Fey

## Overview

***Fey*** are magical creatures closely tied to the forces of nature. They dwell in twilight groves and misty forests. In some worlds, they are closely tied to the Feywild, also called the Plane of Faerie. Some are also found in the Outer Planes, particularly the planes of Arborea and the Beastlands. Fey include dryads, pixies, and satyrs.

# Hags

## Hags: Dark Sisterhood

> *The hags put a spell on me, three times three, and made me their slave for a thousand days. I was a young fool, ’tis true, but those were dark days.*
>
>
>
> —Elminster
>
>
>
>
>

Hags are crones who represent corruption of Ideals and goals, and they delight in seeing the innocent and good brought low. They are inhuman Monsters, their forms twisted by evil. Shapechangers and blasphemers, they ally with other hags to form magical covens with extra powers. They collect and remember Secret knowledge that is better lost and forgotten. Desperate mortals come to them looking for advice, only to have their requests fulfilled in ways that bring great suffering to themselves and their loved ones.

## Ugly, Unpredictable, and Old

Hags are mysterious, unfathomable, and dangerous, especially from the viewpoint of mortals. One day a hag might be stealing and eating children that wander into the woods, on another day she might be making lewd jokes to adventurers asking her for advice, and the next she might be uprooting saplings to make a fence around her home for impaling intruders. It is nearly impossible to predict how a hag will act from day to day, sometimes moment to moment, which is why folk with any Wisdom at all give hags a wide berth.

Hags perceive ugliness as beauty, and vice versa. They revel in having a hideous appearance and sometimes go out of their way “improve” upon it by picking at sores, wearing skins and bones as decoration, and rubbing refuse and dirt into their hair and clothing.

Because both the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court appreciate and revere true beauty among the fey, hags are almost never found in either place. The Summer Queen and the Queen of Air and Darkness recognize that hags have valuable knowledge and impressive magic, but they can’t abide the stain on the beauty of their surroundings, so most hags are excluded from both courts. The rare few accepted as courtiers are either so influential that their entry can’t be refused, or young and humble enough to be willing to use magic to put on a prettier appearance. Other hags aren’t upset by their exclusion; they like to be left alone to their own schemes, not constrained by a fey queen’s whims, and to be able to talk out of both sides of their mouths.

Hags are virtually immortal, with a life span greater than that of even Dragons and elves. The oldest, wisest, and most powerful hags are called “grandmothers” by other hags. Some grandmothers are nearly as powerful as some of The Archfey.

Hags of lower but still respectable status are called “aunties.” An auntie gains her status from being very old, a member of a powerful coven, directly serving a grandmother, or having many offspring (whether adopted or birthed).

## Master Manipulators

Hags delight in corrupting others. They do so not by imposing their will or being outwardly violent, but by making sinister bargains with those who seek their aid. This desire to orchestrate the downfall of others is why so many hags make their homes near humanoid settlements, which gives them a ready supply of creatures to tantalize and torment.

Folk with nowhere else to turn are some of a hag’s best customers. A farmer with a philandering spouse might seek out the local hag for a potion to make the spouse faithful again. The mayor with a demented father might ask the hag for something that makes him lucid again. A merchant whose child is deathly ill might go to the hag for a cure. The Common element in these situations is that the mortals approach the hag for help; despite knowing that she is evil and dangerous, they are desperate enough to risk making a bargain with her, or foolish enough to think they can persuade her to be helpful without getting something in return.

Hags make bargains differently from how devils operate. A devil might approach a mortal to make a deal because it wants the individual to become tainted with evil, so that when the victim dies its soul goes to the Nine Hells. Hags are usually content to wait and conduct their own business, allowing mortals to come to them when the perceived need is great enough. Instead of being interested in a mortal’s soul, a hag wants to bring the mortal low during its life as compensation for fulfilling her end of the bargain. Devils barter with the soul as the commodity; hags barter because they enjoy making people miserable. Night hags, as fey turned Fiends, use aspects of both methods—corrupting a mortal’s dreams until the creature commits enough evil acts that she can claim its soul.

As much as she enjoys offering and enforcing her bargains, a hag rarely goes out looking for people to make deals with because she knows that someone coming to her puts her in a position of power. The visitor likely had to approach the hag in Secret for fear of causing an uproar in town, and is probably eager to return home before being missed, which adds time pressure to the process and tips The Balance more in the hag’s favor. All these factors contribute to the hag’s being able to set her terms for the bargain, presenting an offer that appears reasonable, and perhaps seems to have a tempting loophole or two that the mortal could exploit.

Hags understand mortal desires and vices, and know how to manipulate people by preying on those qualities. A hag’s bargain might bring success and prosperity for a time, but eventually have a drawback or side effect that makes the mortal resent the agreement and seek to get out of it. The philandering spouse now happy to stay home might grow slothful, the mayor’s father might turn violent after regaining his Senses, and the merchant’s child might relapse if not treated again every few months.

Even when a bargain turns sour for a mortal and other people in town hear about or see the person’s misfortune, the hag will eventually attract new customers. Other people will come to believe that they can outsmart the hag, or that their need is simple and can’t be perverted, or that the earlier victims got too greedy when they were proposing a deal. Even if only one or two people make deals with a hag every year, over time many unfortunates can come under her sway—and she remembers the exact terms of every one of those bargains.

### Making a Deal out of Desire

> *Hags often appear unlooked-for, in moments of great need, because they have been spying and see an opportunity to aid now to set up darker mischief later.*
>
>
>
> —Elminster
>
>
>
>
>

Although it could be argued that there’s no good time to make a bargain with a hag, mortals are more likely to get away in good shape if they offer up something a hag needs or wants. In such a case, the hag might even start the bidding.

A hag that faces a serious threat from enemies will not hesitate to use promises or bribes to defuse the situation. For instance, most treasures in a hag’s lair are useless without her knowledge of how to Identify and handle them, so she might offer to provide such information in return for her life. If an item later backfires on the one who uses it, or turns out to be Cursed in some way, that’s just another lesson in why never to never threaten or trust a hag.

Hags are Curious about other creatures of power. They enjoy receiving news and gossip about other hags and influential creatures such as Dragons, Demons, genies, and certain mortals. Offering a hag accurate information of this sort as part of a bargain earns a small measure of her respect, and might make her more receptive to the idea of a “fair” deal.

When a hag bargains with other creatures of the Feywild, rather than mortals, she approaches the situation with a more respectful attitude. She realizes that the creatures of her native realm are more powerful than Common humanoids and therefore more dangerous when disappointed or angered by a deal gone bad. Fey are also long-lived and thus have more time to retaliate against the hag, whereas most humanoids die within a few short decades. These considerations don’t mean that hags are automatically pleasant in dealings with other fey, just that they aren’t as blatant or demanding in the bargains they offer; hags know exactly how much they can get away with, and they like pushing the limits of what others will tolerate.

### Bargainer Beware

When a hag is generous with her help or requires only a simple task as payment, that’s no guarantee that the deal will turn out as expected for both parties. By offering a proposal that seems, or actually is, fair, chances are that the hag is pursuing a hidden agenda. She still wants to set events into motion that benefit her or bring about the downfall of another, but she does so in an indirect way that has no obvious connection to her. A bargain as simple as a villager agreeing to deliver a mysterious letter at a crossroads at noon on a certain day could be the key to ruining the mortal’s life. The hag’s reasons might not become apparent for years or even decades, or won’t be meaningful except under specific circumstances, such as an auspicious birth or a climactic encounter with a dangerous villain. Even when she’s offering a deal that seems to have no downside, a hag is always secretive about her motivations, the reasons for the payments she requires, or how these things benefit her.

A hag that spends a long time in close proximity to a human settlement often depletes the community of good-hearted folk as they succumb to her evil and selfish plans. The mood of the town becomes unwelcoming, grim, moody, or outright Hostile toward newcomers and travelers. Even after a hag has done her worst in such a place, she maintains leverage over her victims by holding out the prospect that someday she will undo the curses that she has lain on them. For that reason, the local leaders won’t allow any outsiders to act against her (which includes sabotaging adventurers who might decide to confront her).

## Roleplaying a Hag

> *Hags hate to be in debt to someone who’s done them a favor spontaneously, outside of any bargain, and so will return favors unexpectedly to such folk.*
>
>
>
> —Elminster
>
>
>
>
>

Even when a hag acts indifferently or friendly toward adventurers, inside she is still a twisted fey creature, and she doesn’t give two coppers about what anyone else thinks or wants. She might casually comment about how easily a visitor would fit in her cauldron or make a blunt sexual comment about a guest. When a mortal visits a hag, the experience should be nerve-wracking, uncomfortable, and risky; at any point the hag might lose her temper and decide to pull out someone’s fingernails with her iron teeth.

Hags look upon younger creatures from the perspective of a cantankerous grandparent who no longer cares what anyone thinks—set in her ways, free to speak her mind, and not afraid to bring down punishment if pushed too far. Hags enjoy meddling with other people’s lives, like busybodies with cruel intentions. Any time a hag agrees to help someone, the bargain includes a price to be paid, plus a hidden plan by which she sets the mortal up to fail, or a way that she gains leverage (whether over the deal-maker or someone else).

When a hag is presented with an unusual spell, a rare magic item, or a person who has a strange magical gift, she will sniff it, shake it, listen to it, taste it, murmur odd statements to herself, and mentally place a value on the merchandise. Hags aren’t subtle about showing their intent at such times, and one might snatch away the offering so she can examine it more closely, even if this makes it obvious she is interested. If she doesn’t have anything else like it, or can think of a use for it, or if having it means a rival can’t get her hands on it, she’ll value the offering highly. A visitor who offers a desirable item as a bribe or a gift is more likely to get a fair deal from the hag, or at least likely to suffer less when the true price of the deal is revealed.

If a hag’s life is threatened, she will pretend to be weak and helpless if she thinks it will spare her life or buy her time to retaliate or escape. She’ll use dangerous treasures as bribes, not telling about their curses or side Effects. She will lie and deceive and try to turn her enemies against each other, playing up their guilt and fear and jealousy to tear them apart from the inside. She is older, smarter, and more shrewd than any mortal who dares to threaten her.

Hags prefer to cajole and bargain rather than confront someone with actual violence; they reserve their aggressive outbursts for situations where they are overwhelmingly more powerful than their opponents (such as when attacking children) or have an unfair advantage (such as when their enemy is asleep). Although a hag can always resort to attacking with her claws, if it comes to that then something has gone very wrong with her plans.

##### Hag Personality Traits

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8

##### Hag Ideals

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

##### Hag Bonds

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8

##### Hag Flaws

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

## Hag Names

Hags have whimsical names, often with a dark twist. A hag gives her newborn daughter a name that the girl keeps during her Childhood, but upon gaining her full hag powers the daughter chooses her own name, which might or might not relate to her birth name. Some hags use different names in different guises, but still prefer their original name as their favorite.

The Hag Names table allows you to generate a hag’s name. You can also select from the table or use it as Inspiration.

Hags always have a title followed by a first name, or a first name followed by a last name. You can randomly determine (equal chance of either) whether a hag has a title or a last name.

## Weird Magic

Over the course of a seemingly endless lifetime, a hag typically discovers or creates several unusual ways to use magic. The weird magic that hags can call upon comes in a number of forms and with various means of activation. Even those who have read scholarly books about hag lore can’t predict what a particular hag might have up her sleeve.

A grandmother or some other hag of great age and Renown might know unique Rituals that can temporarily or permanently alter or transform a creature, bring back the dead for a limited time, rewrite memories, or siphon emotions. At the other end of the spectrum, even a hag without lofty status is likely to have strange, single-use items that don’t emulate Common Spells or even follow the normal rules of magic. For Inspiration in devising the Effects of such weird items, see “Charms” in chapter 7 of the *Dungeon Master’s Guide*.

If you want a hag to use a weird object of this sort in a Combat situation, provide her with an item that produces a CR-appropriate spell effect when the hag manipulates or activates it. The effect might be a benefit to herself or an Attack against her enemies. For example, a Green Hag (CR 3) might smash an ornate hand mirror, producing a cloud of glass shards that damages creatures like *Cloud of Daggers* (a 2nd-level spell). She might instead uncork a bottle of wasps that surround her and stitch up her wounds with their stingers, Healing her as *Cure Wounds* (cast as a 2nd-level spell). Or she could take a mummified toad from her pocket and throw it into her cauldron, which immediately spews out inky blackness equivalent to *Darkness* (a 2nd-level spell).

A hag carefully shepherds her use of weird magic because the items in her repertoire are often impossible to duplicate or replace. To reflect this fact, a hag should be able to use weird magic only once or twice per encounter in her lair, or only once per encounter if she is elsewhere. A hag who is expecting a fight might be better prepared and able (or willing) to use weird magic one additional time per encounter.

If a hag is faced with mortal peril, all thoughts of conserving her resources vanish—she will use any weird magic at her disposal if it helps her stay alive. After all, a hag that’s not dead has a virtually limitless lifetime to replace what was spent. No matter how hard it was to acquire that jar of death slugs, or that book on how to invoke the razor wind, or the runestone containing the three syllables for crystallizing blood, it is better to use such things than to risk death by not doing so.

## Mounts and Vehicles

*Hag Vehicles*

Many stories tell of hags using strange, enchanted creatures and Objects for travel, and most of those stories are accurate.

Instead of the usual horse or pony, a hag might ride astride a giant pig, a goat, or a cow. It’s not unknown for a hag to use a sentient creature as a mount, perhaps as the result of a bargain that creature struck with her. A hag that wants to humiliate a mortal hero might require that hero to serve as her mount for a year as part of fulfilling her bargain. The giant raven that carries a hag aloft could be in actuality one of the hag’s victims transformed because that individual tried to go back on its deal with her.

Some hags prefer nonliving conveyances from time to time, and their imagination in this regard knows no bounds. A hag might happily animate and “spruce up” any sort of object she can tailor for the purpose, such as a clay statue, a huge woven Basket, a cauldron, a butter churn, a giant bird’s nest, a mortar and pestle, or a tombstone.

Usually only the hag that obtained or created them can use her Mounts and Vehicles. They obey only her commands, and their magic responds only to her will. If a hag allows any other creature to use one of them as part of a bargain, she must be expecting an immense return on her investment.

## Types of Hags

Each of the five Common types of hags prefers a particular Environment. It is possible to find a hag in unusual terrain, perhaps if she is traveling or is part of a coven along with two local hags. Grandmothers and aunties are more likely than other hags to take up permanent residence in unfriendly terrain, since their long-range plans sometimes require spending decades or years in a certain area before returning home.

**Annis hags** live in mountains or hills. The terrain is easy for them to navigate because they are the most physically capable hags. Even with her hunched posture, an Annis Hag is as tall as an ogre. Her skin is bruise-blue or black and her claws are like rusty blades. Annis hags love tormenting the weak and fearful, and seeing others feel fear. Statistics for the Annis Hag appear in its entry.

**Bheur hags** live in wintry lands, favoring snow-covered Mountain peaks. They are gaunt, have blue-white skin, white hair, and are known for their gray wooden staffs that give them access to extraordinary ice magic. Bheur hags love seeing mortals freeze to death and have little if any room in their hearts for kin and community. Statistics for the Bheur Hag appear in its entry.

**Green hags** inhabit dismal forests, swamps, and moors. A green hag’s body, whether broad, narrow, fat, or thin, is topped with a tangled mane of hair. A Green Hag thrives on creating despair and tragedy in the lives of her victims, using her skill with Illusion magic to help in this goal. Destroying the hopes of others brings her unbridled joy.

**Night hags** have left behind the world of the fey to roam the Lower Planes. They have dark blue or purple-black skin with white or light-colored eyes and thin, curving horns. A Night Hag is as least as tall as a human, and most are stout or have a medium build rather than being thin or emaciated. Night hags enjoy corrupting the dreams of good people, compromising the Ideals of their victims to get them to eventually perform evil acts. Then, when a victim dies, the hag can harvest its soul and bring it to Hades.

**Sea hags** live Underwater or on the shore, favoring bleak and despoiled places. They have pale skin like that of a fish, covered in scales, with glassy dead eyes and hair like lank seaweed. Sea hags are emaciated, but one might be tall or short, frail or large-boned. A Sea Hag hates beauty in any form and seeks to Attack, deface, or corrupt it so it has the opposite effect on its viewers. One is more likely to defile the inspiring statue in a town square, making it into a Symbol of fear and sorrow, than to destroy it outright.

### Hag Metamorphosis

It’s commonly believed that five kinds of hags exist in the world (and beyond it). What’s not so widely known is that some hags can change from one kind to another during their lives.

A hag that lives long enough or has the necessary resources can alter her basic Nature, leaving behind her old physiology and adopting that of a hag appropriate to The Environment of her current home. She might accomplish this transformation through force of will over time, or faster with the help of a ritual or assistance from her coven. The reasons for making such a change are as varied as the personalities and goals of hags.

## Solitary but Social

Hags are selfish by Nature, and each one cherishes her independence—from the rest of the world as well as from other hags. At the same time, every hag recognizes that she and her sisters are kindred souls, like the members of a dark sorority or sisterhood.

Even though hags don’t like each other, they share knowledge and trade secrets, helping them to keep abreast of worldly events and possible dangers. Even a hag living in a remote, isolated location is aware of goings-on that involve her neighboring hags, whether through magical Communication, personal visits, or mundane messengers such as birds. In most cases, these relationships with her sisters, though devoid of emotion, are the closest a hag comes to having Friends.

When a hag is attacked or killed, other hags are likely to hear about it. If the victim was friendly with other hags, those responsible for her death might find themselves the target of Retaliation. If the victim died while owing favors to another hag, that hag sees her killers as now responsible for the dead hag’s debts. If the victim was unpopular or if other hags were indebted to her (and thus are happy to see her go), her killers might receive relatively cordial treatment from those other hags instead.

Every hag has a particular status relative to others of her kind and to hags of all sorts, based on age, Abilities, influence, alliances, and experience, and is aware of her place (though not necessarily satisfied with it). The few grandmothers sit at the top of the hierarchy, a larger number of aunties are beneath that, and all other hags vie for prominence in a chaotic pecking order that no mortal can truly figure out. A hag that is known to associate with an auntie has a higher status than a similarly powerful hag without such a connection, and a young hag born of a grandmother begins her existence already benefiting from a greater measure of respect and status.

### Hag Covens

To a hag, the thought of sharing her home with other creatures—even other hags—is disgusting. She has nothing but dislike or disdain for anyone other than herself, and she loves being alone (except for the company of minions and other creatures under her sway). That’s the ordinary state of affairs. But when a group of hags have a Common goal or they seek greater power to Combat a formidable threat, they suppress their basic Nature and come together to do their work. The result is a coven.

Being part of a coven gives each individual hag more magic and Spellcasting Ability, and to her these benefits offset the inconvenience and bickering that goes with living and working with other hags.

If a member of a coven is killed and the surviving members intend to keep the group from dissolving, they immediately attempt to recruit a replacement. This process involves each prospective member committing cruel acts with the aim of impressing the remaining coven members. Adventurers who slay only one member of a coven might deal a blow to it in the short term, but later on the surrounding region is wracked with plagues, curses, and other disasters as the applicants attempt to outdo one another.

An unusually gifted mortal Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard of a deeply evil Nature might be invited to join a coven or allowed to compete for a vacancy. This arrangement is potentially a dangerous proposition for the mortal, but a pair of hags might agree to it if their needs are served. For instance, a human member of a coven makes an ideal spy and infiltrator in and around a humanoid settlement.

### Welcome to the Family

Hags make more hags by snatching and devouring human infants, birthing daughters who turn into hags on entering the thirteenth year of their lives. Fortunately for humanity and the rest of the world, such an occurrence is rare.

Rarer still, but not unheard of, is for a hag to repeat this process twice or more in short succession, giving her multiple offspring of about the same age. She might do this to form a coven with two of her daughters, or to create a coven made up entirely of her offspring. Some hags cite ancient lore that suggests that if a hag consumes twins or triplets, her offspring might have additional, unusual abilities; similarly, devouring the seventh-born child of a seventh-born is said to be a way to pass on rare magic to the hag’s daughter.

### The Rule of Three

They say that things come in threes. Good things. Bad things. Strange things. Hags and purveyors of witchcraft embrace the Rule of Three, as it is called: a coven has three members, they believe that good or evil magic returns upon its source threefold, and the casting of many Spells requires the same words chanted three times.

Long ago, planar travelers came to recognize that many of the realms and layers of the multiverse are configured in multiples of three. It is possible that plane-traveling hags learned of this planar-based superstition and adapted it to their own uses, although some among the oldest hags claim to have invented the concept or at least named it.

### Alternative Coven Spells

> *Want to know a dark secret? Ask a hag. The trick lies in getting truth out of her.*
>
> —Volo
>
>
>
>
>

Some covens gather for a specific purpose, such as to defeat a Champion of good, to serve as oracles for the delivery of baleful prophecies, or to corrupt a pristine Wilderness. In such a case, because the coven strives to bend its magic to a more directed purpose, the members have different Spells available for use with their Shared Spellcasting trait, usually focusing on a theme related to that purpose. Three examples of themed hag coven spell lists are given below.

***Death.*** For a coven whose members are obsessed with death and the ability to manipulate it, an appropriate spell list would be:

* 1st level (4 slots): *False Life*, *Inflict Wounds*
* 2nd level (3 slots): *Gentle Repose*, *Ray of Enfeeblement*
* 3rd level (3 slots): *Animate Dead*, *Revivify*, *Speak with Dead*
* 4th level (3 slots): *Blight*, *Death Ward*
* 5th level (2 slots): *Contagion*, *Raise Dead*
* 6th level (1 slot): *Circle of Death*

***Nature.*** Hags might seek to exert control over their Environment and the creatures in it by mastering the following group of spells:

* 1st level (4 slots): *Entangle*, *Speak with Animals*
* 2nd level (3 slots): *Flaming Sphere*, *Moonbeam*, *Spike Growth*
* 3rd level (3 slots): *Call Lightning*, *Plant Growth*
* 4th level (3 slots): *Dominate Beast*, *Grasping Vine*
* 5th level (2 slots): *Insect Plague*, *Tree Stride*
* 6th level (1 slot): *Wall of Thorns*

***Prophecy.*** The power to affect the future or perceive things out of the norm could make these Spells attractive to a coven:

* 1st level (4 slots): *bane*, *bless*
* 2nd level (3 slots): *Augury*, *Detect Thoughts*
* 3rd level (3 slots): *Clairvoyance*, *Dispel Magic*, *Nondetection*
* 4th level (3 slots): *Arcane Eye*, *Locate Creature*
* 5th level (2 slots): *geas*, *Legend Lore*
* 6th level (1 slot): *True Seeing*

## Hag Lairs

> *You will know Rickety Zilla’s lair by its shape in the moonlight: a dead tree with a bent spine, its great roots reaching out for a boulder like a man for his severed head.*
>
>
>
> —Volo
>
>
>
>
>

No matter what form it takes, a hag’s home is a manifestation of her basic Nature. It is ugly, eerie, or unnerving in some way, often incorporating some aspect of decay, such as a dead tree, a ruined tower, or a menacing cave entrance that resembles a skull.

Whether naturally or by manufactured means, the lair is well defended from intrusion. It might be reachable only by a steep Mountain path, or it might be surrounded by a fence the hag builds out of posts capped with magically warded skulls. Often, a lair reflects the outlook of its primary inhabitant—a murderous hag’s home might be crafted to look like a coffin or a mausoleum, and that of a gluttonous one might look like a tavern or a gingerbread house. Because such places are convenient for them, sea hags often establish their lairs inside the hulls of wrecked or abandoned ships.

### Best of Both Worlds

Many hags settle in places where the barriers between the mortal world and the Feywild are thin, making it easy for them to interact and bargain with creatures of both realms. Other popular choices are a place where the ambient energy augments certain kinds of magic, a site related to death such as a burial ground, and within a ring of fallen standing stones that still resonate with ancient power. In order to facilitate bargaining with mortals, the home must be near enough to a populated area that it attracts occasional visitors, but not so close that a community would see the hag’s presence as a threat and try to defeat her or drive her off.

### Treasure, Treasure Everywhere

A hag’s home is cluttered with mundane items, caged creatures, oddities, Objects that hint of a magical purpose, preserved specimens, scraps of lore, and curiosities that have a supernatural Origin but aren’t inherently magical. For a selection of strange hag treasures, see the “One-of-a-Kind Objects” section.

### Exit Strategy

A hag always has an escape plan, in case ambitious do-gooders try to turn her home into her final Resting place. If she is outmatched, or wants to vacate her lair quickly for some other reason, she uses a mix of her Innate Spellcasting, rare magic, guile, and the assistance of minions to get away. Most hags have three plans prepared: one for general threats and two others for specific likely scenarios, such as “They’ve set the house on fire” or “A Necromancer with Undead are attacking.”

If a hag is forced to resort to such measures, she immediately begins to plot her Retaliation against those that caused her to flee. Like a Vampire or a demon, a hag has a long life over which to exact her vengeance, and no dish of revenge is sweeter than one served cold and to the next three generations of her enemy’s family.

## Hag Lair Actions

If a hag is a grandmother, she gains a set of Lair Actions appropriate to her Nature, knowledge, and History. A coven that includes a grandmother can use her Lair Actions as well, but the grandmother’s will prevails—if one of the coven attempts this sort of action and the grandmother disapproves, nothing happens. A powerful auntie (or her coven) might also have access to Lair Actions like these, but only at certain times of the year or when the influence of the Feywild is strong.

The following Lair Actions are options for grandmothers and powerful aunties. Grandmothers usually have three to five Lair Actions, aunties usually only one (if they have any at all). Unless otherwise noted, any lair action that requires a creature to make a saving throw uses the save DC of the hag’s most powerful ability.

### Lair Actions

On Initiative count 20 (losing Initiative ties), the hag can take a lair action to cause one of the following Effects, but can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:

* Until Initiative count 20 on the next round, the hag can pass through solid walls, doors, ceilings, and floors as if the surfaces weren’t there.
* The hag Targets any number of doors and windows that she can see, causing each one to either open or close as she wishes. Closed doors can be magically locked (requiring a successful DC 20 Strength check to force open) until she chooses to make them unlocked, or until she uses this lair action again to open them.

A powerful **Annis Hag** might have the following additional lair action:

* The hag creates a thick cloud of caustic black smoke that fills a 20-foot-radius Sphere centered on a point she can see within 120 feet her. The cloud lasts until Initiative count 20 on the next round. Creatures and Objects in or behind the smoke are heavily obscured. A creature that enters the cloud for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there takes 10 (3d6) acid damage.

A powerful **Bheur Hag** might have the following additional lair action:

* The hag creates a Blizzard in a 40-foot-high, 20-foot radius Cylinder centered on a point she can see within 120 feet of her. The effect lasts until Initiative count 20 on the next round. The Blizzard lightly obscures every creature and object in the area for the Duration. A creature that enters the Blizzard for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there is Blinded until Initiative count 20 on the next round.

A powerful **Green Hag**might have the following additional lair action:

* The hag creates an illusory duplicate of herself, which appears in its own space. As long as she can see her duplicate, the hag can move it a distance equal to her walking speed as well as make the Illusion speak on her turn (no action required). The Illusion has the same Statistics as the hag but can’t take Actions or reactions. It can interact with its Environment and even pick up and hold real Objects. The Illusion seems real in every way but disappears if it takes any amount of damage. Otherwise, it lasts until the hag dismisses it (no action required) or can no longer see it. If the hag uses this lair action to create a new duplicate, the previous one vanishes, dropping any real Objects in its possession.

A powerful **Night Hag** might have the following additional lair actions:

* One creature the hag can see within 120 feet of her must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or be banished to a prison Demiplane. To escape, the creature must use its action to make a Charisma check contested by the hag’s. If the creature wins, it escapes the Demiplane. Otherwise, the effect ends on Initiative count 20 on the next round. When the effect ends, the creature reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that one is occupied.
* The hag Targets up to three creatures that she can see within 60 feet of her. Each target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be flung up to 30 feet through the air. A creature that strikes a solid object or is released in midair takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet moved or fallen.

A powerful **Sea Hag** might have the following additional lair actions:

* The hag fills up to four 10-foot cubes of water with ink. The inky areas are heavily obscured for 1 minute, although a steady, strong Underwater current disperses the ink on Initiative count 10. The hag ignores the obscuring effect of the ink.
* The hag chooses one humanoid within the lair and instantly creates a Simulacrum of that creature (as if created with the Simulacrum spell). This hideous Simulacrum is formed out of seaweed, slime, half-eaten fish, and other garbage, but still generally resembles the creature it is imitating. This Simulacrum obeys the hag’s commands and is destroyed on Initiative count 20 on the next round.

## Regional Effects

A hag’s foul Nature slowly suffuses The Environment around her lair, twisting it to evil.

Each hag’s lair is the source of three to five regional effects; the home of a grandmother, an auntie, or a coven has more Effects than the lair of a single hag, including some that can directly harm intruders. Any regional effect that requires a creature to make a saving throw uses the save DC of the hag’s most powerful ability. These Effects either end immediately if the hag dies or abandons the lair, or take up to 2d10 days to Fade Away.

### Regional Effects

The region within 1 mile of a grandmother hag’s lair is warped by the creature’s fell magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:

* Birds, rodents, snakes, spiders, or toads (or some other creatures appropriate to the hag) are found in great profusion.
* Beasts that have an Intelligence score of 2 or lower are Charmed by the hag and directed to be aggressive toward intruders in the area.
* Strange carved figurines, twig fetishes, or rag dolls magically appear in trees.

A powerful **Annis Hag** creates one or more of the following additional Regional Effects within 1 mile of her lair:

* The gravel stones on a safe-looking path, road, or trails occasionally become sharp for 100-foot intervals. Walking on these areas is like walking on Caltrops.
* Small avalanches of rock intermittently fall, blocking a path or burying intruders. A buried creature is Restrained and has to hold its breath until it is dug out.
* Strange laughter, sounding like that of children or the hag herself, occasionally pierces the Silence.
* Small cairns appear along the route of travelers, containing anything from mysterious bones to nothing at all. These cairns might be haunted by skeletons, specters, or Hostile fey.

A powerful **Bheur Hag** creates one or more of the following additional Regional Effects within 1 mile of her lair:

* Small avalanches of snow intermittently fall, blocking a path or burying intruders. A buried creature is Restrained and has to hold its breath until it is dug out.
* Human-sized blocks of ice appear, containing frozen corpses. These corpses might break free and Attack as Zombies, or their spirits might Attack as specters.
* Blizzards come without warning. A Blizzard occurs once every 2d12 hours and lasts 1d3 hours. During a storm, creatures moving overland travel at half normal speed, and normal visibility is reduced to 30 feet.
* Roads, paths, and trails twist and turn back on themselves, making navigation in the area exceedingly difficult.

A powerful **Green Hag** creates one or more of the following additional Regional Effects within 1 mile of her lair:

* Illusory duplicates of the hag appear in random places at random times (but never more than one in any given location). An illusory duplicate has no substance, but it looks, sounds, and moves like the hag. The hag can sense when one or more creatures are within 60 feet of her duplicate and can interact with them as if she were present and standing in the duplicate’s space. If the illusory duplicate takes any damage, it disappears.
* The region takes twice as long as normal to traverse, since the Plants grow thick and twisted, and the swamps are thick with reeking mud.
* Trees transform into awakened trees and Attack when Hostile intruders are near.

A powerful **Night Hag** creates one or more of the following additional Regional Effects within 1 mile of her lair:

* Shadows seem abnormally gaunt and sometimes move on their own as though alive.
* Creatures are transported to a harmless but eerie Demiplane filled with shadowy forms, waxy corpses, and cackling. The creatures are trapped there for a minute or two, and then returned to the place where they vanished from.
* Intelligent creatures see hallucinations of dead Friends, family members, and even themselves littering the hag’s realm. Any attempt to interact with a hallucinatory image causes it to disappear.

A powerful **Sea Hag** creates one or more of the following additional Regional Effects within 1 mile of her lair:

* Most surfaces are covered by a thin film of slime, which is slick and sticks to anything that touches it.
* Currents and tides are exceptionally strong and treacherous. Any ability check made to safely navigate or control a vessel moving through these waters has disadvantage.
* Shores are littered with dead, rotting fish. The hag can sense when one of the fish is handled and cause it to speak with her voice.

## Minions and Pets

Although they are solitary by Nature, hags sometimes feel the need for companionship. Usually one scratches this itch by acquiring servants she can insult and slap around as she wishes. Such a creature might be Charmed into compliance, or under a spell that stops its heart if it disobeys, or too afraid of nonmagical punishment for failure to do what she says. Most hags have some kind of slave or minion creature living with or near them as a defense against attackers, even if it’s just a Common animal.

Hags particularly delight in using mortals bound to their service as minions. A Paladin might have no qualms about putting a hag coven to the sword, but her conviction falters if she must first fight through a crowd of innocent farmers that the hag has compelled to defend her. Ordinary folk are also useful as minions because they can serve the hag as her eyes and ears in a nearby settlement, either operating secretly or actively trying to persuade other townsfolk to pay her a visit.

The weird magic at a hag’s disposal means that she might have almost any type of creature helping or serving her—fey, giant, Undead, and so on. Even a creature much more powerful than she might be under her Command, working off the debt of a bargain for itself or someone else. Favors beget favors, and under duress a hag might speak a magic word to call upon a blood debt from a dragon, a noble, or another hag, making her able to wield magical, political, or physical power in a way she can’t do by herself.

Like the land near a hag’s lair, over time her minions are altered by her presence, becoming twisted versions of their former selves (in a dark fey sort of way), but still recognizable as what they once were. She might alter them with magic, making them Tireless, resistant to fire, able to transform into a flock of crows, or able to Teleport through shadows—whatever the hag thinks best defends or serves her.

### Random Hag Minions

To determine the minions and helpers in a hag’s retinue, roll once on the following tables or choose from the possibilities.

The Servants table includes faithful, trusted helpers that a hag uses to protect herself and her home. These creatures are either naturally wicked or warped by the hag to better serve her. In either case, a hag is confident that her servants will obey her orders without question.

The Brutes table gives examples of the muscle a hag might employ, mercenaries that serve the hag only so long as it benefits them. These creatures run errands and take care of roughing up enemies or patrolling areas that the hag considers beneath her personal attention. Hags prefer to employ clever, cruel creatures rather than dumb oafs.

## Treasure

> *A hag always has some potion or Amulet that puts the odds in her favor. If you’re lucky, she only wants to make you miserable instead of just killing you.*
>
>
>
> —Volo
>
>
>
>
>

Much of a hag’s Treasure is strewn among all the clutter in her lair, making it difficult for intruders to quickly Identify all the items that have use or value. But the hag knows what, and where, everything is.

Every hag is infallible when it comes to keeping track of her treasures and other possessions. Her organization and labeling, if such a system exists, is designed to foil thieves and serve as a final, vexing puzzle for anyone who tries to make use of an item without her consent.

A hag’s treasure—like a gift from a fey being—should be doubted and even feared rather than simply being scooped up and carted away. Treasure-seekers are likely to fare better if they consider a hag’s booty to be trapped, exercising caution rather than giving in to greed or curiosity. Manipulating a container or other item without knowing what’s inside or what it does (or without knowing the proper password or technique) is likely to be very dangerous. At best, whatever was held in a container merely escapes or dissipates. At worst, just about anything can happen, none of it good.

### One-of-a-Kind Objects

Above and beyond the items of obvious value a hag has accumulated, she also has a few bizarre and unique items in her collection. The Hag Objects table provides a way to quickly add such weird items to a hag’s home.

# Hags

## Hags: Dark Sisterhood

> *The hags put a spell on me, three times three, and made me their slave for a thousand days. I was a young fool, ’tis true, but those were dark days.*
>
>
>
> —Elminster
>
>
>
>
>

Hags are crones who represent corruption of Ideals and goals, and they delight in seeing the innocent and good brought low. They are inhuman Monsters, their forms twisted by evil. Shapechangers and blasphemers, they ally with other hags to form magical covens with extra powers. They collect and remember Secret knowledge that is better lost and forgotten. Desperate mortals come to them looking for advice, only to have their requests fulfilled in ways that bring great suffering to themselves and their loved ones.

## Ugly, Unpredictable, and Old

Hags are mysterious, unfathomable, and dangerous, especially from the viewpoint of mortals. One day a hag might be stealing and eating children that wander into the woods, on another day she might be making lewd jokes to adventurers asking her for advice, and the next she might be uprooting saplings to make a fence around her home for impaling intruders. It is nearly impossible to predict how a hag will act from day to day, sometimes moment to moment, which is why folk with any Wisdom at all give hags a wide berth.

Hags perceive ugliness as beauty, and vice versa. They revel in having a hideous appearance and sometimes go out of their way “improve” upon it by picking at sores, wearing skins and bones as decoration, and rubbing refuse and dirt into their hair and clothing.

Because both the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court appreciate and revere true beauty among the fey, hags are almost never found in either place. The Summer Queen and the Queen of Air and Darkness recognize that hags have valuable knowledge and impressive magic, but they can’t abide the stain on the beauty of their surroundings, so most hags are excluded from both courts. The rare few accepted as courtiers are either so influential that their entry can’t be refused, or young and humble enough to be willing to use magic to put on a prettier appearance. Other hags aren’t upset by their exclusion; they like to be left alone to their own schemes, not constrained by a fey queen’s whims, and to be able to talk out of both sides of their mouths.

Hags are virtually immortal, with a life span greater than that of even Dragons and elves. The oldest, wisest, and most powerful hags are called “grandmothers” by other hags. Some grandmothers are nearly as powerful as some of The Archfey.

Hags of lower but still respectable status are called “aunties.” An auntie gains her status from being very old, a member of a powerful coven, directly serving a grandmother, or having many offspring (whether adopted or birthed).

## Master Manipulators

Hags delight in corrupting others. They do so not by imposing their will or being outwardly violent, but by making sinister bargains with those who seek their aid. This desire to orchestrate the downfall of others is why so many hags make their homes near humanoid settlements, which gives them a ready supply of creatures to tantalize and torment.

Folk with nowhere else to turn are some of a hag’s best customers. A farmer with a philandering spouse might seek out the local hag for a potion to make the spouse faithful again. The mayor with a demented father might ask the hag for something that makes him lucid again. A merchant whose child is deathly ill might go to the hag for a cure. The Common element in these situations is that the mortals approach the hag for help; despite knowing that she is evil and dangerous, they are desperate enough to risk making a bargain with her, or foolish enough to think they can persuade her to be helpful without getting something in return.

Hags make bargains differently from how devils operate. A devil might approach a mortal to make a deal because it wants the individual to become tainted with evil, so that when the victim dies its soul goes to the Nine Hells. Hags are usually content to wait and conduct their own business, allowing mortals to come to them when the perceived need is great enough. Instead of being interested in a mortal’s soul, a hag wants to bring the mortal low during its life as compensation for fulfilling her end of the bargain. Devils barter with the soul as the commodity; hags barter because they enjoy making people miserable. Night hags, as fey turned Fiends, use aspects of both methods—corrupting a mortal’s dreams until the creature commits enough evil acts that she can claim its soul.

As much as she enjoys offering and enforcing her bargains, a hag rarely goes out looking for people to make deals with because she knows that someone coming to her puts her in a position of power. The visitor likely had to approach the hag in Secret for fear of causing an uproar in town, and is probably eager to return home before being missed, which adds time pressure to the process and tips The Balance more in the hag’s favor. All these factors contribute to the hag’s being able to set her terms for the bargain, presenting an offer that appears reasonable, and perhaps seems to have a tempting loophole or two that the mortal could exploit.

Hags understand mortal desires and vices, and know how to manipulate people by preying on those qualities. A hag’s bargain might bring success and prosperity for a time, but eventually have a drawback or side effect that makes the mortal resent the agreement and seek to get out of it. The philandering spouse now happy to stay home might grow slothful, the mayor’s father might turn violent after regaining his Senses, and the merchant’s child might relapse if not treated again every few months.

Even when a bargain turns sour for a mortal and other people in town hear about or see the person’s misfortune, the hag will eventually attract new customers. Other people will come to believe that they can outsmart the hag, or that their need is simple and can’t be perverted, or that the earlier victims got too greedy when they were proposing a deal. Even if only one or two people make deals with a hag every year, over time many unfortunates can come under her sway—and she remembers the exact terms of every one of those bargains.

### Making a Deal out of Desire

> *Hags often appear unlooked-for, in moments of great need, because they have been spying and see an opportunity to aid now to set up darker mischief later.*
>
>
>
> —Elminster
>
>
>
>
>

Although it could be argued that there’s no good time to make a bargain with a hag, mortals are more likely to get away in good shape if they offer up something a hag needs or wants. In such a case, the hag might even start the bidding.

A hag that faces a serious threat from enemies will not hesitate to use promises or bribes to defuse the situation. For instance, most treasures in a hag’s lair are useless without her knowledge of how to Identify and handle them, so she might offer to provide such information in return for her life. If an item later backfires on the one who uses it, or turns out to be Cursed in some way, that’s just another lesson in why never to never threaten or trust a hag.

Hags are Curious about other creatures of power. They enjoy receiving news and gossip about other hags and influential creatures such as Dragons, Demons, genies, and certain mortals. Offering a hag accurate information of this sort as part of a bargain earns a small measure of her respect, and might make her more receptive to the idea of a “fair” deal.

When a hag bargains with other creatures of the Feywild, rather than mortals, she approaches the situation with a more respectful attitude. She realizes that the creatures of her native realm are more powerful than Common humanoids and therefore more dangerous when disappointed or angered by a deal gone bad. Fey are also long-lived and thus have more time to retaliate against the hag, whereas most humanoids die within a few short decades. These considerations don’t mean that hags are automatically pleasant in dealings with other fey, just that they aren’t as blatant or demanding in the bargains they offer; hags know exactly how much they can get away with, and they like pushing the limits of what others will tolerate.

### Bargainer Beware

When a hag is generous with her help or requires only a simple task as payment, that’s no guarantee that the deal will turn out as expected for both parties. By offering a proposal that seems, or actually is, fair, chances are that the hag is pursuing a hidden agenda. She still wants to set events into motion that benefit her or bring about the downfall of another, but she does so in an indirect way that has no obvious connection to her. A bargain as simple as a villager agreeing to deliver a mysterious letter at a crossroads at noon on a certain day could be the key to ruining the mortal’s life. The hag’s reasons might not become apparent for years or even decades, or won’t be meaningful except under specific circumstances, such as an auspicious birth or a climactic encounter with a dangerous villain. Even when she’s offering a deal that seems to have no downside, a hag is always secretive about her motivations, the reasons for the payments she requires, or how these things benefit her.

A hag that spends a long time in close proximity to a human settlement often depletes the community of good-hearted folk as they succumb to her evil and selfish plans. The mood of the town becomes unwelcoming, grim, moody, or outright Hostile toward newcomers and travelers. Even after a hag has done her worst in such a place, she maintains leverage over her victims by holding out the prospect that someday she will undo the curses that she has lain on them. For that reason, the local leaders won’t allow any outsiders to act against her (which includes sabotaging adventurers who might decide to confront her).

## Roleplaying a Hag

> *Hags hate to be in debt to someone who’s done them a favor spontaneously, outside of any bargain, and so will return favors unexpectedly to such folk.*
>
>
>
> —Elminster
>
>
>
>
>

Even when a hag acts indifferently or friendly toward adventurers, inside she is still a twisted fey creature, and she doesn’t give two coppers about what anyone else thinks or wants. She might casually comment about how easily a visitor would fit in her cauldron or make a blunt sexual comment about a guest. When a mortal visits a hag, the experience should be nerve-wracking, uncomfortable, and risky; at any point the hag might lose her temper and decide to pull out someone’s fingernails with her iron teeth.

Hags look upon younger creatures from the perspective of a cantankerous grandparent who no longer cares what anyone thinks—set in her ways, free to speak her mind, and not afraid to bring down punishment if pushed too far. Hags enjoy meddling with other people’s lives, like busybodies with cruel intentions. Any time a hag agrees to help someone, the bargain includes a price to be paid, plus a hidden plan by which she sets the mortal up to fail, or a way that she gains leverage (whether over the deal-maker or someone else).

When a hag is presented with an unusual spell, a rare magic item, or a person who has a strange magical gift, she will sniff it, shake it, listen to it, taste it, murmur odd statements to herself, and mentally place a value on the merchandise. Hags aren’t subtle about showing their intent at such times, and one might snatch away the offering so she can examine it more closely, even if this makes it obvious she is interested. If she doesn’t have anything else like it, or can think of a use for it, or if having it means a rival can’t get her hands on it, she’ll value the offering highly. A visitor who offers a desirable item as a bribe or a gift is more likely to get a fair deal from the hag, or at least likely to suffer less when the true price of the deal is revealed.

If a hag’s life is threatened, she will pretend to be weak and helpless if she thinks it will spare her life or buy her time to retaliate or escape. She’ll use dangerous treasures as bribes, not telling about their curses or side Effects. She will lie and deceive and try to turn her enemies against each other, playing up their guilt and fear and jealousy to tear them apart from the inside. She is older, smarter, and more shrewd than any mortal who dares to threaten her.

Hags prefer to cajole and bargain rather than confront someone with actual violence; they reserve their aggressive outbursts for situations where they are overwhelmingly more powerful than their opponents (such as when attacking children) or have an unfair advantage (such as when their enemy is asleep). Although a hag can always resort to attacking with her claws, if it comes to that then something has gone very wrong with her plans.

##### Hag Personality Traits

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8

##### Hag Ideals

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

##### Hag Bonds

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8

##### Hag Flaws

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

## Hag Names

Hags have whimsical names, often with a dark twist. A hag gives her newborn daughter a name that the girl keeps during her Childhood, but upon gaining her full hag powers the daughter chooses her own name, which might or might not relate to her birth name. Some hags use different names in different guises, but still prefer their original name as their favorite.

The Hag Names table allows you to generate a hag’s name. You can also select from the table or use it as Inspiration.

Hags always have a title followed by a first name, or a first name followed by a last name. You can randomly determine (equal chance of either) whether a hag has a title or a last name.

## Weird Magic

Over the course of a seemingly endless lifetime, a hag typically discovers or creates several unusual ways to use magic. The weird magic that hags can call upon comes in a number of forms and with various means of activation. Even those who have read scholarly books about hag lore can’t predict what a particular hag might have up her sleeve.

A grandmother or some other hag of great age and Renown might know unique Rituals that can temporarily or permanently alter or transform a creature, bring back the dead for a limited time, rewrite memories, or siphon emotions. At the other end of the spectrum, even a hag without lofty status is likely to have strange, single-use items that don’t emulate Common Spells or even follow the normal rules of magic. For Inspiration in devising the Effects of such weird items, see “Charms” in chapter 7 of the *Dungeon Master’s Guide*.

If you want a hag to use a weird object of this sort in a Combat situation, provide her with an item that produces a CR-appropriate spell effect when the hag manipulates or activates it. The effect might be a benefit to herself or an Attack against her enemies. For example, a Green Hag (CR 3) might smash an ornate hand mirror, producing a cloud of glass shards that damages creatures like *Cloud of Daggers* (a 2nd-level spell). She might instead uncork a bottle of wasps that surround her and stitch up her wounds with their stingers, Healing her as *Cure Wounds* (cast as a 2nd-level spell). Or she could take a mummified toad from her pocket and throw it into her cauldron, which immediately spews out inky blackness equivalent to *Darkness* (a 2nd-level spell).

A hag carefully shepherds her use of weird magic because the items in her repertoire are often impossible to duplicate or replace. To reflect this fact, a hag should be able to use weird magic only once or twice per encounter in her lair, or only once per encounter if she is elsewhere. A hag who is expecting a fight might be better prepared and able (or willing) to use weird magic one additional time per encounter.

If a hag is faced with mortal peril, all thoughts of conserving her resources vanish—she will use any weird magic at her disposal if it helps her stay alive. After all, a hag that’s not dead has a virtually limitless lifetime to replace what was spent. No matter how hard it was to acquire that jar of death slugs, or that book on how to invoke the razor wind, or the runestone containing the three syllables for crystallizing blood, it is better to use such things than to risk death by not doing so.

## Mounts and Vehicles

*Hag Vehicles*

Many stories tell of hags using strange, enchanted creatures and Objects for travel, and most of those stories are accurate.

Instead of the usual horse or pony, a hag might ride astride a giant pig, a goat, or a cow. It’s not unknown for a hag to use a sentient creature as a mount, perhaps as the result of a bargain that creature struck with her. A hag that wants to humiliate a mortal hero might require that hero to serve as her mount for a year as part of fulfilling her bargain. The giant raven that carries a hag aloft could be in actuality one of the hag’s victims transformed because that individual tried to go back on its deal with her.

Some hags prefer nonliving conveyances from time to time, and their imagination in this regard knows no bounds. A hag might happily animate and “spruce up” any sort of object she can tailor for the purpose, such as a clay statue, a huge woven Basket, a cauldron, a butter churn, a giant bird’s nest, a mortar and pestle, or a tombstone.

Usually only the hag that obtained or created them can use her Mounts and Vehicles. They obey only her commands, and their magic responds only to her will. If a hag allows any other creature to use one of them as part of a bargain, she must be expecting an immense return on her investment.

## Types of Hags

Each of the five Common types of hags prefers a particular Environment. It is possible to find a hag in unusual terrain, perhaps if she is traveling or is part of a coven along with two local hags. Grandmothers and aunties are more likely than other hags to take up permanent residence in unfriendly terrain, since their long-range plans sometimes require spending decades or years in a certain area before returning home.

**Annis hags** live in mountains or hills. The terrain is easy for them to navigate because they are the most physically capable hags. Even with her hunched posture, an Annis Hag is as tall as an ogre. Her skin is bruise-blue or black and her claws are like rusty blades. Annis hags love tormenting the weak and fearful, and seeing others feel fear. Statistics for the Annis Hag appear in its entry.

**Bheur hags** live in wintry lands, favoring snow-covered Mountain peaks. They are gaunt, have blue-white skin, white hair, and are known for their gray wooden staffs that give them access to extraordinary ice magic. Bheur hags love seeing mortals freeze to death and have little if any room in their hearts for kin and community. Statistics for the Bheur Hag appear in its entry.

**Green hags** inhabit dismal forests, swamps, and moors. A green hag’s body, whether broad, narrow, fat, or thin, is topped with a tangled mane of hair. A Green Hag thrives on creating despair and tragedy in the lives of her victims, using her skill with Illusion magic to help in this goal. Destroying the hopes of others brings her unbridled joy.

**Night hags** have left behind the world of the fey to roam the Lower Planes. They have dark blue or purple-black skin with white or light-colored eyes and thin, curving horns. A Night Hag is as least as tall as a human, and most are stout or have a medium build rather than being thin or emaciated. Night hags enjoy corrupting the dreams of good people, compromising the Ideals of their victims to get them to eventually perform evil acts. Then, when a victim dies, the hag can harvest its soul and bring it to Hades.

**Sea hags** live Underwater or on the shore, favoring bleak and despoiled places. They have pale skin like that of a fish, covered in scales, with glassy dead eyes and hair like lank seaweed. Sea hags are emaciated, but one might be tall or short, frail or large-boned. A Sea Hag hates beauty in any form and seeks to Attack, deface, or corrupt it so it has the opposite effect on its viewers. One is more likely to defile the inspiring statue in a town square, making it into a Symbol of fear and sorrow, than to destroy it outright.

### Hag Metamorphosis

It’s commonly believed that five kinds of hags exist in the world (and beyond it). What’s not so widely known is that some hags can change from one kind to another during their lives.

A hag that lives long enough or has the necessary resources can alter her basic Nature, leaving behind her old physiology and adopting that of a hag appropriate to The Environment of her current home. She might accomplish this transformation through force of will over time, or faster with the help of a ritual or assistance from her coven. The reasons for making such a change are as varied as the personalities and goals of hags.

## Solitary but Social

Hags are selfish by Nature, and each one cherishes her independence—from the rest of the world as well as from other hags. At the same time, every hag recognizes that she and her sisters are kindred souls, like the members of a dark sorority or sisterhood.

Even though hags don’t like each other, they share knowledge and trade secrets, helping them to keep abreast of worldly events and possible dangers. Even a hag living in a remote, isolated location is aware of goings-on that involve her neighboring hags, whether through magical Communication, personal visits, or mundane messengers such as birds. In most cases, these relationships with her sisters, though devoid of emotion, are the closest a hag comes to having Friends.

When a hag is attacked or killed, other hags are likely to hear about it. If the victim was friendly with other hags, those responsible for her death might find themselves the target of Retaliation. If the victim died while owing favors to another hag, that hag sees her killers as now responsible for the dead hag’s debts. If the victim was unpopular or if other hags were indebted to her (and thus are happy to see her go), her killers might receive relatively cordial treatment from those other hags instead.

Every hag has a particular status relative to others of her kind and to hags of all sorts, based on age, Abilities, influence, alliances, and experience, and is aware of her place (though not necessarily satisfied with it). The few grandmothers sit at the top of the hierarchy, a larger number of aunties are beneath that, and all other hags vie for prominence in a chaotic pecking order that no mortal can truly figure out. A hag that is known to associate with an auntie has a higher status than a similarly powerful hag without such a connection, and a young hag born of a grandmother begins her existence already benefiting from a greater measure of respect and status.

### Hag Covens

To a hag, the thought of sharing her home with other creatures—even other hags—is disgusting. She has nothing but dislike or disdain for anyone other than herself, and she loves being alone (except for the company of minions and other creatures under her sway). That’s the ordinary state of affairs. But when a group of hags have a Common goal or they seek greater power to Combat a formidable threat, they suppress their basic Nature and come together to do their work. The result is a coven.

Being part of a coven gives each individual hag more magic and Spellcasting Ability, and to her these benefits offset the inconvenience and bickering that goes with living and working with other hags.

If a member of a coven is killed and the surviving members intend to keep the group from dissolving, they immediately attempt to recruit a replacement. This process involves each prospective member committing cruel acts with the aim of impressing the remaining coven members. Adventurers who slay only one member of a coven might deal a blow to it in the short term, but later on the surrounding region is wracked with plagues, curses, and other disasters as the applicants attempt to outdo one another.

An unusually gifted mortal Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard of a deeply evil Nature might be invited to join a coven or allowed to compete for a vacancy. This arrangement is potentially a dangerous proposition for the mortal, but a pair of hags might agree to it if their needs are served. For instance, a human member of a coven makes an ideal spy and infiltrator in and around a humanoid settlement.

### Welcome to the Family

Hags make more hags by snatching and devouring human infants, birthing daughters who turn into hags on entering the thirteenth year of their lives. Fortunately for humanity and the rest of the world, such an occurrence is rare.

Rarer still, but not unheard of, is for a hag to repeat this process twice or more in short succession, giving her multiple offspring of about the same age. She might do this to form a coven with two of her daughters, or to create a coven made up entirely of her offspring. Some hags cite ancient lore that suggests that if a hag consumes twins or triplets, her offspring might have additional, unusual abilities; similarly, devouring the seventh-born child of a seventh-born is said to be a way to pass on rare magic to the hag’s daughter.

### The Rule of Three

They say that things come in threes. Good things. Bad things. Strange things. Hags and purveyors of witchcraft embrace the Rule of Three, as it is called: a coven has three members, they believe that good or evil magic returns upon its source threefold, and the casting of many Spells requires the same words chanted three times.

Long ago, planar travelers came to recognize that many of the realms and layers of the multiverse are configured in multiples of three. It is possible that plane-traveling hags learned of this planar-based superstition and adapted it to their own uses, although some among the oldest hags claim to have invented the concept or at least named it.

### Alternative Coven Spells

> *Want to know a dark secret? Ask a hag. The trick lies in getting truth out of her.*
>
> —Volo
>
>
>
>
>

Some covens gather for a specific purpose, such as to defeat a Champion of good, to serve as oracles for the delivery of baleful prophecies, or to corrupt a pristine Wilderness. In such a case, because the coven strives to bend its magic to a more directed purpose, the members have different Spells available for use with their Shared Spellcasting trait, usually focusing on a theme related to that purpose. Three examples of themed hag coven spell lists are given below.

***Death.*** For a coven whose members are obsessed with death and the ability to manipulate it, an appropriate spell list would be:

* 1st level (4 slots): *False Life*, *Inflict Wounds*
* 2nd level (3 slots): *Gentle Repose*, *Ray of Enfeeblement*
* 3rd level (3 slots): *Animate Dead*, *Revivify*, *Speak with Dead*
* 4th level (3 slots): *Blight*, *Death Ward*
* 5th level (2 slots): *Contagion*, *Raise Dead*
* 6th level (1 slot): *Circle of Death*

***Nature.*** Hags might seek to exert control over their Environment and the creatures in it by mastering the following group of spells:

* 1st level (4 slots): *Entangle*, *Speak with Animals*
* 2nd level (3 slots): *Flaming Sphere*, *Moonbeam*, *Spike Growth*
* 3rd level (3 slots): *Call Lightning*, *Plant Growth*
* 4th level (3 slots): *Dominate Beast*, *Grasping Vine*
* 5th level (2 slots): *Insect Plague*, *Tree Stride*
* 6th level (1 slot): *Wall of Thorns*

***Prophecy.*** The power to affect the future or perceive things out of the norm could make these Spells attractive to a coven:

* 1st level (4 slots): *bane*, *bless*
* 2nd level (3 slots): *Augury*, *Detect Thoughts*
* 3rd level (3 slots): *Clairvoyance*, *Dispel Magic*, *Nondetection*
* 4th level (3 slots): *Arcane Eye*, *Locate Creature*
* 5th level (2 slots): *geas*, *Legend Lore*
* 6th level (1 slot): *True Seeing*

## Hag Lairs

> *You will know Rickety Zilla’s lair by its shape in the moonlight: a dead tree with a bent spine, its great roots reaching out for a boulder like a man for his severed head.*
>
>
>
> —Volo
>
>
>
>
>

No matter what form it takes, a hag’s home is a manifestation of her basic Nature. It is ugly, eerie, or unnerving in some way, often incorporating some aspect of decay, such as a dead tree, a ruined tower, or a menacing cave entrance that resembles a skull.

Whether naturally or by manufactured means, the lair is well defended from intrusion. It might be reachable only by a steep Mountain path, or it might be surrounded by a fence the hag builds out of posts capped with magically warded skulls. Often, a lair reflects the outlook of its primary inhabitant—a murderous hag’s home might be crafted to look like a coffin or a mausoleum, and that of a gluttonous one might look like a tavern or a gingerbread house. Because such places are convenient for them, sea hags often establish their lairs inside the hulls of wrecked or abandoned ships.

### Best of Both Worlds

Many hags settle in places where the barriers between the mortal world and the Feywild are thin, making it easy for them to interact and bargain with creatures of both realms. Other popular choices are a place where the ambient energy augments certain kinds of magic, a site related to death such as a burial ground, and within a ring of fallen standing stones that still resonate with ancient power. In order to facilitate bargaining with mortals, the home must be near enough to a populated area that it attracts occasional visitors, but not so close that a community would see the hag’s presence as a threat and try to defeat her or drive her off.

### Treasure, Treasure Everywhere

A hag’s home is cluttered with mundane items, caged creatures, oddities, Objects that hint of a magical purpose, preserved specimens, scraps of lore, and curiosities that have a supernatural Origin but aren’t inherently magical. For a selection of strange hag treasures, see the “One-of-a-Kind Objects” section.

### Exit Strategy

A hag always has an escape plan, in case ambitious do-gooders try to turn her home into her final Resting place. If she is outmatched, or wants to vacate her lair quickly for some other reason, she uses a mix of her Innate Spellcasting, rare magic, guile, and the assistance of minions to get away. Most hags have three plans prepared: one for general threats and two others for specific likely scenarios, such as “They’ve set the house on fire” or “A Necromancer with Undead are attacking.”

If a hag is forced to resort to such measures, she immediately begins to plot her Retaliation against those that caused her to flee. Like a Vampire or a demon, a hag has a long life over which to exact her vengeance, and no dish of revenge is sweeter than one served cold and to the next three generations of her enemy’s family.

## Hag Lair Actions

If a hag is a grandmother, she gains a set of Lair Actions appropriate to her Nature, knowledge, and History. A coven that includes a grandmother can use her Lair Actions as well, but the grandmother’s will prevails—if one of the coven attempts this sort of action and the grandmother disapproves, nothing happens. A powerful auntie (or her coven) might also have access to Lair Actions like these, but only at certain times of the year or when the influence of the Feywild is strong.

The following Lair Actions are options for grandmothers and powerful aunties. Grandmothers usually have three to five Lair Actions, aunties usually only one (if they have any at all). Unless otherwise noted, any lair action that requires a creature to make a saving throw uses the save DC of the hag’s most powerful ability.

### Lair Actions

On Initiative count 20 (losing Initiative ties), the hag can take a lair action to cause one of the following Effects, but can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:

* Until Initiative count 20 on the next round, the hag can pass through solid walls, doors, ceilings, and floors as if the surfaces weren’t there.
* The hag Targets any number of doors and windows that she can see, causing each one to either open or close as she wishes. Closed doors can be magically locked (requiring a successful DC 20 Strength check to force open) until she chooses to make them unlocked, or until she uses this lair action again to open them.

A powerful **Annis Hag** might have the following additional lair action:

* The hag creates a thick cloud of caustic black smoke that fills a 20-foot-radius Sphere centered on a point she can see within 120 feet her. The cloud lasts until Initiative count 20 on the next round. Creatures and Objects in or behind the smoke are heavily obscured. A creature that enters the cloud for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there takes 10 (3d6) acid damage.

A powerful **Bheur Hag** might have the following additional lair action:

* The hag creates a Blizzard in a 40-foot-high, 20-foot radius Cylinder centered on a point she can see within 120 feet of her. The effect lasts until Initiative count 20 on the next round. The Blizzard lightly obscures every creature and object in the area for the Duration. A creature that enters the Blizzard for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there is Blinded until Initiative count 20 on the next round.

A powerful **Green Hag**might have the following additional lair action:

* The hag creates an illusory duplicate of herself, which appears in its own space. As long as she can see her duplicate, the hag can move it a distance equal to her walking speed as well as make the Illusion speak on her turn (no action required). The Illusion has the same Statistics as the hag but can’t take Actions or reactions. It can interact with its Environment and even pick up and hold real Objects. The Illusion seems real in every way but disappears if it takes any amount of damage. Otherwise, it lasts until the hag dismisses it (no action required) or can no longer see it. If the hag uses this lair action to create a new duplicate, the previous one vanishes, dropping any real Objects in its possession.

A powerful **Night Hag** might have the following additional lair actions:

* One creature the hag can see within 120 feet of her must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or be banished to a prison Demiplane. To escape, the creature must use its action to make a Charisma check contested by the hag’s. If the creature wins, it escapes the Demiplane. Otherwise, the effect ends on Initiative count 20 on the next round. When the effect ends, the creature reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that one is occupied.
* The hag Targets up to three creatures that she can see within 60 feet of her. Each target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be flung up to 30 feet through the air. A creature that strikes a solid object or is released in midair takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet moved or fallen.

A powerful **Sea Hag** might have the following additional lair actions:

* The hag fills up to four 10-foot cubes of water with ink. The inky areas are heavily obscured for 1 minute, although a steady, strong Underwater current disperses the ink on Initiative count 10. The hag ignores the obscuring effect of the ink.
* The hag chooses one humanoid within the lair and instantly creates a Simulacrum of that creature (as if created with the Simulacrum spell). This hideous Simulacrum is formed out of seaweed, slime, half-eaten fish, and other garbage, but still generally resembles the creature it is imitating. This Simulacrum obeys the hag’s commands and is destroyed on Initiative count 20 on the next round.

## Regional Effects

A hag’s foul Nature slowly suffuses The Environment around her lair, twisting it to evil.

Each hag’s lair is the source of three to five regional effects; the home of a grandmother, an auntie, or a coven has more Effects than the lair of a single hag, including some that can directly harm intruders. Any regional effect that requires a creature to make a saving throw uses the save DC of the hag’s most powerful ability. These Effects either end immediately if the hag dies or abandons the lair, or take up to 2d10 days to Fade Away.

### Regional Effects

The region within 1 mile of a grandmother hag’s lair is warped by the creature’s fell magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:

* Birds, rodents, snakes, spiders, or toads (or some other creatures appropriate to the hag) are found in great profusion.
* Beasts that have an Intelligence score of 2 or lower are Charmed by the hag and directed to be aggressive toward intruders in the area.
* Strange carved figurines, twig fetishes, or rag dolls magically appear in trees.

A powerful **Annis Hag** creates one or more of the following additional Regional Effects within 1 mile of her lair:

* The gravel stones on a safe-looking path, road, or trails occasionally become sharp for 100-foot intervals. Walking on these areas is like walking on Caltrops.
* Small avalanches of rock intermittently fall, blocking a path or burying intruders. A buried creature is Restrained and has to hold its breath until it is dug out.
* Strange laughter, sounding like that of children or the hag herself, occasionally pierces the Silence.
* Small cairns appear along the route of travelers, containing anything from mysterious bones to nothing at all. These cairns might be haunted by skeletons, specters, or Hostile fey.

A powerful **Bheur Hag** creates one or more of the following additional Regional Effects within 1 mile of her lair:

* Small avalanches of snow intermittently fall, blocking a path or burying intruders. A buried creature is Restrained and has to hold its breath until it is dug out.
* Human-sized blocks of ice appear, containing frozen corpses. These corpses might break free and Attack as Zombies, or their spirits might Attack as specters.
* Blizzards come without warning. A Blizzard occurs once every 2d12 hours and lasts 1d3 hours. During a storm, creatures moving overland travel at half normal speed, and normal visibility is reduced to 30 feet.
* Roads, paths, and trails twist and turn back on themselves, making navigation in the area exceedingly difficult.

A powerful **Green Hag** creates one or more of the following additional Regional Effects within 1 mile of her lair:

* Illusory duplicates of the hag appear in random places at random times (but never more than one in any given location). An illusory duplicate has no substance, but it looks, sounds, and moves like the hag. The hag can sense when one or more creatures are within 60 feet of her duplicate and can interact with them as if she were present and standing in the duplicate’s space. If the illusory duplicate takes any damage, it disappears.
* The region takes twice as long as normal to traverse, since the Plants grow thick and twisted, and the swamps are thick with reeking mud.
* Trees transform into awakened trees and Attack when Hostile intruders are near.

A powerful **Night Hag** creates one or more of the following additional Regional Effects within 1 mile of her lair:

* Shadows seem abnormally gaunt and sometimes move on their own as though alive.
* Creatures are transported to a harmless but eerie Demiplane filled with shadowy forms, waxy corpses, and cackling. The creatures are trapped there for a minute or two, and then returned to the place where they vanished from.
* Intelligent creatures see hallucinations of dead Friends, family members, and even themselves littering the hag’s realm. Any attempt to interact with a hallucinatory image causes it to disappear.

A powerful **Sea Hag** creates one or more of the following additional Regional Effects within 1 mile of her lair:

* Most surfaces are covered by a thin film of slime, which is slick and sticks to anything that touches it.
* Currents and tides are exceptionally strong and treacherous. Any ability check made to safely navigate or control a vessel moving through these waters has disadvantage.
* Shores are littered with dead, rotting fish. The hag can sense when one of the fish is handled and cause it to speak with her voice.

## Minions and Pets

Although they are solitary by Nature, hags sometimes feel the need for companionship. Usually one scratches this itch by acquiring servants she can insult and slap around as she wishes. Such a creature might be Charmed into compliance, or under a spell that stops its heart if it disobeys, or too afraid of nonmagical punishment for failure to do what she says. Most hags have some kind of slave or minion creature living with or near them as a defense against attackers, even if it’s just a Common animal.

Hags particularly delight in using mortals bound to their service as minions. A Paladin might have no qualms about putting a hag coven to the sword, but her conviction falters if she must first fight through a crowd of innocent farmers that the hag has compelled to defend her. Ordinary folk are also useful as minions because they can serve the hag as her eyes and ears in a nearby settlement, either operating secretly or actively trying to persuade other townsfolk to pay her a visit.

The weird magic at a hag’s disposal means that she might have almost any type of creature helping or serving her—fey, giant, Undead, and so on. Even a creature much more powerful than she might be under her Command, working off the debt of a bargain for itself or someone else. Favors beget favors, and under duress a hag might speak a magic word to call upon a blood debt from a dragon, a noble, or another hag, making her able to wield magical, political, or physical power in a way she can’t do by herself.

Like the land near a hag’s lair, over time her minions are altered by her presence, becoming twisted versions of their former selves (in a dark fey sort of way), but still recognizable as what they once were. She might alter them with magic, making them Tireless, resistant to fire, able to transform into a flock of crows, or able to Teleport through shadows—whatever the hag thinks best defends or serves her.

### Random Hag Minions

To determine the minions and helpers in a hag’s retinue, roll once on the following tables or choose from the possibilities.

The Servants table includes faithful, trusted helpers that a hag uses to protect herself and her home. These creatures are either naturally wicked or warped by the hag to better serve her. In either case, a hag is confident that her servants will obey her orders without question.

The Brutes table gives examples of the muscle a hag might employ, mercenaries that serve the hag only so long as it benefits them. These creatures run errands and take care of roughing up enemies or patrolling areas that the hag considers beneath her personal attention. Hags prefer to employ clever, cruel creatures rather than dumb oafs.

## Treasure

> *A hag always has some potion or Amulet that puts the odds in her favor. If you’re lucky, she only wants to make you miserable instead of just killing you.*
>
>
>
> —Volo
>
>
>
>
>

Much of a hag’s Treasure is strewn among all the clutter in her lair, making it difficult for intruders to quickly Identify all the items that have use or value. But the hag knows what, and where, everything is.

Every hag is infallible when it comes to keeping track of her treasures and other possessions. Her organization and labeling, if such a system exists, is designed to foil thieves and serve as a final, vexing puzzle for anyone who tries to make use of an item without her consent.

A hag’s treasure—like a gift from a fey being—should be doubted and even feared rather than simply being scooped up and carted away. Treasure-seekers are likely to fare better if they consider a hag’s booty to be trapped, exercising caution rather than giving in to greed or curiosity. Manipulating a container or other item without knowing what’s inside or what it does (or without knowing the proper password or technique) is likely to be very dangerous. At best, whatever was held in a container merely escapes or dissipates. At worst, just about anything can happen, none of it good.

### One-of-a-Kind Objects

Above and beyond the items of obvious value a hag has accumulated, she also has a few bizarre and unique items in her collection. The Hag Objects table provides a way to quickly add such weird items to a hag’s home.

## Monsters

Annis Hag

Bheur Hag

Blink Dog

Boggle

Darkling

Darkling Elder

Dryad

Green Hag

Korred

Meenlock

Pixie

Quickling

Redcap

Satyr

Sea Hag

Sprite

Yeth Hound