Dungeons & Dragons Clockwork Spider Miniature

This is a highly detailed miniature of a Clockwork Spider.

This model was created by M3DM who makes amazingly accurate models of Dungeons & Dragons creatures and is provided by Commercial License.

A Clockwork Spider in Dungeons & Dragons is a construct, an artificial creature powered by gears, springs, and sometimes arcane energy, resembling a spider in form and function. Unlike living creatures, it is not born but built, often by skilled artificers, wizards, or inventors with a penchant for mechanical creations. These creatures embody the fusion of magic and machinery, their spindly legs made of brass or iron, moving with an unnerving precision that imitates the natural grace of real spiders. They can vary in size from palm-sized scouts to massive guardians, but their essential nature remains the same: a tireless automaton crafted for a specific purpose.

The role of a Clockwork Spider depends on its maker’s intent. Small versions are often designed as spies or scouts, capable of skittering across walls and ceilings, slipping into places a humanoid never could, and relaying information through magical sensors or mechanical recording devices. Some possess the ability to emit clicking signals or minor illusions to communicate, while others might be fitted with tiny compartments for delivering messages or toxins. Larger variants are usually employed as guardians. They stand watch over treasure hoards, laboratories, or secret chambers, programmed to strike intruders with mechanical mandibles, inject paralytic venom crafted from alchemical mixtures, or entrap victims in sticky threads made not from silk but from resin or enchanted filaments.

Clockwork Spiders are not truly alive, so they do not tire, feel fear, or require sustenance. This makes them reliable tools, though they can also be dangerous if left unchecked. In some campaigns, abandoned constructs continue to wander ruins long after their creators are gone, following half-forgotten directives. Players might encounter them in dungeons as eerie remnants of lost civilizations that relied heavily on artifice and arcane technology. They are particularly effective in settings that emphasize steampunk or magitech themes, where machinery and enchantment intertwine.

Ultimately, a Clockwork Spider represents the uncanny blend of nature’s design and human ingenuity. It captures the unsettling essence of a familiar creature reshaped into a cold, mechanical parody, serving as both a narrative device and a formidable opponent in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

18.10mm tall at 32mm scale.