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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 8171047" data-attributes="member: 20323">I think this might be better phrased as a complaint against 5e monster design across the board, rather than specifically hags. Against seasoned adventurers, 5e monsters go down fast, and they lack the bite of AD&amp;D's monsters (all for good reasons unearthed during playtesting). One of the best ways to re-up their threat level is with holistic encounter design focusing on more than just the monster stats but using the terrain &amp; encounter objectives to make it more challenging &amp; engaging for the players.Yes, they are horrid and evil. Nightmare Haunting alone terrorized my party during our run of TOA until they devised a creative solution.Yes, they can cast bestow curse via Coven Spellcasting (sidebar in DMG -- they share spell slots, but cast on individual turns).Yes, if you want a single hag to be a direct combat challenge like Auntie Ethel in BG3 or Ravel Puzzlewell in PS:T, then you need to add stuff to what the hag can do. VGtM is a decent starting place, but I go beyond that when customizing &quot;solo&quot; / &quot;grandmother&quot; hags.And yes, there are ways to even make a green hag a challenge. For instance, if the party is separated due to an event and there's heavy patches of fog amidst a hazardous marsh with quicksand or pools of acid, the green hag could - while invisible - mimic the voices of fellow PCs to lure one into a hazard.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 8171047, member: 20323"] I think this might be better phrased as a complaint against 5e monster design across the board, rather than specifically hags. Against seasoned adventurers, 5e monsters go down fast, and they lack the bite of AD&D's monsters (all for good reasons unearthed during playtesting). One of the best ways to re-up their threat level is with holistic encounter design focusing on more than just the monster stats but using the terrain & encounter objectives to make it more challenging & engaging for the players. Yes, they are horrid and evil. Nightmare Haunting alone terrorized my party during our run of TOA until they devised a creative solution. Yes, they can cast [I]bestow curse [/I]via Coven Spellcasting (sidebar in DMG -- they share spell slots, but cast on individual turns). Yes, if you want a single hag to be a direct combat challenge like Auntie Ethel in BG3 or Ravel Puzzlewell in PS:T, then you need to add stuff to what the hag can do. VGtM is a decent starting place, but I go beyond that when customizing "solo" / "grandmother" hags. And yes, there are ways to even make a green hag a challenge. For instance, if the party is separated due to an event and there's heavy patches of fog amidst a hazardous marsh with quicksand or pools of acid, the green hag could - while invisible - mimic the voices of fellow PCs to lure one into a hazard. [/QUOTE]

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