Hydra (D&D)
rating: 0+x

By Lord RasputinLord Rasputin

Note: This creature was originally published in the Monster Manual.

A big reptile with four legs and anywhere from five to eleven heads. The one below has five heads; see Variants for notes on how to add more.

ST: 35 HP: 40 Speed: 5.50
DX: 11 Will: 11 Move: 4
IQ: 2 Per: 10 Weight: 4,000 lbs.
HT: 11 FP: 11 SM: +3 (7 hexes)
Dodge: 9 Parry: N/A DR: 3

Bite (13): 4d+2 cutting. Reach C-2.

Traits: Acute Hearing 3; Acute Vision 3; Amphibious (Water Move 4); Combat Reflexes; Discriminatory Smell; Extra Attack 4; Extra Heads 4 (5 Heads); Night Vision 8; Quadruped; Regeneration (Very Fast; 1 HP/second); Regrowth (Heads Only; When a head is severed, two grow back in the stump in 3d seconds, but the second head will fall off in 24 hours); Unkillable 2 (Achilles Heel, All heads must be severed); Wild Animal.
Skills: Brawling-13; Swimming-13.
Class: Dire Animal.
Combat Effectiveness Rating: 121 (OR 46 and PR 75).
Notes: To keep a hydra's head from growing back, its stump must take 5 HP burning or corrosive damage before the new head grows back. A hydra gets an Extra Attack for each head past the first, but otherwise its statistics are unchanged when it grows an extra head. See below for hydra's with more heads.

Variants

Hydras with up to 11 heads exist. A hydra's HP are equal to ST+heads; its DR is equal to (Heads+1)/2; its Brawling score is equal to (Heads/2)+DX. A hydra gets an Extra Attack for each head past the first.

Both pyrohydras and cryohydras exist. These breathe fire or cold in a cone 6 yards long by 3 yards wide. The blast is 2d burning; the cryohydra's does no incendiary damage. Each head may breathe fire or cold every 3d seconds. A pyrohydra or a cryohydra has an Innate Attack (Breath) skill equal to its Brawling skill, and DR 30 (Cold) (cryohydra) or DR 30 (Heat/Fire) (pyrohydra). Fire damage does not keep a pyrohydra's head from growing back, but cold does, while cold damage does not keep a cryohydra's head from growing back, but fire does.

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