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May 2, 2009

Word of Wizards - Excerpts: Heroslayer Hydra


Monster Manual 2 Excerpts: Heroslayer Hydra

In this excerpt, we look at a new fearsome hydra that is named after killing heroes. You can't tell your PCs how much you hate them more than that.

The Heroslayer Hydra is a Level 20 Solo Brute that has all the usual trappings of the standard hydra in the Monster Manual I. Being Many Headed, it only cuts down the number of attacks from its Hydra Fury on its next turn whenever it is dazed or stunned. It maintains a Threatening Reach that allows it to make opportunity attacks against enemies within 3 squares.

The main difference of the Heroslayer Hydra is that is has Regenerating Heads. Every time a quarter of the hydra's hitpoints is taken off, it effectively gains an additional head at the start of its next turn. This increases the number of attacks it can do with its Hydra Fury up to 8 (from 5). Its Hydra Fury (standard; at-will) is also different. Other than being able to make multiple attacks, any target that takes more than one Bite attack (standard; at-will) from the hydra in the same round, not only takes 1d10+8 damage from each bite but also an extra 10 damage.

The most dangerous attack of the heroslayer is went it goes on a Rampage (standard; recharges when a critical hit is scored against the heroslayer hydra). It makes one bite attack against all enemies within reach and any enemy that is hit takes 10 ongoing damage (save ends).

But the true meaning of its name comes from its ferociousness towards any hero that dares to challenge it. The Heroslayer gains a +2 bonus to attack and +5 bonus to damage against anyone that marked it.

This is a real badass monster that you don't want to mess around with. Although its hitpoints is a bit lower than its level 18 counterpart from Monster Manual I but it's probably more to do with reducing the 4E grind that giving the PCs a fair shot. Trust me, you don't really want to spend a lot of time grinding with this bugger.

Do you think this monster deserves its name?

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