Hydra armor?

[Thevoidlingcat]

Hello everyone. my party just recently defeated a lightning hydra. We managed to obtain its skin without much damage, does anyone know if we could get it crafted into armor and if so what book would it be in?

[VoxRationis]

Both the Monster Manual and Draconomicon have lots of details about the uses of dragon hide for armor. Your DM, ruling that the hydra is similarly a large, reptilian creature with thick, armor-like skin, could have its skin made into armor in the same way.

[ngilop]

Yeah just turn it into super hide armor like give it the same stats as regular Hide but make it a +5 bonus to AC instead of +3

[TiaC]

Draconomicon pg. 116 has the table for how much hide you get off a dragon and the next page has the rules for Dragoncraft Items which seem a good place to start.

[CIDE]

Too bad the infinite hydra head thing wouldn't apply here for armor, eh?

[Cog]

Too bad the infinite hydra head thing wouldn't apply here for armor, eh?

One round after the wearer is killed by an attack with a Vorpal weapon, he's the beneficiary of a Regenerate spell (and now has the Multi-Headed template from Savage Species)?

[Chronos]

No, it's the armor that's hydraic, not the wearer. So if you take off one helmet, two more appear in its place.

How do you think Bartholomew Cubbins managed it?

[Anxe]

no, it's the armor that's hydraic, not the wearer. So if you take off one helmet, two more appear in its place.

How do you think bartholomew cubbins managed it?

YES! THIS! Exactly this!

In a more serious tone, how about +1 Hide armor with Lightning Resist 5 and grants the wearer the Fast Healing feat?

[VoxRationis]

It wouldn't affect the wearer, but I could see the armor regenerating.

[John Longarrow]

But only fast healing for damage to the head/neck area...

[VoxRationis]

The bodies of hydras have fast healing; that's what incentivizes people to sever heads instead of just stabbing it in the body to death.

[Urpriest]

A lightning hydra itself isn't a monster from a first party D&D book, so armor made from them isn't going to be in a book either. You could base it on the rules for dragons, as mentioned above. Since you seem to be used to the whole "kill a monster, use its skin for special armor" thing, which in general is only true for Dragons, it's likely your DM has been using a homebrew system for this, so they probably already know what they'll be giving you.

[Yogibear41]

Masterwork hide armor, maybe with reduced ACP or slightly increased AC, maybe resist electricity 5. That is about it IMO.

[Seerow]

As others mentioned, I'd use the rules for Dragoncraft armor. With the exception I'd have it add 2 AC, so it is not strictly inferior to using a friggin chain shirt. Dragoncraft giving +2 AC to Hide brings Hide up to 5AC, 4 Max Dex, -1ACP, encumbers as light armor instead of medium, and energy resist 5. This is slightly better than a chain shirt, slightly worse than a Mithril Breastplate.