Cave Fisher

You need a drink for this one.

The Cave Fisher is one of the many Advanced Dungeons & Dragons monsters as are (now) associated with the Underdark, though it started in the suitably cave-like dungeon in module A4. It was one of the better monsters in the series, not that this is saying much; so, Gygax promoted it to the second Monster Manual. It's a sight better than the Lurker Above or the Piercer again, not that this is saying much, and (for an important instance) Night Below shunned it.

These giant arachnid horrors earn their moniker from their hunting style, which consists of settling on a ledge high up near the cave roof and dropping down a sticky "noose" of silk, which they use to grab creatures from the cavern floor and haul them up to the waiting predator's maw and lobster-like pincers. You can dissolve the silk with "liquids of a high alcohol content" implicitly distilled. *hic*

Whilst not sapient, these predators are intelligent enough to figure out that leaving the valuables of their humanoid meals in a loot pile beneath their ledge can lure more victims within range.

The 'fisher never did make Basic Dungeons & Dragons although it did show up in the 2e Monstrous Manual. It further escaped the third-edition, so Tome of Horrors as so-often picked up the slack. Then Dragon Magazine #355 brought it to Creature Catalog VI.

4th edition tweaked the formula by stating that the classic cave fisher lore actually depicts the female of the species, and the male instead hunts by launching organic harpoons at its prey.

Gallery

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  1e
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  2e
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  3e (Dragon #355)
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  4e
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  Pathfinder