Hydra AoOs?

[TracerBullet42]

Ok, so lets say we have a party fighting a hyda. A 12 headed one. The barbarian charges in, provoking an AoO (reach).

The description of the hydra says: "A hydra’s Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all its heads for attacks of opportunity."

Does this mean that the barbarian suffers 12 AoOs?

Thanks!

 

[trentonjoe]

This is a good thread to read for your answer.

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=63670&highlight=hydra

The short answer is about 85% of people think no.

From my experience, if you do allow one character to take a bunch of AoO, the hydra becomes very good.

I killed a 12th level fighter in 2 rounds by allowing that.

 

[Otterscrubber]

If it can use all of its heads when it gets an AoO and it has 12 heads then yes, that's 12 AoO for one transgression of personal space. Does this make Hydras unbalanced, not in my opinion. You just have to be careful. Don't run screaming with an axe at a large monster with reach, 12 heads and lots of sharp teeth....

 

[Tom]

Ok, so lets say we have a party fighting a hyda. A 12 headed one. The barbarian charges in, provoking an AoO (reach).

The description of the hydra says: "A hydra’s Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all its heads for attacks of opportunity."

Does this mean that the barbarian suffers 12 AoOs?

Thanks!

The wording is a little unclear in that description. I would think that the hydra can take 12 AoOs, but only one per opportunity. For instance, if a party member moves through 4 threatened spaces, he would take 4 AoOs. If three other party members did the same thing, the first two could take 4 AoOs, but the hydra would have no AoOs left to hit the last guy coming through.

 

[jgsugden]

The answer is unclear. The poor wording could interpreted in either of the following ways:

1.) Treat the hydra as if it were many different creatures occupying the same space. If something provokes an AoO from the hydra, each head may take an AoO on that foe.

2.) A hydra's combat reflexes is limited by the number of heads that it possesses, not by its dexterity modifier. In all other ways, it acts like a normal creature with combat reflexes.

I use the first one. I allow a hydra to get 12 AoOs on a single creature, just like it can get 12 attacks on a single creature. Each head thinks for itself and acts independently, so each head should be able to attack on an AoO situation.

 

[Hypersmurf]

The answer is unclear. The poor wording could interpreted in either of the following ways:

1.) Treat the hydra as if it were many different creatures occupying the same space. If something provokes an AoO from the hydra, each head may take an AoO on that foe.

2.) A hydra's combat reflexes is limited by the number of heads that it possesses, not by its dexterity modifier. In all other ways, it acts like a normal creature with combat reflexes.

There's a 1a and a 1b - in 1a, each head can make an AoO once per round, and in 1b, each head can make an AoO 1 + Dex mod times per round.

-Hyp.

 

[Strahd]

Ok, so lets say we have a party fighting a hyda. A 12 headed one. The barbarian charges in, provoking an AoO (reach).

The description of the hydra says: "A hydra’s Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all its heads for attacks of opportunity."

Does this mean that the barbarian suffers 12 AoOs?

Thanks!

I would say no , as the rules for AoO's say that a creature can make no more than 1 AoO per creature per round. It would get only the single AoO. I does not matter if it's heads all think independantly or not, it is still only one creature....IMO.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I would say no , as the rules for AoO's say that a creature can make no more than 1 AoO per creature per round. It would get only the single AoO. IMO.

Check the 3.5 Rules on AoOs - it's no more than one AoO per opportunity.

And the argument is that the specific hydra rule ("can use all of its heads for AoOs") overrides the general rule ("only one AoO per opportunity").

But there's no consensus on the answer

-Hyp.

 

[Strahd]

Check the 3.5 Rules on AoOs - it's no more than one AoO per opportunity.

And the argument is that the specific hydra rule ("can use all of its heads for AoOs") overrides the general rule ("only one AoO per opportunity").

But there's no consensus on the answer

-Hyp.

I would be entirly up to the specific DM. In my campian the answer would be no for the reasons I have given. It is entirely reasonable that you could allow it in your campain but as I said it is my opinion that it would get only one AoO. DM ruleings are final

I will of course re-read the hydra statistics.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

There's a 1a and a 1b - in 1a, each head can make an AoO once per round, and in 1b, each head can make an AoO 1 + Dex mod times per round.

-Hyp.

So, theoretically, a 12-headed hydra could make 36 AOO's in one 6-second round. Fastest darn typewriter in the world.

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