Ziggurat Zagger
Posts: 5382
Joined: Friday, 25th November 2011, 07:36
Proposal: Alternative hydra head-chopping mechanic
Hydra heads cannot be removed.
Hydras gain an extra head if they land a hit on the player which deals damage, at some % chance. Limit one per round, and a max of +X heads per hydra.
The exact specifics on this can be tweaked; for example you could require that the bite deals at least 5 damage vs at least 1 damage, and how many heads they should be able to gain is another way to balance this. I'd suggest something like gaining 2-3 heads as a good starting point, although if you really wanted to, you could let them gain heads indefinitely. Then tavern memers can have a challenge about building the biggest hydra possible!
Likewise, on a hit that does pass the damage threshold, you could have the odds to gain a head at 25%, 50%, or even 100%, depending on testing.
This would let people attack hydras with any weapon effectively, but you would be punished for engaging in melee without the ability to kill them off quickly. If you got unlucky with an 8 headed hydra, it could grow to 11 heads; as written a 5 headed hydra would be capped at 8, although if you wanted to, you could use the same cap for all hydras regardless of starting heads.
With high enough armor you'd still be safe against hydras, but they'd be a bit more threatening against light/medium armor, which is the hydra's intended role.
One downside is that this completely breaks with historical hydra lore...but I'm alright with that.
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