This is the OOC and applications thread for You are the head of a hydra. The waitlist will be kept inside the main thread. This link goes to the old in-universe thread. A new one will be created, as well as a 'hive mind' thread for discussions between only the heads.
You are the Head of a Hydra 2: Hive Mind ThreadYou are the Head of a Hydra 2: In-Universe ThreadAbandoned Game 3In this game, each player takes the part of a single head of a hydra. There will originally be 7 slots, with the next 2 people on the waitlist joining each time one head is lobbed off by an adventurer, unless the stump was burned/frozen shut (the only way to prevent new heads from, and trust me, they will be trying). You can reserve a space, but if all the spots are filled with decent applications, you will be waitlisted.
This will be run by d20, using actions that the greatest number of heads agree upon.
The element the arrow points to is damaged greater, and deals more damage if the arrow points away from it. Time is off on its own, because is highly effective against all elements, but it cannot be wielded by anyone, but it can be utilized by extremely rare artifacts.
Each element gives the following abilities of its type, all strengthening with practice:
[Element] manipulation (ex. earth shaping, air current warping, etc.)
[Element] breath
[Element] shielding (ex. forming the element around the body to increase defense against the element is strong against, but decreasing defense against what it is weak to. (minor boost to other elements except what it is weak and time to as well))
Mind, like time, is unique. It starts our average in all of its abilities, and is specialized by the way you utilize it, weakening less-used abilities while strengthening often-used abilities. Such as, if you use telekinesis all the time, your lesser used telepathy would suffer.
Mental abilitites are as follows:
Telekinesis
Mental Communication to Outsiders
Mental Combat against Outsiders
You will start at rank 0 and proceed to work your way up to rank 5.
Standard Ranking System
| To Get This Rank | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| You Must Use It This Many More Times After You Rank Up, To Get The Rank Above The Number | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
ex. To get from rank 0 to rank 1, you must use the ability twice, but to get from rank 0 to rank 2, you must use it six times.
Mind Element Ranking System
| To Get This Rank | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| You Must Use It This Many More Times After You Rank Up, To Get The Rank Above The Number | n/a | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
The mind element is easier to rank up, but because of its nature, whenever you rank up, you must subtract the rank of the leveled up ability from the use # of a different ability, sometimes moving it down a rank or so.
ex. One ability goes from rank 0 to rank 1, and you reduce a second ability's use by 1, bringing it down to -1.
Rank Effects on Roll
| Rank | -5 | -4,-3 | -2,-1 | 0 | 1,2 | 3,4 | 5 |
| Effect to Roll | -4 | -2 | -1 | n/a | +1 | +2 | +4 |
In addition to Elemental abilities, are these abilities that use the Standard Rank system.
Body:Hunting
Fishing
Stealth
Flying Ability
Pursuit
Body-based combat
When a head is lost, 1 rank is lost 3 times in each skill (based on a roll), if it is not 0. This is to simulate loss of knowledge for the hydra.
Head:Head-based combat
Diplomacy
Observation
[Elemental abilities]
When a head is lost, you lose all ability ranks that the head gains, with the new head(s) starting at rank 0 in all skills. This can be frustrating if you have spent the time to get some strong heads, and then lose all of those ability ranks.
If you are utilizing head training, you gain 1 use for every two hours of training that the heads perform, and the players can spend this on any of their head's skills of their choice.
If you are utilizing body training, you gain 1 use for every hour of training that the heads perform using the body, but the players must agree on how to use this.
Make sure you will actually be posting before you decide to sign-up, so we can avoid the hassle of a majority of the players not showing up, causing the game to be killed off. If you want to be in the initial 7, then you need to fill out the 'Overall' so that there can be a vote on which is used.
Head name:
Color:
Elemental Breath Weapon: (can be water, earth, air, mind, light, shadow, and energy. There also exists time, fire, and ice, but those cannot be selected)
Personality:
Overall name:
Gender:
Appearance:
History: (don't go overboard on this)
Lair: (include Lair type and name)
Lair location: (include nearby towns/mountain halls/etc. as well as significant features)
Lair history:
Permanent Special Traits: Head Regeneration (2 new heads for each old cut off [reapplication is allowed]. Maximum total supported is 11 heads at one time, past this point, if a head is cut off, only one regenerates), fire and ice prevent the head stump from growing a new head.
Selected Special Traits: (Your choice, but it cannot add more stump-prevention. Please keep them balanced.)
Voting Key
Overall name: Indecision
Gender: Male
Appearance: Grayscale, we couldn't decide on a color. It looks like a large serpent with two sets of leathery scaled wings down its back, which double as fins. At its front is a mass of necks and heads. At its tail is a barbed spike like a scorpion.
History: Indecisive was born to a silver and a white dragon on a faraway forgotten aerie. Like all hydras, it searched for a place to call home. Lucky for it, it found the Sea of Teeth and Aquarius. Now it's time to begin claiming territory.
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Lair: Aquarius- Seafloor Dungeon
Lair location: In the middle of the ocean. There are three major human towns, two major dwarven towns, and one major elven town nearby. There are also several small naga villages around.
Lair history: In the Sea of Teeth, there was once a great merman civilization known as the Toothborn. They controlled not only the entire Sea of Teeth, but also laid claim to the lands beyond, controlling the rich coasts for centuries and growing into a rich and magnificent race. For nigh on a millennium the Council of Harbingers ruled from the center of the Toothborn nation- Aquarius- until a mysterious calamity involving a Primal Water Elemental erased them from history. Their ruined capital still exists in part.
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Permanent Special Traits: Head Regeneration (2 new heads for each old cut off [reapplication is allowed]. Maximum total supported is 11 heads at one time, past this point, if a head is cut off, only one regenerates), fire and ice prevent the head stump from growing a new head.
Selected Special Traits:
Scorpion Strike- The creature's tail has a poisonous spike carrying deadly neurotoxin.
Aquatic- The creature can breathe underwater as well as above it.
Tough Hide- The creature carries natural armor.
Overall name: The Many
Gender: Hermaphrodite
Appearance: A deep black, which fades into the color of each head along the neck and shoulder area, with the under-body and more vulnerable and thinner scales being a lighter color, reaching a light gray with the stomach.
History: The Many squabbles often with itself. It's heads aren't very cooperative in most situations, so without being able to agree on a name, most of them simply decided that what the primitive humans they'd been mooching off of had been calling them could work. Recently, they left that tribe, as it'd been killed off by disease, and without being used to hunting, settled down in a river valley to fish. Each head is able to hold a rod, and with only one stomach to feed, it's an easy task, and they've been getting better at it with the time. Some of them dislike talking about their history, and sharing a body means it's difficult to get The Many to reveal exact details.
Lair: Home; A cave in the valley wall.
Lair location: A river valley. In a forested area, though cliffs rise on either side, there are rugged paths that allow passage up and down. The valley stretches for a good length, several miles at least, and is inhabited by little but animals. Some territorial sentient creatures have made their lairs here, but none are in the immediate area, and hopefully there will be no issue.
To the south is a range of mountains, and rumors have it that a civilization of religious and secretive dwarves live there, having been exiled for their heresy from the rest of their kind. It is still unknown whether they are cultists of dark powers, or simply as secretive as every other dwarven nation. In either case, noone has found them and returned to tell. Those that have disappeared may have simply stayed too long, until one of the many predators of the mountain took their lives. Or perhaps something darker...
To the north, a vast forest stretches, though large clearings have recently been made by the humans who live there. They have recently come into contact with the elves who are reported to live on the edges of the forest and in the swamps far to the northeast. Because of the highly amicable nature of most elves, as well as their technological expertise, the humans have advanced rapidly, utilizing the efficient wood-cutting techniques perfected by the elves to clear large swathes of ground for farmland, and to feed their new, steam-powered contraptions. Without the magic of the elves though, the forest cannot replenish itself. In desperation, the elves have tried to set up negotiations with their neighbors, who are even farther away, such that it is not entirely sure who they are, for better fuels. If they cannot gather a large enough supply to trade to the humans, or the forest is not able to sustain itself, they may resort to violence to prevent the complete destruction of the habitat.
In the north-west, the forest becomes slowly sparser, eventually turning into mere woods, then scrublands, before turning to plains. Here, a large society of turns have created a feudal kingdom, and it is currently in the middle of a crisis over the throne. The old king has been killed in battle, and in his old age, had become senile at times. Due to this, he had declared two heirs. One, his son, a dashing young man raised to be king, but with a cruel streak, the other, his nephew, who knows little of management, but is beloved by many. Neither wants the war; the king's son realizes it will tear his kingdom apart, while the nephew abhors violence, but fanatical supporters and power-hungry stewards have pressured them into it.
To the west, the land quickly breaks up, as part of the ending mountain range, foothills and small valleys being common, before declining slowly to the sea. Merfolk and a community of goblin fishermen have created a thriving trade, and have formed a swiftly growing alliance and town, beginning trade with farther countries. But with more money, comes more greed, and bandits are becoming overwhelmingly common. Rumors abound of a charismatic bandit forming an army to try and take control of the region, but views diverge on whether he would help the poor or make himself rich. Either way, the local bourgeois have begun setting up a rudimentary security force, though it is yet ineffective. The region is rapidly expanding and growing in population, and with such a place, anything could be possible.
In far off lands, there are whispers of an empire overtaking the world, using any means necessary to add more area to itself; from incredible bribes to military force, from religious conversion to starting revolutions against oppressive governments, nothing seems to be able to stop them. In other locations, trade is booming and the world is beginning to enter a period of great technological progress. A famine is heard of in a small monarchy with a good ruler. A plague is heard of in a large republic. A new magocracy has been founded by a group of material enchanters. A great war is being fought by two large, nationalistic countries noted for their proximity to each other. Many smaller countries are swiftly becoming involved, creating a chain reaction.
More races and lands are being discovered all the time, and some revolutionary scholars, calling themselves scientists, claim that there is no edge to the world; that it simply goes on forever, but only a small amount is land. These people claim that certain points of the world warm or cool the area around them and that this set of continents is in between two of them. This is met by scorn and opposition by those who note that if the world went on forever, the sun would have to be infinitely far away to not hit it somewhere.
Lair history: The valley was cut long ago, by the mighty river, but the width of the cliffs, and it's orientation, allowed the sun to reach inside, and there bloomed a thriving ecosystem, where dark and light sit side by side. Giant spiders trap deer; soaring eagles catch fish. It is one of the largest rivers in the area, but being at the bottom of a valley meant there was little use for travel or trade, and so only a few communities lived there. They began to move or die off once larger, more mobile, creatures began calling it home.
Permanent Special Traits:
Head Regeneration (2 new heads for each old cut off [reapplication is allowed]. Maximum total supported is 11 heads at one time, past this point, if a head is cut off, only one regenerates), fire and ice prevent the head stump from growing a new head.
Selected Special Traits:
Aquatic Wings - Able to fly or swim at a high speed using it's wings.
Supplementary Gills - Able to breath underwater as a supplement to holding it's breath; it is not indefinite.
Opposable Thumbs - Curiously, having lost one of it's claws on the right forepaw, and two on the left, it grew back in such a way that it has what might be thought of as opposable thumbs.
Regenerative - Heals very quickly; lost limbs can be replaced in as little as three months. Small appendages and organs will grow with two, rather than one.
Overall name: Glados
Gender: female
Appearance: A white hydra with black markings along her body.
History: A hydra that just sort of appeared in the area and took the mountain for her home.
Lair: Murder death venom mountain- A volcano that is inactive for the most part there is still lava in the bottom.
Lair location: Bottom of the volcano.
Lair history: The volcano erupted and most of the sentient races left.
Permanent Special Traits:
Head Regeneration (2 new heads for each old cut off [reapplication is allowed]. Maximum total supported is 11 heads at one time, past this point, if a head is cut off, only one regenerates), fire and ice prevent the head stump from growing a new head.
Selected Special Traits:
Heat resistant- Can remain comfortable in the bottom of a volcano filled with lava.
Convincing- His hydra is very convincing.
Overall name:Clair
Gender:Female
Appearance:It matches the idea of a dragon, long tail, four legs, two wings, a red colour. The only thing that give away that it not is the six or so heads
History: A young, but lucky beast. Three times, hunters have seek it's death and three times Clair evaded without harm
Lair: Turning point, a out of place plains island in the middle of a swamp.
Lair location: The dark swamp, a place where necromancers and their slaves roam. Daybreak, a city that the headquarters of the holy order, Grave's sword.
Lair history: The man known as Grave River, who would go on to create the order, almost died in the swamp by the undead that were made for swamp battle. He found the island that would be later called Turning point and using the firmer ground, Grave survive the battle.
Permanent Special Traits: Head Regeneration (2 new heads for each old cut off [reapplication is allowed]. Maximum total supported is 11 heads at one time, past this point, if a head is cut off, only one regenerates), fire and ice prevent the head stump from growing a new head.
Selected Special Traits: Born lucky: Bad things that happen to Clair tend to have upsides as well. (E.G. if Clair fall off a cliff, she will most of the time land next to something nice like a meal or some treasurers, making up for the pain of the fall.)
Overall name: Timothy
Gender: Hermaphrodite (or Male, if that's not allowed again)
Appearance: A large, snakelike being. It has a thick body and many long, thin necks upon which perch many heads. While each neck and head is a solid color or a few, the body is covered in scales of all colors imagineable.
History: Timothy is a fairly young hydra, just over half a century. He's finally settled down in his lair.
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Lair: Unnamed Cave (names are given by terrified two-legs who need to tell people what to stay away from, not hydras who only have one anyways. Especially since the heads can't agree on what to name it.)
Lair location: The cave is in a large, rocky hill. Only the outer chambers are used by the hydra; the inner ones are still inhabited by the small band of kobolds who lived there before the hydra came. The hill is surrounded by swamps and is within a mile of a large lake and two of a major river; while only kobolds and anurans live particularly close, the river and lake mean the area is bustling with humans. The mouth of the river has one of the largest cities in the kingdom, named Grensvale after one of the deities worshiped by a tribe to settle here. The town is mostly humans, but a small conclave of elves set up a grove nearby, and another rocky hill on the far side of the river holds a dwarven outpost which mainly facilitates trade between dwarves and humans. Of course, the settlements all include goblins, anurans, and kobolds in the alleys, gutters, and sewers, some criminals and some merely homeless.
Lair history: The cave was formed with the world, and periodically inhabited mostly by a series of drakes and swamp wolf packs. A few decades ago, a small band of kobolds found it abandoned and set up camp within. A bit over a month ago, the hydra came along and took over the front several chambers. The kobolds rebuilt or retrieved their items, and have a new "village" deeper in the cave. They sneak out for food and such when the hydra is gone or sleeping.
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Permanent Special Traits: Head Regeneration (2 new heads for each old cut off [reapplication is allowed]. Maximum total supported is 11 heads at one time, past this point, if a head is cut off, only one regenerates), fire and ice prevent the head stump from growing a new head.
Special Traits:
Cutaneous Respiration: This hydra can breathe even when it is underwater or its mouths and nostrils are plugged up, as long as its skin is damp. However, due to the scales, this isn't as effective as using the hydra's lungs.
Chameleonic Hide: This hydra can change the color of its scales slightly. Mostly this is unconscious, to fit the temperature or the hydra's mood, but with concentration it can make the patterns and colors generally resemble the background or some other image.
Magical Charge: Magic used near or especially on the hydra can have interesting effects.
Overall name:Vitakinarihu
Gender:Male
Appearance:A massive Dragon-like beast with multiples of every body part! Has shining scales of Baige, and many many limbs!
History:We had just developped our Lair inside the swamp; after being hunted down by dangerous bswamp beasts
Lair: Swamp Lair, exists in a damp swamp; with deadly creatures
Lair location: (include nearby towns/mountain halls/etc. as well as significant features)
Lair history: Just created, is hole in swamp ground, is undisturbed by swamp beasts
Permanent Special Traits: Head Regeneration (2 new heads for each old cut off [reapplication is allowed]. Maximum total supported is 11 heads at one time, past this point, if a head is cut off, only one regenerates), fire and ice prevent the head stump from growing a new head.
Selected Special Traits: Silver Tongue, our voice is soothing to mortal creatures without anti-smoothness magic.
Winged:We has wings we use for capable flight
Overall name: Tnykuh (Al Bhed for Dragon)
Gender: Male
Appearance: Scales are big or small swaths or patches of different color scales, mismatched with out a pattern. Most common colors are blue, yellow, purple, and the shades of black and white. Scales are pretty smooth and shiny. Pretty pudgy.
History: Young and strong, this hydra has grown many heads early on in its life, and each one has an appetite, often causing it to consume vast quantities of food. Has gained enough fat that it can get stuck at funny times, and will float easily in mud that would get other hydra's trapped.
Lives pretty isolated, but not so in recent months.
Lair: A cave
Lair Location: The wall of a mountain, in a valley, on a tropical mangrove island.
Lair history: The hydra has come to live and hide here as its peaceful, few sentient other than tribal humans, elves, and a clan of dwarven refugees, who often pay the hydra for protection and to scare off goblins.
Permanent Special Traits: Head Regeneration (2 new heads for each old cut off [reapplication is allowed]. Maximum total supported is 11 heads at one time, past this point, if a head is cut off, only one regenerates), fire and ice prevent the head stump from growing a new head.
Selected Special Traits: protected around the belly
able to move around easily in watery environments.
Poll
2 (25%)
Author
Topic: You are the Head of a Hydra Series (OOC/Applications)(Potentially being revived) (Read 58049 times)