Attacking a Hydra's Heads

[Sam]

On page 122 of the 3eMM, it says that "A hydra can be killed by either severing all its heads or by slaying its body. To sever a head, an opponent must hit the monster's neck with a slashing weapon and deal damage equal to the hydra's original hit point total, divided by its original number of heads, in one blow. (The player syas where the attack is aimed just before making the attack roll.)"

Question: Why would a PC attack the body? There seems to be no penalty for targeting the head, nor is there any penalty for not cutting it off. If the PC doesn't do enough damage to chop off the head, the damage done still reduces the hydra's HP. So, why would anyone not take a head shot? And if so, why make the player call the head shot? Just doesn't make sense to me.

Can anyone illuminate this subject?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Damage to a head doesn't reduce the body's hit points.

If you deal less than sufficient damage to sever a head, effectively the hydra takes no damage.

If you deal more than enough, any excess is wasted. For example, if it takes 10 damage to sever a head, and you deal 40 damage, the hydra loses a head. Whereas if you targetted the body, the hydra takes 40 damage - four times the 'value' of one head.

One major advantage of severing heads is reducing the number of attacks the hydra gets.

-Hyp.

 

[coyote6]

What I always wondered is, if you do enough damage to "kill" a head, can you Cleave off that attack? If so, one guy with Great Cleave and a good damage score can kill a regular hydra in one round.

(FWIW, I like the 3.5e hydra; cutting off a head is treated as sundering a weapon -- so no Cleaves, extra difficulty is included, etc. And you can kill a hydra by killing the body -- it's just difficult, thanks to the mondo fast healing.)

 

[Hypersmurf]

What I always wondered is, if you do enough damage to "kill" a head, can you Cleave off that attack? If so, one guy with Great Cleave and a good damage score can kill a regular hydra in one round.

I've always said no - and to Whirlwind Attack as well.

(FWIW, I like the 3.5e hydra; cutting off a head is treated as sundering a weapon -- so no Cleaves, extra difficulty is included, etc.

Huh. And only one attack per round, too...

I notice that they still don't specify whether "A hydra can use all its heads for Attacks of Opportunity" means that drinking one potion could get you chomped eight times, or only once...

-Hyp.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Hydras--especially Learnean ones--have always seemed like a wierd amalgam of one creature and many to me.

Up to now, I've generally played (or been with DMs who ran) hydras as multiple creatures in one body. Cleave worked on hydra heads. But they got one AoO per head on each opportunity.

Now that all hydras have bodies and attacking the heads is treated as a sunder, I'm more inclined to treat them as one creature with a lot of attacks and some special rules.

As to why PCs might attack the body--under the new rules, it doesn't look like they'd have any choice if they used magic on the hydra. (One of the reasons I was inclined to treat 3.0e hydras as multiple creatures in one body was the question of "what do you do when one gets fireballed?"). Archers also seem like they would have no choice but to attack the body. And melee characters with quite a few wizard and archer allies might want to attack the body in order to make sure their allies' efforts don't go to waste.

 

[Hypersmurf]

(One of the reasons I was inclined to treat 3.0e hydras as multiple creatures in one body was the question of "what do you do when one gets fireballed?").

The body took damage. In 3E you could only damage heads with a slashing weapon.

A fireball would deal damage to each stump of a Lernean hydra's head, though.

-Hyp.

 

[Balgus]

In 3.5, the Hydra (laerna was taken out cause all can regenerate heads now) has fast healing relative to the number of heads it had. So now it is better to take out the heads before going for the body. Unless you have some way of taking out the body faster than it can heal...

 

[Sam]

Damage to a head doesn't reduce the body's hit points.

If you deal less than sufficient damage to sever a head, effectively the hydra takes no damage.

I didn't get that from the MM. Check the FAQ, didn't see any mention there. What's the basis for not dealing any damage to the body? {Not challenging you, but would like to be ready if/when my players challenge me }

 

[Someone]

In 3.5, it is better to take out the heads before going for the body. Unless you have some way of taking out the body faster than it can heal...

Attack the body with all you have. Note that the fast healing is based on the original number of heads.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Not 3.0e Learnean hydras. It was impossible to harm the body of a Learnean hydra. . . .

The body took damage. In 3E you could only damage heads with a slashing weapon.

A fireball would deal damage to each stump of a Lernean hydra's head, though.

-Hyp.