Chitine (CR 1)
Small Monstrous Humanoid
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Initiative: +1 (Dex)
AC: 16 (+1 size, +1 Dex, +3 webbing armor, +1 buckler), touch 12, flat-footed 14
Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (11 hp)
Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +3
Speed: 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Space: 5 ft./5 ft.
Base Attack +2; Grapple -7
Attack: 3 short swords +3 melee; or 3 javelins +4 ranged
Full Attack: 3 short swords +3 melee; or 3 javelins +4 ranged
Damage: Short sword 1d6; or javelin 1d6
Special Attacks: Grappling bonus
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 11, Cha 7
Special Qualities: Difficult to disarm, sensitive to sunlight
Feats: Multidexterity; Multiweapon Fighting
Skills: Balance +5, Climb +9, Craft (trapmaking) +6, Hide +8, Jump +4, and Move Silently +5
Advancement: By character class
Climate/Terrain: Underground
Organization: Swarm (2-8) or tribe (10-60 plus 2-5 choldrith)
Treasure/Possessions: Standard
Source:
Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerûn
Chitines are spider-like humanoids inadvertently created by the drow as the result of failed experiments. They build with webbing in the same way that humans employ stone or wood.
Chitines stand just under 4 feet tall and weigh about 85 pounds. Their four spindly arms are long and have an extra joint, allowing them a greater range of movement than most humanoids' arms. Their faces are humanlike, but their eyes are faceted, and mandibles jut from their mouths. They have mottled gray skin, and stringy black hair grows in a tangle from their heads and down their backs.
Chitines secrete an oil that keeps them from becoming stuck in their own webs. Their palms and feet are covered with hooks that allow them to climb up walls and across ceilings. They spin sticky webs from an aperture in their bellies and use this webbing as a construction material for homes, traps, and armor. Chitine armor grants a 3 armor bonus to AC and has a -1 armor check penalty.
Chitines speak Undercommon.
Combat
Chitines typically rely on traps and ambushes to help them overcome larger and more powerful creatures, including their hated drow and drider enemies. Frequently they build a normal-looking spider web with a seemingly natural way around it concealing a pit, drop net, or similar trap. They can harden their webbing to produce spikes and edges into their traps, typically dealing 1d6 points of damage each.
Chitines are naturally ambidextrous and can use as many as three weapons at once with no penalties. Weapons, armor, and other objects made from hardened webbing deteriorate after several months if not regularly treated with the oil secreted by chitines' skin. These items are also susceptible to fire: Two rounds of contact with flame ignites the webbing, burning an item away in 2d4 rounds.
Grappling Bonus (Ex): Sometimes chitines choose to grapple opponents and capture them alive to serve as sacrifices to the spider-goddess Lolth. Their four arms grant them a +4 bonus on grapple checks, giving them equal footing with Medium-size creatures.
Difficult to Disarm (Ex): Because of the hooks in a chitine's palm, the creature gains a +4 bonus on its opposed check when a character tries to disarm it.
Sensitive to Sunlight (Ex): In sunlight or bright magical light (such as a daylight spell), chitines suffer a 1 penalty on attack and damage rolls.
Feats: The chitine's Multidexterity and Multiweapon Fighting feats in combination with its natural racial aptitude for making effective use of its limbs allow it to attack with all its arms at no penalty.
CHITINE CHARACTERS
The chitines' favored class is rogue. Chitine wizards and sorcerers are unknown, and their priests are actually members of a different race - the choldrith.
CHITINE SOCIETY
Chitine villages are located in the middle of mazes of trap-laden webbing. The hard-web dwellings resemble domed houses, complete with windows and adorned with decorative shapes. They build freely on cavern floors, walls, and ceilings, connecting the buildings with bridges of webbing. Suspended in the center of the cavern is a temple devoted to Lolth. The choldrith - the priests of the chitines - are the undisputed leaders of chitine communities.
IN THE REALMS
Chitines are found in small numbers in the northern reaches of the upper and middle Underdark, but their greatest population is a cluster of villages collectively known as Yathchol, located beneath the Far Forest southeast of Hellgate Keep. The chitines are said to be the castoff experiments of drow wizards in the nearby city of Ched Nasad, who bred them in the hopes of creating a perfect slave race. Since the Year of the Creeping Fang (1305 DR), chitines have been independent of the drow and prospered in their villages. At least seven villages, each holding 40 to 60 chitines, make up Yathchol.
Drow and chitines hate each other, and usually attack on sight.