Hags are among the most popular monsters in D&D, because they are the ultimate wicked witch character. These Fey creatures are among the cruelest and most vindictive in the multiverse, but they tend to prefer to do things subtly.
Despite their iconic natures, the 2014 Monster Manual caps out in terms of challenge with the CR 5 Night Hag - the one type of Hag that isn't even a Fey anymore, as it's associated more with the lower planes (though I also think of these as being the Hags you're most likely to encounter in the Shadowfell as well).
However, the new Monster Manual gives us a far deadlier Hag - the Arch-hag. Among the famous-beyond-D&D characters this is said to represent is Baba Yaga herself, so you know we're talking something particularly harrowing.
Generally speaking, I think the best use for Hags is always going to be one in which they aren't necessarily just random monsters to fight, but are truly NPCs to deal with. Hags, about to the same degree as Devils, love ensnaring mortals into deals that bear unforeseen consequences, though while a Devil's endgame is basically always to corrupt a mortal to evil and drag their soul to the Nine Hells, a Hag might seek for more varied and diverse plots. Even if they're all about sowing misery, they are likely more interested in bringing about ironic tragedies and imposing a kind of buyer's remorse on anyone who deals with them.
That being said, I also think a Hag need not truly be an antagonist. Hags, as I see it, get a lot of their power by being wildcards. They are a concentration of power that owes no allegiance to anyone, and thus is poised to play off two foes against one another and benefit from both.
In the lore of the Feywild, the opposing Summer and Gloaming Courts are all populated by "beautiful" Fey creatures, which Hags are basically definitionally not counted within. Thus, if the party finds themselves needing to defeat an Archfey of either court (more likely the Gloaming, but the Summer Court isn't inherently good either) they might need the assistance of an Archhag.
But, wicked witches that they are, there's certainly a strong chance that the party might need to face one down in combat.
This will be tricky, because an Arch-hag, like Liches and other powerful creatures, has an escape clause against death. Each Arch-hag has an Anathema, which is a particular object or thing in general that they hate more than any other, and unless they are within 30 feet of their Anathema when they are reduced to 0 hit points, they survive and are teleported to a harmless demiplane for about a week. Thus, to actually kill one of these things for real, you need to know its Anathema.
Now, I want to get into the stat block itself, but before we do, I want to talk Covens.
Hags get access to additional utility spells while in a coven with at least two other hags. I've generally imagined these covens as being composed of the same kind of hag, though I suppose there's nothing really requiring that. Indeed, by using different hag types for each member, you can give them all more distinct personalities.
If you want a profoundly powerful coven in which all three members are Arch-hags, you might find yourself with a profoundly overtuned encounter even for 20th level characters, because Arch-hags are CR 21. In their lair, they're worth 41,000 XP apiece (and I think hags in general are more likely to be encountered in their lairs,) so if you had three of them together, that's a total XP budget of 123,000, which is north of High difficulty even for 5 20th-level players.
I'd also consider that I usually don't like to have more than one legendary monster per encounter.
On their own, an Arch-hag in its lair actually makes for a moderate/high encounter for 16th level characters, so they could serve as a tier 3 endgame boss.
Still, I think any hag worth their salt is going to probably have lots of minions. An Arch-hag might form a coven with lesser hags, though the Night, Green, and Sea Hags are all going to be way, way lower in terms of difficulty. Given that Coven Magic is all really more utility spells, though, I could see the coven only convening when they need to, say, perform a Scrying spell.
Good options for Arch-hag minions might be various kinds of golems (especially if flavored as kind of wicker-man monsters) or plants like Tree Blights. Goblinoids would make for a good army in service to an Arch-Hag (especially given how they, like Hags, would be excluded by the Courts) though I think only the highest-level ones, like the Hobgoblin Warlord, would work well as personal bodyguards (the kind of creatures you'd find in an actual fight with an Arch-hag).
Hags are also masters of magic, so they might employ fiends or other extraplanar creatures.
Now, let's talk about the stat block.
Arch-hags are all about Curses, which means that the Remove Curse spell can be a really powerful tool when confronting one.
Again, defeating one of these without its Anathema nearby (and the Arch-Hag will likely work hard to be far from said Anathema if they see it) places an indefinite curse on the target that gives disadvantage on all ability checks and saving throws, while also letting the Arch-hag know where they are (and thus prepare their vengeance).
The Arch-hag has a hybrid melee/ranged attack roll called Spectral Claw, which has a +14 to hit and deals 17 average damage as well as knocking Large or smaller creatures prone. Their multiattack does this twice and then Crackling Wave, which is a 60-foot cone that deals 32 damage on a failed DC 22 Dex save, or half on a success. But with a failure or success, the target gets Cursed until the end of the hag's next turn, preventing them from taking reactions.
Consider this: no recharge, and regardless of whether you save or not, you get cursed. Basically, the only way to avoid this is to ensure that you and your party are spread out enough not to all get hit with the cone. The curse only lasts a round, but it means that in all likelihood, you'll probably be cursed and unable to use reactions more often than not.
Now, speaking of curses - they have a bonus action that automatically does 14 average damage to anyone cursed.
Arch-hags also have a reaction called Tongue Twister, which both Counterspells a spell (DC 22) and on a failed save puts another curse on the target until the end of its next turn, which prevents casting spells with a Verbal component (which is nearly all of them) and, perhaps more flavorfully than mechanically, also causes the creature to say the opposite of what it means.
The Arch-hag just has two legendary actions. Hag's Swipe just allows them to make a Spectral Claw attack, while Malicious Magic allows them to cast Dimension Door or Hypnotic Pattern, both of which they have At Will in their spellcasting feature. They also get Mass Suggestion, Modify Memory, and Plane Shift once a day, plus Detect Thoughts and Dispel Magic as other at-will spells.
Generally, I think they should save their spellcasting for this legendary action (which they can only use once per round) and focus on their Multiattack for their own turns.
With an AC of 20 and 333 HP, even sustained melee damage will still take a pretty long time to take them down - and I think a legendary-action Dimension Door is likely to come if you get them bloodied, perhaps giving them the time to then Plane Shift to truly get the hell out of there.
Given how many tricks these guys have up their sleeves, I do think a trio of Arch-Hags would be overkill or an implicit message to your players that you don't want these NPCs to die. In a lot of ways, these feel like they follow the MCDM philosophy of being "action oriented monsters," given that they can effectively do 8 things a round - two attacks, one AOE, a bonus action, a reaction, and three legendary actions.
Much as I might be champing at the bit to throw these at a party as a monster to fight, they probably work best as NPCs, as described above. That being said, discovering an Arch-hag's anathema might be a fun quest for the party to go on - perhaps they fight one of these at level 16, but wind up getting cursed by the Spiteful Escape, and then the party must journey across the multiverse to discover the anathema while they're in tier 4.
Anyway, I think this is one of the coolest new monsters to come out of the book, and really lives up to its potential.
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