So my wizard was tasked with killing a 12 headed advanced hydra last Sunday. Long story short I open up on it with a Glitterdust from invisible and flying to negate some of the damage that will come my BSFs way, and the question comes up: does the hydra save only once for all 12 heads, or 12 times (once for each head)? If I had used Blindness/Deafness instead of Glitterdust (not wise considering high Fort but just for hypotheticalness) would I only be blinding one head, or all heads?
On the fly we agreed to the 12 saves simply because logically to both myself and my GM it didn't seem to make sense otherwise, but we were both curious if there was some ruling we weren't aware of.
I would say that technically the creature gets only one save, no matter how many heads it has. I think it has to be this way because otherwise things get too complicated - especially with mental effects and stuff. Bottom line is that it is magic, and doesn't really follow all logic.
But I really like the idea of playing it the way you did. There are all kinds of tales of folks beating two headed monsters by causing trouble between the two heads. I can see why the rules would avoid it, but I think it makes for interesting tales.
I would say that technically the creature gets only one save, no matter how many heads it has. I think it has to be this way because otherwise things get too complicated - especially with mental effects and stuff. Bottom line is that it is magic, and doesn't really follow all logic.
But I really like the idea of playing it the way you did. There are all kinds of tales of folks beating two headed monsters by causing trouble between the two heads. I can see why the rules would avoid it, but I think it makes for interesting tales.
Come to think of it we've had this situation come up before in a game I was GMing. There was a desperate Charm Person against an ettin that was clobbering my players. Since Ettins are a little more clear cut (at least in 3.5, it was explicit that if both heads were alive they each controlled a single arm and leg), I ruled that only one of the heads would actually be the target of the spell. It worked, and the ensuing argument between the two heads gave the party the chance they needed to escape. Was a very cinematic moment.
For glitterdust I would probablly give each head a saving throw just based on the effects of the spell (A burst of glowing glitter that gets in the eyes.)
For Blindness I would rule it would effect the creature as a whole and the one save effects all the heads.
If some heads were blind and some weren't how would you adjudicate the penalties of blindness? Would it only lose it's dex to AC if it failed 12 saves in a row? Do the blind heads have to pinpoint a target befor they attack? What if you were able to blind all the heads on one side, would you get a bonus from attacking from that side?
It's a lot like applying facing rules to only one character and not the others. It may make sense at the time from an external view point, but all the rules are now messed up and it certainly isn't fair for rules to not apply or work different for one guy.
