The arch-hag, a CR21 monster that will arrive in the new Monster Manual, may be the most tilting boss fight in all of DnD. Wizards of the Coast revealed some of the Arch-Hag’s rules on Monday, and it’s positively lousy with counterspells, curses, and other ways to punish the players for having the temerity to turn up at the table and start rolling dice.
DnD classes that rely on spellcasting will particularly hate the arch-hag. The trouble starts as soon as they wake up: if a creature finishes a long rest within one mile of an arch-hag’s lair, then the Meddlesome Magic effect may cause their first spell of the day to backfire, potentially blasting them with the effects of the Confusion spell.
Things get even worse for ‘casters when the party actually confronts the arch-hag. As a reaction, it can use the Tongue Twister curse to cast Counterspell, provided the target is within 60 feet and visible to the hag. Being invisible won’t help you, as the arch-hag has Truesight. Even with the minor nerf to Counterspell in the updated DnD rules, this is going to ruin spellcasters’ days.
The pain doesn’t stop there. While under the effect of the Tongue Twister curse – which lasts until the end of the victim’s next turn – the afflicted character cannot cast DnD spells with verbal components. Any time they attempt to speak, they will say the opposite of what they mean, throwing the party into confusion.
That’s not the only curse this DnD monster is toting. As an action, it can project a Crackling Wave: victims who fail their save against it are cursed and cannot take Reactions until the end of the hag’s next turn.
Anyone afflicted by one of the arch-hags curses will be susceptible to its Witch Strike bonus action. This automatically deals lightning damage to any creature within 60 feet that it has already cursed.
Bringing this meddling monster down will not be easy. It has +16 initiative, giving it a good chance to act first in a fight and start hexing the party. It can cast Dimension Door at will, including as a Legendary Action once per round, letting it teleport 500 feet in any direction without even looking at the target location – it can simply nope out of a fight if it doesn’t want to be there.
And if you do, somehow, pin an arch-hag down long enough to batter it to death’s door, it will automatically make a Spiteful Escape. The hag immediately teleports to a demiplane with one HP remaining, where it will lurk for 2d6 days, nursing a grudge, before it can return to reality. When the hag makes its fateful exit, everyone within 60 feet is cursed – and what a curse it is.
The cursed creature has disadvantage on all ability checks and saving throws, and the hag knows exactly where they are, no matter where in the multiverse they travel. This can only be shifted by the Remove Curse spell or an equivalent effect!
There is one way to permanently kill an arch-hag – slaying it while it’s within 30 feet of its ‘anathema’. This is a unique vulnerability that stands either for everything that the hag hates, or is the total opposite of the hag’s corrupt magic. Hope you’ve got Legend Lore prepared so you can work out what the anathema is, because it could be almost anything.
The full statblock for the arch-hag will be published in the new Monster Manual, which hits the DnD release schedule on February 18.
While the new monsters previewed so far all look incredibly interesting and powerful, dungeon masters should check out Mollie Russell’s article about easily overlooked DM advice to really make the most of combat encounters. For players who fear what their dungeon master will do once they’ve got their hands on the new book, check out our guides to the DnD races and DnD classes to hunt for every scrap of advantage…
Source: Wargamer
