Shapechanger. Baba Iyaga can use an action to polymorph into a humanoid creature, or back into her true form. While in her polymorph form, she has a walking speed of 35 feet. Anything she is wearing and carrying transforms with her.
Blessing of Mother Night. Baba Iyaga is shielded against divination magic, as though protected by a nondetection spell.
Spellcasting. Baba Iyaga is a 16th-level spellcaster. Her spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 19, +9 to hit with spell attacks). Baba Lysaga has the following wizard spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): acid splash, fire bolt, light, mage hand, prestidigitation
1st level (4 slots): detect magic, magic missile, sleep, witch bolt
2nd level (3 slots): crown of madness, enlarge/reduce, misty step
3rd level (3 slots): dispel magic, fireball, lightning bolt
4th level (3 slots): blight, Evard’s black tentacles, polymorph
5th level (2 slots): cloudkill, geas, scrying
6th level (1 slot): programmed illusion, true seeing
7th level (1 slot): finger of death, mirage arcane
8th level (1 slot): power word stun
Multiattack. Baba Iyaga makes three attacks with her quarterstaff.
Quarterstaff. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage, or 8 (1d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage if wielded with two hands.
Summon Swarms of Insects (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). Baba Iyaga summons 1d4 swarms of insects. A summoned swarm appears in an unoccupied space within 60 feet of Baba Lysaga and acts as her ally. It remains until it dies or until Baba Lysaga dismisses it as an action.
The Many Masks of Baba Iyaga. Baba Iyaga casts Mirror Image without expending a spell slot.
The illusory duplicates swirl around her like warped reflections in dark water. The spell functions as mirror image (no concentration) and lasts for its normal duration.
If Baba Iyaga already has active duplicates, she cannot use this bonus action again until the images are destroyed.
Breath of the Bog. Baba Iyaga exhales a cloud of choking marsh vapor at a point she can see within 60 feet.
A 20-foot-radius sphere of sickly green fog spreads around that point and heavily obscures the area. The fog lingers for 1 minute.
Creatures inside the fog are blinded while within it.
Creatures cannot see through the fog, including with darkvision.
A creature that starts its turn inside the fog must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take 2d8 poison damage and become poisoned.
The fog disperses early if strong wind clears it.
Witchfeet. Baba Iyaga casts Misty Step, vanishing into a swirl of marsh mist and reappearing in an unoccupied space she can see within 30 feet.
When she reappears, faint black reeds and drifting fog swirl briefly around her feet.
When Baba Iyaga is targeted by a ranged attack she can see, she twists through a ripple of marsh magic and teleports up to 50 feet to an unoccupied space behind the nearest hostile creature other than the attacker.
The attacking creature must reroll the attack roll, using the same modifiers, now targeting the creature Baba Iyaga teleported behind.
If the new attack roll hits, the attack instead strikes that creature.
If there is no other creature within 50 feet of the attacker, Baba Iyaga cannot use this reaction.
When Baba Iyaga teleports, her form briefly dissolves into drifting fog and tangled reeds before reforming behind her new victim.
The Call of the Black Marshes. Baba Iyaga whispers a fractured word of ancient marsh magic, her voice echoing twice as it fades into the fog.
One creature Baba Iyaga can see within 60 feet must succeed on a DC 18 Intelligence saving throw or have its mind invaded by the whispering voices of Hollowmere.
The target takes 4d6 psychic damage, and its Intelligence and Charisma scores become 1 for the duration.
While affected by this curse:
• The creature cannot cast spells or activate magic items requiring speech or complex thought.
• The creature can speak only in simple or broken phrases.
• The creature has disadvantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma ability checks.
• The creature hears endless whispering voices from the marsh, imposing disadvantage on concentration checks.
At the end of each of the creature’s turns, it must repeat the Intelligence saving throw.
On a success, the effect ends.
On a failure, the creature must use half of its movement speed to walk in a random direction away from the fight, drawn toward the fog.
This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.
Breaking the Curse
A creature within 5 feet of the affected target can use its action to attempt to pull them back to their senses by shouting, shaking them, or striking them with clarity.
The affected creature immediately repeats the Intelligence saving throw with advantage, ending the effect on a success.
Alternatively, the effect ends if Baba Iyaga loses concentration.
The curse also ends if the creature receives Greater Restoration, Heal, or Wish.
Description
Baba Iyaga is a tall, gaunt, and deeply unnatural figure whose body appears stretched and warped by ancient magic and decay. Her spine arches forward in a permanent, predatory hunch, causing her elongated arms to hang low enough that her clawed fingers nearly brush the ground when she walks. Her skin is a sickly gray-white, stretched tightly across pronounced bones and knotted muscle, giving the impression that her body was assembled rather than born. Portions of her ribcage are faintly visible beneath the thin flesh, rising and falling with shallow breaths that seem more like the movement of dry leaves than living lungs. One half of her face still resembles the pale outline of a humanoid woman, though the skin is withered and corpse-like, while the other half is stripped down to exposed bone and darkness, revealing the permanent skeletal grin of a half-rotted skull. A single milky white eye gleams faintly in the hollow of her living side, while the other socket appears sunken and shadowed. Long strands of thin, colorless hair hang from her scalp like damp marsh moss, swaying gently even when the air is still. Two dark horns curve outward from her skull, sweeping backward like those of some ancient marsh beast. Her teeth are jagged, yellowed, and uneven, and when she speaks they remain partially exposed through the torn edges of her lips. Baba Iyaga moves with a slow, deliberate gait, leaning heavily upon a twisted wooden staff crowned with a large crescent-shaped iron blade resembling a broken moon. Tattered layers of dark cloth drape from her body like decaying funeral shrouds, dragging through the swamp water and reeds around her feet. Rusted rings, cords of leather, and small charms made from bone and marsh metal hang from her garments and wrists, clinking softly whenever she shifts her weight. Despite her hunched posture, there is a disturbing grace in her movements, as if the marsh itself bends to accommodate her passage. When she stands in the fog of Hollowmere, the mist often curls around her form unnaturally, and faint echoes sometimes accompany her voice, as though another presence repeats her words just beneath the sound of her breath.
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