The man struggled in a web of golden threads, fighting their sticky grasp even as he resisted the pull of sleep that was beginning to edge along the corners of his mind. Next to him, he saw his sister had already fallen to the mind-addling effects of the web stretching across the alley. He tried to call out to her, but found that his voice wouldn’t emerge from his throat. Confusion bolstered his resistance and reinforced his struggle only for a cold, dry voice to echo through his mind, cutting through the eerie silence that surrounded him.
‘Why fight it? Drift into sleep and just let go. Your dreams are far kinder than this world. Just let go and follow your dear, sweet sister.’
A figure descended upon the web, a hideous being that looked as though a human had been slit open and its insides pulled out into the shape of a spider. He tried to scream at the sight but again, no sound came out. His head turned as he thrashed about, catching sight of his sister who he only now noticed was aging before his eyes. Furious and terrified, he pulled at the threads that held her, trying to wake her, trying to free himself, trying to do anything as his lids grew too heavy and he slipped under the inky waves of the sea of sleep, the voice still echoing in his mind.
‘There you are. Sleep. Rest your weary bones and sleep. There’s nothing more for you here.’
A while back, we hosted a Build-a-Beast on the Monster Monday Discord channel to create a community-built creature. The result was the dream spinner - a CR 18 spell-wielding aberration that dwells in urban environments and is themed around dreams, the mind, and time. It took time to get the art for it and then I thought that I had already posted it until I was recently reminded that I had not. In building the dream spinner, I built it with a lower hp as I wanted it to be a more fragile creature that relied on its ability to capture and entrap foes. For the aging effects of the dream spinner's dream web, I referenced the toshigami kami's touch of ages for an idea of how to make it work. This is the central theme and ability of the dream spinner and it is directly linked to the dream spinner's drain vigor ability, allowing it to enhance its effectiveness in battle when creatures age and wither in its web. I wanted the dream spinner to be able to move through its urban environment unimpeded, which led to the inclusion of the mimicry ability because I liked the idea of it using more mundane means to hide itself. Dwell in dreams was the most recent ability I added, on the request of some of the people over on the Discord. After looking at some other similarly powerful aberrations who focus on spellcasting, I decided to enhance the dream spinner's AC somewhat.
For its spells, I wanted the dream spinner to mostly focus on manipulating the battlefield or laying out debuffs to make its prey an easier target. It uses its enchantment spells to lure in prey or in far-reaching goals to manipulate creatures in their dreams. Even its feat focus on either modifying its spells, increasing their effectiveness, or enhancing their skills. It also uses its multiple claws to catch fleeing foes with Combat Reflexes or make a powerful blow with Vital Strike, allowing it to either reposition while doing so or throw out a quickened phobia.
Pathfinder 1e:
For simplicity's sake, I separated the aging effect of the Dream Web Trap from the web itself as it was slightly confusing before. I wanted to include Vicious Claws as a way for the dream spinner to spread the pain around itself for prey that resists its magical manipulations. In testing out the creature, I found that I sometimes struggled with a third action after throwing out a spell, and while it can always fling a web, sometimes you want to lay out some damaging effects, leading to the addition of Scissoring Strike. I also wanted it to take advantage of its abilities such as Mimicry to disguise itself and use Surprise Attack to get a jump on foes, which is what happened in the play test. I had to modify Drain Vigor because many of the buffing spells it had access to in 1st edition don't exist, leading to a more simplified buff.
Also, this creature has the dubious honor of being the first creature to score a kill in a monster test before a hero point was spent to change the fates.
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
City of Dreams: The heroes are called to a city by an old ally who believes that there is something amiss in the city he is staying in. However, by the time they arrive, their friend has gone missing with nobody sure what happened to them. The heroes must track down their friends’ whereabouts and uncover his research about the city and the strange happenings within it. With the mess that his research have been left in, the heroes must decipher it to discover that their friend found that some ancient monster dwells within and controls the city. They can follow his notes to begin to learn of the dream spinner that silently reigns over the city and killed their friend when he got too close.
If you're interested in joining the discussion on what creatures I'm working on or just discussing your own homebrew works, check out our Discord! If you want to get some teasers or help us get to our yet unlisted milestones for extra content, check out the Twitter.
Have a monstrous Monday!
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