Hydra (Hydor udras monstrum)

This Hydra was designed long before I obtained the Elder Secrets box, which also contains details of a Hydra. Later on, I also noticed that the Monster Coliseum box has different statistics for a Hydra as well as the Glorantha Bestiary. This one is quite different to the others however, which I hope will mean that it is quite fun to come up against. It also gives any owner of a d30 an opportunity to use it.

This article assumes a quadruped creature and not the alternative serpentine bodied version.

Hydras are extremely rare terrestrial dragonoid creatures with many heads, that prefer to inhabit swamps and salt marshes (mangroves). Some hydras have however been encountered in river estuaries, shallows of lakes and jungle rivers. The most common ones have three heads but there have been tales of ones with seven heads. They are relatively intelligent and have the ability to breath fire and/or noxious gas. Hydras are solitary by nature and only converge for their infrequent mating.

he smaller wild hydras prefer to avoid confrontation with anything unknown and are likely to withdraw and hide if approached. They will fight however if they feel threatened or are attacked. Larger, intelligent hydras are more often than not in the employ of dragon kind or powerful sorcerers, drawing on their employers vast sources of knowledge in return for services rendered.

No one really knows where hydras come from. Some cults believe that they are the offspring between the dragon god and an unknown partner while sorcerer generally believe them to be the result of an arcane experiment. Shamans on the other hand know full well that hydras are manifestations of spirits, bonded together and trapped in the body of a serpent by a powerful shaman, centuries ago. The statistics below are for fully grown hydras.

These hydra statistics were first defined on MMVI July MMII.