AC 13
HP 44 (8d8 + 8; bloodied 22)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 13
Saving Throws Dex +5
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +5, Survival +3
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Ettercap
Speak with Spiders. The ettercap can communicate with spiders that can hear it or that are touching the same web.
Spider Climb. The ettercap can use its climb speed even on difficult surfaces and upside down on ceilings.
Web Sense. While touching a web, the ettercap knows the location of other creatures touching that web.
Web Walker. The ettercap ignores movement restrictions imposed by webs.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The ettercap attacks with its bite and claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) poison damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (2d4 + 3) slashing damage.
Strangle. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one Medium or smaller creature against which the ettercap has advantage on the attack roll. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 13). Until this grapple ends, the ettercap automatically hits the target with its strangle attack, and the target can’t breathe .
BONUS ACTIONS
Web (Recharge 5–6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one Large or smaller creature. Hit: The creature is restrained by webs. As an action, a creature can make a DC 11 Strength check, breaking the webs on a success. The effect also ends if the webs are destroyed. They have AC 10, 1 hit point, and immunity to all damage except slashing, fire, and force.
Combat
The ettercap tries to attack with surprise, using its web to restrain an enemy. If it succeeds, it strangles that enemy. It repeats this combination whenever its web is available. Otherwise, it uses its bite and claws. If outnumbered and bloodied, it flees.
Legends and Lore
With a History or Nature check, characters can learn the following:
DC 10 Ettercaps are monstrous, spider-headed creatures. Though cunning, they lack language.
DC 15 Like the giant spiders they tend, ettercaps spin webs to capture prey and have a poisonous bite.
DC 20 An ettercap threatens the health of any forest in which it dwells. Ridding the area of an ettercap may earn the gratitude of the forest’s other inhabitants.
Chittering mandibles and grasping claws betray the ettercap’s arachnid heritage, but this creature is far more intelligent and dangerous than your average giant spider. Making their homes in dense forests, deep caves, and abandoned ruins, ettercaps are often found in the company of spiders, which they tend as livestock or raise as pets.
Arboreal Enemies. An ettercap’s preference for forest lairs often puts it at odds with dryads and other fey creatures. An ettercap’s presence is a threat to forest life, as its thick webbing smothers plants, and the ettercap joyfully devours any creature—beast, fey, or otherwise—that gets tangled in its sticky silk. A dryad would never suffer an ettercap in her grove and might recruit passing adventurers to rid her home of such an infestation.
1 Creeping above, looking for a victim
2 Touching a web, “listening” for vibrations
3 Spinning silk cloth with minor magical properties
4 Tormenting trapped faeries
1 Cobwebs crawling with hundreds of tiny spiders
2 Thick cobwebs impeding travel
3 Cocoons containing past victims
4 A silken thread that seems to lead somewhere
Ettercaps spin their webs in forests, jungles, and swamps.
CR 0–2 Ettercap
Treasure 80 gp, 200 sp, corpse wearing an undamaged set of fine clothes (15 gp)
CR 3–4 2 ettercaps ; ettercap with 1 or 2 giant spiders ; ettercap with 1d4 giant wolf spiders ; ettercap with 1 or 2 bugbears
Treasure 250 gp, 3 sets of Tiny chain mail (25 gp each), 3 acorn necklaces containing potions of greater healing
CR 5–10 3 to 5 ettercaps ; 3 ettercaps with phase spider ; 2 ettercaps with 1d6 giant spiders
Treasure 500 gp, 1,300 sp, silver-bound prayer book set with moonstones (75 gp), periapt of proof against poison