In the campaign I’m working on, based on 4e’s Nentir Vale setting, I decided to make Lolth queen of the dark fey. That opened her up as a warlock patron, so, here’s what I cooked up this evening. First draft, un-edited/playtested/etc. Warlock Patron: Lolth
Your patron is Lolth, queen of the dark fey. She
rules over the drow that dwell within the
Feywild, and commands the loyalty of all hags.
Evil fey pay her respect, though not all obey her
edicts. She is a sworn enemy of Torog, due to the
constant threat he and his minions pose to her
Underdark domains.
Expanded Spell List
Lolth lets you choose from an expanded list of
spells when you learn a warlock spell. The
following spells are added to the warlock spell
list for you.
Lolth Expanded Spells
Spell Level Spells
1st faerie fire, jump
2nd darkness, web
3rd fear, vampiric touch
4th dimension door, giant insect
5th cloudkill, hold monster
Dark Queen’s Servitor
Starting at 1st level, you gain the ability to
transform into Lolth’s most beloved servitor, a
giant spider. As a bonus action you turn into a
spider. You gain a +2 bonus to AC. You gain 3
temporary hit points per level. You gain a climb
speed equal to your normal speed. You can climb
difficult surfaces, such as along a ceiling, without
needing to make a check. You gain a bite attack.
You are proficient with this attack and it inflicts
poison damage based on your level. You can use
your choice of Strength or Dexterity to modify
your bite attack’s attack and damage rolls.
While in this form, you lack hands and cannot
do anything that normally requires them.
However, you can cast spells but can only cast
the ones listed on your expanded spell list for
Lolth.
Once you use this ability, you cannot use it
again until you complete a short or long rest.
Spider Form Bite Damage
Level Damage
1st — 4th 1d10 poison
5th — 10th 2d10 poison
11th — 16th 3d10 poison
17th+ 4d10 poison
Poisoned Beauty
At 6th level, you gain the ability to use a shard of
Lolth’s alien beauty, causing other creatures to
become enraptured by your appearance. As a
bonus action, pick a creature you can see. That
creature must succeed on a Charisma saving
throw or become charmed by you. While
charmed, it also gains vulnerability to poison
damage. This benefit lasts for one minute or until
you or your allies damages the creature. Once
you use this ability, you cannot use it again until
you complete a short or long rest.
Spider Queen’s Chosen
At 10th level, Lolth extends her protection to you
while you are in her favored form. You gain
resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing
damage from non-magical sources while in your
spider form.
Kiss of the Spider Queen
Starting at 14th level, you can channel Lolth’s
malevolence into a deadly kiss. As an action, you
touch a creature within your reach. The target
takes 12d10 poison or psychic damage (your
choice), or half as much on a successful
Constitution save. A creature charmed by you
has disadvantage on its saving throw. After you
use this ability, you cannot cast it again until you
complete a long rest.
pic.twitter.com/AsQChAtOtv

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) November 20, 2017

Why a Cha save vs charm and not Wis for Poisoned Beauty? see it as more of a force of personality thing to resist

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) November 20, 2017

Ah the Nentir Vale. What brought you back?Wanted a setting that had a limited space, but in that space tapped into a lot of its big conflicts (rather than regional ones)

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) November 20, 2017

Wow indeeded…would be interesting to see the Drow goddess bless a special Drow or Servant with a arachnid dark pact….hey this could be the Dark Pact from 4e…Could you put this in the next UA for next month as a early Christmas gift to the community? Dark pact was definitely the inspiration – might throw it up there, depending on team bandwidth

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) November 20, 2017

Also the idea of drowish wizard subclass arachnomancer might also be a cool idea for UA as well. Your thoughts? I think it could be fun – might build it around a spider familiar, but I’ve always been a sucker for giving an evil-ish character a lackey

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) November 20, 2017