Wondering about the elusive Drider?
Here is everything you need to know about the Drider Monster.
Like a centaur from your nightmares, the Drider is a creation of the Spider Queen, Lolth. They are challenge level 6 and are generally found making themselves a home in the Underdark alone. Possibly they will have banded with another Drider, but it’s unlikely.
What They Are
Driders are half Drow and half Spider, like a mermaid but a spider version. The top half is humanoid, and the bottom half is a spider, resembling Lolth herself.
They will generally also be a female because this form is technically a “blessing” by Lolth (totally a curse and basically worse than death).
But the overall thing that a Drider is, is a failure.
How They Became That Way
Imagine a beautiful, fierce priestess who is well on her way to becoming the next mother matron of her house. Her mother sends her on a side quest to bring Lolth’s favour to the family. She goes on the quest, messes it up, but still makes it back to her house alive.
Lolth has been watching carefully and knows that the priestess messed up. The priestess has undoubtedly failed the test she was given and could have one of many punishments given to her.
In this case, she is turned into a Drider.
Her family then needs to regain Lolths favour and the daughter is shunned from the family as a failure who has brought disgrace to the entire house. The mother matron and other priestesses of the house may then be tested with Lolths infamous priestess tests to prove their competence.
Meanwhile, the new monstrosity is sent out into the Underdark to survive on their own with only their knowledge and minor resources, never to return to drow society.
Paint to Life actually has a pretty amazing story about how a Drow priestess finds herself being transformed (below):
How They Live
As mentioned above, they will generally be in solitary with possibly one other Drider. Also because they are essentially in exile, they could choose to make a home and have that as their base or could be on the move and looking for a new place to call their lair depending on their story.
Since they can remember everything that has happened in their life and previous life, they feel extreme shame and don’t particularly like being around annoying humanoids who will be talking to them and making them feel the feels.
So instead they could hang out with spiders, they may join a spider family or convince them to come with them… don’t ask about the specifics of communication there.
They can easily move across spider webs but are not able to make webs themselves, so likely will have a spider around or will move into an abandoned area.
What Is Special About Driders
- They need to drink blood at least every 4 days
- They can possibly lead packs of spiders
- They do not trust Drow and sometimes hate the Drow who have not been turned so much that they will attack if they think they can win.
- There was a time when Driders would work with Drow, but Drow constantly would try to kill them at the end of the deal, so Drow are no longer trusted
- They have all the memories they had when they were still a Drow, which is a constant reminder of their failure.
- Many riders have a death wish and want to die in battle, but not without a good fight.
- They can walk on walls, but not on ceilings (too heavy for that)
- They make their own poison and will generally coat their arrows with it
- A wish spell can end a Drider curse and turn them back into a drow
What Combat Is Like
The biggest thing to consider here is the fact that they are spider-like. Spiders set traps in the form of webs and then wait to pounce!
A Drider is a spider with magic… so…
Start with an ambush, then faerie fire, send in the spider minions and boom bada boom, dinner is served!
IMPORTANT NOTE – some driders may also be capable of reason and diplomacy, making them potential allies or quest givers for brave adventurers who are willing to approach them with caution.
Here is the stat block of a typical Drider written by our own Underdark Warlock, Sushi Vega in her adventure to find out all the things:
The Monsters Know What They Are Doing also has a super great article on drider tactics which can be found here.
Who The Most Famous Drider Is
The single most famous drider in Dungeons and Dragons lore is actually a male (imagine that), Vizeran DeVir, a powerful sorcerer and member of the drow ruling council known as the Quorum. Vizeran was transformed after falling out of favour with the drow matron mothers and of course Lolth herself.
Spoiler Alert: He later became a supervillain in the “Out of the Abyss” adventure module
But since the identity and importance of driders vary depending on each campaign setting and story, there are loads of other riders of note
- Jeggred
- A character who first appears in the “War of the Spider Queen” novel series by Richard Lee Byers.
- He was originally a drow warrior who was transformed as a punishment for his failures.
- He later became a powerful ally to the series’ protagonists and helped to defeat a group of powerful demons who threatened to overrun the Underdark.
- Solom Ned’razak
- A powerful drider cleric who serves the goddess Lolth in the “Underdark” sourcebook
- Zesstra
- A drider ranger who appears in the “Tomb of Annihilation” adventure module
In conclusion, driders are a pretty sick addition to any Underdark campaign or one-shot which we highly recommend!
If you have a sweet story or an idea to introduce a drider into your game, please comment below! We love to hear from you!
This concludes What Everybody Should Know About Driders.
Check out other tips For Players or For DMs to run your games with fun to the max.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E_2sKN6gME
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Drider
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Drider#content
