I live in Australia, so here it would be a major virtue.
Do deadly spiders exist in Mythic Europe?
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There’s a giant Faerie spider in, I believe, HOOKS. We also have The Spider, one of the Order’s greatest enemies. Personally, I think it would be amazing for a player if they took Immunity: Spiders and ended up immune to The Spider’s magic. That would be aMAZing.
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Hi,
In Thrice Told Tales: The Traitor's Game, there is a bit of a spider theme... There's some boxed text about venomous spiders in Europe.
We have widow spiders and false widow spiders (including the malmignatte); yellow sac spiders; black lace-weavers; mouse spiders; woodlouse-eating spiders; and wolf spiders that can all deliver a bite of medical significance. Of these, the malmignatte is probably the worst. However, none are deadly; the worst you'll get is an infected wound that can malinger for months. TTT suggests an Ease Factor of 3 to resist a spider bite (6 for the malmignatte) to avoid a Light Wound, and a -3 to Recovery Rolls from a spider bite. Even if no wound is suffered, a spider bite can be painful enough to require Concentration rolls.
That said, none of these spiders are common; I'm not sure an Immunity to Spiders would even be a Minor Virtue in Mythic Europe! I would tend to roll it into an Immunity to Venom as a Minor (because we don't really have many venomous snakes either, although bees, wasps and hornets would also be covered), or a Major Immunity to Poisons and Venoms.
Mark
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Venomous snakes that aren't deadly. Seems like fantasy.
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Snakes were certainly held to be more deadly than they actually were. Medieval bestiaries are full of the deadly effects of various snake bites, including bursting into flame. You could be perfectly justified in having snakes, spiders, and scorpions far more toxic in Mythic Europe than in medieval Europe, because that is the commonly-held belief.
Mark
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Don't forget dragons. Before the fire breathing dragon was the major trope the majority of dragons were known for spitting a truly nasty venom that was deadly, caustic, or both depending on the legend. That should up the value of immunity to venom a wee bit.
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I know that Australia and the US have spiders that will kill you, but I don't think Europe really has the like. Massive deadly spiders feature often in the works of Tolkien, but that is more due his personal fear of them (IIRC from an event back when he was 3) than his study of European myth.
Given the existence of arachnophobia, deadly spiders do occur in Mythic Europe, as fae, if nothing else. 
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