After buying Volos Guide to Monsters, I've been thinking a lot about making hag lairs and the encounters that would take place in them more interesting.
There are a couple of hags in the forest my players are exploring. If they find her, they'll encounter an otherwise pleasant mother/daughter duo surviving day by day. The older hag is in the process of making her own coven, but until then, she is posing as a well-to-do herbalist that is happy to make deals with strangers and forest dwellers.
If the party is respectful and sticks together, the Hags will feed them and let them go on their way. However, if they are rude, split the party, or stumble across the boneyard at the bottom of the murky pool behind their cabin, they'll turn approproately hostile to protect themselves or take advantage of the situation.
A minor misstep might turn into a curse, or a "lost" item of value, while a major misstep might result in a player being dragged into a bog and drowned.
Since Hag daughters are essentially humanoid until they reach puberty, you can use a young hag as bait for even a very suspicious party.
I have a long-running hag plot in my current campaign—the characters needed a magic item from a powerful hag, which she happily handed over, on one condition. They also had to take her magic dagger, which is made to take souls and requires one innocent life every year and a day—the next being in three days. If they did not feed the blade, she would have something to say about it.
Little did the characters know that no magic can take an innocent soul. The blade's true purpose was to take the soul of its wielder, not through magic, but simply by tempting them into murder through fear. The character who took the dagger has since had a neat corruption and redemption arc, and is moving toward a final confrontation with the hag.
While this exact idea might not work for you, the idea of a hag giving a "gift" with evil intent is one way to make her a lot more interesting!
Annis hags are awesome. Specifically because they like to do wacky graft stuff. You could have one who's killed a flind and replaced her arm with its, giving her its flail. Or one that's replaced much of her flesh with troll flesh, giving her regeneration. Or one who thought "You know, metal teeth and claws are cool and all, but they're just not quite enough" and has given herself a jaw of steel and scythes for fingers.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
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After buying Volos Guide to Monsters, I've been thinking a lot about making hag lairs and the encounters that would take place in them more interesting.
Do you have any ideas? If so, please share!
There are a couple of hags in the forest my players are exploring. If they find her, they'll encounter an otherwise pleasant mother/daughter duo surviving day by day. The older hag is in the process of making her own coven, but until then, she is posing as a well-to-do herbalist that is happy to make deals with strangers and forest dwellers.
If the party is respectful and sticks together, the Hags will feed them and let them go on their way. However, if they are rude, split the party, or stumble across the boneyard at the bottom of the murky pool behind their cabin, they'll turn approproately hostile to protect themselves or take advantage of the situation.
A minor misstep might turn into a curse, or a "lost" item of value, while a major misstep might result in a player being dragged into a bog and drowned.
Since Hag daughters are essentially humanoid until they reach puberty, you can use a young hag as bait for even a very suspicious party.
I have a long-running hag plot in my current campaign—the characters needed a magic item from a powerful hag, which she happily handed over, on one condition. They also had to take her magic dagger, which is made to take souls and requires one innocent life every year and a day—the next being in three days. If they did not feed the blade, she would have something to say about it.
Little did the characters know that no magic can take an innocent soul. The blade's true purpose was to take the soul of its wielder, not through magic, but simply by tempting them into murder through fear. The character who took the dagger has since had a neat corruption and redemption arc, and is moving toward a final confrontation with the hag.
While this exact idea might not work for you, the idea of a hag giving a "gift" with evil intent is one way to make her a lot more interesting!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Annis hags are awesome. Specifically because they like to do wacky graft stuff. You could have one who's killed a flind and replaced her arm with its, giving her its flail. Or one that's replaced much of her flesh with troll flesh, giving her regeneration. Or one who thought "You know, metal teeth and claws are cool and all, but they're just not quite enough" and has given herself a jaw of steel and scythes for fingers.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."