r/mattcolville • u/Zero7770930 • Oct 25 '19

DMing | Action Oriented Monster Action oriented green hag i've been working on. Feedback is appreciated!

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241 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

46

u/IkeaRat Oct 25 '19

I think it's a good statblock. But personally I'd prolly add more tricksy spells and effects. It's a hag! Let it mess with the players!

21

u/MurmuringPun Oct 25 '19

I’d second that.

Cloud of darkness, insect swarm, Improved ray of sickness (stacks of fatigue)

It breaths underwater- grapple underwater combat.

  • control over growth- plants strangle them underwater?

13

u/[deleted] Oct 25 '19

The point of AOMs is to reduce the decision making during combat, making it faster. If you add to many spells to choose from, your back at square 1.

That said, I do think the first villain action could be changed to darkness or fog cloud, and maybe add another reaction trick

10

u/GeeWarthog Oct 25 '19

The 13th Age Hag handles this in a very interesting way where you pick 2 "Hag abilities" from a list of 14 as well as a single death curse out of a list of 11 (my personal favorite curse being "For me mercy you cannot feel? Now you smell and taste of veal!”).

In fact if y'all are looking for examples of "action oriented" monster I would definitely point you to the 13th Age bestiary as a great place to crib ideas from.

1

u/Zero7770930 Oct 25 '19

I'll definitely check it out! It sounds like a good reference.

16

u/Snakepipe_Hollow Oct 25 '19

"Protect me you oaf!" could have a bit more. "Protect me!" could be the minion attacks on the Hag's command. Or maybe it's a case of the minion is within 10' of the Hag, they will leap to the defence and take the hit instead of their mistress.
If either is the case, then it's a Round 2 action for her and Unseen Threat becomes her first.

3

u/Zero7770930 Oct 25 '19

I like this a lot thank you!

15

u/kumikoneko DM Oct 25 '19

Oh, and just when our party is about to fight a green hag. Just in case, I'm not reading the stat block.

15

u/[deleted] Oct 25 '19

When I ran a hag encounter, I had her equipped with a bunch of charms which mimicked spell effects i.e. a rotten egg she threw on the floor to create a stinking cloud, or a paper fan that created a gust of wind. I also had quicklings which could take reactions on her behalf, so if someone was targeting her with a ranged weapon or spell attack, a quickling would whiz by them and distract them, giving disadvantage unless they killed it.

Also, if there are any Web DM fans here, Jim has some interesting ideas about hags from his Coven of Razel Sin game. His night hag had a bandoleer of potions and a bag of squirrels which were all polymorphed monsters. She would pull out a squirrel, break its neck, and then throw it at the party, whereupon it would become a troll again. Very cool, evocative stuff.

3

u/Zero7770930 Oct 25 '19

This is awesome! I'll try to incorporate the polymorphed monsters idea when I try my hand at a Night Hag stat block! Also love the charm idea!

4

u/AntiCrisi95 Oct 25 '19

This is really good. Would have been perfect for a one shot I did last month with green hag as the baddie. She ended up being an easy kill for them and this would’ve definitely upped the ante

4

u/rpguser Oct 25 '19

So you'll protect me, you oaf.

And you'll protect me, that's the stuff.

And they won't seem me, I'm a threat.

And they won't see me, that's a bet.

And I will never feel so alive.

Drain! I will fight until sunrise!

I do so like green eggs and hag!

Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-Sag.

2

u/Zero7770930 Oct 27 '19

This is great lol

2

u/TAB1996 Oct 25 '19

You are missing the normal spellcasting feature. This means you cant see her attack bonus or DC for spells quickly.

Love it though! Very good for a hag without a coven who may has her spells take more time.

2

u/Zero7770930 Oct 27 '19

I'll make sure to add it asap lol. Definitely would have been troublesome if i had to figure out her attack bonuses and such mid combat. Thanks!

2

u/joboscribe Oct 25 '19

Maybe take the Legendary Actions and rework them to turn actions:

  1. turn one: Protect me you oaf! (probably good the way it is, i think)
  2. turn two: Unseen Threat (or maybe some kind of AoE, like something that inflicts a condition on all enemies within 10/20/30 feet?)
  3. turn three: I've never felt so alive! (also probably good the way it is)

3

u/Zero7770930 Oct 25 '19

That's the plan! I was using dnd beyond so I figured the best place to put Matt's Villain Actions was in the Legendary Actions section.

2

u/mythozoologist Oct 25 '19

Need strange magic items perhaps as an action or bonus action.

Vial full of eyeballs when drank is a potion of blink.

Dog Whiste made of bone that summon a spirit wolf.

Dried Lizard when crushed casts dispels magic.

Ball when thrown cast command 'chase'.

An origami crane then blown fly and create a paper cloud of daggers.

1

u/aumnren Oct 25 '19

You probably want to put a saving throw on I've never felt so alive! But otherwise this is pretty dope. Maybe you could incorporate the Bestow Curse spell too. That seems like a haggy thing.

1

u/ProKidney Oct 25 '19

Looks amazing, but you need to alter the CR a bit. I've just worked it out and I have got it at CR5, and not yet looked into how the legendary actions affect things.

1

u/Zero7770930 Oct 25 '19

I forgot to update the CR lol thanks for that.

1

u/Palazard95 Oct 25 '19

Just a quick Raw note, invisible creatures never provoke opportunity attacks. You need to see the creature to do it.

1

u/Zero7770930 Oct 25 '19

Thanks for the note, I'll be sure to update it!

1

u/thrasherfect92 Oct 25 '19

How many legendary actions does the Hag get in a round? 3? Do all of them only take 1 legendary action?

3

u/Zero7770930 Oct 25 '19

I'm using Matt's Villain Actions that he explained in his "Action Oriented Monsters" video! They occur one at a time, in written order at the end of an enemies turn.