Well my PCs encountered the aquatic hydra last session and the results could easily have been a TPK. Four of the PCs (a 6th level human swashbuckler, a 9th level half-elf ranger/fighter/scout, a 6th level hobgoblin fighter, and a 7th level human cleric) all boarded a rowboat and rowed over to the waterfall to replenish their supply of fresh water. The aquatic hydra soon attacked. The beast demolished the rowboat in two melee rounds, sending the PCs into the water. Nearly helpless (the Sea Wyvern and crew were too far away to be of any real help), the PCs were forced to swim in opposite directions to avoid all of them becoming hydra-food. Unfortunately, the ranger/fighter/scout ended up being the slowest swimmer (failed his swim check twice!). He was promptly grappled, dragged underwater, and devoured. The rest of the PCs escaped and immediately sailed the Sea Wyvern out of the cove.
That hydra was a BEAST! It could have easily TPK'ed the entire party if I was a mean-spirited DM!
What have you other DMs done with this dangerous encounter? What were your outcomes?
That hydra was a BEAST! It could have easily TPK'ed the entire party if I was a mean-spirited DM!
What have you other DMs done with this dangerous encounter? What were your outcomes?
In my game the NPCs and PCs viewed this location as a rest spot. Several NPCs had taken a launch and were doing some fishing while the PCs and the crew refilled water casks and did a bit of quick foraging.
The hydra attacked the NPCs who were fishing. This allowed the PCs to react. The duskblade and the wizard both hit the hydra with fire damage. At that point, I had the hydra swim off as it had plenty to eat and there was no reason for it to suffer more pain.
My PCs got to feel like heroes driving off a major threat. Some good role-playing as they dealt with the loss of three passengers. But all in all, yeah, this could have been a TPK.
You can check out my discontinued journal From Sasserine to the Abbys: The Savage Tide for how my group fared. It's toward the end of page 2, but I think the link will take you right there.
Hydras are NASSSTY! I damn near shredded my party with one in another adventure, and they didn't even get in the water with it. (Well only one did, anyhow). The one-per-head limit on AOOs combined with fast healing makes them tough on a party that is caught be surprise.
I had the Hydra eat a few NPC's rowing around as well, giving the PC's a min to think / react. The rouge threw multiple boars into the water from his bag of tricks for Hydra snacks, buying a few more seconds.
The hydra soon came up on the SW though, and the fast healing was keeping him in the fight. Skald and Amelia BOTH critted in the same round, increasing damage output enough to put the beast to bed.
Without those crits, things would have got pretty dang hairy.
Amelia has actually become a warrior of some renown in my group. I gave her a few more levels and she is holding her own on the IoD now. Skald got
by the T-rex.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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Hydras are NASSSTY! I damn near shredded my party with one in another adventure, and they didn't even get in the water with it. (Well only one did, anyhow). The one-per-head limit on AOOs combined with fast healing makes them tough on a party that is caught be surprise.
It's really a pain when a DM reads that sentence the wrong way (a 5 headed hydra gets 5 AoOs per opportunity), rather than the right way (a 5 headed hydra gets 5 AoOs per round). Bleah. Stupid lack of proofreading.
My players had developed a history of bashing the Jade Ravens as incompetants, and I thought that a)knowing what I know about the future of the Jade Ravens, and b)there wasn't much in the AP that allowed the JRs to be heroes, too... well, I had the players play as the JRs for this encounter. It was a nice break from their own characters (which helped out from range because it made sense), and garnered some camraderie/sympathy for the JRs with my players.
I described the Blue Nixie sending the JRs out to refill their water first, and when the hydra appeared I put the stats for Lavinia and the JR son the table for whoever wanted to play whom, and continued from there.
All that to say that the hydra wasn't much of a problem for two groups of adventurers. The way the hydra is set up, additional attackers take away the benefits of the fast healing and made for an easy encounter.
I had the Hydra split it's attacks between trying to sink the ship and fighting those on board. It allowed my player, who have a hard time focusing at times ;p, to get their wits about them. The aquatic halfing Shadowcaster I think is what won it all with her Umbral Hand mystery.
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I thought that encounter was going to be the end of my players, and the Hydra quickly shredded the druid's animal companion (he had the wolf swimming) but after that, the Hydra couldn't seem to hit the broad side of a barn.
The tank had a swim speed, so he basically just went toe-to-toe with it while the rest of the party played a support role. The battle went more rounds than it should have, but the druid made a bad choice for spell selection that day ;)
Here's how the fight went for me:
My barbarian/ranger went out with Avner and Amella, as she wanted to go swimming and Avner wanted to ogle her. I started to get the water when the hydra attacked. One round in melee with it nearly dropped me. So I yell for the rest of the party who are TEN ROUNDS AWAY on the Sea Wyvern. Amella and I swim away and Avner is torn to bits. Then the hydra comes after me and I have my shark animal companion interpose itself to buy me a round. It dies. A lot. I realize I can't outrun it so I dive down into a wreck at the bottom of the cove, hoping to stall it. It spends a few rounds bashing through them, I try to push an old ship mast onto it, and I escape out of a hole in the hull. By that time the rest of the party is in range help. The cleric and binder start chopping heads while the wizard seals the stumps with fire spells. I go take a nap.
But yeah, could've easily been a TPK. I had the most hit points of anyone by far, and I barely lasted a round with it.
Y'all are adding these deaths to the Obituary thread right? I like to scare my PC (who are DMs in rotation) with things like 'next week you should reach the encounter with 78 kills'. *grin*
I let Hydras attack with each head during each attack of opportunity. I agree that the description in the MM is ambiguous, but since a five head Hydra's "Attack" is 5 bites (the same as its "Full Attack") I lean toward giving each head a bite for each attack of opportunity.
Our druid's animal companion tried to flee from the Aquatic Hydra and was munched to bits.
After the debacle of the Floatsam Ooze, I'm really not looking forward to this encounter. It seems pretty deadly and too "random monster fight"-ish. Anymore thoughts on how to make this battle interesting or maybe substitions?
I like the idea of maybe splitting the party - some folks have made it to shore, some are in a rowboat, and some are on the ship. I might be besst to start the attack with the people on shore. The slow movement speed should give PCs a chance to run from it. Attacks from the ship could divert the hydra to deal with the "bigger" (the ship) threat. Moving from the beach to the ship might give time for ranged attacks. Also giving the PCs a spot chance to see the dark shape moving below the water will give them a round of actions.
Any other thoughts?
After the debacle of the Floatsam Ooze
That thing is MUCH worse than the hydra if it catches a single character in the stairwell, for example.
Y'all are adding these deaths to the Obituary thread right? I like to scare my PC (who are DMs in rotation) with things like 'next week you should reach the encounter with 78 kills'. *grin*
LOL - ok, I like that, a nasty bit of psychological warfare. ^_^
Granted, I prefer not to give them any more lead-in information than they have already been given, as well as whatever they can figure out from the flavor text and environs. (Which is often plenty.)
Hydras are nasty critters for sure, and if you feel the inexplicable need to soften on your players, the Sea Wyvern and Blue Nixie have a fairly substantial number of NPCs to serve as critter kibble at your disposal ...
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Most of my party has a natural swim speed as though aquatic, and some of them actually ARE aquatic. The hydra was only a threat because the party allowed itself to get wildly seperated doing various stuff. Apparently they were thinking the cove would be "downtime". 2 random npc boatrowers were eaten alive, but the rest of the party was able to handle it without serious trouble.
I had let my players invest in a cannon for the Wyvern, and this is the one time they got to use it. Some aerial scouting discovered the hydra, and our druid with an aquatic bent acted as bait to make it surface; the swashbuckler/Sorcerer using a Wand of True Strike directed the firing of the cannon.
Great fun was had by all - except the poor hydra. And it was still a pretty tough fight.
Good scouting is much of the key top may party's success.