The true form of a Siren is that of the Witchskin Spider, an eight-legged arthropod as big as a human head, very thin and elongated. However, the spider is rarely seen without her Witchskin, an artificial body sculpted out of silk - unnervingly, agressively beautiful.

The Siren may not wear any armor and can only wield daggers. Additionally, the Siren can never hide, become invisible by any means or be affected by any effect that would make her harder to notice - she is too beautiful not to be seen. Finally, the Siren is naturally resistant to mind-altering effects: whenever she would Save vs a charm or mind-control effect, she does so with advantage - rolling twice and picking the best result.

As a wearer of silk, a Siren takes double damage from fire and burning attacks. If she needs to roll or save to avoid catching on fire, she must do so with disadvantage - rolling twice and picking the worst result.

Ruination of Silk

If an attack reduces a Siren to 0 HP or less, she suffers from the Ruination of Silk: a visible scarring and disfigurement of her Witchskin. A ruined Siren loses all class levels and benefits and becomes a gangly, tattered construct of silk with no special abilities (as level-0 hireling). The spider inside survives, and can crawl out of her ruined skin as a 1 HP creature with an AC of 0 and an Encounter Movement Rate of 60'/18m (half of her Exploration Movement Rate instead of a third). The spider is far too big and heavy to walk on walls and ceilings.

If a spider, by herself or inside a ruined skin, takes any further damage, she is killed.

Should the spider survive the Ruination of her skin, she can weave herself a new body given one week of uninterrupted work. Experiencing the Ruination, however, is so mentally scarring that the resulting Siren will be drained of one level after the process.

Weaver of Skins

The Witchskin Spider's specialized spinneret does not weave regular, sticky webbing, but instead a smooth, skin-like silk she uses to weave her bodies. The Witchskin's silk is prone to dessication if not constantly oiled and tended to by the spider. Because of this, a Siren can only have one Witchskin active at any times, as empty skins rot and crumble into nothingness after 24 hours (however, this does not stop the spider from leaving her current skin and weaving a new one at any time - unlike the Ruination, this does not drain the Siren of a level).

If the spider desires, she is free to weave her silk into other small structures and objects, such as a lenght of rope, over the period of a rest - with the knowledge that such itens will dry out after a day is passed, as the spider cannot tend to anything more than her current skin at any time.

Hunting and Feeding

A Witchskin Spider eats humans or human-sized prey. The spider's fangs carry powerful paralyzing poison that she can inoculate as an action. Projecting and using the fangs is a delicate task that can only be attempted on a helpless or charmed victim. The spider only carries enough poison for one target, and her body takes one whole day to produce enough poison for another attack. The target is allowed a Save vs Paralysis if it's unwilling.

After securing her food, the spider will coat the victim in her digestive enzymes and start an eating process that takes an entire day, leaving no corpse or evidence behind. However, she will be sated for a full week afterwards. A hungry spider takes a cumulative -1 to all actions for every day after a week without food.

Witchskin Spiders are solitary predators, but they still crave the admiration of others. Therefore, a Siren will stalk and pick her prey carefully, lest she risk being plagued by guilt and remorse. If a spider consumes prey she deems undeserving of death, she incurs a 50% penalty to earned experience points until she somehow rectifies or repairs the perceived damage caused.

Languages

The spider is, by itself, incapable of speech. Inside a Witchskin, the Siren is able to mimic a human voice and speak by gracefully plucking at silk strings that act as vocal cords. Learning to modulate these strings into cohesive words is far too complex of a task to allow a Siren to be able to change her voice and intonation. Sirens have specific "voices", the same way other speaking creatures do.

Of course, the spider can also "speak" and understand the vibration-based, non-verbal language of all arachnids.

Siren Abilities

Level	Special Abilities
1	The Gaze: The Siren can look into an intelligent creature's eyes to Charm them for as long as eye contact is maintained. A gazelocked creature cannot willingly bring the Siren harm (directly or indirectly), move away or break line of sight. Targets break free automatically if they take damage, and are allowed a Save vs Spells to break free if they are startled in any way. A creature that breaks free from the Siren's gaze is immune to any other Siren powers for one hour, except for Guilt. Creatures with 2 more HD than the Siren are unaffected. Guilt: all creatures who witness the Siren's Ruination must Save vs Spells or suffer from mind-shattering grief and remorse, rolling on the Guilt of Beauty Corrupted table and suffering it's effects. Creatures with 2 more HD than the Siren are unaffected.
2	-
3	Suggestion: The Siren can implant a suggestion on a gazelocked target. The target is allowed a Save if the suggestion goes against it's core convictions or is obviously harmful or dangerous, but, otherwise, will pursue it to the best of it's abilities for up to one week. Implanting a suggestion ends the Gaze, but even if a target passes it's Save, it will be left beffudled and will not attack the Siren, even if hostile, for one round. The target will forget the event of the Suggestion after the effect ends. Targets with 1 more HD than the Siren are unaffected. Fascinate: You can hold a group of creatures spellbound under your influence. 2d4 or your Siren level, whichever's higher, creatures worth of hit-dice, determined randomly, are affected for as long as you keep talking or singing, up to one hour. Those affected take no action except stare unblinkingly at you. A target with a WIS score of 15 or higher remains aware of it's surroundings and can Save vs Spells to break free from the trance if it witnesses actions that it opposes.
4	-
5	Enthrall: The Siren can turn a gazelocked target into a Thrall under her command. Her Thrall obeys her blindly, but is allowed a Save vs Spells to refuse a command that goes against it's core convictions or is obviously harmful or dangerous. If a Siren's Thrall spends a week without seeing her, it is allowed a Save vs Spells every week to shake off her influence. A Siren can only have one Thrall at any time. Immaculate: As long as the Siren has maximum hitpoints, any intelligent creature must Save vs Spells to strike or target her in combat, or to oppose her in any other way.
6	-
7	Enthrall: +1 max Thrall. Thralls who witness the Siren's Ruination are driven to psychotic frenzy, receiving +1 to their to-hit and damage rolls, and -1 to their AC, for as long as the creatures that brought you harm are still present. Fascinate: Now affects up to 2d6 hit-dice worth of creatures. You can implant hypnotic suggestions into as many hit-dice worth of creatures under your Fascination as you have Siren levels, per the Sugestion effect.
8	-
9	Shed the Skin: The Siren can can push herself to Ruination by clawing at and shedding off her own skin, purposefully reducing her hitpoins to zero. When she does so, it is specially traumatic - all creatures who can see her fall to Grief, with no Save allowed, rolling twice on the Grief table and taking the higher result. If the Siren pushes herself to Ruination in this way, she is not drained of a level. Incomparable: Creatures or characters of the Siren's choice totaling up to 2d6 or the Siren's level (whichever's higher) worth of hit-dice are invulnerable to charm and mind-altering effects not originating from the Siren, as long as they can see and hear her.
10	-
11	Enthrall: +2 max Thralls. Thralls in frenzy receive +2 to their to-hit and damage rolls and -2 to their AC.
12	-

Guilt

If the Siren suffers Ruination, all who witness the corruption of her perfect beauty must Save vs Spells or suffer from Guilt. Each creature that fails it's Save rolls on the table below and suffers it's effects:

D6	Guilt of Beauty Corrupted
1	The creature breaks down and cries for 1d4 rounds per Siren level. An affected creature can act throught the tears with a -2 modifier to every action.
2	The creature lets out a panicked scream and curls up on the ground, helpless and unable to act, for 1d4 rounds per Siren level or until it is damaged in any way.
3	The creature is overtaken by mindless panic and flees from the Siren for up to 1d6 rounds per Siren level. The creature is allowed one Save vs Spells to shake off the effect after the Siren can no longer be seen or heard.
4	The creature becomes catatonic and unresponsive for 1d4 turns per Siren level, or until it is damaged or startled in any way.
5	The creature is driven into a murderous frenzy, attacking a random target in reach every round for 1d4 rounds per Siren level. An affected creature is allowed a Save vs Spells to break free from the frenzy everytime it slays an ally by their own hands.
6	Overtaken by guilt, the creature hurts itself for it's weapon's damage + the Siren's level. If at least one creature dies in this manner, all of their allies must test Morale.

After Reaching 9th Level

A 9th level Siren may build herself a Nest and attract a coterie of admirers comprised of 2d4 1th level characters. Her followers always have a morale of 11 whenever they follow her into adventures, but are otherwise normal hireligns.

#Adventure Calendar Jam 2023 #OSE #class #spiders

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