Friday, September 18, 2020

New Abilities for Hags in D&D 5E

 I've been thinking a lot about Hags lately. They are one of my favorite monsters from 5E, but I think they could be even better with the addition of a few more interesting abilities.

First, I think they should be able to cast certain spells as a ritual. Polymorph, fly, bestow curse, disguise self, and alter self come to mind. Perhaps this could only be possible with a coven's shared spellcasting feature. They would no doubt need some pretty dark and obscure spell components to complete these rituals. A tooth from a sentient being (freely given), the first oak leaf of autumn to change color and fall naturally from the oldest tree in a forest, stuff like that. This is admittedly mostly just for flavor, but I'm all about flavor. Collecting these spell components (particularly those that come from the villages the hag lives near and torments) can be used to drive story, create adventure hooks, and sow conflict.

I also like the idea of something like this:

Curse Attack (1/Day).  When a weapon attack is made against the hag that would hit, the hag can use its reaction to have that attack instead hit the creature making the attack, regardless of the attacker's AC.

So a crossbow misfires or a sword swings wide and catches the wielder in their own leg as the hag laughs. This could really mess with the PC's heads, as experienced players won't expect it. Imagine if the hag uses this ability on the first attack made against it. The players are now wondering: "Is this going to happen every time? Should we even attack this thing?!?" Making characters worry and doubt themselves is what roleplaying a hag is all about.

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