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The Sea Hag's Terrify Timing

Read the Sea Hag entry closely and the trigger is specific. Terrify fires when a creature first sees her true form, not when she acts, not when initiative rolls, not when she attacks. The save is DC 15 CHA, and failure imposes disadvantage. The hag’s attack is almost beside the point. Her face is the weapon.

Shapechange hands you the timing. A Sea Hag wearing a borrowed form imposes nothing. The moment of the drop is yours to pick, which means you can arrange for the party to meet her true shape at the instant it costs them most. Reveal her while she still looks like a drowning woman on the rocks, and no one saves against anything, because there is nothing yet to see.

So hold it. Let her approach disguised, let the party close, let someone commit, then drop the shape. Terrify resolves against a table that is already mid-swing, and the disadvantage lands on the roll they cared about.

At the table: The party corners a frightened fisherwoman; when a PC declares an attack or grab, reveal the true form first, then make everyone who can see her roll the DC 15 CHA save before the committed roll is made.

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