Monster Monday: False Hydra
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- Welcome back to another Monster Monday: A series where I'll be drawing a monster from Dungeons and Dragons while I talk about it's lore, history in the real world and what they're like to use as a DM or fight as a player.
In this video, I talk about False Hydras; the memory devouring nightmare creatures that grow out of the floor!
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The original article outlining the False Hydra, created by Arnold Kemp:
- goblinpunch.blo...
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If you want to use a False Hydra in your game, or find out more, you'll need:
- The GM Binder: www.gmbinder.c...
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Find out more and contact us on our social media:
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Website - www.thearcanefo...
Email - info.arcaneforge@gmail.com
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The music in the background was "Arcane Forge" by Fish. which you can find on his channel, here:
/ leblokkolt
One of my ways i plan to run this is even as the DM "forget" about things as well. Since it invariably creates a 4th wall break and metagaming, it's fun to use it to play that metagame too.
"Why do you guys keep mentioning his wife? I never said he had a wife."
"Yes you did!"
"I really don't think i did."
But then have the NPC in question ask the party if they're the ones who pulled some prank by putting women's clothes in his closet while he was at work so they know something is definirely going on
That's an absolutely brilliant idea! They're so Lovecraftian that they're affecting our world too!
What DM doesn't love gaslighting their players?
May I recommend the False hydra? I've heard they're interesting.
Thanks so much for the suggestion Ceasar! I've not heard of them before, but it'll be exciting to discover what that is! Cheers for watching!
Who are you recommending this to? this video is just a black screen with a slight buzzing noise
Wait... What was I going to help me comment? There was something its eating us I wanted to say on this video. Damn, I can't remember.
@@ArcaneForge what program are you using? By the way nice job on the video. I Forgot my manners, thank you
@@monaskulllll what video?
I love how different this creature is than nearly every single creature in D&D. Rather than directly attacking a town, it slowly picks people off. Its terrifying how you, the player knows its there, but the characters themselves are completely oblivious and have no idea what lies. For sure one of my new favorites
I'm 100% with you Simon! It's such a great monster. I'm glad we could share it!
Its better when the players dont know either
You know that old saying? "Don't show the monster, because what the viewer has in their imagination will always be scarier"
This is it. This is the worst-case scenario monster in our collective subconscious imagination.
I incorporated one of these in my character's backstory. He survives purely because he hangs out with low intelligence animals that are aware of the song. Pretty good background for urchin/druid
I love this abomination. It's just so psychologically damaging if played right. My only issue is that my players tend to be more drawn to things it can fight more than a roleplay challenge, so this creature definitely needs to have the right group to run it.
You're definitely right, Ethan! Let me know if you get a chance to use one and if your players adapt to the RP aspects!
That's why it's great for my group. They like to fight, but they'd rather learn things about the world more than anything. The false hydra taking that away from them, or people they know, it'll kill them.
I read someone let players make save rolls mid combat to resist the song but it was a near constant thing so long as one head could sing, and the goal was to create a situation where the hydra could single out one player, while for about 1-2 turns the rest of the party momentarily forget why they’re there and cannot see the hydra or the one player grappling with the invisible force, this creates tense moments of single combat where that one player must fight for their life until the party can rejoin.
When I used this monster, I had the players travel to the city by horseback. Once the players arrived some spooky shenanigans occured, but halfway through the day they arrived they realise that they haven't seen a single farm animal in or outside of the city. I underscore that this is extremely wierd as they've seen fences, pens and other animal clues. Suddenly one of them goes "There aren't any animals in this city. Do you think our horses are okay?" to which I reply "What horses? You guys travelled in on foot. Don't you remember?" and the party is like "Uhh no, we definently had horses". I make them do a intelligence saving throw at a high DC. Those that failed suddenly were convinced that they had NOT traveled on horses, the others remember having used horses clearly. Some really funny arguments insued with both sides of the saving throw accusing the others of being insane or idiotic or even just taking the piss on them. I remember the barbarian who somehow succeeded the saving throw yelling at the poor ranger who failed it, demanding to know whether he was screwing with him or not and NOT believing him AT ALL.
Oho! I've got one of these in my next campaign all lined up.
The party will have sat for a portrait at the 'wayfarer's guild' (a placeholder name for a union of government-sponsored adventurers: the adventures take place a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting, and the city they start in is beginning to send parties out to explore and reclaim what was lost). Shortly afterwards will be asked to investigate some disappearances in a slum area. Shenanigans ensue. Victory is hard-won. Loot abounds. Mysteries are solved.
They will find a pack with a few bits of adventuring equipment and a spell book as they go through, along with a torn blue cloak amongst the loot.
Anyway, at the end of all of this, they will go back to the hall to view their painting and find a party member in the portrait (currently a Gnome Illusionist) that they don't remember because they were 'got' by the beastie... the gnome in the portrait is wearing a blue cloak and clutching a wand and spell book...
I suppose that this could be described as 'gaslighting' in a way, but it's all for drama and fun's sake, and I'll absolutely break character if any of the players themselves have a bad time - I'm going to gradually forget what they are doing there and the players will have to stay on target in the real world too, insisting that they want to go here and there whilst I have a whale of a time pretending to not know why they are wasting valuable session time. (The quest-line will start with me asking them to trust me, and that things might get a little weird.)
Basically, I want to try and recreate the 'experience' of the reality of these creatures in the game experience itself. Not only will people in the area where the monster dwells know nothing about any disappearances (apart from one deaf beggar who is thought of as completely mad) whilst the officials in the city, further away insist that a large number of people have disappeared, but they'll have to deal with a DM who gradually insists that nothing is going on in that area and vocally wondering what the hell they are wasting everyone's time for. The players can't see anything until they deafen themselves, and I want to challenge their tactics.
It's a risky play, but if my players trust me and avoid the temptation to metagame, it should be a lot of fun for all of us. In a way, the actual stat-block and all the rest isn't the real draw for me; it's the grotesque effects it has on people. I liked the idea of a 'player' being eliminated from the group's memory. Like I say, if anyone gets genuinely disturbed or angry about this I'll absolutely do everything I can to reassure them that nothing is wrong and I'm trying to unsettle everyone for drama's sake - I think I know my friends well enough and I'm confident that this will be an experience that they will remember (unlike their characters, I suppose...).
I'm not entirely sure this idea is original to me; I think I read about people who have used this creature and cobbled this together from some of those. Still - I'm looking forward to it!
Also - nice joke at the beginning; for a few seconds I genuinely thought I'd skipped the video! The piece you've drawn is absolutely grotesque and - genuinely - I think it's my favourite portrayal of one of these foul things. Stunning stuff! Sorry for the essay!
Oooooohhhhh man! You're going to have to keep me updated on how it all goes! It sounds like you've got this really well thought through!
I'm so excited on your behalf!
@Arcane Forge: I will! Won’t be for a while due to myself and a couple of others in the game shielding for vulnerable family members - we’re pen and paper folks and it’s been a long old time since we last played: currently we are about halfway through Strahd. Then it’s a new start in my homebrew world of Nightfall, which I’m exceptionally excited about... and also where I will unleash the false hydra on them once they have levelled up a bit...
Thanks for the monster Mondays and the live-streams, boss. They’ve been super inspirational for these plans this summer while I’ve not been able to play! Take it easy!
I always love the idea of a creature that plays with the very fabric of the game itself.
Also would loooove to see an Oblex at some point ^^
This time I would like to suggest a Fomorian, they hold a special place in my heart because one of my first villains was one, but true to form my players derailed the campaign so badly that she got away scot-free and never even met the party. I personally like the idea of their appearance changing by their alignment; perhaps you could do something similar to Two-Face where one side is ugly and evil and the other half good and beautiful (I have always been curious about what they might have looked like before they became corrupted)
PS: that is a delightfully gruesome look, in my world, False Hydras are what happens when you put an undead through Ceremorphasis (God forbid if it's a lich) the physiology of the dead yet moving is just not compatible for the tadpole. Thus alongside neothilds and brain stealer dragons, they are also a terrible taboo among Mindflayers. They also gain more heads by devouring unsuspecting people and then absorbing the corpses into their or should I say ”it's” biomass.
I love the mind-flayer meets undead fusion being an origin for these guys! Such an amazing idea!!!!
I can confirm that I do talk a liiiittle about Fomorians in next Monday's video coming up, but they definitely deserve a video of their own as soon as possible! I love them too. They're one of the first creatures that nearly caused a TPK in my adventures and they are super special to me as well as a result!
Can't wait!
Arcane Forge Awesome, my first almost TPK, was from a Devourer
I would love to see the Fomorian as well, one of the best body horror solo boss monsters.
YES I Love this monster
What monster?
This monster is beautiful. It exemplifies every concept of lovecraft’s work except for his extreme racism.
This creature makes it so that not even the players mind can be trusted. I love the thought that scars of this creatures presence lingers in a persons mind. The men’s cloathing is a perfect example.
Your illustration perfectly captures the physical horror of this aberration. This was a great way to spend 25 minutes of my last day of summer. Keep up the great work!
Yo wtf man, why are You slandering my boy LC's name? 😡
@@kapitan19969838 he was super racist
This monster embodies that thing society ignores about itself that eventually devours it from the inside
A cool detail you could use to freak out your players, is have the heads that are created after the hydra eats someone resemble the npcs it eats. Almost like the alien from John Carpenter's The Thing.
Being previously familiar with this monster, I was thrilled to see this in my notifications. I knew you'd have the talent and willingness to lean into grotesquerie to really do justice to this abhorrent creature, and I was not disappointed. 👏👏👏
the best home brew if anything deserves a spot in actual dnd cannon its this thing
I 100% agree!
Cant be cannon if history cant remember it lol
I didn't know what a false hydra was till today. I didnt know about your channel either. Now i shall never forget either. *Subscribed*
Thank you so much for watching and for becoming a part of the community, Rain! I'm so glad to have you aboard! Let me know if there are any creatures that you'd like to see covered!
I'm so excited about this thing right now. I have friends creating characters right now to start an adventure wherein one of these lies in their path.
Okay okay okay, that intro... Don't mess with me like that!
I always love the false hydra they have such mysterious lore! I always wonder if there like monsters from dead space and are trying to birth a new god or a servant of the elder evil Ragnorra! Also excellent art! You can really see the horror in it eyes and also the one mysterious eye in the middle is nice touch! 👍
Ps also if you do dragon december this year could you do pink dragon from dragon magazine 156? I know it technically an April fool's joke but I think it really cool and I love that it breath attack is bubbles! Plus it a mix between a red and white dragon and the art for it isn't really good so you'll have a lot of free range! 🙏
A suggestion of a monster for you - Kyuss the Worm That Walks.
That's a fantastic suggestion! I can't remember if Kyuss has stats in 5th edition yet or not. If not then I'll make some and put them on my website!
@@ArcaneForge there are creatures valled the Spawn of Kyuss, but Kyuss has not been statted.
This, friends, is a textbook example of a cognitohazard. It may be cliche to bring up the SCP Foundation, but their classification system is quite useful in categorizing weird shit.
The one downside to this creature is some sources call it’s song, a charm. Many player character races have resistance or straight up immunity to being charmed. I’m voting to make it a passive non charmed effect. Just because.
Ahh yes body horror one of the many ways to send chills down the spines of players. The false hydra is an interesting creature ill have to find a way to use it in one of my campaigns. Great video😁.
I adore the idea of players struggling to communicate to their own characters, having to come up with ways to remind their other half that a flesh-eating monstrosity may be looming right before them. I don't think it was mentioned in this video, but I'm also fond of an possible weakness of the beast being a visibilty in mirrors. I think this is especially fun if you've featured reflections or other mirror based monsters or beings trapped or communicating through mirrors, as the gaunt face behind them in a mirror might first be taken for something within the mirror itself, another possible veil of confusion.
I intend to use the False Hydra for my party, and will begin seeding clues with the joining of a new player (he should be joining with the next sesion, though we play irregularly). Using the forgotten party member strategy will also let me to get away with giving the party extra temporary healing items in their early levels (party only has a paladin for healing). I've already got a haunted rogue that uses a mirror to commune with spirits and a pre-paranoid bloodhunter, who'll be excellent for dropping clues to!
The false hydra, perfect for gaslighting
DM: "what wife? He never had a wife"
Player: "HE LITERALLY DID!"
I definitely I am going to have to run a one-shot based on this monster. And I might have to borrow that imagery of one of its heads fogging up a window watching a family eating dinner. I might also borrow some inspiration from later interpretations of war of the worlds with the searching tentacles. Either way great video I’ll make sure to let you know how that one shot goes if it goes, and may I suggest winter wolves? The closest I ever got to a tpk was 2 winter wolves hunting the party.
Aberration means that there’s a good chance it’s gotten love from Xoriat and the lords thereof, the Daelkyr!
Oh. Well, that is helpful.
You should hire my character's party. We're specialized with lore about this creature. We also know how to research, strategize, and hunt a Fake Hyena.
Odd I don't remember watching this before...
What's this in my pocket?
Wow! just wow! amazing monster and amazing drawing Josh!!
Thanks so much Dino! I'm really glad you liked it!
This was a great video! Would be cool to Please Help Us the Trees in The Sky are Killing Us run it in a campaign someday.
Sprang one of these on my party. Had a druid that was an orphan with no siblings, so I rolled the campaign for about 4 quests without throwing a single locked door or chest (the party had no rouges), with a couple of missing treasure items. Just before we went on Christmas break, the "orphan" player found a bag that matched his, had some thieves tools in it and correspondence between the rogue and his father implicating that they were the orphan's family. I had punched up about 8 different letters detailing that the rogue had been with them on all the adventure. Then as all their minds were blown, I said "And that's where we'll pick up in two weeks." My table lost their minds. When we got back to it they tracked it down and battled it. Definite highlight of the campaign when I got them teared up for 2 NPCs that they had never met that died offscreen. Wish I would have had your excellent drawing to creep them out even more. Great job.
I hate this monster so much, it's gotta go in one of my games! It's so creepy, and has a perfect Lovecraft feeling of terror, and looming evil. Great stuff as always!!!
I am putting that in my running campaign right now. what a fantastic concept. I am in nursing school and have fallen in love with neurology so knowing the actual application to memory formation and right brain vs. left brain is going to make this one of the greatest, most confusing campaigns I have ever created.
An utterly SICK look for this. Gives me serious Dunwich Horror vibes with the big, central face.
I love how well made the false hydra is as a monster.. Your illustration of it does it more than just Justice. Speaking of horror though.. I’ve actually been working on creating a monster similar to the windigo that’s essentially the cross between a werewolf and revenant.. hopefully after I’m done homebrewing I can run a juicy horror campaign this Autumn for my buddies.
There is no False Hydra in Ba Sing Ze :D
ngl the intro actually startled me
Haha! I'm glad it kind of worked! Hope you enjoyed the video!
Oh, how about a Quori, also from Eberron? Your aberrations end up very cool looking.
*SCREW YOU FOR THAT INTRO, THAT CREATURE ACTUALLY SCARES ME!*
Haha! Sorry about that, Alchemist! I hope you enjoyed the video all the same!
@@ArcaneForge it was good!
But that creature gives me nightmares, mainly because of how effectively it could exist in reality.
This monster looks like the combination of the monsters for Slither and The Thing. And it’s amazing
It would be super awsome to see your version of the Eboron Changeling!
Yuuusss! I love the idea of drawing changelings! Thanks for the suggestion and for watching, William!
Great/gross job you did Arcane, seems like we share favorite d&d monster! So far you have granted my wish for drawing 2 times, very much appreciated
His name is josh, heads up
@@shadowhunter240 Oh i know :D
Another awesome video! Very happy to be a Patreon - actually only the second youtube channel I support.
Thank you so much for being a part of the Patreon community, Peter! Really glad to have your support and that you enjoyed the video too!
@@ArcaneForge More than welcome! The quality of the videos has always impressed me - put it right up there with the Matt Colvilles, Mr Rhexx, Jorphdans or the world. Fully believe you'll be hitting huge figures
With covid, I've been planning this campaign for a looong time. I'm so excited to run it with my group!!
It devours the body and annihilates the memory.
Mind doing a Corpse Flower? I'd love to see your art for them.
Yuuusss! That will be fantastic and gross! My favourite combination! Thanks so much for the suggestion and for watching.
Wow! You just mixed art creation adn game lore (from a awesome creature btw) in one video. You magnificent example of human being.
Thanks so much Daniel! I post a video every Monday with the same concept. Hopefully I'll see you in the comment section!
Cheers for watching!
What an excellent video, certainly gave me a lot of ideas for my games.
I'm so glad Colby! They're such a good way to torment your players.
Absolutely horrifying! And also great campaign ideas! Though I don't see how a false hydra could follow the players if its immobile
I liked this video but I can't ever remember watching it. I'll often find myself in the comments but i've never seen it lol how weird
This is HORRIFIC! Well done! I love it!
YES, THANK YOU!
Wouldn't call GM Binder version "most canon" per say, mostly because I don't feel like the statblock fully reflexts nature of creature. (I think this one can't be really be portrayed without at least two statblocks, one(or more) for 1-6 head version and one for 7 head "mature" version. Since they are fundamentally really different monsters, the adoslecent version isn't really physically strong by itself while full mature version has so massive size that even with it relying on domination you'd think it'd still chomp down hard)
Good sir, your voice makes me happy.
That is all.
- TLGO
Haha! Thank you! This comment make ME happy, so we're even :)
Mutual benefits are always a treat 😁
Any chance you would consider doing a video on Linnorms?
Baby. Stando!
Love this fleshy aberrations monsters. May I suggest Nyarlathotep?
I know he has no direct portrait in D&D since it was created by HP Lovecraft but I have seen some homebrew iterations of Nyarlathotep.
What happened to the video? Every time i press play, theres no content. Weird, nobody ever talks about the, the uh,... huh. What was this video about again...?
I suggest Graz’zt There isn’t much art on him and I think he is pretty Underrated.
Also like doctor who perception filter
Awesome intro
I wanna see a skinwalker, can never have enough body horror!
I love this man!
Thanks so much kristel!
Harpies! Sirens of the sky!
I can't wait to draw this one! I have so many conflicting ideas about how I want them to look and they're just some of my favourite creatures! Great call Chris!
Arcane Forge thanks man!
I would use this monster but I can't wrap my brain around actually using it
пожалуйста, расскажите о таком монстре как Faceless Stalker Ugothol из Pathfinder . Это такой брат Доппельгангера , но с уклонам боди хорор, к сожалению у этого монстра я нашел только 3 картинки на весь интернет :(
please tell me about a monster like Faceless Stalker Ugothol from Pathfinder . This is such a brother of Doppelganger, but with a body horror bias, unfortunately I found only 3 pictures of this monster on the whole internet :(.
I was confused by the intro but I just got it.
Going to fight one of these in 2 days.. wish me luck
I was so confused at first thinking I accidentally touched something and it skipped most of the videos
не смог найти эту картинку в открытом доступе поисковика =( лайк за старания !
What you doing uploading on a Bank Holiday! Go relax!
What's more relaxing than a horrible memory-erasing flesh monster???
Well. Technically, you don’t know that it’s there, so it doesn’t really bother you, so I guess you’re relaxed...?
=)
This thing escaped from Barrier peak perhaps. My I request the deep spawn
What level would you say a party needs to be to handle a false hydra fairly?
It's a tough call. It kind of depends on what rolls your players fulfil, how many are in the party and if they're balanced or even if they have magic items. I would say that a group of 5 or so players could probably defeat this creature if they were level 11 or so?
What do you think?
Im not really sure. I want to use one on my players, wanted to do so somewhat early but i dont want to kill them. Just traumatize them abit ;)
Me at second 20 - thanks was a nice video - see you too. Close video.
Trinston was here. ..
Is it just my idea, or this video's volume is lower than usual?
Definitely! I thought I was just hearing things to be honest! I have no idea why! I've not changed anything about my setup. Maybe I nudged the gain or something between recordings. Super weird.
I’m curious how a player would fight a creature if they keep forgetting it’s even there.
Thats why its so scary
*YOU DONT!*
интересно , как на на гидру реагируют раса Кованные...
Dao!
Literally horrible, but I love it
Haha! Snorted out loud at this reaction. I'm glad you were revolted but enjoyed it!
Z E L D A
Anyone else notice how male artists tend to draw "unknowable aberrations" as something vaguely resembling genitalia? No shade. It's a marvelous artwork. I just wonder if anyone else has noticed this phenomenon.
Hey Trivial. Thanks so much!
I think you're totally right. I can't speak for all male artists, but I think our visual understanding of aberrations comes from artists like HR Geiger, the silent hill games and so on. There's a lot of our visual language for these weird things that have roots in psycho-sexual horror art. Definitely worth thinking about!
How does this even vaguely resemble genitalia?
Hoho! Another great video that should be forbidden to watch
On a real note absolutely loved the gibbering mouther video which actually was a large inspiration to build and detail my own horrible monsters to terrorize my players with! Overall very nice video as always and will need to keep this in mind for a future encounter
Thanks so much Goblin! I'm a little obsessed with horrible flesh-warping abberations, so i'm glad that you enjoyed these two!
мне понравилось ! накрутка лайка и комментарий , для алгоритмов ютуба =)