Editing False Hydra

[[file:FalseHydraArt.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Someone's having fun]]

The False Hydra is a homebrew monster by Goblin Punch for Dungeons & Dragons whose concept was so chilling, horrifying, and Lovecraftian that it acquired minor meme status in the tabletop community for a while. The False Hydra isn't a true [[hydra]], but rather something much worse: An Aberration that resembles Dead Hand from The Legend of Zelda (the original blogpost even used Dead Hand fanart for illustrations), but with multiple heads instead of arms, with a new head growing after it devours a set amount of victims. It's true horror, however, is its song. 

It constantly sings, which makes whoever hears it unable to perceive or remember the False Hydra or any of its victims. Even if one was to slay the False Hydra, anyone it devoured remains forgotten. It usually chooses to lair underneath isolated villages, with various theories as to how it originally comes about. Some say that IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, or the Far Realm, crashing into the earth and burrowing into a proper feeding ground. Others say it spontaneously arose from the ground like some sort of Lovecraftian potato, spawned from all the wickedness of the sapient races congealing within the world itself to spawn these horrors. Others say they're a bioweapon from Far Realm races. Whatever the case, they represent a fate worse than just death: being forgotten, even by your own closest teammates and family, no matter how much of a big damn hero you were, no matter how good of a person you were. 

=False Hydra Physiology=

[[file:BabyFalseHydra.jpg|thumb|right|Aren't babies adorable?]]

As stated earlier, it is unknown how a False Hydra originally spawns, though they seem to occur mostly in rural population centers. This False Hydra spawn begins life as a lump of flesh about the size of a man's torso, and with only a single head. As a subterranean creature, it has very pale skin. The head has no lips, external ears, and only has pit nostrils and deep, wet holes for its eye sockets (As a psionic creature, it doesn't really need any of these senses). This head constantly emits a song that forces listener's to ignore its presence. The only time this song stops is when the hydra lunges with its extendable neck to snatch a victim. Smaller hydras typically will drag their prey to a hiding spot in an alley or sewer in order to safely consume it. Thus a False Hydra acquires the only coloration it will ever have: [[Grimdark|The bloodstains of its victims]].

Once the False Hydra finishes its meal, it begins to sing again, permanently wiping away all memory of its victim from those who hear its song. However, the cognitive dissonance that this song forcefully imposes can lead to mental damage that will refuse to ignore the creature. This typically arises as limbs functioning independently of their owners, a split personality that can still perceive the hydra, or moments of clarity where the victim begs for help. As a False Hydra consumes more victims, it grows in size, and grows more heads as well (The original author put this as a maximum of 7, but feel free to choose something else for your campaigns). With it's increase in size, the False Hydra no long feels the need to hide, and so it's heads sprout from it's under ground hiding place like grotesque trees, swaying in the wind. 

The False Hydra also is stated to grow more powerful as it gains more heads, and fatter and immobile as well. Once they reach critical mass, they start altering their song to dominate their victims, forcing them to carry it on massive warmachine cart contraptions from city to city, committing war upon the populace with brainwashed thralls for more victims to glut itself with. 

=Using one in a Campaign=
[[Image: OfficialFalseHydraArt.jpg]]

False Hydra's are best used as an arc, usually tied to a PC's backstory, as they are relatively unintelligent and exist only to feed, making them incapable of BBEG quality planning. A False Hydra's mindfuckery is the main way that it is initially hooked, as independent limbs and broken personalities manifest in letters, or the party notices that NPCs and companions abruptly go missing, and their existence is denied by the the DM. Basically, it's an invitation to gaslight your players into questioning their own sanity.

The best method for defeating False Hydra's is to render oneself immune to its song, allowing you to notice it. The final encounter should be a climatic one, with the creature statted out to be a decent challenge as a lone monster for whatever level your party is. It's heads will be flailing around, trying to take bites out of the party, all while it focuses it's formidable psionic might on trying to break the minds of those presenting the greatest threat to it at the moment.

=See Also=
* The original creation: https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/false-hydra.html
* A well told story of a party's encounter with one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOpYm2fzL6Y

[[Category: Megafauna]]
[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons Monsters]]
[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons Third Party]]