Monster Optimizing: Hydra

[Fyermind]

A lot of monsters are quite weak or worse, boring, for the level you would expect to fight them at. Given the ability to give a monster two flaws and select and feats, what can be done to make monsters more interesting and flavorful? Since not all fights happen in empty 40' by 40' rooms, you can include context and even other monsters (which can be stated generally rather than specifically).

I'd like to issue an optimization challenge first for the Hydra. I think the key levels are 5 headed, 6 headed, 9 headed and 12 headed, as those are the feat cutoffs. Be sure to note whether it works only for Pyro/Cryo hydras, or has some special effects for them.

The winner (probably) won't have to battle their hydra.

Resources:
Assume any sources you want are available, try to cite them.

Judging Criteria:
Power: Raw risk to the party
Flavor: How cool is it? Does it sound memorable
Diversity from standard hack and slash encounter: Does it use different mechanics or force the players to adapt
Well rounded-ness: does it have any glaring weaknesses (will save +2 I'm looking at you)


Let's see what you've got!

[A_S]

12-headed pyrohydra or cryohydra (doesn't matter which).

Nonelite array (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm) used to grant 11 Cha.

Feats:
-Stand Still (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#standStill) (1) [SRD]
-Dragontouched (f) [DM]
-Entangling Exhalation (f) [RotD]
-Combat Reflexes (b) [SRD]
-Quicken Breath (3) [Drac]
-Martial Study (Foehammer) (6) [ToB]
-Martial Stance (Thicket of Blades) (9) [ToB]
-Robilar's Gambit (12) [PHB2]

Use entangling breath weapon as a free action, get AoO's against anybody who takes even a 5' step in your (large) threatened area, prevent them from moving if they do so, get more AoO's against anybody who attacks you. Hydras are already great at area control; this one's just better.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

5-headed will need one flaw, probably Shaky (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm#shaky), which is totally legit if PCs can use flaws. Otherwise you can do this with any of the hydras.

Feats: Snatch, Improved Snatch, and Multisnatch, from the Monster Manual and the Draconomicon.

Any time it bites a medium or smaller opponent, it can use Snatch. It can take a -10 to hold the opponent without the rest of it being considered grappled. When it attacks it can make a grapple check to deal bite damage to a grabbed opponent instead of biting with the head that's holding them. It can also opt to use that grapple check to pin instead of dealing bite damage. Any other heads that bite a grabbed opponent do so as though from outside the grapple, so they ignore any Dex and dodge bonuses to AC that the grabbed opponent may have.

Ideally a party would encounter this opponent while swimming through an underwater tunnel, the water murky enough to limit visibility, but aware that it's short enough that they can make it by holding their breath. The hydra can approach from the side as they're passing by, gaining multiple AoOs in addition to a surprise round of attacks. As long as one of the hydra's heads can reach up into a pocket of air every so often it won't have to worry about drowning, but due to the visibility nobody else should be aware of this pocket. Also keep in mind that bludgeoning and slashing weapons deal half damage underwater, so it should be difficult for them to overcome its fast healing as well, and sundering its heads will be extremely difficult.

[Xefas]

Anatha, Six-Headed Hydra

After a territorial dispute between a Red and Black Dragon with neighboring territories, the Red Dragon's clan of kobold minions were left leaderless, and without purpose. Though they occasionally made journeys down into the marsh, where the Black Dragon lived, to give him tribute and ask for their capitulation into his clan, he always staunchly refused (eating a few each time for good measure). However, on their last trip into the swamp, some of the food that they had scavenged for the return journey happened to be far more exotic than they realized.

While the majority of the clutch of hydra eggs had already been cracked, cooked, and eaten (their mother slain recently by a group of wandering murderous homeless people), one managed to come to term. And, lo and behold, the creature that emerged was dragon-like in appearance. The kobolds rejoiced at their luck, and supplied the little creature with what hoard they could, eagerly awaiting its growth into a powerful master for their clan.

Unfortunately, that never came to pass. The hydra grew, sure, but it never acquired anything close to the sentience that a true dragon is born with, which puzzled the kobolds. On the upside, it had this strange habit of sprouting more heads - not like any dragon the kobolds had ever seen. But... better! Yes, that's what they had decided. No other kobold clan had such a special dragon in their care, and they loved her very much, for all her quirks, and named her 'Anatha' - meaning 'adopted orphan' in their draconic dialect.

Anatha, having grown up around the little reptiles, doesn't consider them prey (unless she is very hungry indeed). Quite the opposite, they hunt for her, and groom her, and play with her, and teach her tricks, and she couldn't be happier. Though the pile of coinage they make her sleep on is an endless source of puzzlement.

Changes
Feats: The clan's two greatest warriors, Sik and Sok, have trained Anatha from birth to be stong. Although she is Inattentive and Shaky (flaws), due to be domesticated (somewhat) and not having to fend for herself, she nonetheless has the Endurance (replace Toughness), Steadfast Determination (replace Iron Will), Martial Study (flaw) and Martial Stance [Flame's Blessing] (flaw) feats. Thanks to the clan's shamans, Fiz and Pop, she has awakened some of her latent draconic essence - most creatures in that swamp had at least a trace of black dragon blood in them, even if it dated back many generations. Dragons are the natural world's apex perverts, after all. This manifested as the Draconic Aura [Acid Resistance] feat (replace Weapon Focus [Bite]).

Skills: Thanks to Anatha's seclusion, and lack of experience hunting and living in a marsh, she has traded her ranks in Listen, Spot, and Swim for ranks in Tumble; Sit! Roll Over! Backflip! That last one always gets her a treat. That means she has 9 ranks in Tumble, for a total of +10. Note that her Martial Study feat gives her Tumble as a class skill.

Setup: Anatha is typically encountered in her lair with two level 1 Kobold Swordsages (Sik and Sok), each of which favor their Flame's Blessing stances, as well as the Stone Bones and Clinging Shadow Strike maneuvers, as well as two level 1 Kobold Sorcerers (Fiz and Pop), who favor the Mage Armor and Burning Hands spells. Altogether, the five of them are an [b]EL 7 encounter.

Anatha herself always keeps the Flame's Blessing and Draconic Aura abilities up, granting her Fire Resistance 10 and Acid Resistance 5. Everyone else benefits from this Acid Resistance, and the swordsages also have Fire Resistance 5 from their own stances, so the sorcerers have nothing to worry about with slinging Burning Hands around indiscriminately. Anatha tends to save her Burning Blade maneuver for when someone really makes her mad. That is, someone who actually cauterizes one of her severed necks, or that hits her with a debilitating spell that she doesn't save against (a more difficult prospect than with a normal hydra, with her new and improved +7 Will save).

[Fyermind]

Since it looks like this is all the posts I'm going to get, I'd like to thank you all very much for this.

Anyway, they way I scored these:
Anatha 15/20
Power: 3/5
At level 5 when you might expect to see this encounter, the first level kobolds would be stompt flat without pause. I would swap the sorcerers for dragonfire adepts and pile them with metabreath feats to give them a better chance. It is significantly more challenging than a battle with a basic hydra, but it's added damage potential is only once per encounter.

Flavor: 5/5
Woo! Lots of love for this.

Diversity: 2/5
This is going to feel pretty much like any other encounter with a hydra and a few mooks. It's got enough flavor to make it memorable, but nothing really stands out.

Well rounded-ness: 5/5 This encounter has no glaring weaknesses. In fact the resistance to fire and acid make it even harder to singe off a neck. This will likely be a very long encounter unless the PCs have some serious massed damage on the body. Consider Troll in the 12 HD advancement of the encounter for even more durability.


Biffoniacus_Furiou: 14/20
Power: 5/5
Grapple checks at -10 are at +6 for 5 heads, or +12 at 9 heads (above which freedom of movement type effects are not too improbable). This isn't enough to guarantee kills against melee types (who can expect full BAB and +4 from strength for +8 at 5 heads and +12 at 9 heads) but could be devastating to casters and skill monkeys. Combined with risks of drowning this could easily turn into a TPK. This should probably be used with caution.

Flavor: 1/5
This will certainly be a mechanically memorable encounter, but it is lacking a bit in description. There is potential in this for a mechanically supported fluff that would be fantastic.

Diversity: 5/5
It really introduces underwater combat, grappling, and drowning very well. I can't tell if you intended concealment to be part of this encounter, but it certainly fits as well. However there isn't a lot of variety within the combat. The players will never look at a muddy pool the same way again though, so props for that.

Well Rounded-ness: 3/5
Physical damage is basically a no-go here. Strong grappling can keep some party members safe. The big deal here is that freedom of movement obsoletes this encounter. Furthermore if the party notices it first or manages to withdraw, they should be able to come in guns blazing with will save based attacks or other damaging spells.


A_S: 10/20
Power: 4/5
It's got damage potential. It can own the battlefield and may be able to buy it self time to hit more. It can dish out some extra continuing damage with quickened entangling exhalation. Since each head breathes independently the napalm damage each round will be equal to the number of heads, which hurts. Still, nothing here screams TPK.

Flavor: 1/5
This could use some description for flavor. I'd be happy to provide it, or it could just be a minion.

Diversity: 3/5
Entangled, attacks of opportunity, continuing damage and rolibar's gambit. There are quite a few mechanics here but none of them are incredibly rare. There isn't a lot of interaction listed with the environment or anything else to make this more exciting as a battle

Well Rounded-ness: 2/5
Hold monster ends this fight almost every time in one round. With a +4 will save at CR 13, this is almost funnily easy to beat with the right tactics. Similarly avoiding striking it in melee will eliminate it's best attack option: counter attacks.


I realize I'm a bit harsh in my grading, so I hope nobody has hurt feelings after this. Anyway, I'm baking cookies for everyone to make you feel better. If you find my house and show up in two hours when they are ready, I will call the cops.

Please feel free to post more entries or suggestions for the next monster to highlight. I will probably open this next monster some time tomorrow.

[gr8artist]

For future reference, you might want to leave a topic open for more than half a day before assuming that all suggestions were in.

[limejuicepowder]

I like this idea - does anyone have another monster to OP-out?

[Fyermind]

It fell to the bottom of the second page. Without having any prestige as a concept, most posts that fall that far are dead. I am really glad to hear there is more interest for this though.

Does anyone have ideas for the next one? If not, I might suggest Dire Wolf and Bugbear. But I'm looking for ideas that encourage dynamicism.

[Fortuna]

I feel that this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=277399) may be relevant to your interests. Take boring monsters from that thread and rework 'em into exciting stuff. To get us started... I propose the delver (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/delver.htm).

[Gotterdammerung]

It could be a fun contest addition but I would spend some time solidifying the rules and deadlines. I was working on an build that would let the hydra take all of it's AoE's for the round at once, if it wanted to (A combination of the feat clarion commander's Pile on ability, and the effects of the hindering opportunist feat. I was in the middle of looking up dex raising templates for more AoE's and figuring out what to do with the 2 extra flaw feats). Sat down to start refining the build and checked on the thread to find the contest over super quickly.

Some possible rules

-Contestants send entries to you via instant message. That way ideas can't copied. You post all the builds at once after the deadline.

-Pick one monster HD even if several HD are available, just for continuity.

-Post a set amount of "build time" and "judge time" so people can plan their lives around the contest.

[Fyermind]

I wasn't planning on this being quite as serious as the Iron Chef challenges or anything. Mostly because I don't think I'm really qualified to judge anything like that.

I was really inspired by the manual of meh.

[Gotterdammerung]

I wasn't planning on this being quite as serious as the Iron Chef challenges or anything. Mostly because I don't think I'm really qualified to judge anything like that.

I was really inspired by the manual of meh.

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, gang aft agley.

[Phelix-Mu]

The coolest hydra I made had the Ti-Khana template and an item of venomfire with high CL. Made for some crazy damage rolling.

[Xefas]

Does anyone have ideas for the next one? If not, I might suggest Dire Wolf and Bugbear. But I'm looking for ideas that encourage dynamicism.

I liked that we got a selection of choices of varying power levels with the Hydra. Is there some satisfactory way to work that into other monsters? Something like "Choose one: Bugbear, Bugbear Fighter 3, or Bugbear Fighter 6 with +1 template of your choice" or... y'know, something like that! Just something with a choice.

[Fyermind]

When I build encounters without players in mind I like making them easily scaled to varying levels of power so I can run them easily when they fit in the campaign. That was part of why I chose Hydras.