Have players bring about their own demise with the insidious offers of a hag.
Hags offer so much potential as ruthless negotiators, incredibly clever antagonists and uneasy allies. But like many of the most brilliant monsters out there, their plots can be hard to actually conjure up in our games. And not just that, but the classic hag tales are ones in which someone a little foolish enters a bargain we all know they shouldn't have. So we need the ability to come up with clever plots that our players don't automatically dismiss. This episode aims to give you the steps to do just that.
In The Strategy Stateroom, we go through five steps that should bring some pretty satisfying outcomes to your table.
1. Find a Target
The Hag has to find someone good to mess with. The best targets are groups or characters that see things as black and white, or have a strong sense of right and wrong, seeing themselves firmly planted in the "right" category. Then the hag finds two values to pit against each other. As a DM, you can draw from the flaws and bonds of your party, because a hag really enjoys getting people to fall victim to their own flaws.
2. Make a Plan
The Hag has to figure out the perfect juicy moral choice, where the character has to make the best bad choice. Either way, they're going to sacrifice something they care about. The hag would prefer if it's their own morals.
3. Disguise the Deal
We have to trick the party, at least for a bit, right? The hag has to use their mastery of disguise to impersonate a trusted NPC of some kind, presenting an offer the character can't refuse.
4. Disappear
Every hag tale needs the trademark "vanish and cackle" moment.
5. Repeat
The hag is going to keep at this target of theirs until their life is in complete tatters, or they hunt her down and stop her for good. Which she doesn't think will be anytime soon.
Then, because we know eventually the party is going to seek sweet revenge, we've got to plan ourselves an epic hag fight. We go through a few stages of combat and environmental changes you can take inspiration from, and with that, we think we've taken some of the intimidation out of using a hag in our games to incredible effect.
PeakcockDreams, DM Thunderbum, Marley R., Garr the Pirate, Timewarp, DangerousMarmalade, Zach G., NoMaam, Michelle T., Alan E., Felix R., Chris F., The Senate, Lucas D., Lyla G., The GM Tim, Nevermour, Thomas W., Tyler G., Ty N., Heavyarms, Erik R., Aldrost, Leprecan, Will H-P.