Those two are facts.
here is a long to 5e Phase Spider. As claimed by Tuco it is a different monster archetype (more of a rogue? Disappear and stab) then what was delivered (snipe from distance and teleport away).
And I found
Weaving Spider, which might not be an exact copy of Larian’s reimagining of Phase Spiders, but there indeed is a ranged spider archetype, which Larian could use if they wanted to have a ranged spider.
Per my earlier post - I suspect the reason why Larian changed the implementation of the Phase Spider is because they do not have a proper readied action system in place (which I think they need to fix first and foremost). The alteration of monsters is a
symptom of a bigger issue (an incomplete combat system - i.e. no proper reactions/readied actions).The Phase Spider's Ethereal Jaunt, if implemented per the monster manual, is a very frustrating fight for BG3 player because Phase Spiders will always get a free shot on you first coming out of the ethereal plane, whereas in PnP at least you can ready an action to trade blows with them.
Ethereal Jaunt. As a bonus action, the spider can magically shift from the Material Plane to the Ethereal Plane, or vice versa.
To be fair, the Weaving Spider isn't from the monster manual or any official WoTC - it's actually from a 3rd party (Paizo) book Tome of Beasts (aka homebrew). Also, a Weaving Spider isn't actually a spider per that stat-block - it's a construct (think robotic spider) which probably doesn't fit the theme of the area.
