Ettercap

context
Infobox D&D creature
name=Ettercap
alignment=Usually neutral evil
type=Aberration
subtype=
source=
first=
mythical=
based=
wizards_image_URL=http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG106.jpg
OGL_stats_URL=http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/monstersEtoF.html#ettercap

An ettercap is one of a race of bestial spider-men aberrations in the Dungeons & Dragons game.

Publication history

The name is derived from the Norwegian for spider, "edderkopp", and is related to "attercop", an archaic word for "poisonous spider", used in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit".Fact|date=August 2008

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)

Ettercaps first appeared in Dungeons and Dragons in the first edition AD&D "Fiend Folio". [Turnbull, Don, ed. "Fiend Folio" (TSR, 1981)] These original ettercaps had human-like faces, mouths, hands and feet. This version's ettercaps were also covered in a layer of short hair and had large noses.

Dungeons & Dragons (1977-1999)

This edition of the D&D game included its own version of the ettercap, in the "Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game" set (1999).

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)

The ettercap appears first in the Monstrous Compendium Volume Two (1989), [Cook, David, et al. "Monstrous Compendium Volume Two" (TSR, 1989)] and is reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993). [Stewart, Doug, ed. "Monstrous Manual" (TSR, 1993)] The ettercaps of second edition retained the hairy bodies and human mouths/hands/feet of their predecessors. These ettercaps were described as having reptilian eyes that were usually of a reddish hue. They were colored a splotchy brown-grey mix, with an orange furred underbelly.

Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 edition (2000-2002)

The ettercap appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2000). [Cook, Monte, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams. "Monster Manual" (Wizards of the Coast, 2000)] The ettercap of the third edition "Monster Manual" was universally white colored, except for the brown tips of the fur that bristled from its shoulders. These ettercaps were also drastically less muscular than all the other versions of ettercaps.Or|date=August 2008

Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003-2007)

The ettercap appears in the revised Monster Manual for this edition (2003).

The ettercap was detailed in "Dragon" #343 (November 2006), in the "Ecology of the Ettercap", [Leach, Paul and Russell Brown. "The Ecology of the Ettercap" Dragon #343 (Paizo Publishing, Apr 2006)] which also included the ettecap matriarch and the ettercap brood swarm.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-)

The ettercap appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2008), including the ettercap fang guard and the ettercap webspinner. [Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. "Monster Manual" (Wizards of the Coast, 2008)] The ettercaps of the fourth edition look entirely different from the other versions.Or|date=August 2008 The ettercap is tan, has four arms, an insect-like abdomen, and is shaped somewhat like a grasshopper. It also wears clothes and wields weapons.

Description

Ettercaps resemble hunched, grey-purplish humanoids with distended white bellies, spider-like faces (fangs and eyes and such), long skinny arms, short stubby legs, and two sharp, black chitinous claws instead of hands and feet. They are not particularly intelligent. Ettercaps possess the capability to shoot sticky webs, can inject a paralyzing poison from their fangs, and have an affinity for spiders. They are cowardly and vicious, and prefer to set traps to ensnare their enemies.

ociety

Ettercaps are very fond of spiders and other arachnids and often keep them as others keep bees. From time to time, however, an ettercap has a number of monstrous spiders as pets, which are as loyal to it as a dog to a human master. Aside from their spiders, ettercaps generally live alone (with the exception being an ettercap's mate). Female ettercaps are more intelligent than the males of the species, and may sometimes gain class levels.

Ettercaps most commonly live in temperate forests, near trails and paths where prey commonly passes. They construct cocoon-like structures high in the treetrops of the forest and obscured by the surrounding foliage. From the entrance to these lairs, ettercaps send long strands of web that connect the ettercap's home to the traps it has placed in the area and to the lairs of other arachnid creatures.

It has been suggested that ettercaps are the descendants of a group of mad druids, tainted and transmogrified by their association with a powerful demon into a form resembling the predatory arachnids their cult once revered. While the vast majority have completely reverted to pure animal instinct, a rare few are claimed to demonstrate the intellect and capacities of an insane human.

References