Giant spider

s giant spider
Difficulty	7
Attacks	Bite 2d4 poison (strength)

s giant spider
Difficulty	7
Attacks	Bite 2d4 poison (strength)
Base level	5
Base experience	64
Speed	15
Base AC	4
Base MR	0
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	200
Nutritional value	100
Size	Large
Resistances	poison resistance
Resistances conveyed	poison resistance (33%)
A giant spider: has no hands. is an animal. can lay eggs. is poisonous to eat. is carnivorous. is normally generated hostile. is strong.
Reference	monst.c#line858

A giant spider, s, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The giant spider is a large, carnivorous and oviparous type of spider that cannot hide under items like other arachnid or centipede monsters due to their size, and instead resides on webs throughout the dungeon.

A giant spider has a poisonous bite attack that drains strength, and possesses poison resistance.

A giant spider corpse is poisonous to eat, but eating a giant spider corpse or tin has a ¹⁄₃ chance of conveying poison resistance.

A hero polymorphed into the form of a giant spider can create a web on their square using the #monster extended command.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Per commit c9bc2f5a, giant spiders weigh 200 aum.

Per commit 2122506e, giant spiders will randomly spin webs as they move—this is refined via commit b572ccb0 so that there is an intermission between the creation webs, and web-making monsters will prioritize terrain where they have rock walls, iron bars, stairways, or ladders to support the web. Per commit 8dfe9636, spiders will spin fewer webs depending on the amount already present on the level, with giant spiders having a higher limit than cave spiders. Per commit dad804e1, spiders will not spin webs in Sokoban unless they are in the room with the up stair.

Per commit dbd39f2c, statues of giant spiders and other large monsters have a higher weight due to the addition of minimum weights—giant spider statues weigh exactly 300 aum, which is the minimum for statues of large monsters.

Generation

Randomly generated giant spiders are always created hostile. A cave spider can grow up into a giant spider.

With the exception of bones levels, ¹⁄₃ of giant spiders that are generated at level creation are placed on a web (or all of them, if the hero has the Amulet of Yendor), and will have a random item placed on their square as well. Each web that is placed on level creation independently of the aforementioned webs will have a giant spider generated atop them.

The giant spider is the first quest monster for Tourists, and makes up ⁹⁶⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Tourist quest. Several giant spiders are generated on multiple floors of the quest branch at level creation: twelve are placed randomly on the home level, and sixteen each are generated on the locate level and goal level. Giant spiders also appear among the random s that are part of the first quest monster class for Tourists, and make up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated there.

Giant spiders additionally appear among the random s that are part of the second quest monster class for Rangers and make up ⁶⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Ranger quest.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Per commit 9b74ea0b, the "spider nest" themed room is added, which has a ³⁄₁₀ of a web being on each square, and each web has a roughly ⁴⁄₅ chance of a giant spider being generated atop it. Per commit c5b5a869 and commit 999222a8, the minimum level difficulty that is required to generate spider nests at level creation is set to 10.

Per commit 1e1d5803, webs can be specified to generate at level creation for specific levels without placing a giant spider on them, and the minimum difficulty required for a spider nest to generate is reduced to 8.

Strategy

Giant spiders move faster than an unhasted hero at 15 speed, and their poisonous bite can deal significant damage to early-game characters—those without poison resistance may likely meet a premature end. Barbarians, Healers, Monks that reach experience level 3, and orcish heroes have much less to fear from giant spider bites, though a hero with a low level, HP and/or AC should still prevent them from closing in if possible.

Ranged attacks are ideal to quickly bring down an approaching giant spider, with Elbereth and scaring tools being quite good for maintaining distance: most wands, potions and spells are effective against giant spiders, due to their lack of MR score. Once you have poison resistance, some quality armor and a few experience levels under your belt, giant spiders are relatively little trouble; the webs they leave behind can still trip you up, so move carefully.

If you are capable of reliably killing giant spiders, and you either have an extrinsic source of poison resistance or a means of handling attribute loss (e.g. unicorn horns to restore lost attributes or a ring of sustain ability to prevent it outright), you can eat their corpses for a reasonable chance of obtaining the extrinsic.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Per commit d0b11fd2, deadly poison will not cause instant death, instead inflicting more harsh HP damage and attribute loss.

Per commit a78419c5, thrown items can become stuck in webs along their path.

Per commit f07f065f, webs that the hero are aware of can be removed by force-fighting them (pressing F and selecting the direction the web is in), which requires a bladed weapon—success is dependent on the hero's strength and the weapon's enchantment, and Sting will always cut through webs this way. This is refined via commit 9ab4d654 to also factor in the hero's current skill level with that weapon, and trains that skill when successfully cutting webs. The mechanic is refined further via commit 32f3f7cf, which allows for removal of webs via unarmed force-fighting, and commit e4534d60 expands it to include bladed secondary weapons when performing two weapon combat with a primary weapon that is not bladed. Per commit 13ff565a, Fire Brand can also burn through webs instantly, and weapons that can cut down webs can be used to untrap other monsters from webs.

Per commit 43d331c4, unicorn horns will not restore reduced attributes. Alternatives include restore ability or gain ability potions, the restore ability spell, or prayer.

Web spinning

Since you can remove most traps by digging on that trap's square, it is possible to permanently remove almost any trap by doing so, then polymorphing into a giant spider to cover up the pit with webs. The ability to spin webs can also be useful in stealing from shops—by blocking the entrance square of the shop, the shopkeeper cannot step on that square to guard the entrance since they are unable to remove webs.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Per commit 075844b4, shopkeepers are capable of removing webs.

History

The giant spider first appears in NetHack 1.3d, where it is capable of hiding under objects like the smaller spiders of later versions—from this version to NetHack 2.3e, it only generates if the SPIDER compile-time option is set, and is otherwise replaced by the scorpion. NetHack 3.0.0 adds both the giant spider and scorpion to the default bestiary.

Origin

Depictions of oversized spiders are a common fixture in fiction—J.R.R. Tolkien features gigantic spiders of various size and scale in his Middle-Earth setting as early as The Hobbit in 1937 book. Giant spiders often roam Mirkwood, and throughout The Hobbit they attack and sometimes capture the main characters. Although described as giant spiders, Tolkien gives them additional non-arachnid attributes such as compound eyes, beaks and the ability to spin black webs.

The giant spider of NetHack is derived almost 1-for-1 from Dungeons & Dragons, where it is an uncommon type of chaotic evil spider. Giant spiders are web builders with a poisonous bite that construct their webs horizontally or vertically in order to entrap prey—some will lurk above a path in order to drop onto victims. Characters can break out of giant spider webs more easily with higher strength.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, the "town" variant of the kobold level generates a giant spider in the northeastern corner room at level creation.

Two giant spiders generate in the secret northwestern corner room of Grund's Stronghold at level creation.

The Spider Caves generates 22 randomly-placed giant spiders at level creation, along with several giant spider eggs.

dNethack

In dNethack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, giant spiders can grow up into mirkwood spiders.

Drow heroes can apply saddles to tamed giant spiders and similar monsters. Drow Noblewomen start the game with a tame saddled giant spider.

Two giant spiders are generated on the Paradise Island map of the Sea at level creation. Several giant spiders appear in the upper filler levels of the Dwarf Noble quest, and the Gnomish Ranger Quest features web traps with giant spiders placed on them.

Giant spiders may appear in the audience of a throne room ruled by a drow matron.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, giant spiders have their difficulty raised to 8, and have an additional touch attack that entraps the target in webbing.

Drow are capable of taming giant spiders and other spiders as domestic animals. Non-Convict drow heroes will start the game with a tame large spider—to accomodate this, cave spiders grow up into large spiders, which can then grow up into giant spiders. Giant spiders themselves can grow up into gargantuan spiders.

Encyclopedia entry

See the encyclopedia entry for spider.