I'm really keen on the idea of having a Hag Coven be one of the BBEG of my campaign. But I want to introduce them slowly, over multiple adventures and sessions without giving away the truth to soon.
The Coven will consist Green, Night and Annis Hags.
I plan for the green to usually go around disguised as a young attractive Druid, potentially recruiting the characters to gather ingredients or creating a fake disaster they can help her solve.
The Annis will likely be causing the kids in a small village to become more and more mischievous, but I'm not sure where that leads without giving the secret up.
The Night Hag may be causing one or multiple NPCs to start going crazy due to excessive Nightmares or something along those lines.
It would be great if you could share your ideas on how Hags can slowly influence places around them to create some adventures and plot hooks without immediately revealing themselves. There are multiple plots they will be following so the hags may even disappear for a session or two at a time.
The Annis hag could end up killing the adults in the village, then going from town to town, stirring up chaos and increasing her army of children everywhere she goes.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
A (really) basic template for having fun with hags.
1) What do the hags want? Within the boundaries of your story, what is their goal? What are they trying to achieve?
2) What steps/plans do they already have in motion to try and obtain those goals?
3) How are they hiding their plans? How many layers does their onion have? Even if the players discover them, should their "superficial" objectives only be a ruse for some deeper mystery? How crafty are they?
4) How will the players stumble into this? How might the players unwittingly upset the plans of the hags and get drawn into the web? Conversely, might the players aid the hags (knowingly or unknowingly) or might the hags see the players as someone who can be manipulated? Maybe they try to make some kind of faustian bargain with the players?
Try to have all that loosely sketched out and then let it run. Adapt it as necessary for how the players respond.
Personally I like to treat hags like "halloween on a bad acid trip". Lots of illusion... lots of horror... but on a slow boil. Let it build. Normal at first... then some things don't add up... then they start to get suspicious... then they start to get scared... then oh crap the trees are laughing, that frog just told me its going to swallow my soul, and 3 invisible hags just appeared out of no where and tore the cleric apart.
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PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
So, my homebrew "dragons rule the world with an iron fist" campaign accidentally turned into a "lower level tier is full of hags" campaign, all because I needed to introduce the concept of "curse magic" doing weird shit, and hags were the perfect fit. They excel at curses, and hag magic is just different anyway, so baboom, Oops All Hags.
The party's very first encounter with a hag was because they needed her magical expertise to solve a strange arcane malady (an NPC had lost access to her magic, because [say it with me] curse magic). So they made a bargain with the hag, which they reneiged on, because what she wanted would have brought serious harm to a grove of dryads. A whole bunch of crazy antics ensue, whereupon the PC's return to the hag, and the scarecrows dotting the hag's land come alive, as well as some of the trees. Big, gross battle, and the hag herself didn't even enter combat yet.
The whole time, the hag's inside her hut, using a mummified paladin's head to literally get inside the PC's' heads and screw with them, making them see apparitions of dead relatives saying horrible stuff, that kind of thing. By the time they reached her door, I swear my players were shaking. After a lot of sideways attempts at bargaining again, there was a pitched battle. I gave this hag lair actions, legendary actions, a cauldron that spewed all kinds of gross stuff on Initiative 20, the whole nine yards.
My PC's practically have "old lady PTSD" now, and it's hilaaaaaaarious. Hags are gold, I tell you. Please update us and let us know how yours went.
I'm really keen on the idea of having a Hag Coven be one of the BBEG of my campaign. But I want to introduce them slowly, over multiple adventures and sessions without giving away the truth to soon.
The Coven will consist Green, Night and Annis Hags.
I plan for the green to usually go around disguised as a young attractive Druid, potentially recruiting the characters to gather ingredients or creating a fake disaster they can help her solve.
The Annis will likely be causing the kids in a small village to become more and more mischievous, but I'm not sure where that leads without giving the secret up.
The Night Hag may be causing one or multiple NPCs to start going crazy due to excessive Nightmares or something along those lines.
It would be great if you could share your ideas on how Hags can slowly influence places around them to create some adventures and plot hooks without immediately revealing themselves. There are multiple plots they will be following so the hags may even disappear for a session or two at a time.
The Annis hag could end up killing the adults in the village, then going from town to town, stirring up chaos and increasing her army of children everywhere she goes.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
A (really) basic template for having fun with hags.
1) What do the hags want? Within the boundaries of your story, what is their goal? What are they trying to achieve?
2) What steps/plans do they already have in motion to try and obtain those goals?
3) How are they hiding their plans? How many layers does their onion have? Even if the players discover them, should their "superficial" objectives only be a ruse for some deeper mystery? How crafty are they?
4) How will the players stumble into this? How might the players unwittingly upset the plans of the hags and get drawn into the web? Conversely, might the players aid the hags (knowingly or unknowingly) or might the hags see the players as someone who can be manipulated? Maybe they try to make some kind of faustian bargain with the players?
Try to have all that loosely sketched out and then let it run. Adapt it as necessary for how the players respond.
Personally I like to treat hags like "halloween on a bad acid trip". Lots of illusion... lots of horror... but on a slow boil. Let it build. Normal at first... then some things don't add up... then they start to get suspicious... then they start to get scared... then oh crap the trees are laughing, that frog just told me its going to swallow my soul, and 3 invisible hags just appeared out of no where and tore the cleric apart.
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
This is are some really great points to consider, thank you very much.
Halloween on a bad acid trip sounds like the nightmare fuel that just might work!
So, my homebrew "dragons rule the world with an iron fist" campaign accidentally turned into a "lower level tier is full of hags" campaign, all because I needed to introduce the concept of "curse magic" doing weird shit, and hags were the perfect fit. They excel at curses, and hag magic is just different anyway, so baboom, Oops All Hags.
The party's very first encounter with a hag was because they needed her magical expertise to solve a strange arcane malady (an NPC had lost access to her magic, because [say it with me] curse magic). So they made a bargain with the hag, which they reneiged on, because what she wanted would have brought serious harm to a grove of dryads. A whole bunch of crazy antics ensue, whereupon the PC's return to the hag, and the scarecrows dotting the hag's land come alive, as well as some of the trees. Big, gross battle, and the hag herself didn't even enter combat yet.
The whole time, the hag's inside her hut, using a mummified paladin's head to literally get inside the PC's' heads and screw with them, making them see apparitions of dead relatives saying horrible stuff, that kind of thing. By the time they reached her door, I swear my players were shaking. After a lot of sideways attempts at bargaining again, there was a pitched battle. I gave this hag lair actions, legendary actions, a cauldron that spewed all kinds of gross stuff on Initiative 20, the whole nine yards.
My PC's practically have "old lady PTSD" now, and it's hilaaaaaaarious. Hags are gold, I tell you. Please update us and let us know how yours went.