Innate Spellcasting. The hag's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: detect magic, magic missile
2/day each: plane shift (self only), ray of enfeeblement, sleep
Magic Resistance. The hag has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Claws.(Hag Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage.
Change Shape. The hag magically polymorphs into a Small or Medium female humanoid, or back into her true form. Her statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment she is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. She reverts to her true form if she dies.
Etherealness. The hag magically enters the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa. To do so, the hag must have a heartstone in her possession.
Nightmare Haunting (1/Day). While on the Ethereal Plane, the hag magically touches a sleeping humanoid on the Material Plane. A protection from evil and good spell cast on the target prevents this contact, as does a magic circle. As long as the contact persists, the target has dreadful visions. If these visions last for at least 1 hour, the target gains no benefit from its rest, and its hit point maximum is reduced by 5 (1d10). If this effect reduces the target's hit point maximum to 0, the target dies, and if the target was evil, its soul is trapped in the hag's soul bag. The reduction to the target's hit point maximum lasts until removed by the greater restoration spell or similar magic.
Yah, night hags are pretty scary.
Lore-wise, Planeshift+Night Haunt makes them a really big deal. They run entire layers of the Lower Plane, and go toe-to-toe with Pit fiends and Balors politically, despite either being able to squash them in about 2 rounds of combat.
Fascinating! Where can we read more about this lore?
That’s a great question. Night Hag lore is generally pretty scattered around, but if you look into the plane of Hades* and the soul trade, you should be able to find most of it. Soul “harvesting” is the hag’s speciality.
I think a few of the YT lore channels, like AJ Picket, have covered the matter pretty well.
*(correction: I wrote “Tartarus” initially.)
are night hags immune to the spell hold person?
For instance SPOILER ALERT
Curse of strahd: the night hags at the Mill. are the immune to hold person?
Yes, though that's only due to the fact that they aren't applicable targets for the spell. The spell hold person specifically states that the target must be "a humanoid that you can see within range". Humanoid is a creature type which does not apply to night hags; rather, as seen in their stat block, they are considered fiends. As such, the spell hold monster would need to be used to attempt to paralyze a night hag.
yep, the DM will often slightly change or power up an interesting monster to be a suitable threat to the party. they will just say night hag so you know what they look like etc. otherwise naughty pcs just look up all the monsters powers and meta game. also just because an average hag has mm, or an orc is +3 to attack, doesnt mean a specific one isn't way more powerful.
Can I get some clarification on the Etherealness ability? A night hag can use their Etherealness action as much as they want to go back and forth, plus they have 2 uses a day of plane shift? So they could shift to the Ethereal plane using either action and then use plane shift twice a day to take them to a specific location if they now the sigil sequence for a teleportation circle back on the material plane?
Something like that.
They would presumably use Planeshift to reach Planes that are inaccessible from the ethereal, like their native Lower Planes.
Since the Night Hag can cast Plane Shift, and plane shift can target an unwilling creature depending a failed save, can a Night Hag straight up send someone in the party to the lower planes effectively for good?
So just to clarify. If a player is attacked by the Night Hag's Nightmare Haunting and don't get the benefits of a long rest, does that also mean they suffer exhaustion or no?? Cause That seems really OP if that's the case.
Is nightmare haunting and soul mongering two separate abilities?
If so would soul mongering still be prevented by a protection from good and evil spell?
There is note after the innate Plane Shift that indicates that it is (self only) which indicates that they can only use their plane shift on themselves.
Ahhh,idk how I missed that. Thank you
I think, the point here is that, at the level you'd be facing a Night Hag, getting the Greater Restoration spell would involve a quest. I have personally ruled that a Night Hag can only haunt the nightmares of one PC at a time per night. So she either focuses on one in particular or she has to spread her efforts around the party. This would mean the other unaffected PCs would be desperately racing to find a Cleric of high enough level in some temple nearby to help them. And of course that Cleric wouldn't just do that for free...
In other words, it isn't broken if your DM turns it into a quest with a solution.
When a night hag kills someone by the soul trapping or soul mongering, is there a body left behind that could be resurected?
I summon the Council of DMs!
My players have tracked a (scaled up) night hag to the Plane of Dreams to finally vanquish her as she has been plaguing them since one PC's session 0...any ideas on how to make this extra-planar encounter extra-special?
uwu
You can just wake a character up who is having nightmares and the haunting is unsuccessfully. They have to be asleep for the whole 1hr duration.
There is counter play to the nightmare haunting design although is can be pretty strong since as you said the players likely have little chance of actually getting to the hags.
I feel they have a tonne of roleplay potential though and should be used as such.
The hag would rather the soul was evil before they kill, giving them the ability to come out and bargain with the characters for their lives is a much more hag way to seal the deal.
Would a creature that is being effected by nightmare haunting start making checks after multiple days to fight off exhaustion?l since it doesn't get benefits of its long rest?
Yes, the optional rule is after 24 hours without a long rest PCs start to make CON saves to avoid exhaustion. https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/xgte/dungeon-masters-tools#GoingwithoutaLongRest