My party is about to face a coven of Night Hags. (Hags gain special abilities when in a coven, meaning three allied hags near each other.) It seems like the party should be able to focus on one of the hags and break the coven fairly easily. If one of the hags were to use her action to go ethereal, is that a valid tactic to prevent the coven from breaking, or would it break anyway by virtue of one of the hags technically not being on the same plane?
[RPG] If one member of a Night Hag coven is in the Ethereal Plane, can the others use the Shared Spellcasting ability
dnd-5emonstersplanes
Related Solutions
While the succubus is in the ethereal plane, can you see her?
Yes, if you are on the ethereal plane and near enough to see her through all of the mists and such. If you are not on the ethereal plane -- no. The exception to that case is use of a device or spell that allows you to see into the ethereal plane. (The two spells true seeing & see invisible would apply, per SRD p. 198, and magical items like Robe of Eyes or Wand of Enemy Detection).
Does her charm ability works in the material plane while she is in the ethereal plane?
No. The ability to apply that effect does not specifically call out a cross planar capability. You could make the argument that when using an item to see into the ethereal plane, and be in telepathic contact with the succubus, she could charm you. That's worth discussing with your DM.
Note this from Beautiful Corrupters (MM p. 284):
Inevitably, the fiend enters the mortal realm in tempting form to directly influence a creature's actions.
This implies that for all of the RP potential in the previous passage about influencing a target to do things via dream suggestion, the succubus must cross the planar boundary in order to have direct impact on the character/creature. You might call the dream influence a preparation step.
Can she travel to the deep ethereal?
There is no reason why she can't, though whether or not she'd want to is a matter for the DM to derive.
Magic Circle and Protection from Good and Evil
If the Hag always finds the party about the same time of night, they could cast either in preparation for the hag to keep the Hag out. Protection would be better, as the Hag might forget to detect magic and waste the casting on an attempt to touch someone who is already protected.
Protection from Evil and Good is only an action to cast, so it can be cast easily even when the attack has started.
[W]hat does Magic Circle even do if you cast it on an area that already contains an excluded creature?
Traps the creature inside. The spell says:
When you cast this spell, you can elect to cause its magic to operate in the reverse direction, preventing a creature of the specified type from leaving the cylinder and protecting targets outside it.
So could trap the Hag -- but the problem here is that the casting Magic Circle takes 1 minute. Unless the DM allows you to hold completion of a spell similar to a ready action -- But that isn't RAW.
Oil of Etherealness
Applying the oil takes 10 minutes, and it lasts 1 hour. It will allow you to be on the ethereal plane. If you fight and break the touch the Hag, the Haunt attack is used for the day. If you secure the Heartstone, she can't get back to the ethereal plane, and if you kill the Hag, she'll be banished back to Hell.
Turn the Hag
Paladins of the Oath of Devotion's Turn the Unholy works when the Hags enters the material plane to attack.
Paladins of the Oath of Ancient's Turn the Faithless doesn't require Sight, if the Fey or Fiend hears the chanting they have to flee.
Paladins for the Oath of Vengeance can frighten a fey or fiend they see using Abjure Enemy.
Force Damage Won't Work, but Things of Force Do
A traveler on the Ethereal Plane is invisible and utterly silent to someone on the overlapped plane, and solid objects on the overlapped plane don't hamper the movement of a creature in the Border Ethereal The exceptions are certain magical effects (including anything made of magical force) and living beings.
However closer reading is that things made out of magical force hamper movement -- force damage doesn't pass through realms. This is made clear by a tweet from Jeremy Crawford:
https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/745062527118123009
No general rule causes force damage to pass from one plane of existence to another. #DnD
So while Magic Missle or Eldritch Blast won't help, the following will: - Leomond's Tiny Hut - Wall of Force - Force Cage
Wake the Sleeper Will Not Work
Originally I thought that waking the sleeper would work. I said:
Simple answer are typically missed.
Always keep one party member on watch. If someone always keeps watch (changing shifts so everyone gets full rest) they can look for party members having nightmares. Having a nightmare of terrifying images isn't a quiet thing -- ask any parent. Try putting the people with highest perception on watch at the times you're most vulnerable, like the middle of the night.
Once awake, the nightmare ends. If caught before an hour, the negative effects don't take hold. The ability only works on sleeping people on the material plane. The hags "Nightmare Haunting" is used up for for that 24 hours.
However, RAI based on this tweet from Mike Mearls, that isn't the way it works. The victim only has to be asleep to start the nightmare haunt, but waking doesn't end it.
Alarm Won't Tell You She's coming
I thought Alarm might give you some warning, but its effect appears to be limited to the material plane. (Unless you cast it while in the Ethereal?)
Related Topic
- [RPG] What happens when a Night Hag dies on the Material plane
- [RPG] At which point does Protection from Evil need to be cast to protect against the Nightmare Haunting of Night Hags
- [RPG] Can someone on the Ethereal Plane tell if someone on the material plane is a ghost
- [RPG] If one of the hags in a coven dies how is a hag eye affected
Best Answer
Yep.
Relevant text on the rules for the Border Ethereal found in DMG. pg 48 under Border Ethereal:
The Hags have a special magic effect that when they are within 30 feet of each other, they have access to certain spells. Since Etherealness is part of their actions and can be performed without expending spell slots, it's not unreasonable to assume they would have practiced this form of magic quite often to work together.
There doesn't appear to be anything preventing it. So long as the Hag's maintain the 30' prerequisite, they have access to the spells. The planes overlap, so all that matters is vicinity. This is why they would be considered a CR 7 as a coven (and especially if you have a Blastlock who can obliterate them on the Ethereal plane and force them apart anyways.)