Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dakhran the Dark" data-source="post: 1125861" data-attributes="member: 1362">The thing is, I did use the strongest interpretation -- all 12 heads as a standard attack, and the creature can use all 12 heads on each of its two attacks of opportunity, and can do so while flat-footed.Granted, the party is tougher, and like I said, I took that into consideration when making my statement.  However, before the combat, I was actually panicking that using the hydra at its fullest would result in a TPK, since they were missing their two best frontline fighters, and none of the remaining PCs had Improved Sunder.  I did underestimate the effectiveness of that shadow, though.  Before the creature came into close enough range for me to declare initiative for the party, the shadow was already hitting it for 6 points of STR damage, and the first actual round of combat resulted in a critical hit.  Combined with my low initiative roll for the creature, the combat ended up being a nearly flawless victory.  I think it may have used 8% of their resources, as the blinking halfling *did* take 40 damage from the heads that hit, knocking one character below half.This party then proceeded to take an EL15 fixed encounter out in under three rounds, using less than 5% of their remaining resources...but like I said, a rant for another time...damn shadow...I guess the point I'm making is that you can't really judge how powerful a creature will be against the PCs in your game until after the combat is over.  What I thought could result in many PC deaths ended up being a pushover.  Whatever the factors involved, I'm convinced that a hydra just isn't as fearsome as it seems, even with the strongest interpretation of its combat attack routines and attacks of opportunity.</blockquote>

Verification