Needless to say, that this whole concept is CREEPY and is a huge goldmine of roleplaying opportunities. Its real power is its “blind song”, which makes everyone forget they ever saw it or anyone it has eaten. Stat-wise, it’s not exactly weak, but it just has a few basic bite and claw attacks.

If you’re a Doctor Who fan, the false hydra is basically “the silence” in D&D monster form. This town is the unwitting lair of a false hydra, and you’ve probably already seen it and forgotten about it a dozen times since you got here. In the morning, only the wife remains, and she claims she never married, she cries when you press her about it, and she doesn’t know why. You arrive at an inn run by a lovely married couple. Animals keep freaking out unexpectedly, you trip over seemingly nothing. Dozens of houses lie empty and dilapidated and everybody you ask says nobody ever lived in them. The town seems pretty big, but you don’t see nearly as many people as there should be. Imagine you walk into a small town everything seems alright except it’s a little off.

The false hydra is more than a monster to fight, it’s a paranoia inducing experience that will linger with your players forever so just sit back and try to retain your memories as we go through everything you need to know. Why did a homebrew critter get so much attention? Because it’s creepy, terrifying, and will completely screw with the minds of any party that has to face it. This creepy bugger has been tossed around quite a bit with a bunch of different versions and iterations, but you can thank a guy named Goblin Punch for the original idea from his article here. The false hydra is a fan made homebrew monster that gained quite a bit of popularity for evil Dungeon Masters.

5e homebrew