To snare its prey, a giant spider spins elaborate webs or shoots sticky strands of webbing from its abdomen. Giant spiders are most commonly found underground, making their lairs on ceilings or in dark, web-filled crevices. Such lairs are often festooned with web cocoons holding past victims.
—Player’s Handbook
Table of Contents
What is a Giant Spider 5e?
Many creatures in DnD 5e have giant variants. Most of them will act as they would in the real world, but they’re simply larger. Giant Spiders are one of these creatures. They’re bigger, stronger, and much scarier than finding one in your bathroom at night.
They are considered Large, Unaligned creatures. This means they have no alignments and are not evil or malevolent creatures. They’re simply a natural part of the DnD world and ecosystem.
If you consider that humans are considered medium-sized creatures and Giant Spiders are considered large-sized creatures, if you imagine a tarantula or black widow spider twice the size of a human, then you begin to see the scale.
Giant Spider 5e Stats
- AC: 14 (natural armor)
- HP: 26 (4d10 + 4)
- Speed: 30ft., climb 30ft.
| Ability | Score | Modifier |
| Strength | 14 | +2 |
| Dexterity | 16 | +3 |
| Constitution | 12 | +1 |
| Intelligence | 2 | -4 |
| Wisdom | 11 | +0 |
| Charisma | 4 | -3 |
- Skills: Stealth +7
- Senses: blindsight 10ft., darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 10
- Languages: None
- CR: 1 (200xp)
Giant Spider 5e Lore
Giant Spiders can be found all over the world of DnD. They’re massive creatures that use stealth to hunt and sometimes can be tamed by certain races.
Goblins have been known to ride into battle atop Giant Spiders, and the Drow Elves have used them as pack animals in the Underdark.
Giant Spider 5e Actions
Spider Climb
The spider can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Web Sense
While in contact with a web, the spider knows the exact location of any other creature in contact with the same web.
Web Walker
The spider ignores movement restrictions caused by webbing.
Bite
Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, taking 9 (2d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
If the poison damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target is stable but poisoned for 1 hour, even after regaining hit points, and is paralyzed while poisoned in this way.
Web
(Recharge 5-6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 30f60 ft., one creature. Hit: The target is restrained by webbing. As an action, the restrained target can make a DC 12 Strength check, bursting the webbing on a success.
The webbing can also be attacked and destroyed (AC 10; hp 5; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and psychic damage).
To snare its prey, a giant spider spins elaborate webs or shoots sticky strands of webbing from its abdomen.
Giant Spiders are most commonly found underground, making their lairs on ceilings or in dark, web-filled crevices. Such lairs are often festooned with web cocoons holding past victims.
What Level Should I be to Fight Giant Spider 5e?
Giant Spiders have a CR of 1, so a party of 4 level 1 adventurers should be able to fight one Giant Spider. This may not be 100% accurate, though. Spiders are ambush hunters and a party of level 1 adventurers won’t have a lot of HP or Armor.
In the hands of a particularly devious DM, a Giant Spider could ambush a party in a cave and bring down the spellcasters or back row characters in one or two turns.
Once players get to level 2 or 3, a single Giant Spider shouldn’t be a challenge at all. If they walk into an underground lair full of them, however, they probably won’t get out alive.
How Do You Beat a Giant Spider 5e?
Giant Spiders are ambush hunters and they know exactly where any creature is that’s touching their web. Players can use that to their advantage by setting a trap and luring them out of their web network to a kill zone.
Since the web has a vulnerability to fire, having a flame trap or bomb set up ready for the Giant Spider is the best course of action for level 1 adventurers.
Giant Spider 5e FAQ
Can a Giant Spider be used as a Mount in 5e?
Yes. According to the rules if a player finds a trained Giant Spider or trains a Giant Spider they could potentially use it as a mount.
The rules require riding creatures to be at least one size larger than the rider. Since most playable character races are medium or small, a Large Sized, Giant Spider would be considered rideable.
How Much Can a 5e Giant Spider Carry?
There is no set rule for what a Giant Spider can carry. It’s entirely up to the Dungeon Master, but similar beasts of burden will be able to carry around 400-500 lbs depending upon their size.
Can a Druid turn into a Giant Spider?
Yes, Druids can Wild Shape into Giant Spiders. Since the CR of the Giant Spider is 1, most Druids can Wild Shape into a Giant Spider starting at level 8. Circle of the Moon Druids can Wild Shape into Giant Spiders at level 2.
How Big is a Giant Spider?
The Giant Spider is considered Large Size. This would be double the size of your average humanoid. A common size comparison for the Giant Spider is that they take up a 10ft by 10ft square when determining their size on a playing mat.
How Much Health does a Giant Spider Have?
Giant Spiders average 26 health or hit points.
Before starting GameCows with his wife Kendra, he used to teach English Language Arts in the US. He combined his love of gaming with education to create fun game-based learning lessons until he eventually decided to run GameCows with Kendra full-time. He’s known for pouring over rulebooks in his spare time, being the rule master during game night, and as the perma DM in his DnD group. Bryan loves board games, writing, traveling, and above all his wife and partner in crime, Kendra.