I’ve been taking part in Dungeons & Dragons for greater than 20 years, and in all that point, I’ve by no means encountered a monster extra unique and fascinating than the False Hydra. Maybe the preferred homebrew creature of all time, the False Hydra was created in 2014 by Arnold Kemp and printed on his weblog, Goblin Punch. As I used to be in search of concepts for a brief journey to run for my common group, I stumbled upon this fearsome creature and determined to topic my gamers to the horror that’s the False Hydra.
What makes it so compelling? Nobody is aware of it’s there. The False Hydra’s music generates an inattentional blindness impact: Each creature who hears it (normally in a five-mile radius) fails to understand the monster, even when it’s proper in entrance of them, able to feast. Furthermore, this twisted safety system extends to the victims of the False Hydra. Any creature devoured by the beast will likely be forgotten, erased from the reminiscence of the songs’ victims. Add to this a creepy aesthetic impressed by essentially the most disturbing creature in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and the False Hydra’s behavior of infiltrating quiet, distant villages, and also you’ve received all the weather for an excellent horror journey — one thing that’s not simple to drag off in D&D’s high-power fantasy context.
Working a False Hydra gives a DM countless alternatives for intelligent, memorable, and generally actually chilling story bits. For my journey, I admit to borrowing lots of them from this video from one other superb creator, The Toast Thief. I received’t spoil it in case readers will discover themselves in a False Hydra journey sometime, however let me simply say that messing with characters’ recollections is without doubt one of the most fascinating issues {that a} DM can do at a desk.
Right here is the elephant within the room, nonetheless: Whereas characters can faux to overlook info in-game, you possibly can’t really memory-wipe your gamers (until the flashy sticks from Males in Black have already been invented, through which case, signal me up for one). The humorous factor is that you just don’t even have to. Gamers normally do it to themselves already.
Each DM is aware of that gamers aren’t all the time nice at preserving observe of knowledge or remembering issues. It’s comprehensible since they present as much as the desk to calm down, have enjoyable, and eat unhealthy snacks. You may’t anticipate them to recollect the 50 pages of lore you wrote this week, or generally even the identify of the one that’s been giving them quests for the final month. Right here is the place the False Hydra’s powers change into much more fascinating, particularly for those who run this monster over a number of classes (and even a whole marketing campaign). It turns some of the annoying issues for a DM right into a boon. In case your gaming group doesn’t like taking notes, it’s time to unleash the False Hydra upon them.
In fact, it’s unattainable for a whole group of gamers to utterly overlook about an NPC. However because the DM, you possibly can arrange issues in a intelligent approach in order that your participant will at the very least be confused: Are we not remembering issues as a result of we didn’t take notes, or is there some darkish energy at work? This works greatest so long as the gamers haven’t found the reality concerning the False Hydra and its energy — which they shouldn’t till the climax of the journey. Essentially the most chilling second occurred when my gamers lastly noticed the beast and realized that it had been slithering round all of them this time, its pitch-black eyes gazing them by means of a window, its deformed mouths salivating with starvation.
Nonetheless, even when gamers are largely conscious of what’s happening, this setup nonetheless yields nice roleplaying outcomes. In my journey, there was a whole sequence the place the gamers visited the home of a former celebration member who had retired and moved to the village now infested by the False Hydra. After the primary go to, the NPC was eaten, so I informed them that they had no recollections of this particular person. Through the second go to, they completely acted as if that they had by no means been in that place, a lot in order that I believed they really forgot the main points of the home from the earlier session — and actually, a few of them did, till I stored including extra small hints.
It’s a uncommon case of an in-game characteristic coming to life on the desk, and it’s additionally why I believe the False Hydra is without doubt one of the greatest D&D monsters. You may’t disintegrate your gamers whereas they’re combating a Beholder, however you possibly can play tips on their reminiscence if they’re going through a False Hydra. It takes some setup and cautious thought, however the outcomes are completely price it. When you resolve to do that superior monster at your desk, listed here are some suggestions I realized from my try.
First, make the False Hydra the middle of the story. I added one other plot concerning the darkish previous of town, an harmless witch, and time distortions. It was enjoyable, however unattainable to totally unravel in two recreation classes. This monster is so good that it deserves all of the highlight. Second, spend a while making ready the False Hydra stat block. It wasn’t included in Arnold Kemp’s unique submit, and folks have made makes an attempt to create one through the years, however I discover all of them missing one thing. Turning the Hydra Track right into a recreation impact is especially difficult. When you enable a saving throw, and a number of gamers succeed, this might hinder the journey from the beginning. When you don’t enable a saving throw, then you must take into consideration how the gamers will uncover the reality. I used an NPC that was a toddler with impaired listening to, who made some creepy drawings of a monster (I figured that partially listening to the music made the False Hydra seem intermittently), which led to the characters sealing their ears with wax.
There may be much more concerning the False Hydra than I wrote right here. I counsel studying the unique submit, the place you’ll additionally be taught concerning the terrifying “stage two” of the monster, which makes it the proper villain for a protracted marketing campaign. General, the one flaw the False Hydra has as a creature is you can solely use it as soon as in your gamers.
