How to Play Hags Like Terrifying, Tragic Villains

...And I, fortunately, know a little magic

It's a talent that I always have possessed

And dear lady, please don't laugh

I use it on behalf

Of the miserable, the lonely, and depressed (pathetic)

- Ursula, The Little Mermaid

Many times when we look over the pages of the Monster Manual we tend to only consider a handful of creatures to be worthy of depth. Usually, the more humanoid figures are given full names, personas, and motivations. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority remain as glorified meat puppets used to be nothing more than fodder in a dungeon or a slight conflict prior to getting some bit of trinkets and baubles. 

Given the chance, many of these monsters can become one of the most memorable moments of a campaign. Today I am going to bring to your attention back to the hag- and how wonderful and complex they can be if utilized properly. 

Traditionally tall, wrinkly, feminine figures who have long talons and sharp teeth, hags also possess unique knowledge of the mystic arts, and can even change their appearance to look like something far more appealing to travelers. Despite how well-rounded hags are, they’re typically just dumped at the bottom of a cave between players and treasure- or worse, put on the backburner completely by many Dungeon Masters. But with a little creativity, you can make hags unforgettable. Here is how you can take a few of these different creatures and turn them into indispensable NPCs in your game! 

The Nightmare Touch of the Dusk Hag

Dusk hags resemble gnarled crones with shriveled orange skin, tangled gray hair, and eyes that burn like hot coals. They see visions of the future in their dreams, and their dark magic allows them to influence the dreams of others, sending messages or inflicting nightmares with a touch. - Eberron: Rising from the Last War

Unique Traits:

  • Nightmare Touch: Melee Spell Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 18 (4d6 + 4) psychic damage. If the target is unconscious, it takes an extra 10 (3d6) psychic damage and is cursed until the hag dies or the curse is removed. The cursed creature’s hit point maximum decreases by 5 (1d10) whenever it finishes a long rest.
  • Dream Eater: When an unconscious creature the hag can see within 30 feet of her regains consciousness, the hag can force the creature to make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. Unless the save succeeds, the creature takes 11 (2d10) psychic damage, and the hag regains hit points equal to the amount of damage taken.

They are a horror writer’s dream monster already, but let’s ignore these horrific abilities for a moment: What if a dusk hag wanted to do more on this plane than simply inflict misery and woe? 

For example, An immensely powerful dusk hag dresses as a poor street wretch testing the kindness of strangers for the vision of their future. A docile hag living their best life in the plains offering visions in exchange for food and supplies- or telling sad stories of far off lands that will never accept her. What if a hag was twisting their nightmare touch to try and be a benefit to those around them?

These characters can start off rather neutral in your campaign- offering guidance, challenges, and information- and can polarize good or evil based on your players’ interaction with them. Did they work to make the hag’s life better? Or did they ultimately decide to cross her, driving this now tragic villain over the edge?

Because once that happens, they can be dangerous opponents- and you’ve made what could have been a simple monster encounter into a complex chapter in your campaign, weaving player decisions into the ultimate fate of this NPC.

The Terrifying Wisdom of the Green Hag

The wretched and hateful green hags dwell in dying forests, lonely swamps, and misty moors, making their homes in caves. Green hags love to manipulate other creatures into doing their bidding, masking their intentions behind layers of deception. They lure victims to them by mimicking voices calling out for help or drive unwanted visitors away by imitating the cries of fierce beasts.

Unique Traits:

  • Invisible Passage: The hag magically turns invisible until she attacks or casts a spell, or until her concentration ends (as if concentrating on a spell). While invisible, she leaves no physical evidence of her passage, so she can be tracked only by magic. Any equipment she wears or carries is invisible with her.
  • Obsession with Tragedy: Green hags revel in the failings and tragedies of other creatures. They derive joy from bringing people low and seeing hope turn into despair, not just for individuals but also for whole nations.
  • Mimicry: The hag can mimic animal sounds and humanoid voices. A creature that hears the sounds can tell they are imitations with a successful DC 14 Wisdom (Insight) check.

When I think of the green hag I always think of stories like Snow White or Hansel and Gretel, where a bitter, crazy, older woman tries to hurt others. They’re scary (mimicry in a dark forest is pure nightmare fuel), but a bit simple- that is why we want to do a 180 on their moral compass so that it throws the players off track. What if her efforts are all attempts to ward off naive adventures so that they avoid the dangers of the woods? Or, if she’s a bit less altruistic, maybe she just doesn’t want these jerks to disturb her rest? That doesn’t make her evil- it just makes her cranky and tired, which, let’s be honest, is just as dangerous. 

Being a creature who has lived for centuries, would a green hag not look upon younger races as little more than children? What if their choices are driven out of an attempt to do good- after all, they know what’s best for your players, whether your players agree or not. You could even make a green hag into a matchmaker, attempting to lead folks into the woods to their soulmates. They’re blinded by their own wisdom- what could go wrong?

If your players do decide to keep this lady from her nap, the combination of invisible passage and awakening her obsession with tragedy is going to make them wish they had never come near these woods. And if this hag has decided they’ve found someone’s soulmate? How far will they go to bring these love birds together? You’ve just taken this hag from one-shot boss to a recurring nightmare. 

The Corruption of the Annis Hag 

Annis hags lair in mountains or hills. Despite being hunchbacked and hump-shouldered, they are the largest and most physically imposing of their kind, standing eight feet tall. Although Annis hags can easily tear a grown man apart, they love hunting children, preferring their flesh above all others. They use the flayed skin of such victims to make supple leather, and a hag’s lair often shows the signs of this industry. -Volo's Guide to Monsters

Unique Traits:

  • Crushing Hug: Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 36 (9d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15) if it is a Large or smaller creature. Until the grapple ends, the target takes 36 (9d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage at the start of each of the hag’s turns. The hag can’t make attacks while grappling a creature in this way.
  • Child Corrupter: When an Annis feels especially cruel, she disguises herself as a kindly-looking elderly woman, approaches a child in a remote place, and gives it an iron token that it can use to confide in her. Over time, “Granny” convinces the child that it’s okay to have bad thoughts and do bad deeds — starting with breaking things or wandering outside without permission, then graduating to pushing someone down the stairs or setting a house on fire. Sooner or later, the child’s family and community become terrified of the “bad seed” and must face the awful decision of whether the child should be punished or exiled.
  • Tribe Mother: Much in the way that they befriend children in order to corrupt them, Annis hags have a tendency for adopting a group of ogres, trolls, or other loutish creatures, ruling them through brute strength, verbal abuse, and superstition.
  • Tormenting the Weak: Although Annis hags can easily tear a grown man apart, they love hunting children, preferring their flesh above all others. They use the flayed skin of such victims to make supple leather, and a hag’s lair often shows the signs of this industry. Annis hags leave tokens of their cruelty at the edges of forests and other areas they claim. In this way, they provoke fear and paranoia in nearby villages and settlements. To an Annis Hag, nothing is sweeter than turning a vibrant community into a place paralyzed with terror, where folk never venture out at night, strangers are met with suspicion and anger, and parents warn their children to “be good, or the Annis will get you.”

At first sight of this creature you will automatically think, “How could this fiend ever be morally good?” but the beautiful thing about fantasy is that anything can be possible- even for a creature with a trait called ‘child corrupter!’ Can you imagine the look on your player’s faces when they find out that the owner of the local orphanage is an Annis hag who wants nothing more than just to care for orphans of war to ensure they have some semblance of kindness in this cruel world?

Why? Maybe after years and years of tempting children to do bad deeds and hunting them it paled in comparison to the horrors of warring nations. Then they decided that there was too much suffering for even this Annis hag even when the hag’s peers thought them too soft. 

Suddenly, your players have a moral dilemma to deal with. Can this creature be trusted? Does the hag deserve a redo after the pain they’ve caused? Knowing their tendency to build up a tribe, should the party double check if the orphanage cook is a troll in disguise?

The Horrific Existence of the Sea Hag

Sea hags live in dismal and polluted underwater lairs, surrounded by merrow and other aquatic monsters. Beauty drives a sea hag to fits of anger. When confronted with something beautiful, the hag might simply attack it or deface it. If something beautiful gives hope, a sea hag wants it to cause despair. If it inspires courage, the sea hag wants it to cause fear.

Unique Traits:

  • Horrific Appearance: Any humanoid that starts its turn within 30 feet of the hag and can see the hag's true form must make a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, with a disadvantage if the hag is within line of sight, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the hag's Horrific Appearance for the next 24 hours.
  • Death Glare: The hag targets one frightened creature she can see within 30 feet of her. If the target can see the hag, it must succeed on a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw against this magic or drop to 0 hit points.
  • Ugly Inside and Out: Sea hags are by far the ugliest of all hags, with slimy scales covering their pallid skin. A sea hag’s hair resembles seaweed and covers her emaciated body, and her glassy eyes seem as lifeless as a doll’s. Although a sea hag can hide her true form under a veil of illusion, the hag is cursed to forever appear ugly. Her illusory form appears haggard at best.

Right off the bat, there is a lot to loathe about the sea hag- especially since they have a literal ‘Horrific Appearance’ feature that will cause people to become frightened just by looking at them. Even when they try and use an illusion they ‘look haggard at best’ so there is a lot to work with here.

Why not have a sea hag who simply wants to be, and forgive us for this, where the people are? They can be heartbroken that everyone fears them- and that is the source of the hag’s fury. A non-violent solution must be found in order to give this sea hag self-esteem while also helping show the townspeople that she’s more than the cover of her book. 

Or perhaps something else is causing problems in the area, and locals are blaming it on the sea hag? Even though they’re not at fault, can the players find a way to resolve the situation that doesn’t make this misdirected blame the last straw before this hag unleashes their death glare upon the locals?

Hags have relatively high Wisdom and Intelligence scores which means that they are capable of complex emotions and thoughts. That easily justifies the notion that there have to be at least a few good or neutral Hags in their whole species. Let their moral alignment shine through their actions rather than text in the Monster Manual

When players realize that the world, and more specifically, its hags, aren’t always black and white, they’ll become much more immersed and open to the idea that maybe violence isn’t the only way to solve a problem! And even if ultimately, things lead to violence- a few simple choices can give amazing depth to hags and elevate them from monsters of the week to monsters that truly stick with us.

DeAngelo Murillo is a fourth-generation Mexican-American who helps bring more representation to the geeky community through storytelling, journalism, interviewing creatives, and more on his Twitch channel. In his free time, he enjoys harassing his peers into participating in TTRPG charity events with him and also dies quite often in video games.“

Candlekeep Mysteries is on sale now, and Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is available for preorder now in the D&D Beyond Marketplace! All preorders come with digital dice, as well as character themes, frames, and backdrops!

 

 

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