Hydra question

[J-H]

If an 8-headed hydra takes 76 points of damage in a round, does it lose 3 heads? Or just one?


Whenever the hydra takes 25 or more damage in a single turn, one of its heads dies. If all its heads die, the hydra dies.
At the end of its turn, it grows two heads for each of its heads that died since its last turn, unless it has taken fire damage since its last turn. The hydra regains 10 Hit Points for each head regrown in this way.

I read this as only one head dead per round, max. When finding information online about hydra battles, I saw things indicating that other people handled it otherwise.

[bid]

What is the meaning of "each of its heads that died since its last turn" if only one can die every round?

[SirVladamir]

5e has very different and exact definitions of "turn" and "round" Honestly I don't think the term "Round" is even used RAW.

Each character has a separate turn, so if player A does 28 points of damage, 1 head dies, then player B does 24 points of damage no heads die, and player C does 76 points of damage 1 more head dies.

Then the Hydra's turn, 2 heads have died since his last turn so 4 heads grow and he gets 20 HP back...assuming no fire damage.

[J-H]

5e has very different and exact definitions of "turn" and "round" Honestly I don't think the term "Round" is even used RAW.

Each character has a separate turn, so if player A does 28 points of damage, 1 head dies, then player B does 24 points of damage no heads die, and player C does 76 points of damage 1 more head dies.

Then the Hydra's turn, 2 heads have died since his last turn so 4 heads grow and he gets 20 HP back...assuming no fire damage.

Great, thank you. To prevent a curbstomp by 7 players, I think I'm tempted to say per instance of fire damage per head (although perhaps allowing an AOE to hit multiple dead heads).

[SpikeFightwicky]

5e has very different and exact definitions of "turn" and "round" Honestly I don't think the term "Round" is even used RAW.

Each character has a separate turn, so if player A does 28 points of damage, 1 head dies, then player B does 24 points of damage no heads die, and player C does 76 points of damage 1 more head dies.

Then the Hydra's turn, 2 heads have died since his last turn so 4 heads grow and he gets 20 HP back...assuming no fire damage.

Would he not get 40 HP back? ("The hydra regains 10 Hit Points for each head regrown in this way.")

[Keravath]

Does the hydra die if brought to zero hit points or do you need to kill all the heads?

[J-H]

Would he not get 40 HP back? ("The hydra regains 10 Hit Points for each head regrown in this way.")
Yes.

Does the hydra die if brought to zero hit points or do you need to kill all the heads?
It has a base pool of HP, so I'm assuming so. It would be interesting if it had to be reduced to 0 heads to kill it. I may go that way.

[Nagog]

I would assume a dead head per 25 HP, considering it has the Win condition of "If all its heads die, the hydra dies.". If only one head dies per round and is replaced by 2 more, achieving that Win condition is impossible, and the only option would be to kill it outright. So, while you could one-shot a fresh Hydra by dealing 125 damage (of it's total of 172 HP), or you could have a longer, drawn out fight.

My issue is once it has 10 heads (all original 5 were chopped and doubled), do the new heads fall off at 10 HP or are they still gated at 25? If they're gated at 10, losing 10 HP (and therefore a head) will heal them for 20 HP, and give them 2 more heads to attack with. Does anybody else feel this mechanic is pretty broken and should be a CR far higher than 8? A party of 6 level 3 characters can handle a CR 3 (as a Hard encounter, not Deadly), but as the action economy and HP regen rapidly turn the tables on the party into the Hydra making 2 attacks per party member dealing 1d10+5 damage each, with a +8 to hit. Am I doing my math wrong somewhere?

[Chronos]

The hydra is a puzzle monster. If you know to cauterize the necks, then it's easy. If you don't, then it's very difficult. This is by design.

[Nagog]

Also on the topic of the Hydra, if your party is all about Tanking and fails to deal 25 damage in a single round, but depletes its entire HP pool anyway (by some great feat of attrition), that could make this a relatively simple fight. But it would probably take all session

[NNescio]

Also on the topic of the Hydra, if your party is all about Tanking and fails to deal 25 damage in a single round, but depletes its entire HP pool anyway (by some great feat of attrition), that could make this a relatively simple fight. But it would probably take all session

Unless someone remembers their Hercules and decides to use a torch.

[NecessaryWeevil]

I would assume a dead head per 25 HP, considering it has the Win condition of "If all its heads die, the hydra dies.". If only one head dies per round and is replaced by 2 more, achieving that Win condition is impossible, and the only option would be to kill it outright. So, while you could one-shot a fresh Hydra by dealing 125 damage (of it's total of 172 HP), or you could have a longer, drawn out fight.
As someone else mentioned above, it's one head per turn, not per round. So, given X number of PCs, they could potentially kill X heads before the hydra's turn comes around again.


My issue is once it has 10 heads (all original 5 were chopped and doubled), do the new heads fall off at 10 HP

What have you read that suggests this would be the case?

[BloodOgre]

Or just don't do more than 24 hp of damage per turn. If it doesn't lose a head, it doesn't regenerate. It will take longer to kill.

[J-H]

My players (7 of them) took out a 135hp Skeletal Brontosaurus before it could take more than one round of actions at level 3. They're now level 5. I have no qualms about throwing an 8-headed hydra at them and making them kill all the heads until it dies. They have a Red Dragon Sorcerer, an Arcane Trickster with Burning Hands, another rogue who has in fact used a torch as a weapon already, and 3 melee characters who will each have Extra Attack. I'll also be giving them a Warhammer that does +1d8 thunder damage against Huge enemies prior to them fighting the Hydra.

I'll be surprised if it lasts more than 3 rounds.

They'll be surprised when some of the heads breathe a 30' line of poison, though.

8-headed Hydra
Huge monstrosity,unaligned
Armor Class 15
Hit Points 306
Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft. ft.
STR +5, DEX +1, CON +5, INT -4, WIS 10, CHA -2
Proficiency Bonus +3
Skills Perception +6, Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16
Hold Breath.The hydra can hold its breath for 1 hour.
Multiple Heads.The hydra has multiple heads. While it has more than one head, the hydra has advantage on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked unconscious. Whenever the hydra takes 25 or more damage in a single turn (note, this is per player turn within the round), one of its heads dies. If all its heads die, the hydra dies. At the end of its turn, it grows two heads for each of its heads that died since its last turn, unless it has taken fire damage since its last turn. The hydra regains 10 hit points for each head regrown in this way.
Modification: Each instance of fire damage prevents the regrowth from one head-stump. AOE fire spells (fireball, burning hands, etc.) affect a number of head stumps equal to the spell level +1.
Reactive Heads.For each head the hydra has beyond one, it gets an extra reaction that can be used only for opportunity attacks.
Wakeful.While the hydra sleeps, at least one of its heads is awake.
Multiattack.The hydra makes as many bite attacks or poison breath attacks as it has heads.
Bite.
Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 1d10 + 5 piercing damage.
OR
Poison breath, 30’ line, 3d6 poison damage ; CON DC16; half on successful save.

Note: If the hydra drops below 0 hp but still has heads, it does not die. However, it is visibly weakened and has disadvantage on all rolls. Its poison breath damage also drops from 3d6 to 2d4.