Giant spider

s giant spider
Difficulty	7
Attacks	Bite 2d4 poison

s giant spider
Difficulty	7
Attacks	Bite 2d4 poison
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	100
Nutritional value	100
Size	Large
Resistances	poison
Resistances conveyed	poison (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. It is a 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, 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 character 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 it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Giant spiders now weigh 200 aum, and will randomly spin webs as they move - this random chance is based on the number of surrounding walls, making a spider more likely to spin a web in enclosed spaces.

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 randomly generated at level creation (or all of them, if you have the Amulet of Yendor) are placed on a web, and will have a random item placed on their square as well. Every web that is placed on level creation independent of the aforementioned webs will have a giant spider atop it.

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 it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Spider nest themed rooms have a ³⁄₁₀ of a web being on each square - if the level difficulty is at least 9, each web has a roughly ⁴⁄₅ chance of a giant spider being generated atop it.

Strategy

Giant spiders move faster than an unhasted player character at 15 speed, and their poisonous bite can deal significant damage to early characters - those without poison resistance may meet a premature end to their game. Barbarians, Healers and orcish characters have much less to fear from giant spider bites, though a low-experience level character without much armor will still want to avoid letting them get too close.

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 and magic 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 have an extrinsic source of poison resistance and are capable of reliably killing giant spiders, 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 it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Poison will no longer cause instadeath, but can still cause significant HP damage as well as attribute loss.

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 it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Shopkeepers will now remove webs as well.

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 SPIDER is set as a compile-time option, and is otherwise replaced by the scorpion; NetHack 3.0.0 includes both the giant spider and scorpion in its 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 spider 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 has a giant spider in the northeastern corner room. The secret northwestern corner room in Grund's Stronghold has two giant spiders.

The Spider Caves generates 22 giant spiders on level creation, along with several giant spider eggs that will hatch into cave spiders.

dNethack

In dNethack, drow Noblewomen will start the game with a tame saddled giant spider, and player drow can apply saddles to tamed giant spiders and similar monsters. Giant spiders can grow up into mirkwood spiders.

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 will also feature web traps with giant spiders. Giant spiders may also 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 by creating a web on their square.

Drow are capable of taming giant spiders and other spiders as domestic animals, and non-Convict player drow will start the game with a tame large spider - to accomodate this, cave spiders now 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.