Assessing/Fixing my Super-hag BBEG

[HoboKnight]

Hey guys,
so I’m making a BBEG for my campaign and it’s a sort of super-hag. I’ve taken stats of a Iggwilw the Witch Queen from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight as a base(removed stat bonuses which are affected by her official-statblock items). I’d really appreciate the checkup of my statblock and a few more things:
- she has 1x legendary item, 1x very rare item in possession. Which items would be most optimal for her?
- What same level spells could be used to replace existing ones, to make her more effective? Thing is, this is centuries old creature and should be SUPERB at survival. Getting out of any jam. What spells could I use instead of existing ones to reflect that? Also, she is a hag. Perhaps her spells should be more hag-y?(not just Power Word Kill – or perhaps yes? charm person, hold person spells, shield, some fear spell?)
- Are, per her stats, spell attacks and save DCs ok?
Thoughts:
- she can be kited to death by anything with sufficient speed and longbow
- she can’t fly
- her mobility is … eeh
- most of her offensive lies in her spells
What other glaring weaknesses are there and how do we fix them?
Thank you :)

Sister
Medium Fey(Wizard), Chaotic Evil
Armor Class 14
Hit Points 255 (30d8+120)
Speed 30 ft
STR10(+0) DEX18(+4)CON18(+4)INT27(+8)WIS12(+1)CHA23(+6)
Saving Throws Int+14, Wis+7,Cha+12
Skills Arcana +20, History +14, Nature +14
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened
Senses truesight 60ft, passive Perception 11
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elvish, Infernal, Sylvan
Challenge 20(25,000XP) Proficiency Bonus +6
Boon of Immortality. Sister is immune to any effect that would age her, and she can't die from old age.

Legendary resistance (3/Day). If Sister fails a saving throw, she can choose to suceed instead.
Actions
Multiattack Sister makes two Bewitching Bolt attacks.
Bewitching Bolt. Melee or Ranged Spell Attack: +14 to hit. reach 5ft. or range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 25 (5d6+8) psychic damage, and if target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 22 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by Sister until the start of her next turn.
Abyssal Rift(Recharge 5-6). Sister opens a momentary Abyssal rift within 120 feet of her. The rift is a 20-foot-radius sphere. Each creature in that area must make a DC 22 Constitution saving throw, taking 40 (9dm) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. In adittion, there is a 50 percent chance that 3 hezrous then appear in an unoccupied spaces in the sphere. They act as Sisters’ allies, take their turns immediately after hers, and can’t summon other demons. They remain until they die or until Sister dismisses them as an action.

Spellcasting. Sister casts one of the following spells, requiring no material components and using Intelligence as the spell-casting ability (spell save DC 22, +14 to hit with spell attacks):
At will: detect magic, disguise self, invisibility, light, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, Tasha’s hideous laughter
3/day each: dispel magic, fly, polymorph
1/day each: maze, telekinesis, teleport, wish
BONUS ACTIONS
Fey step, Sister teleports, along with any equipment she is wearing or carrying, to an unoccupied space she can see within 30 feet of her.
REACTIONS
Negate Spell (2/Day). When Sister sees a creature within 60 feet of her casting a spell, she tries to interrupt it. If the creature is casting a spell, using a spell slot of 8th level or lower, its spell fails and it has no effect. If it is casting a 9th-level spell, it must succeed on a DC 22 Intelligence saving throw, or the spell fails and has no effect.
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
Sister can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Sister regains spent legendary actions at the start of her turn.
Witchcraft. Sister uses Spellcasting or Fey step
Dark Speech (Costs 2 Actions). Sister utters a phrase in a forbidden language and targets one or two creatures she can see within 60 feet of her. Each target must succeed on a DC 22 Wisdom saving throw or take 11 (2d10) psychic damage and be frightened of Sister for 1 minute. A target can repeat the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself and thereby becoming immune to Sisters’ Dark Speech for 24 hours.
Fey Beguilement (Costs 3 actions). Sister targets one creature she can see within 60 feet of her. The target must succeed on a DC 22 Charisma saving throw or be possessed by a fey spirit. While possessed, the target must obey Sisters commands. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, banishing the fey spirit and ending the effect on itself on a success.

[JackPhoenix]

I won't be checking the math, sorry, but if it's copied from an existing stat block, it should be fine (even if it's a stupid post 2020 stat block).

For being kitted to death, something to limit visibility or line of fire would help. Fog Cloud and Wall of Thorns are both pretty hag-y. Your main issue is concentration, but it's the new, bull**** stat block, just come up with something... using either as a lair (if appropriate) or legendary action could work.
She can fly through Polymorphing herself into a bird, but that limits her in other ways, it's more of a strategic option than something usable in battle. Still, it's thematic. Or you can give her Broom of Flying.
Between Polymorph movement modes and teleportation, she's reasonably mobile. If you want more survivability, consider giving her Misty Escape (level 6 archfey warlock), or improve her Fey Step... you may add invisibility like Misty Escape, increase range or some other trick.
I don't know what you are going for, but Abyssal Rift may not fit thematically. As it's a part of her damage output, consider changing the damage type and the summoned creatures into something more thematic.
It's fine if most of her offensive come from magic. Hags are pretty magical, and fighting in melee is for suckers and brutes. If she's a survivalist, she should know when to bail from a battle... likely at the first sign of trouble *she* didn't start.

Other suggestions would come down to encounter design and the area PCs will face her.

[Unoriginal]

Hey guys,
so I’m making a BBEG for my campaign and it’s a sort of super-hag. I’ve taken stats of a Iggwilw the Witch Queen from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight as a base(removed stat bonuses which are affected by her official-statblock items). I’d really appreciate the checkup of my statblock and a few more things:
- she has 1x legendary item, 1x very rare item in possession. Which items would be most optimal for her?
[...]
– or perhaps yes? charm person, hold person spells, shield, some fear spell?)
- Are, per her stats, spell attacks and save DCs ok?
Thoughts:
- she can be kited to death by anything with sufficient speed and longbow
- she can’t fly
- her mobility is … eeh
- most of her offensive lies in her spells
What other glaring weaknesses are there and how do we fix them?
Thank you :)


Hags are known for their weird flying vehicles and contraptions. You can go overboard with how awesome/silly this hag's flying machine is.



- What same level spells could be used to replace existing ones, to make her more effective? Thing is, this is centuries old creature and should be SUPERB at survival. Getting out of any jam. What spells could I use instead of existing ones to reflect that? Also, she is a hag. Perhaps her spells should be more hag-y?

Consider who this Hag is, and how her characterization can be expressed through combat.

Does she like hurting people herself? Tenser's Transformation and a suitably vicious weapon could make for a memorable fight.

Is she a coward? Thunder Step would serve her well.

Is she lazy and prefers minions to do her work? Animate Object, Tiny Servants, or the like can work.

Is she a metaphorical leech who takes everything she can from anyone she can, little by little? Vampiric Touch can be how that trait of hers expresses itself in combat.

Etc.

[da newt]

If she opens a rift 12' from herself that causes fire damage to everyone w/in 20' she will do her self harm. I don't know if that's a thematic choice ...

If you want her to be more survivable maybe change out misty step for stepping into the ethereal or maybe she regens like a lich or vampire or maybe she can only be perma-killed on her true plane of origin like a fiend ...

I'd expect a seasoned hag to divine/foretell the future (crystal balls and fates and whatnot) - maybe add a bit of that in there (foresight spell).

[Segev]

Make sight lines and angles of fire keep anybody fighting her in range of her own attacks.

Giving her a flying mount/magic device (Baba Yaga's mortar and pestle, for example) that can keep up with kiters would not be remiss, but most BBEGs are fought in their lairs because they're up to something the PCs want to thwart, rather than being a chasing presence the PCs must flee.

Give her minions. A wraith or five may or may not be overkill, but consider the following: Life Drain reduces maximum hp, and if it reduces it to 0, it instantly slays the target. No death saves. No - for example - turning back into their native form. Turning people into newts and toads is on brand for a hag. Turning people into low-max-hp beasts that a wraith can reduce to 0 max hp with a single, easy-to-hit attack is a deadly, deadly combo.

Specters in the form of frogs littering her lair would be a good secondary suite of minions, too, and hint strongly at the danger.

Hags also traditionally operate in covens; if she's a super-hag, she should have at least a coven with two normal "sisters" in it. You could commingle one of the hags and the wraith if you wanted. If you want to skip the frog-specters, having one of the hags have a bite attack that reduces max hp because she chomps off parts of the body, and reducing max hp to zero insta-kills because she fully consumes the creature (destroying the body), would also work. You'd want to have that hag be shown constantly putting living frogs and other such critters whole into her mouth to devour them in order to forecast this to the party. Possibly emphasizing ahead of time the propensity to turn people into such things, and let them draw their own conclusions when they see her bowl full of tiny beasts.

Night hags can shift back and forth to the Ethereal, too, which can be really annoying for parties to deal with if she can slip out of it out of sight, so she can get a new angle of attack. Makes kiting her a lot harder.

[Ionathus]

What level are your players? Based on CR, I'm assuming they're at least Tier 3 (level 11+)

Offensively, the numbers (to-hit, damage, save DC) seem fine. A little lackluster on options, maybe - unless the Fey Beguilement succeeds in Round 1, she's going to be hurting for action economy.

Defense is your main problem. At AC 14 against any Tier 3 PC, every attack is going to hit her. Not a problem on its own -- but with only 255 HP, low mobility, no guaranteed minions, and no reliable ways to mitigate damage, it's not going to take a lot of attacks. As statted, I give her one round, maybe two if your PCs get unlucky.

If this is a BBEG, the final fight should be a gauntlet of challenges to even get close to her. My advice is to find ways you can play into the hags' deception, trickery, and illusion vibes. She should be able to conceal herself, disappear in response to damage (the Xanathar gnome feat "Fade Away" is an option), move around the battlefield. They're facing her in her own lair, right? There should be traps, minions, contingencies. Hags are paranoid and conniving. Punish the PCs for facing her on her own terms (or remove obstacles as a reward if they managed to force her out of her comfort zone).

[HoboKnight]

Allrighty. SOO MUCH good input. Thanks to all.

@JackPhoenix
Why are post-2020 stablocks "stupid"?
Fog enables disatvantage to attacks, which, for good to-hits is still "meh". Wall of thorns may block line of sight, but it's just 120 ft away(longbow is 600ft) and PC can easily fly out of it.
Broom of Flying is an option(instead of Very rare item)
Misty Escape is a warlock-specific ability. Within constraints I have set up(only REPLACING existing spells), I can't do that.
Boosting Fey Step is again... it screws with CR and I'm totally against "just making stuff up".
Thatswhy I'm asking about spell replacements and giving only 2 item options by rarity(Very Rare, Artifact)

@Unoriginal:
Hag is part of a small coven, they are like demigods with massive(highly secretive) following in many planes. They slowly corrupt smaller settlements and have them eventually teleported into their demiplane, where the last corruption and destruction of adults and children takes place.
Thunderstep is a pretty cool idea, Vampiric touch too.


@da_newt
Fixed the range to 120 ft(I made a typo when rewriting the stats). Foresight is a really cool idea instead of Wish.

@Segev
Mortal and Pestle is an awesome idea for an artifact. There will be hordes of minions, but with tier3 PCs(Lvl11+) I doubt they will be significant in any way.

@Ionathus
Is there a way to fix defence with any spell/magic item? There will be minions, but I'm sure our Tier3 will focus fire like crazy.

Editable options we have:
adding 1x Artifact(Mortar and pestle seem perfect choice)
adding 1x Very Rare (something to increase AC?)

spells, we can replace(must be same level):

- Detect Magic: 1st level
- Disguise Self: 1st level
- Invisibility: 2nd level
- Light: Cantrip (no spell level)
- Mage Hand: Cantrip (no spell level)
- Message: Cantrip (no spell level)
- Prestidigitation: Cantrip (no spell level)
- Tasha's Hideous Laughter: 1st level
- Dispel Magic: 3rd level
- Fly: 3rd level (Thunder Step?)
- Polymorph: 4th level
- Maze: 8th level
- Telekinesis: 5th level
- Teleport: 7th level
- Wish: 9th level (Foresight?)

[JackPhoenix]

Why are post-2020 stablocks "stupid"?

Enough has been said about that when WotC revealed their design philosophy for the new monsters, I don't want to repeat all those arguments.


Fog enables disatvantage to attacks, which, for good to-hits is still "meh". Wall of thorns may block line of sight, but it's just 120 ft away(longbow is 600ft) and PC can easily fly out of it.

Fog enables disadvantage to attacks IF they are attacking the correct space in the first place. They can't see the hag anymore, they have to guess her position (or determine it based on other senses, if that's possible at all). And you don't cast the wall on the PC if they are attacking from a distance, you cast it around yourself to get yourself some full cover.


Misty Escape is a warlock-specific ability. Within constraints I have set up(only REPLACING existing spells), I can't do that.
Boosting Fey Step is again... it screws with CR and I'm totally against "just making stuff up".

Misty Escape is an archfey patron ability. Hags can serve as an archfey patron. And no, boosting Fey Step isn't messing with CR, CR does not cover mobility, only damage output and defenses. And as for making stuff up... that's part of the reason why the new monster blocks are stupid, because they have random bull... ahem.... abilities. The "I-can't-believe-it's-not-a-Counterspell" and "not-a-Misty-Step" from the stat block are shining examples.


@Ionathus
Is there a way to fix defence with any spell/magic item? There will be minions, but I'm sure our Tier3 will focus fire like crazy.

Funnily enough, in the light of your previous concerns, changing spells *does* screw with CR, if it results in change in damage or defensive stats.

[Ionathus]

Misty Escape is a warlock-specific ability. Within constraints I have set up(only REPLACING existing spells), I can't do that.
Boosting Fey Step is again... it screws with CR and I'm totally against "just making stuff up".

Forgive me if this seems aggressive but...why? Why are you giving yourself such arbitrary rules about what changes to this statblock are "allowed" and what changes constitute "making stuff up"? The DM's job is to "make stuff up" in service of a memorable experience. You "make stuff up" every time you decide what number of monster XYZ to include in a fight, every time you position something a certain distance away from your PCs, every time you pick a magic item to introduce into the campaign.

Official statblocks can be a useful starting point to give you a general idea of a similar-CR monster's abilities, but they are not by any means a requirement. By the time of Tier 3, balance is a nearly meaningless concept anyway. Giving your BBEG a single (minor) Warlock ability because it's flavorful and makes the fight more dynamic is definitely not going to throw off whatever shred of "balance" remains.

Many official statblocks are downright boring & unbalanced as all hell. CR is a laughably underbaked system in 5e and it does not deserve your loyalty :smallcool:


@Ionathus
Is there a way to fix defence with any spell/magic item? There will be minions, but I'm sure our Tier3 will focus fire like crazy.

I don't believe in building boss monster statblocks according to the same rules as the PCs, and especially not restricting myself to RAW magic items; far more important to me as a DM is having a boss monster that can create unique and memorable challenges. I have ridden the same train of thought you're on before: I tried to base the fight on only "official" statblocks and magic items, and that approach led to fights that took substantial prep work for me to "justify" by the rules...but were ultimately not very interesting for my players.

I'm not saying you should adopt his design philosophy completely, but I think Matt Colville's video on action-oriented monsters for boss fights (https://youtu.be/y_zl8WWaSyI) is a good summary of where I stand on the role of creativity in memorable boss fights, and how stepping outside the "allowed" rules can improve everyone's experience.

But if you're absolutely hell-bent on using purely WotC-written statblocks and magic items, then my only advice is to find some combo of items and spells that give Sister:

50% more damage mitigation at bare minimum (either another 120 HP or some sort of equivalent resistance/immunity/healing)
Mobility features that either allow her to move freely around the battlefield (invisibility, Misty Step, a magic broom) or a method of impeding the heroes' progress (which, at Tier 3, good luck with that one :smallsigh:)
A way of increasing her current actions per round by at least 2x and maybe 3x. Reliable bonus actions, dependable minions, and a more interesting spell list that can cause chaos and impede the heroes or inflict status effects.

[HoboKnight]

@Ionathus
Thank you. Thank you indeed.

Its just that I had A HORRIBLE experience with homebrew. Things got SO OUT OF HAND I had to fudge so hard(and players detected this) it took all the feeling of accomplishment out for them. Or... they did a ROFLSTOMP. Given these very bad experiences, I try to take monster statblocks as they are and edit things within these frames.

And I really appreciate your advice.

[Segev]

Allrighty. SOO MUCH good input. Thanks to all.

@JackPhoenix
Why are post-2020 stablocks "stupid"?
Fog enables disatvantage to attacks, which, for good to-hits is still "meh". Wall of thorns may block line of sight, but it's just 120 ft away(longbow is 600ft) and PC can easily fly out of it.
Broom of Flying is an option(instead of Very rare item)
Misty Escape is a warlock-specific ability. Within constraints I have set up(only REPLACING existing spells), I can't do that.
Boosting Fey Step is again... it screws with CR and I'm totally against "just making stuff up".
Thatswhy I'm asking about spell replacements and giving only 2 item options by rarity(Very Rare, Artifact)I get from your later post why you're hesitant to homebrew your monsters, but consider that CR calculations are there for you to see where your changes put things. DMs are supposed to homebrew and modify monsters.



@Segev
Mortal and Pestle is an awesome idea for an artifact. There will be hordes of minions, but with tier3 PCs(Lvl11+) I doubt they will be significant in any way. Give the hags the ability to, as a legendary action, designate a minion to take their damage for them, until the minion is dead.

Arm the minions with crossbows that fire witch bolts using the hags' spell attack bonus, and have them ring the hags at a couple of intervals; the weakness of witch bolt is well known, but when they have to focus down the guys keeping it on them or move out of the range of several of them, it becomes a form of battlefield control.

Hordes of minions WILL hit the PCs a fair bit, too; quantity is a quality all its own, especially with D&D 5e's bounded accuracy.

Give some minions nets. Read the net rules, and think about what a "horde" of minions with nets does to the party's ability to maneuver and attack.


@Ionathus
Is there a way to fix defence with any spell/magic item? There will be minions, but I'm sure our Tier3 will focus fire like crazy.

Editable options we have:
adding 1x Artifact(Mortar and pestle seem perfect choice)
adding 1x Very Rare (something to increase AC?)

spells, we can replace(must be same level):

- Detect Magic: 1st level
- Disguise Self: 1st level
- Invisibility: 2nd level
- Light: Cantrip (no spell level)
- Mage Hand: Cantrip (no spell level)
- Message: Cantrip (no spell level)
- Prestidigitation: Cantrip (no spell level)
- Tasha's Hideous Laughter: 1st level
- Dispel Magic: 3rd level
- Fly: 3rd level (Thunder Step?)
- Polymorph: 4th level
- Maze: 8th level
- Telekinesis: 5th level
- Teleport: 7th level
- Wish: 9th level (Foresight?)
Use disguise self to hide as one of the minions. Have a minion with a Hat of Disguise (or similar hag-created item) that makes the minion look like the hag. Use maze on the Big Dumb Fighter or on the low-Int caster (if there is one) that is causing the most trouble.

Make a trap door invisible so they can see the trap beneath it, but also don't know there's a trap door there. When they test it and find it's solid, they might think the trap is the illusion. Open the trap door once they're past. Make this lead to somewhere with cool treasure and a decent fight, but not the hag herself. Then give them an easily-escaped trap that they need to flee from to escape, so they run back across the "illusion" of a now-open trap in the floor and fall right in.

Consider replacing telekinesis with Bigby's hand; it's a generally better combat spell that covers much the same use cases.

And do NOT underestimate how potent Tasha's hideous laughter can be. Use it on a troublesome character you want to miss at least one turn and have dog-piled by melee minions.

[Ionathus]

@Ionathus
Thank you. Thank you indeed.

Its just that I had A HORRIBLE experience with homebrew. Things got SO OUT OF HAND I had to fudge so hard(and players detected this) it took all the feeling of accomplishment out for them. Or... they did a ROFLSTOMP. Given these very bad experiences, I try to take monster statblocks as they are and edit things within these frames.

And I really appreciate your advice.

Thanks for your answer, it really helps me to see where you're coming from. I'm sorry to hear about your last experience homebrewing: I've definitely had times like that on a smaller scale and it can really stink to feel like you miscalculated and "spoiled the fun," so to speak.

If homebrew is a tricky balancing act for you, then starting from an established-CR statblock is a good move. Ultimately, a bit of mobility and tankiness isn't going to be what pushes that statblock over the edge one way or another, so you should be fine.

My best advice is to just keep trying. The more you homebrew and tweak your monsters, the better a sense you'll get for what changes are fun and flavorful and which are "too big" and swing the fight to one extreme or another.

Also keep in mind: minions and terrain challenges are your friend. I can't tell you how many times I've fought a single homebrewed boss monster on a flat square battlefield, and how badly almost every monster fares in that environment no matter how many homebrew tweaks you make to it. Including some minions, terrain, traps, and just other things to do can really smooth out a ton of the wrinkles and give you some buffer space to play with. Taking all the focus off of your single BBEG will drastically cut down on the "swinginess" of the fight...which will hopefully take some pressure off of your statblock-tweaking process!

[Segev]

Also keep in mind: minions and terrain challenges are your friend. I can't tell you how many times I've fought a single homebrewed boss monster on a flat square battlefield, and how badly almost every monster fares in that environment no matter how many homebrew tweaks you make to it. Including some minions, terrain, traps, and just other things to do can really smooth out a ton of the wrinkles and give you some buffer space to play with. Taking all the focus off of your single BBEG will drastically cut down on the "swinginess" of the fight...which will hopefully take some pressure off of your statblock-tweaking process!

Yeah, in particular remember that, if she's a Night Hag, she has free access to the Ethereal plane as a place to retreat. Put a caster minion or few in the Ethereal who can cast healing spirit, and when she spends an action to retreat to the Ethereal, she can actually garner healing while there, as opposed to JUST using it to run and hide. When she spends an action to return, have her do it in a place hidden from view. She doesn't need to actualy be all that stealthy as long as there's enough going on that appearing around the corner of a hallway off the side of the battle chamber is enough not to be noticed.



As a side note, the hags in Tomb of Annihilation are great for inspiration as to how to make hags creepy without necessarily altering their stat blocks all that much, if at all. One of them is noted to use ants as her spies. When she's nearby in the ethereal, then, I had ants be visibly present in increasing number, until everything was crawling with them. The party learned to HATE any description that included bugs in the jungle, asking if the were, specifically, including any ants.

Think about the way the hag's foul presence might taint her surroundings even temporarily. Think about what powers she might have that manifest as strange and twisted pets, or phenomena, or residues.

[da newt]

I imagine an ancient hag's lair and a hoarder's house would have many similarities. Think nic-nac / trash maze with plenty of traps and secret passages and dead cat corpses and bits and pieces of various foes and people who have made deals and stacks of old newspapers and ... So many turns and 5' wide passages and mirrors / illusions, etc etc - it's the absolute worst place for combat. No LOS, no room to maneuver, so much home field advantage.

Add this to easy access to the ethereal plane and this is an absolute house of horrors.