[Ten-Hex]

I know they portrayed Spider (or something calling itself Spider) in an insect spirit-like manner in the Secrets of Power fluff novels, but Spider was listed as a canon normal totem (starting in Awakenings rulebook?) which makes sense considering multiple world cultures have venerated Spider in human history.

Has there been any other explanation of this in canon, or attempt to reconcile the weird stuff in the novels lumping Spider in with the insects? I've wondered this for a while, but it's fresh in my memory. While working on some new insect spirit types for a run, I realized centipedes may not be valid to use as they are not insects.

Besides insects, you have three main subphyla of arthropods... Chelicerata (arachnids and kin), Myriapoda (centipedes, millipedes, etc), and Crustacea (crabs, lobsters, etc). Should I just avoid anything that's not scientifically classified as an insect to belong to the "alien mentality entities from the metaplanes"?

[CanRay]

One Spider does not necessarily equal another Spider.

[dashifen]

Should I just avoid anything that's not scientifically classified as an insect to belong to the "alien mentality entities from the metaplanes"?

That's the way I do it, yeah.

[Coldbringer]

I have had a spider totem in past games that was a less jovial trixter. That worked well if its to your liking. Alternately spider could be a defender and hunter of insect spirits.

[Kontact]

One Spider does not necessarily equal another Spider.

Yep.  Anansi sure as hell didn't act like any kind of spider I've ever seen.
If it's anthropomorphized, it's fair game. 

[Walks Through Walls]

I believe in 2nd edition while spider wasn't considered an inspect spirit it was shown as an alien spirit. It commented on something that those who followed it often became as warped as those it was hunting. Sort of down the line of mantis though not quiet as bad

[CanRay]

I believe in 2nd edition while spider wasn't considered an inspect spirit it was shown as an alien spirit. It commented on something that those who followed it often became as warped as those it was hunting. Sort of down the line of mantis though not quiet as bad

As long as you're a woman. 

As for the Spider thing, I see it this way, Spider was a Toxic Totem when Twist released her, and the Ghost Dance he performed purified a bit of her, allowing both aspects of the Totem to come forth.

Yes, the twisted evil Spider is out there still, but so is the Eater of Insect Spirits and Hoarder of Secrets.

[Ten-Hex]

I believe in 2nd edition while spider wasn't considered an inspect spirit it was shown as an alien spirit. It commented on something that those who followed it often became as warped as those it was hunting. Sort of down the line of mantis though not quiet as bad

As long as you're a woman. 

As for the Spider thing, I see it this way, Spider was a Toxic Totem when Twist released her, and the Ghost Dance he performed purified a bit of her, allowing both aspects of the Totem to come forth.

Yes, the twisted evil Spider is out there still, but so is the Eater of Insect Spirits and Hoarder of Secrets.

My biggest gripe is how to reconcile that mechanically. The invae are a different lifeform with inhabitation powers, and their "shamans" and "totems" were labelled that way for lack of better terminology. The twisted version of Spider in the fluff is like the invae and not a normal totem (or even toxic, which follows normal spirit rules), as Spider is presented in Bug City/Awakenings/Magic in the Shadows/4th Ed. I see those two types of entities as mutually exclusive... so I either have to look at Spider as a special exception, reassess my thought that invae are completely separate from "normal" spirits, or just assume Bob Charette was thinking, "insects, arachnids, whatever," when he wrote Find Your Own Truth.

FASA had another arachnid totem (Scorpion, which interestingly enough was weak in dealing with the spirit world) and other arthropod totems (Crab) which followed normal rules, so I'm kinda leaning towards the "ignore the fluff and only use insects for invae" camp. I'm probably overthinking it (bad habit of mine), but I just like my fluff and canon to play together nicely so that when I start doing custom stuff it doesn't break with either.

[Stahlseele]

One Spider does not necessarily equal another Spider.

Well, TECHNICALLY, SPIDER the totem DOES equal ALL other Spiders . .
Spider is what you get when you take all Spiders and grind out the essence of Spider.
As with any other Totem. That's what MAKES a Totem. Not a Spirit Guide like in SR4.
The global Spider.
This does break, admittedly, when you have such things like the Totem CAT and Lion and Cheetah and Polecat.
And DOG and Wolves . .

[CanRay]

And Coyote and Dingo...

And Goose and Nene...  ...  ...  Actually, those are pretty fraggin' close to each other.  MEAN bastards!

[Dead Monky]

I'm going to follow the Mantis Shrimp totem.  You get bonuses to punching people into tiny bits and looking freaking awesome and take a penalty to giving a damn.

[CanRay]

"I sing the songs of TOASTER!  Ka-CHUNK!"

[Stahlseele]

Heck, you can follow Buggs Bunny if you want to . .
And the Green Lantern would be a viable concept for a Psionic.

[Tagz]

Yeah, anything is fair game.

Right now I'm making one for a character in my group that has Latent Awakening.  I'm thinking something like this:

Weiland
Norse Tradition
Advantages: +2 Armorer or Artisan (player chooses, also chooses type of Artisan skill if picked), +2 Enchanting
Disadvantage:  Like Weiland, followers of Weiland hold grudges and seek revenge when the target of premeditated malice.  The magician must make a Willpower + Charisma(3) test to resist the urge to get revenge on one who has conspired against them.

Goibniu
Celtic Tradition
Advantages: +2 Armorer or Artisan (player chooses, also chooses type of Artisan skill if picked), +2 Enchanting
Disadvantage: Weapons crafted by Goibniu were said to always be fatal, even from the most minor of wound and his followers know that weapons were created to kill and not injure.  To use a weapon that inflicts stun damage or to otherwise strike an opponent in a nonleathal manner the magician must make the test with a -3 dice pool penalty.


I made them to synergize with the player a bit.  He's a beefy crafter type.