Hydra, Growth-Bearing

Family: Hydra

Huge ravager (devastation), chaotic evil or unaligned

Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 250 (20d12 + 120); Wound Threshold N/A
Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
22 (+6) 13 (+1) 22 (+6) 8 (-1) 11 (+0) 12 (+1)

Saving Throws Str +10, Con +10, Wis +4
Skills Athletics +10, Intimidation +5, Perception* +8, Survival +4
Damage Resistances acid, poison, psychic; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from non-magical attacks
Condition Immunities exhausted, petrified, possessed
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 18
Languages Phantasm
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

  • Corrosive Fluids. After dealing a Wound or a critical hit to the growth-bearing hydra, the melee weapon or ammunition used is covered in corrosive fluids. Any non-magical weapon or armor under this effect, and which is not protected by an appropriate forging technique (such as dwarven forging), becomes fragile (see Adventurers, Equipment, Armory: Damaged Weapons and Armor).
  • Hold Breath. The growth-bearing hydra can hold its breath for 1 hour.
  • Innate Spellcasting. The growth-bearing hydra’s spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13). The growth-bearing hydra can cast the following spells like a 9th-level spellcaster requiring no material components:
  • Multiple Heads. The growth-bearing hydra has five 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 growth-bearing hydra takes 35 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 growth-bearing hydra regains 15 hit points for each head regrown in this way.
  • Reactive Heads. For each head the growth-bearing hydra has beyond one, it gets an extra reaction that can be used only for opportunity attacks.
  • Wakeful. While the growth-bearing hydra sleeps, at least one of its heads is awake.

ACTIONS

  • Multiattack. The growth-bearing hydra makes as many bite attacks as it has heads. During each turn, it can replace one bite attack with one of its innate spells.
  • Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (1d10 + 6) piercing damage.

ABOUT

With its many voracious heads that grow back when cut off, the hydra has become the very embodiment of the Cankerous threat in the eyes of the public. Each of these creatures expresses the power of a mature Cankerous nest, which has drawn from considerable resources in order to birth it. A hydra goes to battle escorted by many other ravagers.

Venomous Hydras

By using this option, the blood of hydras becomes venomous. Creatures exposed to Corrosive Fluids must also resist this poison.

Type: contact

Effect: the creature must make a DC 16 (hydra) or DC 18 (growth-bearing hydra) Constitution saving throw, taking 8d10 (44) poison damage on a failure, or half as much damage on a success.

A hydra can absorb a mature beating growth, and thus the heart of a Cankerous nest. This condemns the nest to dereliction, but allows the creation of a new nest in a more favorable site. Once such a site has been found, the hydra regurgitates the growth, which resumes its reproductive function. As for the growth-bearing hydra, it withers away upon reaching its destination. Its remains then feed the Cankerous heart, which becomes capable of producing numerous ravagers in just a few days. A nest deprived of a transplanted growth dies more slowly than when the growth is destroyed: this means adventurers may still visit the nest, encounter a weakened adversary, and eventually discover that the beating growth is gone.

Gold-Bearing” Hydras

A common mistranslation of the dvaergen name for the growth-bearing hydra giving it the moniker of “gold-bearing hydra.” Greedy adventurers have lost their lives due to this misunderstanding, as they were convinced to be facing monsters that would earn them a huge fortune at little cost. Then, the corpses of such reckless idiots become the breeding grounds for new Cankerous nests…

Section 15: Copyright Notice

The Creatures Rulebook for the Fateforge Role-Playing Game Copyright © 2021 Studio Agate.

This is not the complete license attribution - see the full license for this page