I plan to have my players encounter a green hag (I've let my players encounter a m y s t e r i o u s old woman in the forest already as a foreshadowing), but I'm not yet sure about the details. Do you have any good ideas about hags and their activities? Alternatively, what experiences of running hags do you have?
I had my old party run into a whole coven, one at a time without realizing they were a coven until the end. The first hag, a green hag who went by Black Agnes, was probably the most memorable monster in my game.
I played her almost like a devil - cunning, deceptive, eager to strike deals that were skewed in her favor. I laid the groundwork for a whole operation she was doing with the people in a nearby village, where she would make deals and corrupt them slowly, but the party ultimately never went beyond that.
She was such a force of personality that even when the party returned to her later, all around levels 5-6, they were afraid to fight her. It felt *good* having that much control over my players. Make her creepy, in the most innocent and seemingly trustworthy way possible. She wants their help, and she wants to help them (or so it seems to the party). I was iffy about hags before I did this, but it’s been so much fun that I’m thinking about including a lot more hags in my games moving forward
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Yeah, hags seem to have a lot of potential. Having them make bargains with mortals is often suggested and seems like a good way of connecting them to the world and showing their characteristic nature, but I don't see a lot of examples of what such a bargain could look like. What are the things that a hag offers, what does she crave in return and how does she outsmart her targets to inflict suffering on them?
I almost killed my party with a coven of green hags. They were supposed to be a medium encounter, but with invisible passage, that upcast 6th level lightning bolt hits like a truck!
EDIT: The setup was that an old woman in the swamp had been driving off people who had been going there to collect mushrooms. When the party investigated, I used the heck out of illusory appearance and one of them polymorphed into a giant crocodile. But mostly it was the upcast lightning bolts that really sizzled the party.
Yeah, hags seem to have a lot of potential. Having them make bargains with mortals is often suggested and seems like a good way of connecting them to the world and showing their characteristic nature, but I don't see a lot of examples of what such a bargain could look like. What are the things that a hag offers, what does she crave in return and how does she outsmart her targets to inflict suffering on them?
The hag I ran had a racket operation, she would make a deal with people to deliver something for her, on the agreement that they must deliver it by a certain time frame. It was a letter to someone who was indebted to her. Then, if the other hags in her coven were to make it impossible for the party to deliver the letter on time, well, she wouldn't tell them to stop!
And then she has the party indebted to her as well, finds some other saps to deliver similar letters, and the racket continues. (She began kidnapping their families after they didnt hold up their end of the contract, the letters they recieved simply told them which ones)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
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I plan to have my players encounter a green hag (I've let my players encounter a m y s t e r i o u s old woman in the forest already as a foreshadowing), but I'm not yet sure about the details. Do you have any good ideas about hags and their activities? Alternatively, what experiences of running hags do you have?
I had my old party run into a whole coven, one at a time without realizing they were a coven until the end. The first hag, a green hag who went by Black Agnes, was probably the most memorable monster in my game.
I played her almost like a devil - cunning, deceptive, eager to strike deals that were skewed in her favor. I laid the groundwork for a whole operation she was doing with the people in a nearby village, where she would make deals and corrupt them slowly, but the party ultimately never went beyond that.
She was such a force of personality that even when the party returned to her later, all around levels 5-6, they were afraid to fight her. It felt *good* having that much control over my players. Make her creepy, in the most innocent and seemingly trustworthy way possible. She wants their help, and she wants to help them (or so it seems to the party). I was iffy about hags before I did this, but it’s been so much fun that I’m thinking about including a lot more hags in my games moving forward
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Yeah, hags seem to have a lot of potential. Having them make bargains with mortals is often suggested and seems like a good way of connecting them to the world and showing their characteristic nature, but I don't see a lot of examples of what such a bargain could look like. What are the things that a hag offers, what does she crave in return and how does she outsmart her targets to inflict suffering on them?
I almost killed my party with a coven of green hags. They were supposed to be a medium encounter, but with invisible passage, that upcast 6th level lightning bolt hits like a truck!
EDIT: The setup was that an old woman in the swamp had been driving off people who had been going there to collect mushrooms. When the party investigated, I used the heck out of illusory appearance and one of them polymorphed into a giant crocodile. But mostly it was the upcast lightning bolts that really sizzled the party.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Volo's guide to monsters has an excellent section on hags! https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/vgtm/monster-lore#HagsDarkSisterhood
The hag I ran had a racket operation, she would make a deal with people to deliver something for her, on the agreement that they must deliver it by a certain time frame. It was a letter to someone who was indebted to her. Then, if the other hags in her coven were to make it impossible for the party to deliver the letter on time, well, she wouldn't tell them to stop!
And then she has the party indebted to her as well, finds some other saps to deliver similar letters, and the racket continues. (She began kidnapping their families after they didnt hold up their end of the contract, the letters they recieved simply told them which ones)
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?