Kar'niss

Kar'niss is a Drider in service of the Absolute, whom he serves after being cast out by Lolth, the Queen of Spiders. He's a key character involved in the questline Seek Protection from the Shadow Curse, since he carries a Moonlantern that traps the pixie Dolly Dolly Dolly. He believes that anyone who perishes to the Shadow Curse makes it stronger.

Kar'niss

Light of the Absolute

Full Name

Kar'niss

Stats

Size

Medium

Type

Monstrosity

Race

Drider

Balanced Difficulty Stats

Level

6

HP

184

AC

19

Initiative

+3

Proficiency

+3

Movement

9 m (30 ft)

Weight

150 kg (300 lb)

Ability scores
STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	16 (+3)	18 (+4)	13 (+1)	16 (+3)	12 (+1)

Saving throws
STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
+3	+6	+4	+1	+3	+1

Actions

Venom Claws
Lash out with venomous claws..

Conditions

Spindleweb Fanaticism
- Affected entity and its allies deal an additional 1d6Psychic damage, as long as it isn't Incapacitated. The entity's movement speed is also increased by 3m/10ft.

Features

Sting The Helpless
A drow elf wielding this weapon deals an additional 1d4Poison against restrained targets.
Darkvision
Can see in the dark up to 12 m / 40 ft.
Sunlight Sensitivity
Has disadvantage on attack rolls and Perception checks while in sunlight.
Opportunity Attack
Automatically attack an enemy moving out of your reach.
Sting The Helpless
A drow elf wielding this weapon deals an additional 1d4Poison against restrained targets.
Dual Wielder
You can use Two-Weapon Fighting even if the weapons you are wielding aren't Light. You cannot dual-wield Two-Handed weapons.
Multiattack: Wounded Target
The drider can Multiattack if its target has fewer than all of its hit points.
Improved Critical Hit
The number you need to roll a Critical Hit while attacking is reduced by 1. This effect can stack.
Dark Devotion
Advantage on Saving Throws against being Charmed or Frightened
Alert
You gain +5 to Initiative and can no longer be surprised.
Web Walker
Not slowed or Enwebbed by web surfaces.

Tactician Difficulty Stats

Level

6

HP

239

AC

19

Initiative

+3

Proficiency

+3

Movement

9 m (30 ft)

Weight

150 kg (300 lb)

Ability scores
STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	16 (+3)	18 (+4)	13 (+1)	16 (+3)	12 (+1)

Saving throws
STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
+3	+6	+4	+1	+3	+1

Actions

Venom Claws
Lash out with venomous claws..

Conditions

Spindleweb Fanaticism
- Affected entity and its allies deal an additional 1d6Psychic damage, as long as it isn't Incapacitated. The entity's movement speed is also increased by 3m/10ft.

Features

Cull the Weak
When you bring a creature down to fewer hit points than your number of evolved illithid powers, it dies and all nearby creatures take 1~4Psychic damage.
Sting The Helpless
A drow elf wielding this weapon deals an additional 1d4Poison against restrained targets.
Darkvision
Can see in the dark up to 12 m / 40 ft.
Sunlight Sensitivity
Has disadvantage on attack rolls and Perception checks while in sunlight.
Opportunity Attack
Automatically attack an enemy moving out of your reach.
Sting The Helpless
A drow elf wielding this weapon deals an additional 1d4Poison against restrained targets.
Dual Wielder
You can use Two-Weapon Fighting even if the weapons you are wielding aren't Light. You cannot dual-wield Two-Handed weapons.
Multiattack: Wounded Target
The drider can Multiattack if its target has fewer than all of its hit points.
Improved Critical Hit
The number you need to roll a Critical Hit while attacking is reduced by 1. This effect can stack.
Dark Devotion
Advantage on Saving Throws against being Charmed or Frightened
Alert
You gain +5 to Initiative and can no longer be surprised.
Web Walker
Not slowed or Enwebbed by web surfaces.

Honour Difficulty Stats

Level

6

HP

239

AC

19

Initiative

+3

Proficiency

+3

Movement

9 m (30 ft)

Weight

150 kg (300 lb)

Ability scores
STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	16 (+3)	18 (+4)	13 (+1)	16 (+3)	12 (+1)

Saving throws
STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
+3	+6	+4	+1	+3	+1

Actions

Fanatic Retaliation
Avenge a fallen Spindleweb Fanatic with a psionic barrage that can Silence its killer.
Venom Claws
Lash out with venomous claws..

Conditions

Spindleweb Fanaticism
- Affected entity and its allies deal an additional 1d6Psychic damage, as long as it isn't Incapacitated. The entity's movement speed is also increased by 3m/10ft.

Features

Cull the Weak
When you bring a creature down to fewer hit points than your number of evolved illithid powers, it dies and all nearby creatures take 1~4Psychic damage.
Sting The Helpless
A drow elf wielding this weapon deals an additional 1d4Poison against restrained targets.
Darkvision
Can see in the dark up to 12 m / 40 ft.
Sunlight Sensitivity
Has disadvantage on attack rolls and Perception checks while in sunlight.
Opportunity Attack
Automatically attack an enemy moving out of your reach.
Sting The Helpless
A drow elf wielding this weapon deals an additional 1d4Poison against restrained targets.
Dual Wielder
You can use Two-Weapon Fighting even if the weapons you are wielding aren't Light. You cannot dual-wield Two-Handed weapons.
Multiattack: Wounded Target
The drider can Multiattack if its target has fewer than all of its hit points.
Improved Critical Hit
The number you need to roll a Critical Hit while attacking is reduced by 1. This effect can stack.
Dark Devotion
Advantage on Saving Throws against being Charmed or Frightened
Alert
You gain +5 to Initiative and can no longer be surprised.
Web Walker
Not slowed or Enwebbed by web surfaces.

Can be spoken to in death with the Speak with Dead spell.

Encounters

Kar'niss may be first encountered in two different ways. While entering the Shadow-Cursed Lands from Rosymorn Monastery Trail, a group of Absolute followers will be waiting for Minthara to arrive and summon the guide. The player can use the Spider's Lyre to summon Kar'niss, then follow the convoy to Moonrise Towers.

Otherwise, if the party reaches the Shadow-Cursed Lands through Grymforge, they may encounter Kar'niss' caravan mid-transit - either alongside a group of Harpers to ambush them and claim the lantern as part of a quest given by Jaheira at Last Light Inn, or alone if they explore the Shadow-Cursed Lands and come across the checkpoint without interacting with the Harpers first. The Harper ambush will also be encountered if the party followed the caravan from the start. In each of these scenarios, the party may choose to follow the convoy to Moonrise, kill Kar'niss and his followers to take his lantern, or convince him through dialogue to relinquish it and walk away to his death.

If Kar'niss and his convoy are convinced to leave without the Moonlantern during the ambush in Seek Protection from the Shadow Curse, they can later be encountered as Shadow-Cursed Undead in Reithwin Town, south of the statue of Ketheric Thorm outside the Sharran Sanctuary and north of the bridge to Moonrise Towers. They are automatically hostile to the party in this form and cannot be interacted with other than by attacking, but Kar'niss will still appear as Temporarily Hostile if attacked. He will be joined by several Shadows, undead Harpers, undead prisoners, etc. thus making the fight unnecessarily difficult.

If Kar'niss survives the road to Moonrise, he will run up the tower to seek the Absolute's blessing on the rooftop, where he can be encountered one final time as he fights alongside Ketheric when the party storms the tower at the end of Act 2.

Attacks and abilities

Spells Known

Tactician Only

Related quests

Notable loot

Speak with Dead

Kar'niss can be spoken to with Speak with Dead.

Player: Who are you?

Kar'niss: Erased... forgotten... we are... drider...

Player: What happened to you?

Kar'niss: Lolth... cast out... Absolute... saved...

Player: Who killed you?

Kar'niss: Traitor... heretic...

Player: Where are you from?

Kar'niss: Moonrise...

Player: What were you doing?

Kar'niss: Shepherding... the faithful... carrying... our Lady's light...

Player: You walk the shadows safely. How?

Kar'niss: Lantern... our Lady's light...

Player: How did you trap that pixie in the lantern?

Kar'niss: Always... many voices... her... the LOUDEST...

Player: How did the shadow curse come to be?

Narrator: *The corpse remains silent. It does not know.*

Gallery

model

External links

Kar'niss on the Forgotten Realms Wiki

Spotted an issue with this page? Leave a comment! Note that your IP address will be publicly logged unless you create an account. You can also edit the page to fix the issue. See How to Contribute to get started, and maybe join our Discord so we can coordinate our efforts.