Ettercap 5e: Webs, Poison and Running It With Giant Spiders

An ettercap is a CR 2 Medium Monstrosity with AC 13, 44 hit points, a 30-foot climb speed and Spider Climb. It fights by webbing one creature (Recharge 5–6), which Restrains it, then biting and clawing the stuck target with Advantage. Its bite poisons. The 2024 ettercap trades the web attack roll for a DC 12 Dexterity save, removes the Strength check to break free (the web has to be destroyed), and gets a bonus action, Reel, that drags a webbed creature 25 feet toward it.

Table of Contents

• •Ettercap Stat Block (2014)
• •The Ettercap in the 2024 Rules
• •How Ettercaps Fight
• •Running an Ettercap Encounter
• •How Players Beat Ettercaps
• •Ettercap Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Ettercap Stat Block (2014)

The ettercap from SRD 5.1:

The web is a ranged attack (+4, range 30/60 feet) against a Large or smaller creature. On a hit the target is Restrained. It can spend its action on a DC 11 Strength check to break free, or anyone can destroy the webbing: AC 10, 5 hit points, vulnerable to fire, immune to bludgeoning. A mace or a warhammer won't cut it.

The bite matters as much as the web. It deals 10.5 on average (6 piercing + 4.5 poison) and forces a DC 11 Constitution save against being Poisoned for up to a minute, with a new save at the end of each of the target's turns. A poisoned character has Disadvantage on ability checks, including the Strength check to escape the web.

Three traits tie it to webs: Spider Climb (walls and ceilings, no check), Web Sense (it knows where every creature touching its web is) and Web Walker (webbing doesn't slow it).

The Ettercap in the 2024 Rules

SRD 5.2.1 keeps CR 2 (450 XP), AC 13, 44 hit points, the speeds and the skills.

The 2024 web is the bigger change. With no Strength check to escape, a webbed character stays Restrained until someone deals 5 damage to the web (AC 10) with anything but bludgeoning, poison or psychic damage. The character can attack the web itself, at Disadvantage because it's Restrained. The bite got weaker but poisons on every hit with no save. The condition ends at the start of the ettercap's next turn, so it mostly affects the target's own next turn: Disadvantage on attacks and ability checks. Against a webbed target that changes little, since Restrained already imposes Disadvantage on attacks. It hurts the fighter who walked up to the ettercap without being webbed.

How Ettercaps Fight

Open from the ceiling. With Stealth +4, Spider Climb and darkvision, an ettercap waits overhead in a dark forest or a ruined building. Its first action is the web, aimed at the most dangerous character or the one standing farthest from help.

• •2014: +4 against AC 15 hits on an 11 or higher, 50%.
• •2024: a DC 12 Dexterity save. A character with Dex +2 fails 45% of the time; a fighter in plate with Dex +0 fails 55% of the time.

2024: web, reel, repeat. Web Strand is an action and Reel is a bonus action, so on the turn the web lands, the ettercap can drag the target 25 feet toward itself. If it's on a wall or a ledge, "toward itself" may mean up. Next turn, the target is far from its friends and still Restrained.

Then bite. Melee attacks against a Restrained creature have Advantage. The ettercap's +4 against AC 15 goes from 50% to 75%:

Those numbers aren't huge, which is why the ettercap rarely fights alone. Its job is to pin one character so its allies can work on them.

Retreat up. At around 15 hit points it climbs out of reach. Most characters can't climb 30 feet a turn without a climb speed, so it escapes unless someone has a ranged attack ready.

Running an Ettercap Encounter

An ettercap is 450 XP, and a giant spider (CR 1) is 200. For four characters with the 2024 XP budget (SRD 5.2.1):

Under the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter calculator), one ettercap and two giant spiders are 850 XP × 2 = 1,700 adjusted XP: Deadly for four level 3 characters and Hard for level 4.

The ettercap-and-spiders group is stronger than the sum of its parts. In 2014 a giant spider's web is a +5 attack with a DC 12 Strength check to escape; in 2024 it's a DC 13 Dexterity save at 60 feet. Three web users in one fight can restrain half the party in the first round. Give the party some light, an exit and room to spread out, or use this group at level 4 instead of 3.

How Players Beat Ettercaps

• •Bring fire. Webs are vulnerable to fire, so fire damage is doubled against their 5 hit points and most fire cantrips clear one in a hit. Burning Hands burns webs and hits the ettercap at once, but it also hits the webbed ally, who makes the Dexterity save at Disadvantage because it's Restrained.
• •Carry a blade. Webs are immune to bludgeoning damage. The cleric with a mace can't free anyone; the rogue with a dagger can.
• •Look up. It waits on ceilings and in branches. Passive Perception, a light source thrown upward, or a familiar scouting ahead removes the ambush.
• •Don't chase it. It climbs at 30 feet and webs don't slow it. Charging after it into a web-filled room splits the party.
• •Focus it. AC 13 and 44 hit points, no resistances. Its weakest saves are Intelligence (−2) and Charisma (−1). Faerie Fire helps the whole party hit it, and keeps it visible when it climbs into shadow.
• •It's not a spider. It's a Monstrosity with no language, so Speak with Animals doesn't work on it.

Ettercap Encounter Ideas

The silk farm. A family of weavers has paid an ettercap in goats for twenty years to harvest the silk around its den. The goats ran out last month. Now the ettercap is webbing people on the road to the village, and the family doesn't want anyone to find out where their famous silk comes from.

The canopy road. A forest road runs under thick branches. An ettercap webs travelers from 25 feet up and, in the 2024 rules, Reels them straight up into the canopy, where two giant spiders wait. The party hears a scream and sees a boot dangling in the leaves. If the web is destroyed while the victim hangs there, they fall.

The mill. A burned-out mill is full of giant spider egg sacs, and an ettercap tends them. The miller wants the place cleared but not burned, because he plans to rebuild. Fire is the party's best weapon, and the employer has forbidden it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is an ettercap in 5e?

An ettercap is CR 2 and worth 450 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 13, 44 hit points and a 30-foot climb speed.

How do you escape an ettercap's web?

In the 2014 rules, the Restrained creature can use its action to make a DC 11 Strength check, or anyone can destroy the web (AC 10, 5 hit points, vulnerable to fire, immune to bludgeoning). In the 2024 rules there's no Strength check: the web must be destroyed, and it's also immune to poison and psychic damage.

Is an ettercap a spider?

No. It's a Medium Monstrosity that shares spider traits (Spider Climb, Web Walker) and usually lives alongside giant spiders. It has no language, and spells that only affect Beasts don't work on it.

What's the difference between an ettercap and a giant spider?

A giant spider is a CR 1 Large Beast with AC 14, 26 hit points and a stronger bite (poison damage on every hit). An ettercap is a CR 2 Medium Monstrosity with 44 hit points, a bite and claws, and in 2024 the Reel bonus action. The ettercap is usually the one in charge.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.