In The City of Bones there can be found a race of intelligent spiders known as the loppe. These come from the distant and exotic jungle far to the South West, Stranglevine jungle. They come to Godsend for two main reasons: as part of the followers of the Great Weaver, the loppe goddess of creation and fate, or to take part in the gladiatorial matches at the arena; for the loppe are a violent race, tempered only by their priests.

From a design point-of-view, I decided to use the basic class design to make up the two classes below, rather than mess about with creating builds for a new race (which I did last time), and instead trimmed away some elements to give the classes additional ‘powers’ to create the racial traits. It more or less works for me.

The Loppe

All loppe have the following racial traits:

• Scuttling: as long as the loppe can move freely and is unencumbered, they gain a +1 to their base AC, this increases to +2 at level 7, and +3 at level 13;
• Tough Hide: all loppe have a base AC of 1, but cannot wear any armour or use shields;
• Claws & Bite: although loppe are unable to wield weapons (or even objects), and lack any fighting styles, they can use their claws and pincers to fight with- claws do 1d2 damage, their bite does 1d4;
• Infravision: all loppe have 30′ infravision;
• Spider-Climb: being spiders, the loppe can spider-climb at-will, as per the spell;
• Inhumanity: loppe are no human and most races have a natural, primal aversion to them; all reactions with non-loppe are at -1.

Loppe Priests

The priesthood of the loppe are known as Webspinners and are essentially clerics with the following differences:

• cannot wear any armour, use shield, or weapons;
• turn undead is replaced by the ability to cast fate once per day, after a turn of meditation (as the spell, see the Players Companion for details).

Lopp Gladiators

Loppe make excellent fighters and excel at gladiatorial combat. At 1st level they attack unarmoured foes with a throw of 10+; this decreases by 1 per level (i.e. they fight like a monster). The claws and bite of the gladiator are more powerful, with claws dealing 1d3 damage, and bites dealing 1d6; the loppe has a damage bonus added to this, +1 at first level, increasing by 1 per three levels. They have saving throws as per fighters.

All loppe gladiators can fly into a murderous rage: the loppe gains a +2 bonus to damage rolls and becomes immune to fear. However, the loppe cannot retreat from combat. Once it has begun, a murderous rage cannot be ended until combat ends.

However, when a loppe gladiator reaches 5^th level (Exemplar), his battlefield prowess begins to inspire others to follow him. Any henchmen and mercenaries hired by the gladiator gain a +1 bonus to their morale score whenever he personally leads them. This bonus stacks with the modifiers from the gladiator’s Charisma, proficiencies, and race.

At 9^th level (Loppe Warlord), a loppe gladiator can build a castle and claw his way into a position of authority. When he does so, up to 1d4+1×10 0^th level mercenaries and 1d6 loppe gladiators of 1^st-3^rd level will come to apply for jobs and training. If hired, they must be paid standard rates for mercenaries. Through force of arms, the gladiator may ultimately control several castles or even entire realms, though he can expect to face ongoing challenges from humans and demi-humans.

Loppe Gladiator Proficiency List: Acrobatics, Alertness, Ambushing, Blind Fighting, Climbing, Combat Reflexes, Combat Trickery (disarm, force back, incapacitate, knock down, overrun, sunder), Contortionist, Command, Dungeon Bashing, Endurance, Fighting Style (claws & bite), Gambling, Intimidation, Kin-Slaying*, Languages, Manual of Arms, Military Strategy, Precise Shooting, Running, Skirmishing, Survival, Swashbuckling, Tracking, Wakefulness, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus.

*see Players Companion.