...so many heads... [Archive] - Wizards Community

...so many heads... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
flyingmoose
01-06-04, 08:33 PM Do hydras' heads make attacks of opportunity separately (thus a 12 headed hydra can get 12 AoOs on someone charging it)?

I'm hoping not. A friend of mine is claiming... is.
primemover003
01-06-04, 08:37 PM Nope, even Ettins only make one AoO/round (+dex Mod with Combat Reflexes).
Boondoggle
01-06-04, 11:17 PM Try reading the MM, please:

Feats: A hydra's Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all of its heads for attacks of opportunity.
the_heart
01-07-04, 03:55 AM but it doesn't say that the heads act independantly. therefore the hydra still only gains one AoO per trigger action.

the hydra s version of combat reflexes allows it to perform more AoO than it's dex would allow, it doesn't alter any other parameters.
Gray Eminence
01-07-04, 04:45 AM As long as I know, hydras are considered to be a single monster even if they have a lot of heads. The AoO rule says that one creature can have only one AoO against an other creature for one trigger. This means that if you move within the threatened are of the hydra, you will get an AoO, but only once.

If a hydra has 12 heads, it can attack 12 creatures who provoke an AoO, but each only once.
d_nychus
01-07-04, 05:32 AM Umm, that's a totally unsupported reading there.

Look at what it says.

from the SRD
COMBAT REFLEXES [GENERAL]
Benefit: You may make a number of additional attacks of opportunity equal to your Dexterity bonus.
With this feat, you may also make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed.
Normal: A character without this feat can make only one attack of opportunity per round and can’t make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed.
Special: The Combat Reflexes feat does not allow a rogue to use her opportunist ability more than once per round.
A fighter may select Combat Reflexes as one of his fighter bonus feats.
A monk may select Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat at 2nd level.

This would mean that a hydra gets 1 AoO per round. 1 for its 12 Dex.

Now, let's combine that with this.

from the SRD, hydra entry
Feats: A hydra's Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all of its heads for attacks of opportunity.

Note that it says ALL. Not 'any,' not 'instead,' but 'all.' All meaning, every single head attacks as a part of its AoO.

So, by the literal reading, incuring an AoO from a hydra would mean that all of its heads may attack in that AoO, and the hydra has 1 AoO per round.

So, charging a 12 headed hydra without Spring attack could end up giving you 114 points of damage on average, barring additional heads and critical hits.

This is yet another reason the best way to deal with a hydra is to get a bunch of archers and thwack it at range.
Gray Eminence
01-07-04, 07:47 AM Also from the SRD:

"Combat Reflexes and Additional Attacks of Opportunity: If you have the Combat Reflexes feat you can add your Dexterity modifier to the number of attacks of opportunity you can make in a round. This feat does not let you make more than one attack for a given opportunity , but if the same opponent provokes two attacks of opportunity from you, you could make two separate attacks of opportunity (since each one represents a different opportunity)."

I think that this supports what I have said before.

Of course, I may be wrong.
d_nychus
01-07-04, 08:03 AM Didn't you read what the hydra section says?

In this specific instance, the Combat Reflexes feat allows for it to use 'all of its head for attacks of opportunity.'

A specific exception supercedes a general rule.

Let's look at this from both angles.

Under your ruling, the hydra should have one head attack per AoO, and it only has one AoO.

That is NOT a significant change, and does not merit the text that alters the feat, or even the feat itself (save for making AoO's while flatfooted).

Under my reading, the hydra has one AoO, but acts with all of its heads when making it, attacking up to 12 times from a single AoO.

That IS worth a alteration of the text, and it IS worth having the feat.

It makes the hydra much more deadly in melee, which is good because the hydra is a little weak for its CR without the modified version of the feat.
Gray Eminence
01-07-04, 08:25 AM In my reading, the combat reflexes feat is created to make it possible for someone with a high dex bonus to make an AoO on more than one creatures.

As the hydra lacks the dex score that would enable it to make more AoOs, normally this feat would be useless for it (it could make one more AoO).
Instead, the MM says that it can have one for each head using this feat.

In your reading the hydra would be able to make more AoOs against a single creature, which is not the essence of the combat reflexes feat. This would not be a modification, but a new feat.

It is not the combat reflexes feat that says that you can not have more that one AoO against a single creature, but the AoO rules. And the MM modifies the combat reflexes feat, not the AoO rules.

Getting several AoOs instead of one IS a big change (even a seven headed hydra would get 6 more AoOs).

In your example, the party rogue (high dex, mobility, etc.) would run past the hydra. The hydra attacks 12 times (missing all, it is almost impossible to hit a rogue with mobility), and then the party fighters would move in, and slay the hydra.

I think this would be the following:

The whole party is threatened by the hydra, as even if the party rogue gets close, the hydra will still have enough AoOs to attack the rest of the party if they dare to get closer.

It is also quite difficult to imagine to have several heads that are as large as you to attack you at the same time.

EDIT: spelling
d_nychus
01-07-04, 08:34 AM But the gaining multiple AoO's is totally unsupported by any reading.

Even the modification in the hydra section does not state you gain more than one AoO. It says:

Feats: A hydra's Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all of its heads for attacks of opportunity.

Nothing in that line affects the number of AoO's the hydra has.

It just says that the hydra is allowed to use all of its head for attacks of opportunity.

We have two facts to consider here.

1) the hydra has only one AoO per round (by ANY reading of the feat or the modification.
2) the modification clearly allows the hydra to use all of its heads for AoO's. (the exact meaning of this statement is a bit under debate, or else this thread would have died a bit ago)

To me, that means that when the hydra makes its AoO. it uses all of its heads, effectively a full attack.
Sproik
01-07-04, 01:10 PM It seems quite clear that the hydra can indeed make as many attacks as it has heads with each attack of opportunity. Note that a Dexterity of 12 would in fact grant the hydra 2 attacks of opportunity each round (one normally, one extra for the ability adjustment).

This is indeed over and above what the combat reflexes feat normally grants; it is a special ability of the hydra.

Frightening, really.
Zarimus
01-07-04, 01:14 PM Sometimes you have to look past the legalese and try to see what the intended effect is.

There are two possibilites:

1) The writer intended for a hydra to have a completely devastating AoO, forcing players to do everything tactically possible to avoid it
2) The writer intended for a hydra to snap at everyone in the group as they entered its combat range, each character getting an AoO from a different head

The second interpretation is the way I see hydras, and I'd venture to say that's the way the author of the hydra's game abilities intended it to be.

If you want to rule for the devastating AoO, ensure your players are aware of it - something like that would be a major component of every story involving hydras.
El_Machinae
01-07-04, 01:48 PM Yeah, to give them 12 attacks at any person coming near (a total of two people, due to their dex) would mean that they can totally draw and quarter (er, draw and twelve) anybody.

Without DR, anything coming near would be toast. With DR, a druid (with Magic Fang) becomes its best friend.
d_nychus
01-09-04, 10:15 AM Originally posted by Zarimus
Sometimes you have to look past the legalese and try to see what the intended effect is.

There are two possibilites:

1) The writer intended for a hydra to have a completely devastating AoO, forcing players to do everything tactically possible to avoid it
2) The writer intended for a hydra to snap at everyone in the group as they entered its combat range, each character getting an AoO from a different head

The second interpretation is the way I see hydras, and I'd venture to say that's the way the author of the hydra's game abilities intended it to be.

If you want to rule for the devastating AoO, ensure your players are aware of it - something like that would be a major component of every story involving hydras.

Would you care to show me how the modification of the feat in question allows for the second reading? I personally do not see it.

Feats: A hydra's Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all of its heads for attacks of opportunity.

I see no way that the 2nd option can be allowed for with that phrase. Nothing about that lets a hydra have more than one AoO, baring having a higher than average Dex, of course.

And if you DID have a 12-headed hydra with a Dex of 18, would that mean that each of the hydra's heads gets 4 AoO attempts per round? That's 48 AoO's per round, which is utterly ridiculous. Not that many AoO's can normally happen in a given round, thus inherently nerfing the ability of the hydra.

Now, if it is the way that I see it as, this particular hydra would have 4 AoO's, all attacking with 12 heads.

And frankly, the damage is only extreme to those who are not of a comperable level to the hydra's CR. A level 11 fighter taking 12 attacks from an AoO by a hydra is going to suffer, but not any more than he would from taking a normal round of battle with the hydra.
bitnine
01-09-04, 10:55 AM Originally posted by d_nychus
Look at what it says.

from the SRD
COMBAT REFLEXES [GENERAL]
Benefit: You may make a number of additional attacks of opportunity equal to your Dexterity bonus.

This would mean that a hydra gets 1 AoO per round. 1 for its 12 Dex.

Actually, that would be 2 AoOs per round. The one that you can normally make, and the additional AoO granted from the +1 dexterity bonus.
d_nychus
01-09-04, 10:59 AM Ghaa, I make that mistake all the time.

I keep thinking that Combat Reflexes REPLACES your AoO instead of adding to it.

It was a houserule in a game once, and it kind of stuck with me.
Mercurius
01-09-04, 11:07 AM To be quite honest, the first time I read the rule, I immediately thought it meant that each head a hydra had allowed it to have one additional attack of opportunity in a round, rather than using every head against one opponent in one attack. It seemed logical to me, since the usually slow hydra has all these different heads capable of perceiving different opponents and taking opportunities as they present themselves. Effectively, the Hydra's multiple heads mades the Combat Reflexes feat use its heads, rather than its DEX, to determine how many AoO's it has available. The option that d_nychus is suggesting never even occured to me, though I can see where he's coming from having seen the rule posted here half a dozen times. I still think it's meant to be the way I've been interpreting it, even if the wording is a little iffy, and will probably keep playing it as such.
d_nychus
01-09-04, 11:59 AM Again, the problem arises as to what the usefulness of that is if the hydra has 12 AoO per round like that. Surely a hydra will not use more than two or three a round. So how 'good' is this modification, really, and why does it merit a blurb in the rules modifying it?

Simply put, what benefit is this over normal Combat Reflexes?

With Combat Reflexes as is, the hydra gets 2 AoO's (hah, got it right this time ^_^).

With the ruling of an AoO per head, 12 AoO's...but it is doubtful the hydra will use even a fourth of those in a given round.

I admit, I could be wrong, but the way I read it, it is supposed to be 2 AoO's with all heads at once.
Boondoggle
01-10-04, 01:33 AM Once again, look past the specific wording to the intent of the ability. The game designers didn't write the book to be infallible law. If you want to argue semantics & specific wording of something, do it outside of the rules for a role playing game. A little logic will usually clerify the 'true' meaning of the rule. Playing in anything but the spirit of the game is munchkin.

The intent clearly is to give the hydra as many AoOs as it has heads, not to have all its heads biting at one creature simultaneously.
DungeonMogrii
01-10-04, 02:17 AM Look at the attack entry for the hydra in the MM 3.5, it says the same as the Full Attack entry, all the heads get to attack. Even if the hydra moves or charges, so it means a single attack from the hydra is composed of all its heads, so why can't the AoO be composed of all the heads?
d_nychus
01-10-04, 03:01 AM Originally posted by Boondoggle
Once again, look past the specific wording to the intent of the ability. The game designers didn't write the book to be infallible law. If you want to argue semantics & specific wording of something, do it outside of the rules for a role playing game. A little logic will usually clerify the 'true' meaning of the rule. Playing in anything but the spirit of the game is munchkin.

The intent clearly is to give the hydra as many AoOs as it has heads, not to have all its heads biting at one creature simultaneously.

:confused:

Okay, first off, while the exact wording and the intent do not always match up (like with the 3.5 darkness spell), it is pretty apparent that the 'intent' that you list is not what is even REMOTELY written in the book. If they wanted to have the hydra have an AoO for every head, they would have said that they have an AoO for every head.

Again, what the modification says is:

Feats: A hydra's Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all of its heads for attacks of opportunity.

How it is written more supports the idea that whenever a hydra has an AoO, it attacks with all of its heads. That's the way it reads.

I'm fairly certain I am right on both the intent AND the wording. Honestly, it could be worded BETTER, but so could a number of things in the game.

Second, DungeonMogrii is absolutely correct in that the hydra can make a full attack whether using a standard action or a full-round action, so having a hydra's AoO being a full attack really changes nothing for game effect.

Look at it this way:

Standard action: 12 attacks
Full-round action: 12 attacks
AoO: 12 attacks

It really is not that extreme.

And how on earth can you call this 'munchkining?' This is an NPC monster, not a PC (unless you are insane enough to allow for a hydra as a PC, in which case, your own funeral). A DM does not 'munchkin.' A DM can be unfair, a DM can be wrong, and a DM can be bad, but a DM cannot by any means 'munchkin.' Munchkining is a process of making a character to overpower anything else in the game. If a DM does this, it's 100% FINE. A game would can and SHOULD have at least a few characters who are more powerful than even the PC's, for multiple reasons. 1) Present a challenge, 2) PC control, 3) rationalization of plots, 4) presenting aid for the PC's, etc.

If using a monster ability as written is 'munchkining,' I wonder what you think of DM's who run gods in their campaigns.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
flyingmoose 01-06-04, 08:33 PM	Do hydras' heads make attacks of opportunity separately (thus a 12 headed hydra can get 12 AoOs on someone charging it)? I'm hoping not. A friend of mine is claiming... is.
primemover003 01-06-04, 08:37 PM	Nope, even Ettins only make one AoO/round (+dex Mod with Combat Reflexes).
Boondoggle 01-06-04, 11:17 PM	Try reading the MM, please: Feats: A hydra's Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all of its heads for attacks of opportunity.
the_heart 01-07-04, 03:55 AM	but it doesn't say that the heads act independantly. therefore the hydra still only gains one AoO per trigger action. the hydra s version of combat reflexes allows it to perform more AoO than it's dex would allow, it doesn't alter any other parameters.
Gray Eminence 01-07-04, 04:45 AM	As long as I know, hydras are considered to be a single monster even if they have a lot of heads. The AoO rule says that one creature can have only one AoO against an other creature for one trigger. This means that if you move within the threatened are of the hydra, you will get an AoO, but only once. If a hydra has 12 heads, it can attack 12 creatures who provoke an AoO, but each only once.
d_nychus 01-07-04, 05:32 AM	Umm, that's a totally unsupported reading there. Look at what it says. from the SRD COMBAT REFLEXES [GENERAL] Benefit: You may make a number of additional attacks of opportunity equal to your Dexterity bonus. With this feat, you may also make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed. Normal: A character without this feat can make only one attack of opportunity per round and can’t make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed. Special: The Combat Reflexes feat does not allow a rogue to use her opportunist ability more than once per round. A fighter may select Combat Reflexes as one of his fighter bonus feats. A monk may select Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat at 2nd level. This would mean that a hydra gets 1 AoO per round. 1 for its 12 Dex. Now, let's combine that with this. from the SRD, hydra entry Feats: A hydra's Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all of its heads for attacks of opportunity. Note that it says ALL. Not 'any,' not 'instead,' but 'all.' All meaning, every single head attacks as a part of its AoO. So, by the literal reading, incuring an AoO from a hydra would mean that all of its heads may attack in that AoO, and the hydra has 1 AoO per round. So, charging a 12 headed hydra without Spring attack could end up giving you 114 points of damage on average, barring additional heads and critical hits. This is yet another reason the best way to deal with a hydra is to get a bunch of archers and thwack it at range.
Gray Eminence 01-07-04, 07:47 AM	Also from the SRD: "Combat Reflexes and Additional Attacks of Opportunity: If you have the Combat Reflexes feat you can add your Dexterity modifier to the number of attacks of opportunity you can make in a round. This feat does not let you make more than one attack for a given opportunity , but if the same opponent provokes two attacks of opportunity from you, you could make two separate attacks of opportunity (since each one represents a different opportunity)." I think that this supports what I have said before. Of course, I may be wrong.
d_nychus 01-07-04, 08:03 AM	Didn't you read what the hydra section says? In this specific instance, the Combat Reflexes feat allows for it to use 'all of its head for attacks of opportunity.' A specific exception supercedes a general rule. Let's look at this from both angles. Under your ruling, the hydra should have one head attack per AoO, and it only has one AoO. That is NOT a significant change, and does not merit the text that alters the feat, or even the feat itself (save for making AoO's while flatfooted). Under my reading, the hydra has one AoO, but acts with all of its heads when making it, attacking up to 12 times from a single AoO. That IS worth a alteration of the text, and it IS worth having the feat. It makes the hydra much more deadly in melee, which is good because the hydra is a little weak for its CR without the modified version of the feat.
Gray Eminence 01-07-04, 08:25 AM	In my reading, the combat reflexes feat is created to make it possible for someone with a high dex bonus to make an AoO on more than one creatures. As the hydra lacks the dex score that would enable it to make more AoOs, normally this feat would be useless for it (it could make one more AoO). Instead, the MM says that it can have one for each head using this feat. In your reading the hydra would be able to make more AoOs against a single creature, which is not the essence of the combat reflexes feat. This would not be a modification, but a new feat. It is not the combat reflexes feat that says that you can not have more that one AoO against a single creature, but the AoO rules. And the MM modifies the combat reflexes feat, not the AoO rules. Getting several AoOs instead of one IS a big change (even a seven headed hydra would get 6 more AoOs). In your example, the party rogue (high dex, mobility, etc.) would run past the hydra. The hydra attacks 12 times (missing all, it is almost impossible to hit a rogue with mobility), and then the party fighters would move in, and slay the hydra. I think this would be the following: The whole party is threatened by the hydra, as even if the party rogue gets close, the hydra will still have enough AoOs to attack the rest of the party if they dare to get closer. It is also quite difficult to imagine to have several heads that are as large as you to attack you at the same time. EDIT: spelling
d_nychus 01-07-04, 08:34 AM	But the gaining multiple AoO's is totally unsupported by any reading. Even the modification in the hydra section does not state you gain more than one AoO. It says: Feats: A hydra's Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all of its heads for attacks of opportunity. Nothing in that line affects the number of AoO's the hydra has. It just says that the hydra is allowed to use all of its head for attacks of opportunity. We have two facts to consider here. 1) the hydra has only one AoO per round (by ANY reading of the feat or the modification. 2) the modification clearly allows the hydra to use all of its heads for AoO's. (the exact meaning of this statement is a bit under debate, or else this thread would have died a bit ago) To me, that means that when the hydra makes its AoO. it uses all of its heads, effectively a full attack.
Sproik 01-07-04, 01:10 PM	It seems quite clear that the hydra can indeed make as many attacks as it has heads with each attack of opportunity. Note that a Dexterity of 12 would in fact grant the hydra 2 attacks of opportunity each round (one normally, one extra for the ability adjustment). This is indeed over and above what the combat reflexes feat normally grants; it is a special ability of the hydra. Frightening, really.
Zarimus 01-07-04, 01:14 PM	Sometimes you have to look past the legalese and try to see what the intended effect is. There are two possibilites: 1) The writer intended for a hydra to have a completely devastating AoO, forcing players to do everything tactically possible to avoid it 2) The writer intended for a hydra to snap at everyone in the group as they entered its combat range, each character getting an AoO from a different head The second interpretation is the way I see hydras, and I'd venture to say that's the way the author of the hydra's game abilities intended it to be. If you want to rule for the devastating AoO, ensure your players are aware of it - something like that would be a major component of every story involving hydras.
El_Machinae 01-07-04, 01:48 PM	Yeah, to give them 12 attacks at any person coming near (a total of two people, due to their dex) would mean that they can totally draw and quarter (er, draw and twelve) anybody. Without DR, anything coming near would be toast. With DR, a druid (with Magic Fang) becomes its best friend.
d_nychus 01-09-04, 10:15 AM	Originally posted by Zarimus Sometimes you have to look past the legalese and try to see what the intended effect is. There are two possibilites: 1) The writer intended for a hydra to have a completely devastating AoO, forcing players to do everything tactically possible to avoid it 2) The writer intended for a hydra to snap at everyone in the group as they entered its combat range, each character getting an AoO from a different head The second interpretation is the way I see hydras, and I'd venture to say that's the way the author of the hydra's game abilities intended it to be. If you want to rule for the devastating AoO, ensure your players are aware of it - something like that would be a major component of every story involving hydras. Would you care to show me how the modification of the feat in question allows for the second reading? I personally do not see it. Feats: A hydra's Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all of its heads for attacks of opportunity. I see no way that the 2nd option can be allowed for with that phrase. Nothing about that lets a hydra have more than one AoO, baring having a higher than average Dex, of course. And if you DID have a 12-headed hydra with a Dex of 18, would that mean that each of the hydra's heads gets 4 AoO attempts per round? That's 48 AoO's per round, which is utterly ridiculous. Not that many AoO's can normally happen in a given round, thus inherently nerfing the ability of the hydra. Now, if it is the way that I see it as, this particular hydra would have 4 AoO's, all attacking with 12 heads. And frankly, the damage is only extreme to those who are not of a comperable level to the hydra's CR. A level 11 fighter taking 12 attacks from an AoO by a hydra is going to suffer, but not any more than he would from taking a normal round of battle with the hydra.
bitnine 01-09-04, 10:55 AM	Originally posted by d_nychus Look at what it says. from the SRD COMBAT REFLEXES [GENERAL] Benefit: You may make a number of additional attacks of opportunity equal to your Dexterity bonus. This would mean that a hydra gets 1 AoO per round. 1 for its 12 Dex. Actually, that would be 2 AoOs per round. The one that you can normally make, and the additional AoO granted from the +1 dexterity bonus.
d_nychus 01-09-04, 10:59 AM	Ghaa, I make that mistake all the time. I keep thinking that Combat Reflexes REPLACES your AoO instead of adding to it. It was a houserule in a game once, and it kind of stuck with me.
Mercurius 01-09-04, 11:07 AM	To be quite honest, the first time I read the rule, I immediately thought it meant that each head a hydra had allowed it to have one additional attack of opportunity in a round, rather than using every head against one opponent in one attack. It seemed logical to me, since the usually slow hydra has all these different heads capable of perceiving different opponents and taking opportunities as they present themselves. Effectively, the Hydra's multiple heads mades the Combat Reflexes feat use its heads, rather than its DEX, to determine how many AoO's it has available. The option that d_nychus is suggesting never even occured to me, though I can see where he's coming from having seen the rule posted here half a dozen times. I still think it's meant to be the way I've been interpreting it, even if the wording is a little iffy, and will probably keep playing it as such.
d_nychus 01-09-04, 11:59 AM	Again, the problem arises as to what the usefulness of that is if the hydra has 12 AoO per round like that. Surely a hydra will not use more than two or three a round. So how 'good' is this modification, really, and why does it merit a blurb in the rules modifying it? Simply put, what benefit is this over normal Combat Reflexes? With Combat Reflexes as is, the hydra gets 2 AoO's (hah, got it right this time ^_^). With the ruling of an AoO per head, 12 AoO's...but it is doubtful the hydra will use even a fourth of those in a given round. I admit, I could be wrong, but the way I read it, it is supposed to be 2 AoO's with all heads at once.
Boondoggle 01-10-04, 01:33 AM	Once again, look past the specific wording to the intent of the ability. The game designers didn't write the book to be infallible law. If you want to argue semantics & specific wording of something, do it outside of the rules for a role playing game. A little logic will usually clerify the 'true' meaning of the rule. Playing in anything but the spirit of the game is munchkin. The intent clearly is to give the hydra as many AoOs as it has heads, not to have all its heads biting at one creature simultaneously.
DungeonMogrii 01-10-04, 02:17 AM	Look at the attack entry for the hydra in the MM 3.5, it says the same as the Full Attack entry, all the heads get to attack. Even if the hydra moves or charges, so it means a single attack from the hydra is composed of all its heads, so why can't the AoO be composed of all the heads?
d_nychus 01-10-04, 03:01 AM	Originally posted by Boondoggle Once again, look past the specific wording to the intent of the ability. The game designers didn't write the book to be infallible law. If you want to argue semantics & specific wording of something, do it outside of the rules for a role playing game. A little logic will usually clerify the 'true' meaning of the rule. Playing in anything but the spirit of the game is munchkin. The intent clearly is to give the hydra as many AoOs as it has heads, not to have all its heads biting at one creature simultaneously. :confused: Okay, first off, while the exact wording and the intent do not always match up (like with the 3.5 darkness spell), it is pretty apparent that the 'intent' that you list is not what is even REMOTELY written in the book. If they wanted to have the hydra have an AoO for every head, they would have said that they have an AoO for every head. Again, what the modification says is: Feats: A hydra's Combat Reflexes feat allows it to use all of its heads for attacks of opportunity. How it is written more supports the idea that whenever a hydra has an AoO, it attacks with all of its heads. That's the way it reads. I'm fairly certain I am right on both the intent AND the wording. Honestly, it could be worded BETTER, but so could a number of things in the game. Second, DungeonMogrii is absolutely correct in that the hydra can make a full attack whether using a standard action or a full-round action, so having a hydra's AoO being a full attack really changes nothing for game effect. Look at it this way: Standard action: 12 attacks Full-round action: 12 attacks AoO: 12 attacks It really is not that extreme. And how on earth can you call this 'munchkining?' This is an NPC monster, not a PC (unless you are insane enough to allow for a hydra as a PC, in which case, your own funeral). A DM does not 'munchkin.' A DM can be unfair, a DM can be wrong, and a DM can be bad, but a DM cannot by any means 'munchkin.' Munchkining is a process of making a character to overpower anything else in the game. If a DM does this, it's 100% FINE. A game would can and SHOULD have at least a few characters who are more powerful than even the PC's, for multiple reasons. 1) Present a challenge, 2) PC control, 3) rationalization of plots, 4) presenting aid for the PC's, etc. If using a monster ability as written is 'munchkining,' I wonder what you think of DM's who run gods in their campaigns.