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PriestLv. 3

Giant Spider

This spell enables a priest to turn one or more normal-sized arachnids into giant spiders (see the “Spider” entry in the Monstrous Manual tome). Only arachnids are changed; insects, crustaceans, and other similar small creatures are unaffected.

Unlike normal giant spiders, the bite of the spiders created by this spell is not a fatal poison; instead, those failing the poison save are stunned (no attacks or deliberate activities) for one round, and slowed for the rest of the spell duration.

Even if a spider is normally poisonous, or the arachnid is a non-spider of some sort, the spell transforms it into a giant spider as described above. The giant spiders are unable to spin webs, but can readily navigate in existing webs (even the sticky strands of web or spellweb spells).

If spellcasting is interrupted for any reason, or the spiders used already bear a magical dweomer (for example, they are other creatures polymorphed into spiders), the spell is ruined. They are freed from arachnid form by the attempt to use them in a giant spider spell, and the would-be caster is stunned (unable to think or act coherently) for 1 round.

The material components are the priest's holy symbol and the arachnids to be transformed. They must be alive and relatively unharmed, and their numbers limit the number of giant spiders a high-level priest can create.

Notes: Granted by the gods of the drow.

Sources: Priest's Spell Compendium

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