Half-dragon hydra

[blargney the second]

I'm running the Sea Wyvern's Wake adventure from Savage Tide, and my players are just about to get to the fight with the 7-headed hydra. Since the best mini I've got for a hydra is the Aspect of Tiamat, I'm thinking of changing the beastie to a half-dragon 5-headed hydra. I want to mix things up a bit, so I'm thinking of giving it Flyby Attack and Improved Speed as its feats.

How bad is it going to be? Does Flyby Attack + fly 60' + 5 attacks per flyby + fast healing 15 = higher CR?
-blarg

ps - I'm going with the # of heads replaces Dex for Combat Reflexes AoOs interpretation.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Cryohydra + 1/2 Dragon Template = CR 8
Pyrohydra + 1/2 Dragon Template = CR 6

 

[blargney the second]

Interesting! How come?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Interesting! How come?

The half-dragon template adds +2 to any creatures Challenge Rating.

 

[Infiniti2000]

You're missing a key piece of information, which type of half-dragon?

And, the CR is 8 for either pyro- or cryohydra and 6 for a normal 5-headed half-dragon hydra.

 

[frankthedm]

You're missing a key piece of information, which type of half-dragon?

Yes, that is a very important question.

Red-cryo or White-pyro is cheating.

Blue-Pyro is pretty cruel if the party only has Core atatck spells.

Green or black means the ONLY way to sear the stumps is with the Dracohyra's weakness.

 

[blargney the second]

The half-dragon template adds +2 to any creatures Challenge Rating.

I was wondering why you said that the Cryo was CR 8 while the Pyro was only CR 6...

I went with a normal 5-headed hydra with a half-dragon from Races of the Dragon that gives water-breathing instead of an energy immunity and a cone of steam breath weapon.

So how bad is the flight tactic going to be?
-blarg

 

[Blackrat]

So how bad is the flight tactic going to be?
-blarg

Shouldn't raise the CR. It's just smart tactic. If they are smart players they find a way to beat it. If not, well it's not really your fault .

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

To me that things scariness is going to be fairly dependant on the party composition. Lots of ranged guys and it'll be a lot easier? Also whether they know it's coming and can have the right magic prepared - presuming they know the right spells.


Figure flyby attack is limited to one bite per pass, which means it won't be dishing out *that* much hurt?

Looking at it, the Snatch feat and large lumps of cover would turn it into a horrible flying TPK.

Pick one up. Fly behind a rock. Eat them. Rinse. Repeat.

But that's just plain mean.

 

[brehobit]

To me that things scariness is going to be fairly dependant on the party composition. Lots of ranged guys and it'll be a lot easier? Also whether they know it's coming and can have the right magic prepared - presuming they know the right spells.


Figure flyby attack is limited to one bite per pass, which means it won't be dishing out *that* much hurt?

Attack: 5 bites +6 melee (1d10+3)

I think that means that the fly-by will be 5 attacks. But I honestly don't know how that will work with flyby.

Mark