The Elements Bind the Living into Elemental Aspects

The creatures within Dungeons and Dragons are what define the wider universe that we players love and appreciate. When an adventurer takes up arms and goes charging into the wilderness on the whim of a wealthy benefactor or the adventurer's guild, we take it all in good stride, ready to pursue, capture, and destroy the foul beasts of the wilds.

Certain monsters are iconic. Impossible to miss when leafing through a fantastical picture book, or narrated by a loving Game Master. This common nature between monsters is what keeps stories in this big fantasy genre so consistent, and one that draws readers and players like us back in every time.

The thing that makes for a new fantastical story is when the familiar takes a turn into something truly new. Making the unique out of what we can expect from the given tropes of fantasy fiction is what can really elevate your games of Dungeons and Dragons. As a Game Master, I seek to do this all the time with my layered and psychologically deep antagonists, and detailed NPCs, to give that high realism feel for a game full of magic and mystery. I bring my own spin on monsters too, to subvert those expectations and keep those games memorable.

The Hydra

A creature in fantasy fiction, that's technically as old as fantasy fiction itself, is that of the hydra. It was first told about in the myth of Hercules. Not just the Disney classic, but the Greek myth, which to be honest, is one of the first shots of fantasy fiction and has inspired the likes of Theros from Magic the Gathering and Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson novels. Greek Myth are some of the oldest and most enduring fantasy stories, and they gave us the hydra.

People are pretty familiar with the hydra at this point. A great, reptilian creature, sometimes with legs, sometimes a great long serpent. It has a long, snaking neck and a great fearsome face. It's usually found in the wild with many heads but is born with anywhere between one and five heads. When one head is cut off, two more take its place. That's what gave Hercules the trouble in the myth, but he did his best by cauterising the necks with fire to prevent them from regrowing.

We've seen how the hydra works in Dungeons and Dragons. It has that interesting mechanic of heads “dying” then regrowing in the classical double way. The whole myth around the hydra is that it does this if the head is cut off. The expansion of the lore to say that heads die from shock of it taking damage is a nice idea, and the best way to figure in the classic mythical element of the creature.

At the same time, this doesn't quite add up. It's different enough from the myth that some players I've played with have been genuinely confused as to why the hydra would act this way. It's so contrary to the myth.

the danger of a primal beast will always be a true terror - Invasive Hydravine by Kudos Productions

When I narrated the “death” of a hydra head, I would make it decidedly metal. The end of the slaying hero's turn, they'd see the head drop. Then they eyes would flash open again. The mouth would burst open as a pair of new jaws wriggle its way out of the throat, but a reversed set. The new bottom jaw clicks into place under the glowing eyes, while a new pair of even brighter eyes blinks open and a head forms around the old bottom jaw. The long, coiling neck splits and coats the party in a thick goo left behind by the transformation.

If we were to take that amazing, metal image away to favour things much more literally, I think the way a hydra would be prompted to regrow a head would be simply through slashing damage. Only when the hydra took significant slashing damage, from a sword, axe, or claws, then its neck would be weakened enough to regrow and regenerate in the way that it normally would.

In my own games, the hydra is an ancient breed of beast, that can be found across many green biomes, such as swamps and forests. In those places of raw magic, there can be a meeting of magical energies. Elemental hydras can come into being, bringing their own take of powerful primal vigour to the landscapes they inhabit.

Elemental Aspects

Elemental, magical energy can seep into the material world through gaps in reality that bleed into the planes of raw elemental chaos either through natural portals or the wild magic abundant in magical places such as a Manawood.

The magical creatures common within our own world may find such energies as this. In small or large doses, magical energy such as this can change the psychology and biology of the creatures that interact with it. In many cases, the energy is too great, and the visitor is destroyed. But in many other instances, the creatures are suffused with the raw power of elemental magic. It's a reaction like this that often brings Sorcerers into the world. It's also this manner of magical cataclysm that lead to the creations of elder elementals back in ancient times. The origin of creatures such as the phoenix and the leviathan trace back to the earliest days of the formation of the world. As time wound forth from those ancient days, the bird that is constantly reborn from the flames or the great turtle made of the earth has become so known with the four cardinal elements that every culture in the prime material world knows them and their ancient power.

A magical beast that has taken on the energies of raw magic changes completely, becoming more roaring flame or twisting whirlwind than flesh and bone. Its physical dimensions are the same, as are the memories and capabilities of its mind and soul. Many wonder whether that's because the body changes around the mind, and these monsters which normally cannot speak, have all the memories, beliefs, and soul inhabit the new body made of magical energy. Or, the opposite may yet be true, that the magic has absorbed and destroyed the original creature but all the memories are burned into the elemental magic. So instead of a hydra learning how to exist as an immense plant, it's a plant that's learning to be a hydra.

The Many headed east wind hunts its prey endlessly - Norsudovest by Edvan Soares

In my own writing, as we've seen a few times here on the Apotheosis Studios blog, I take the term Elemental in a very broad way. Things that marry together two different elements, though uncommon in the Dungeons and Dragons we all play at present, is something I use a lot in my monster building and story telling. I also include quite a few other things in the broad world of elemental magic. Ice and plants are the kinds of elemental energy that are hard to find in the worlds of elemental chaos, but they're powerful building blocks of the world we know.

I use hydras in this example, though any beast or monstrosity can become an Elemental Aspect. Their type changes from whatever their previous type is to Elemental. Damage they would deal matches the right type based on what they have absorbed.

The silhouette of the hydra, the long reptilian body and many many heads that loll around on long, serpentine necks. When suffused with elemental energy, claws and jaws bring the sting of flames or the poison of a deadly plant. That which makes a hydra truly a hydra is even more dangerous when filled with elemental energy.

The party of adventurers have trekked for hours across the dense jungle. They're exhausted and out of supplies, but the trees groan and crack under foot as an immense creature made of a great whirling creature made of spinning torrents of air. The spells and swords of the adventuring party charges up to attack the beast but as one of the tornadoes curling up forming a head would sever, and an explosion of rushing wind bursts forth and sends a shock wave of wind that staggers the party. A clash with a creature like this would lead to a dangerous encounter to say the very least.

Now we want to hear from you. What manner of elements do you foresee a hydra being made of? What other creatures would become elemental aspects in your games? Let us know in our discord server or in the comments below.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com, they write all kinds of gaming press, while they write news about the League of Legends Card Game on RuneterraCCG. On Youtube, they can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Find where they dwell by climbing their Linktree.