PTSD attack from the D&D porno that I accidentally found.*

[@syos1979]

Bro... what is the 05 council gonna say about that.

[@Randomdudefromtheinternet]

Source? (For research)

[@riverrun7061]

Assuming we take Menzoberanzan as the typical Drow society, it would still be more likely that the average Drow fighter would be a man, since that's one of the jobs they reserve men for.

[@lauraw2526]

Yeah, fighter would be considered lower-class, so we should expect more male fighters than female. Even so, females should be drawn as larger and stronger, and the ones who are fighters would be the leaders of their units or divisions.

[@purplehaze2358]

Spiders are what happens when whatever creator deiti who may or may not exist took a look at everything that a human is supposed to be and said "Fuck it! It's an early opposite day today!"

[@MisterDTwenty]

I remember reading somewhere about driders mostly being insane, but perhaps this is merely a common side effect of the horrific transformation and isolation they suffer afterwards.

[@jacobfreeman5444]

Well, isolation and shame takes its toll on the mind. Also I imagine Lolth does not spare the victim any sensation of the process.

[@mrl9418]

It's fitting that it is a punishment, but maybe not what it seems ... Maybe Lolth's building an army. Mystification is part of her nature

[@BlackRainRising]

I've thought this too, Lolth herself is a Drider, so what if converting a Drow into one is more of a promotion than a punishment? The Drow holding onto their perfect race concept grasping to their Elven heritage, what if this new form is the perfect way in the goddess' eyes?

[@snforde4603]

You know, I’ve seen some people revise the villain of Lost Mines of Phandelver, Nezznar the Black Spider, to be a drider as opposed to a drow, with his motive being to find an item in the forge of spells to break his curse.

[@georgemercer402]

You persuaded me to search pantheons in other portions of Toril when you confirmed the presence of a scorpion equivalent to Lolth and her driders; THX!

[@joshuastamos2213]

This brings up an interesting point about the position of males in drow society. They may actually take the place that eunuchs had in many ancient societies. If the head of a drow household has a talented male servant it may actually be beneficial to raise him to a high position in her house. The reason being that a female servant may try to usurp her while a male serpent can not. And so a high level male servant is likely to be much more loyal. This may also explain why they may teach magic to talented males, because they cannot rise past you and so they are not a threat.

[@kallsusae]

Edited, male drow city was sshamath forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Sshamath

[@georgemoralezii6529]

Interesting theory on your thoughts on a Drow fighter. However, isn't the clergy of Lolth the ruling class of Drow society and since Drow want to rule they would want to be clerics of Lolth more than anything else. R.A. Salvatore emphasized this in his books where (in Menzoberranzan anyways) males went to the Fighter and Wizard School in the Academy while the females went to the clergy. It's not only R.A I've read several books where Matron Mothers got mad when their daughters wanted to be wizards or Fighters. Of course these books are Forgotten Realms and I could see Drow societies where this is not the norm.

[@nathanielchance9751]

Starting the week off right, with Drow lore.

[@Elliandr]

Here's a variant encounter idea: Weredrider. Since lycanthropy can essentially be applied to any creature, and since driders hate their form, imagine if one used magic to try and Escape its fate and to become a drow again. And it succeeds! Only, through the curse of lycanthropy and then the curse twists around so rather than turning into a drow at the full moon they turn into a dryer at at the full moon and have the ability to infect other drow to become drider's even if they pass the tests or haven't been tested yet.

[@seangere9698]

The reason, as I understand it, male Drow are shown as fighters is because that's what most Drow fighters are. Males typically aren't taught magic unless they are unnaturally gifted at spell craft. I could be totally wrong but that is how it seems to me.

[@briancorvello3620]

Nice. Again, I love the art. A lot of players use drow as their favorite "Rule 34" source for D&D, so it's refreshing to actually see them look menacing and dangerous.

[@cielopachirisu929]

I wonder, if you had a Drider (N)PC, how open they might be to turning over a new leaf and going to Eilistraee? Like "Dang, OK, I did all of that and now I look like a Shelob cosplayer, what am I doing all this for?"

[@Ziffelzoovop]

Imma just...write that down for homebrew reasons because FUCK YES

[@walterbunn280]

So in third edition, one of the supplements mentions that drider are not the failures of drow society. Rather, Driders are the ones who succeed at their trial by Lolth, and normal drow are the failures. Drow society being what it is, is incapable of considering that idea, even a small bit. I'm rather keen on this idea because it follows the semi-fey origins of elves and the damnation of Lolth as described in her interaction between her and Corellon, and it accurately describes drow society. Driders change because they absorb too much of Lolth's twisted essence; Lolth changed because she used too much magic to work evil as a fey creature; Drow society can't accept that they're inferior to drider because it would involve up-ending their power structure.

[@boaboy8052]

R.A. Salvatore did a great job way back, dark elf trilogy and the icewind Dale trilogy 🤔

[@drakeford4860]

And somehow still less creepy than your garden variety Bird-Eater.

[@haydentenno9821]

Idk walking on all surfaces seems like a good trade

[@williamcase426]

Driders ARE so scary 😨

[@POTATOEMPN]

Hey there Zealy Boi! Thanks for yet another great video. I made a Drider (in essence) in another Tabletop game, Gamma World. Gamma World is like Fallout on a meth-fueled nightmare. And a even further in the future. It was just a female character that had mutated her lower body into that of a spider, and also ended up growing a second pair of arms. She would use two, two-handed maces and two, two-handed Gravity Maces (basically a mace that increases its mass and the mass of anything it hits is compressed like it was hit by a mini-blackhole. bad name, I know) as her melee weapons and dual-wielded bows. Yes. I did that. She had two giant hydrolic bows. 3000 kilo pull test (hydrolics pulled most of it) with radioactive glass-head arrows. They shatter in and the glass is ultra radioactive, poisoning anything in a 15 metre radius for a % dice roll per round with radiation poisoning. She also had Aracnofiber production in all of her hands, so she could make her own clothes and nets and other usefull goods. Climbs walls, double movement speed per turn, poinson bite, radioactive death aura, laser eyes and nearly as strong as the base form of the Incredible Hulk. And in Gamma World, charisma can count in either direction. She had 20 Charaisma, so she was very pretty, but downright terrifying. Warlord Class as it was meant to be.

[@DyrgeAfterDark]

I may pull a little Smoke and Mirrors on my PC's who are only low level and get them thinking they are up against a Vampire. Then bust out the drider

[@zacharyhawley1693]

Careful a drider can TPK easily.

[@DyrgeAfterDark]

@@zacharyhawley1693 that's the best part. That moment of Oh thank gawd its not a vampire. Then the moment of ooh holy shit what the fuck is this.

[@dynamicworlds1]

On your sidenote at the beginning, I'm not an expert by any means, but I was under the impression that men made up the majority of drow fighters primarily because it was a lower class thing, with women typically being trained as clerics (if worthy), wizards (if not, but mentally capable), and assassins (if fit for neither) while men were typically relegated to being disposable meatshields or scouts unworthy of teaching magic to.

[@That80sGuy1972]

The "Non-idiot" males were encouraged to become wizards. By "non-idiot" that just means the females noticed that the male was brilliant enough to be really good at the wizardly arts... still considered lesser, intellectually, they were still lowly males.

[@dynamicworlds1]

@@That80sGuy1972 true. A research assistant who isn't in a power struggle against her could be of value to a drow wizard to help with the more tedious/dangerous aspects of the arcane.

[@Mare_Man]

3:25 Hey, I know that poor sap! He may only have barely functional legs, but he's no Drider!

[@chrishamby1614]

I've not heard to much about these ; I'm excited to learn about them

[@That80sGuy1972]

I love using many variants of these underrated monsters. In my last campaign, Lilith was the drow goddess among many things, similar to Lloth. Her rival, a god of many names also known as THE Manscorpion, he had spheres of influence that overlapped Lilith, including the underdark, all arachnids, and chaotic beings. Lilith transforms her drow into driders as a punishment. Manscorpion does it as the occasional curse and sometimes a rare blessing (he is temperamental, a true being of chaos). However, he accepts driders as blessed stronger beings and they often leave Lilith to join the Manscorpion priesthood. So, if you see driders approaching as a group, lead by a manscorpion... run. Driders blessed by The Manscorpion evolve to have their drow half revert to their beautiful fay form over time without loss of carapace level toughness to their skin. Oh, I use the original drider descriptions as opposed to classic artwork, their humanoid upper torso is so bloated (buglike, not fat) and ugly that they barely resemble drow and even their gender is obscured. Yes, I even have gods in conflict in my campaigns. The Underdark covers the whole planet and even it has different regions. None of my campaign worlds end up completely explored. :(

[@CarrowMind]

I remember reading a campaign a friend of mine was writing for his party, sadly it didn't pan out but I remember one particular detail that still stuck with me years later. In his campaign the players are sent to a Drow city with a magical disguise making them look like Drow. During their time there they witness a ceremony in which the high priestess turns her fifty year old daughter into a Drider for blasphemy, remember that Drow are elves and elves age very slowly, so a fifty year old elf would have the body and the maturity of a ten year old human, elves reach maturity at one hundred years of age. Apparently the girl cursed Lolth in a fit of rage, most mothers would have simply reprimanded her but since this happened in public and the girl was the daughter of the high priestess, the mother felt she had to set an example. The way my friend wrote the scene was really heartbreaking, with the girl crying and begging her mother to stop. I can see why my friend scrapped the campaign, it was too much. Thankfully the was a redemption arc as the girl turned Drider came back in a few days and managed to sneak her way into her mother's chambers without being seen despite her new awkward body and killed her mother in her sleep out of revenge. This impressed Lolth so she turned the girl back into a Drow as a reward and gave her the position of high priestess despite her being only fifty. That story always stuck with me because it was a great example of the fucked up nature of Drow society that my friend understood all too well. I kind of wish he ran the campaign now, but I doubt the party would have made it past the Drider ritual scene, not many would.

[@Scortch-lo3xy]

wow that is depressing

[@Alchemik131]

Elves mature at the same rate as humans do. So physically the girl was, compared to human, around 21 with experience equivalent to a 50yo human. The elves becoming "adults" is more of a socially-cultural thing than something related to the actual process of maturing

[@DkKombo]

@@Alchemik131 Eh, you could say due to the inexperience of the adventurers that she looked 10 because surface worlders are ignorant of drow and drow are also quite short compared to other races. Not gnome level but short.

[@krispalermo8133]

AD&D2e and 3.5e it takes nearly 80 years for drow the to grow an adult body. It was a plot point in a few D&D Forgotten Realm novels of elf children spending nearly 50 years as a street urchin before they reach the human concept mental state of a young teenager. Only half human/ elf reaches physical adult hood within 20 years and a drow who's grand father was a human would reach maturity within 60 years. Needles to say, when you read or watch how the Spartans raise their young. And from passages of Forgotten Realm novels from 30 years ago that was shown to me. Drow teach their children to strangle goblins by the time they stand tall enough to look one in the eye for sport.

[@joshuazane3210]

Have a bard that tries to seduce anything that moves? Throw a drider of their preferred gender behind some cover that leaves their lower body covered and have them seductively beckon the adventurer closer. If you can get them to lean in for a kiss, you're set. Just have the drider embrace them with spider legs and sink their poisoned fangs in. I guarantee that the bard will be far more circumspect in their seduction efforts in the future, plus the other characters will have a great story to bring up any time they want to embarrass that character.

[@zacharyhawley1693]

See the problem with that assumption is the bard will succeed more often than not. You may think it'll teach the bard a lesson and it will just not the one your thinking. Especially if the bard succeeds.

[@stanleyhyde8529]

I would be inclined to disagree with your bit at the beginning about the drow fighter. I would expect female drow to be gunning for positions that get them closer to Lolth. Clerics, Palladians and the like. I feel like the would view fighers as below them

[@Tenabrus]

Until recent editions there was an alignment restriction on many classes and Paladin was among them. You could not have a paladin of an evil aligned deity because a "paladin" was Lawful Good (end of list). anything outside that alignment was not considered a paladin and did not get either benefits or titles along those lines.

[@stanleyhyde8529]

Eh, details. The base line point remains the same. Female drow are only interested in what will bring them closer to their goddess.

[@venkelos6996]

I doesn't bother me, I guess, bur it has long surprised me, that Lolth's "punishment" is spider like features, while those who pass are simply "rewarded" with continued existence, to await the next test. I expected She might give out something; a spider-like ability to walk on walls, or make webs/venom. Oh well, She'll never do it, but I wonder what would happen if She actually made one Drow, again.

[@alexwest2514]

"D"-riders ehehehehehe

[@That80sGuy1972]

I made the same lame joke when I was a teen in the 80s... still makes me laugh. I still have the same sense of humor. Don't let haters take that from you, Alex. ;)

[@BlackRainRising]

@@That80sGuy1972 Agreed man, silly creativity even pervy little jokes like this is part of what makes D&D so damn fun

[@EdgarTheOnion]

AJ ! Make a vid about the Paladin class next ! :D

[@Elliandr]

So, if one drider is enslaved to a priestess, but has to eat every 4 days and prefers to consume other drow, wouldn't that mean that the high-level Priestess is essentially committing to sacrificing other drowse? Wouldn't this in turn imply a culture of ritualistic sacrifice? For those who leave, I kind of wonder if the spider appendages wouldn't be capable of reproducing new driders. Perhaps a group forming their own community and then rejecting their goddess.

[@mattiod]

Thanks for the video, great work. Would love to see a list of references in the info section so it would be possible to follow up on the novels you discuss. Honorable mention: Sacrifice of the Widow by Smedman is very Drider orientated book and deals with the transformation of a Drow Priestess.

[@davidmuresan9497]

A big can of Raid will take care of Drider's

[@CaptmagiKono]

Man, Drow are pretty fucked up creatures.

[@AJPickett]

Indeed.

[@nicholaswhaling7233]

I kind of want to try to make a drider pc that's based on the main character of an anime called "So I'm a Spider, So What?". Sounds like it would be a fun idea.

[@lauraw2526]

I hate how often people forget that female drow are supposed to be larger and stronger than males. They're not supposed to be the same as humans/other elves, it's the entire premise of their society!

[@pivot1022]

where does it say that?

[@lauraw2526]

@@pivot1022 What do you mean “where”? I’m talking about my experiences with people who play DnD and write about drow. If you watched the video it’s clear the creator is not doing that.

[@pivot1022]

@@lauraw2526 Everything I've read makes the females out to be like most other races, Just because they are more powerful in their society doesn't mean they are larger and stronger.

[@hoodedone8547]

​@@pivot1022They are.

[@FromAgonyToLight]

The first drider I encountered was in the mmo DDO. It destroyed me lol

[@dashhazard8526]

Chaos Witch Quelaag!

[@squirrellordsgaming2772]

I have a alchemist character who was told if she came back to her home city, she would be turned into a Drider. This was due to an incident she caused when she discovered the formula to TNT. A lab accident and a new Loth statue accidentally got blown to bits...

[@krispalermo8133]

Your DM lets you have TNT in game ! What a great DM ! Nothing like a +4 pipe bomb to say "hello & good by !" I am just amazed that your alchemist could make it out of the city.

[@squirrellordsgaming2772]

@@krispalermo8133 ... She's now an NPC the DM uses, since I completed most of her story line. She randomly gave a box full of experimental explosives to the barbarian in a new game group, saying "You look like a reasonable and responsible adult. I need you to field test this for me..... Don't let this go to waste, and let me know how it works, for science." This is what happens when a Barbarian rolls a natural 20 on a persuasion check when shopping at her shop after asking "What else do you have for 100 gold?" What was the DM Thinking!? That was the happiest Barbarian I've ever seen, with his box full of total destruction.

[@vileenigma1302]

This was a cool video I have just started playing d&d and I would love to have a drider be my first character and find away for it to work so it's not a big deal to a dm but want to make a dridet

[@TheLunatrick]

Yep one of my favorite races

[@AmaryInkawult]

Reminds me of the god my friend homebrewed for a game where players play as gods and basically create their own worlds. His God is a benevolent spider god that created a race of highly intelligent giant jumping spiders with three variants that differed in form with their own features. Anansi (basically jumping spiders the size of a large dog breed), some other sub race that was a larger, twisted version of the Anansi I forgot the name to, and a Drider like race resulted from humanoids (humans, elves, dwarves, half-elves, orcs, you name it) breeding with Anansi who can also breed with either Anansi or humanoids they fancy, result is either a clutch of dozens of Anansi hatchlings or just a single large egg that births these half spider beings. I had half a mind to ask if I could use these in a homebrew game where his God could combat Lloth as her antithesis. Because he did try to create a half-anansi template for D&D. Dont know if he finished it or not.

[@ThortheGodly]

When your women are so ugly you would rather breed with a talking spider, because nobody else's women are any better than the talking spider either.

[@krispalermo8133]

Due It ! I will ,..make it... Legal !

[@PoloDavey]

in war of the spider queen theres a squadron of drider calvery. always thought thats a pretty cool cencept

[@Daleksaresupreme1]

Tried to use one of these on my players last session, she had Chittines, Huge spiders and Ettercaps but the damn bard just used glitterdust spell to blind them all and the party walked through the adventure

[@AJPickett]

Pity she didn't have a Silence spell and some good old buckets of acid on hand.. acid is great at ruining musical instruments.

[@WolfmanXD]

I'm actually planning a lolth centric campaign for my players soon, and one thing I want to do is recreate nezznar "the black spider" from lost mine of phandelver as a drider.

[@tomsawyerpiper9412]

We just finished the Lost Mines intro campaign and the DM altered the endgame to be a huge final encounter chock full of giant spiders and an avatar of Lolth. After everything was said and done, the Avatar had been tossed into the Underdark by our barbarian and Nez was clutching a Drider egg. Like idiots, the rest of the party had pity on the abomination and took it to raise on the surface world. I’m looking forward to the NPC interactions with Beatrice, faces twisted in terror and disgust as a ten foot tall silvered Drider walks into a tavern.

[@135mikerules23]

This was a really interesting video and brought up many interesting questions for me to consider, though I have to admit I’m not entirely sure why on the stats of the Drider they have their innate spellcasting as Wisdom, while all other Drow related entities have theirs as Charisma.

[@AJPickett]

Yeah, that is weird.

[@nvfury13]

Lolth alters the way magic flows through them during the transformation.

[@Darkreaper-pt2cd]

Ok the video is amazing and all but the picture at 3:35 is prince lorian from dark souls 3 not a dungeons and dragons character.

[@AJPickett]

All fantasy shares common origins 😎

[@dragonturtle7645]

I think that the reason male drow are usually the fighters (and wizards) is because female drow are favored by Lolth and thus are more likely to be priestesses or paladins. Also, I went to see if someone responded to my comment on your demilitch video and I don't see it anymore. Did I do something wrong or is this some KZbin algorithm thing?

[@thedarkmaster4747]

Yeah, youtube be elderitch like that. I've lost whole conversations on this site, mid conversation. This was not the uploader, neither were i or they flagged. I've clicked on replies to invisible threads. 😵🐙🌅🌃

[@dragonturtle7645]

@@thedarkmaster4747 Thank You. I thought it was probably KZbin, It was just making sure. It sounds like that's what happened.

[@cemeteryhill]

Saw the thumbnail & just wanted to say that Rachnera is best girl!

[@christophermzdenek]

Rachnera is what happens when a Drider goes CN and falls in love :)

[@ThortheGodly]

Something that DMs have yet to do is that "dont look up" scene with Driders armed with longbows. Also, can Driders make rope-arrows by attaching a length of spider silk to their arrow? What do you DMs out there think of this? Do I have to worry about Driders shooting me from above and then dangling me by the arrows like a demented puppet?

[@krispalermo8133]

Fishing line arrows are great. So are lasso and hanging.

[@Insane-Howl-Cowl]

I've never understood why failing Lloth's test makes a character a Drider, since Lloth herself has a form of a Drider.

[@seangere9698]

I always wondered that myself. When I first seen a Drider I thought they were her most favoured of the Drow, till I read up on the Drow.

[@kallsusae]

Lolth doesn't usually take a drider form. She usually appears as a female drow or a spider. I forget why its a curse exactly, but i think its because it makes them more bestial. The drow are kinda like the romans in their godly worship. Few drow love lolth, its more " if we don't please her, she'll kill us all, so lets keep her happy"

[@DyrgeAfterDark]

Lolth has many forms her own Drider form is used Mostly for imposing her Wrath on her enemies (and servants alike it seems). A bit of cruel irony. :)

[@walterbunn280]

it's because drider's aren't failures. They're the successors. Drow priestesses can't announce that because it would up end drow society.

[@BoojumFed]

@@DyrgeAfterDark Yeah. I'd heard that Lolth's "drider" form was the one she only used when she was absolutely _disgusted_ or _livid_ with whoever she was dealing with. Which, unless I'm mistaken, would make the drider's new body a constant reminder of both the revulsion she has at their weakness/ failure and an eternal reminder of her inescapable dominance over and ownership of them, body and soul. At least that's how I'm running it in my game

[@seamusfish7009]

Seamus wuz here!

[@lanagray8822]

THANK YOU FOR THIS! I am writing a story with a this magnificent creature and you helped a lot!

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

DOWN WITH THE MATRIARCHY!!!!!! 😉

[@Chasingstarside]

Aj, I think your analysis on physiciality of male drow is off. While women are usually physically bigger, their power through divinity is how they dominate Drow society by Lolth's dominion of the species. I think your view of the drow is more like "A Brother's Price" in terms of how a society defines the sexual characteristics of the species while War Of The Spider Queen clearly showed that Pharaun being a 'dandy' was an outlier for the species. Men become warriors at Pyramid or for their House's army or they become wizards, or join the thieves guild or leave the city or become merchants. They're well established avenues of power that men work against to become what they become. Divine power has nothing to do with physical power. When women lost that power as seen in War of Spider Queen, the cities were torn apart because they could no longer keep control of males, or their vast amount of slaves, or fight off the many, many enemies they made along the way.

[@ArvelDreth]

Males are trained as fighters, because casting magic is considered more of a privilege and since women still bear children, they are protected from harm in melee combat.

[@MisterDTwenty]

There are still quite a few male wizards since females typically focus on divine magic.

[@seangere9698]

@@MisterDTwenty That is true but males with the affinity for magic are still far and few between.

[@sunlocked5838]

More like males being allowed to follow their aptitude for arcane magic is pretty rare

[@MrChupacabra555]

At about 5:15 : Mention of its 'bloated appearance' is made. That's one of the things that has always confused me when it comes to official artwork depicting drow (much less fan artwork): They are almost always shown as the body of a spider with the torso of an otherwise beautiful drow female (although sometimes a male). If this is a curse, I don't see how not removing their looks (as was the case when the driders were first introduced long ago in the GDQ modules) is a bad thing. Wouldn't they instead be even admired by the drow, who present their own goddess as a hybrid of a spider and a drow? Anyway..... yeah, driders (or more specifically the Drow) have always been among my top 5 or so of DnD monsters, with the others being the Mind Flayer, Beholder, Githyanki/Githzerai, and the good old, classic Owl Bear (won't even mention Dragons because, well, Duh! ^_^).

[@kikiblair5132]

I was in a campaign where we faced off against Lillolth. That Creeping Death at will is a b*tch. I was a Githyanki barbarian/psion. I was arrived late and was one of the last players standing. Thankfully I wasn't torn apart by bugs like some of the others.

[@hawktondog]

Drow males = fighters and wizards Drow females = priests and wizards added knowledge of fighting Drow fighter vs female fighter? Depends the rank of the male, aka a weapons master and such (only males) can kill many priests of loth, matron mothers on the other hand... spooky

[@namekman01]

the way i heard it, drow women focus only on clerical magic, no arcane. lolth is a jealous creature.

[@somekindofdude1130]

Driders remind me maphala’s Deadra from es

[@liam-ethanwallis4924]

Somekind of Dude I wonder why :-)

[@somekindofdude1130]

Liam-Ethan Wallis It’s a mystery

[@FlashTheMystic]

Ahh just what I've been waiting for!😖😎🎉 So that is why they are called "driders", I some how failed to make the connection... Thanks for presentation.🎆

[@anathema1828]

Nice work on the video! Love the Drow ones :)

[@laserspellhawken7798]

Could there be driders that reject Lolth? As in they see their transformation into a drider as a betrayal from Lolth herself and choose to seek revenge?

[@AJPickett]

They all reject Lolth, they just don't have a choice.

[@hawktondog]

There is a few cases were people with strong enough wills have fought the pull of lolth (but who's to say she didnt let them). I cant spell the spells name but such as Drow "zankarla" were a body is resurrected and possessed for lolth, people have fought its will, a drider may be able to do so aswell? ( again lolth probably let's it happen to see what chaos will come of it)

[@andrewsimmons2108]

Not sure if it counts for what you’re talking about, but due to my setting’s lore weirdness, I have a drider in a dungeon labyrinth + tower devoted to Baphomet and Shar who herself has made it her mission to prove that Shar and Lolth are in fact the same being, and combat with her will result in her becoming a Marilith with spidery upper bits.

[@mastermind2681]

what creature is that @2:30 ? ? quaggoth werewolf looking drow ???

[@AJPickett]

Draegloth, a Drow Cambion.

[@gabrielshervo678]

Specifically, a drow/glabrezu hybrid

[@mastermind2681]

@@AJPickett thanks i didnt notice the extra limbs until after

[@TheZiiFamily]

So a spi-taur?

[@Robisme]

It might actually be Cent - der? Centrachnid? Centnid?

[@adamholcomb1906]

Drow love is the best Dark love of all🕸🕸🕷🕷💯

[@shiftstart]

But can you negotiate with a Drider? Also the first time I faced one of these monsters was in Everquest.

[@AJPickett]

Drider are intelligent beings, they can reason, they can be swayed.

[@shiftstart]

@@AJPickett Not with a good alignment character they are not. Lol

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks AJ.

[@notchbeard9007]

Literally my favorite baddie!!! So happy to find this video, ty TMG. :)

[@LastMegaMan]

3:24 that's not a drow. that's fan art of one of the twin princes of Dark Souls 3, Prince Lorian.

[@AJPickett]

Yeah, but it's cool.

[@LastMegaMan]

@@AJPickett that it is, just found it both odd and interesting to see something I recognized that you added it into your video.

[@erikmartin4996]

This isn’t a complaint but have you ever revisited the Gith?

[@AJPickett]

On my to-do list (I have a very long list)

[@thedarkmaster4747]

I need this video in my life.

[@DracosDiabolis]

Zin-Carla! Zin-Carla! lol,

[@zacharyhawley1693]

Zin Carla no. That thing can kill an entire party.

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

I still don’t see why she’d turn them into her own form as a punishment. The rabid bloodlust is punishment yeah, but being made to look like your god is typically a boon in most religions.

[@jacobfreeman5444]

Because it is infered Lolth feels you are so inept that you need her giving you power directly to survive. To the proud drow who wish to prove their prowess to their godess it is the ultimate shame.

[@atilax6452]

AJ, I have a question... Has there ever been a D&D product that could pit 2 parties against each other in any way?

[@nullvoid4063]

In my campaign I have a seven legged CN male drider npc named Zi’benn (pronounced sieben)... I’m original :P Great work AJ, here’s to many more videos!

[@zacharyhawley1693]

I've always seen it as a subtle middle finger to her ex husband who stripped her of her divinity and cast her to the abyss. She's stripping a drow of power and casting them out.

[@krispalermo8133]

I have met women like that.

[@matthewfritz4629]

Can a Drider use a shape-changing spell to look like a normal Drow. To travel with a party of not so nice humanoids with out drawing attention.

[@williamcraven1204]

The way I run them, because of the cursed existence mind, no they can’t willingly alter their form like that. However they can BE polymorphed by another spell-caster, although due to previous trauma it’s not a pleasant experience. Sorry if that’s a little rambling, hope it helps.

[@matthewfritz4629]

@@williamcraven1204 this does help alot, Thanks.

[@nvfury13]

No. A Drider that uses magic to appear like a normal Drow will be wracked with horrible pain, leading to death if they don’t change back fast enough for Lolth.

[@maxsync183]

@@nvfury13 I'm sure she'd make an exception if it would ultimately benefit her though. Like if she sent a spy with a party to obtain a really powerful item for her.

[@iGuttsi]

I guess it depends on what city your talking about? Because in menzoberranzan the females are(mostly) priestesses the males are usually wizards clerics(if they are lucky) or fighters but really a female can do whatever the hell they want because as you said it's a matriarchal society lol, great video brother Drow and their lore are my favorite.

[@krispalermo8133]

Menzoberranzan AD&D2e box set, great game setting. Each year for two weeks they celebrate the city's founding, so it becomes "safe" to visit to trade. And Lolth the Drows' godess sends an Avatar to the city to bless those who are worth and she is there to party it up her self. Bad news, if the Avatar of Lolth give you a "kiss," you lose 1d4 energy level drain as if you had been kissed by a succubus. And she has been know to "cough,," males to death. But to the Drow, that is the Greatest Honor a male Drow can have.