D&D 5e The Complete Hag

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DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. All other original material in this work is copyright 2020 by Daniel Chivers and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

Contents 4 7 9 11 12 14 16 16 17 18 18 19 19 20 22 22 23 24 24 26 26 26 26 27 27 27 28 28 28 28 29 29 30 30 31 31 32 32 33 35 35 47 47 48 49 51 54 54 55 56 58 58 68 70 71 81 82 102 109 124 131 136 141 143 Author Notes and Credits ...................................... Chapter 1: Hags in General Hag Covens ................................................................................ Cegilune .................................................................................... The Immortal Three .............................................................. Sister Sepia & The Burning Bright .................................... Chapter 2: Hags Lairs Hag Lairs Near Civilization .................................................. Herbalist Cottage or Shop .................................................... Large Active Graveyard ......................................................... Sewer or Dungeon ................................................................. Haunted House ....................................................................... Hag Lairs in the Wilderness ................................................ Other Planes of Existence .................................................... Chapter 3: Allies, Brutes, Minions, Servants, and Slaves Allies .......................................................................................... Brutes ........................................................................................ Servants or Lair Guards ....................................................... Slaves ........................................................................................ Chapter 4: Hag Lair Trimmings Weird Garden .......................................................................... Rotting Orchard ...................................................................... Death Yard ................................................................................ Shrine to Cegilune ................................................................. Supernatural Plants ............................................................... Bloodthorn ............................................................................... Blood Squash .......................................................................... Carbuncle Cabbage ................................................................ Corpse Clover .......................................................................... Corrupted Fairy Ring ............................................................. Fey Thyme ................................................................................ Gluevine .................................................................................... Hallow Tree .............................................................................. Lemony Tree ............................................................................ Magic Mushroom, Purple ..................................................... Spirit Funnel ............................................................................ Tombstone Tree ...................................................................... Triple Arched Portal ............................................................... Wailing Mandrake .................................................................. Chapter 5: Hag Gifts Known Hag Gifts .................................................................... Chapter 6: Witch Fingers Consequences of Use and Display ...................................... Making a Witch Finger .......................................................... Witch Finger Descriptions ................................................... Ravel Witch Finger ................................................................. Chapter 7: Potions of Mutation Randomly Found Potions of Mutation ............................... Mutation Potion Generator .................................................. Hag Tailor Made Potions of Mutation ................................ Chapter 8: Hag Weirds Known Hag Weirds ................................................................ Chapter 9: New Spells Spell List ................................................................................... Spell Descriptions .................................................................. Chapter 10: Bestiary Creatures Statistics ................................................................ Hag, Auntie ............................................................................ Hag, Grandmother ............................................................... Appendix A: Nonplayer Characters Appendix B: Immortal Hags Appendix C: Intoxicating and Poisonous Plants Appendix D: Dungeon Masters and Hags Inspiration

Author Notes This work greatly expands on the hag canon that already exists in Dungeons & Dragons and also assumes that the reader has read or has access to the Monsters Manual and Volo’s Guide to Monsters. I started work on this hag overhaul after I grew tired of the morally insipid hags and the idea that female creatures can’t be evil and beautiful at the same time. Hag, in this work, refers to the creature or monster listed in the Monster Manual, and is not to be confused with the antiquated and disparaging term used for powerful and or old women. There is no reason why evil can’t be hideous. There is no reason why evil must be hideous, or that good must be attractive. This idea led to the nightshade hag, a powerful, complex, evil, and feminine creature that is comfortable wearing a hideous form or an attractive one. As I crafted this new hag I found myself changing and fleshing out more and more of the hag canon and ecology. This small project became a massive creature ecology that I want to share with the Dungeons and Dragons community. The Complete Hag has been a labor of love, and I know that some will hate it, some will see it as another creature to add to random encounter tables, some will use this to flesh out their hag encounters, and some will love the dense background and lore. I do hope that you enjoy learning about more complex and complicated hags. You can skip to the parts that you want to look at immediately because the table of contents is hyperlinked. If you see the compass… ...know that it is a button that will bring you back to the table of contents. Credits Lead Designer and Author: Daniel Chivers Graphic Designer and Layout: Marco Bertini Editing: Daniel Chivers Cover Art: "Witch," by Alexandr Leskinen https://www.artstation.com/leskinen-al, https://www.deviantart.com/alexandr-leskinen Internal Art: All art purchased and/or used with permission, by various artists to include: Bob Greyvenstein, Chris Beatrice, Clubgiudesign, Dan Chivers, Forrest Imel, Jacob E. Blackmon, Hopsy Graphic Art, Matt Forsyth Art, Mordalin, Nadine Ewing, PgmJanssen, Purple Duck Games, Shiroikuro, Sly Tiger Art Studio, Todor Hristov, Tyber Nexus, Xzaramon, pixaby.com, Patrick E. Pullen, Jacob E. Blackmon. Daniel Comerci – danielcomerci.com. Some artwork © 2015 Dean Spencer, used with permission. All rights reserved. Ricky Hershey, Empty Room Studio. The Dungeon Masters Guild was used as source for some of the art. All art taken from there is owned by Wizards of the Coast and is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for the Dungeon Masters Guild. If I have forgotten to mention an artist then it was not on purpose and I will gladly include their name on the next update. Created with Homebrewery Version: 25JUNE2020 Real Evil and Fantasy Evil General Warning The Complete Hag was originally called Malleus Maleficarum and Stringonomicon. I have changed the title out of respect for all women, men, children, heretics, malcontents, and herbalists killed in the name of fear, ignorance, and power. The past cannot be changed, but it can be remembered. The real Malleus Maleficarum, or “witch hammer,” represents a very ugly time in human history. That book was used to justify the murders of at least 70,000 women. At the center of this ugliness was a patriarchal society threatened by educated, powerful, and willful women who could heal without the need for prayer or new gods. This Complete Hag, Stringlasonomicon, Malleus Maleficarum is separate from that human ugliness. Malleus Maleficarum means, “hag hammer.” Stringlasonomicon loosely means, “images in the name of hag.” Feel free to use whichever title you want, depending on the needs of your players. In this work you will read about everything that real witches are not. You will read about slavery, children being eaten, drugs, alcohol, self-mutilization as ritual, psychedelic plants, the corruption of nature, every form of corruption imaginable and evil in general. You will read about all the terrible evils associated with a love potion. I use the monstrous to explore human evil. I hope that you see this as a work of fiction. Start slow and see how things go. Please do not give this work to children. 4 THE COMPLETE HAG by Daniel Chivers

Hags in General H ag wants to turn world into biggest pimple. Badrip Ritesgud, kobold philosopher General Information. Hags glorify the hideous and misshapen. They delight in exchanging power for a price, often taking advantage of the desperate or greedy. They hold, feed, and slaughter children the way a farmer would keep pigs or chickens. The hag has corrupted veneration of elders by naming older hags, auntie or grandma. Beauty is turned ugly, sex is made horrifying, and even death is perverted by these evil creatures, called Evil Dark in the old ways. They worship Cegilune using a path to moon magic, vastly different from how a hedge witch venerates the natural world. A hedge witch asks, but a hag simply takes what she wants. Hag Motivations. Besides the twisting of wholesome and beautiful things, a hag wants to possess truly evil or ugly objects, objects with souls attached to them, or young pretty girls to twist into hags. A hag can be baited or bargained with if they are presented with something truly unique, ugly, or beautiful. What they do with these objects is not always obvious, but usually involves a dark ritual to Cegilune. Objects with souls and any sentient item has value to a hag and they will either offer a legitimate trade without ugly strings attached or otherwise behave themselves if they don’t think they can take it outright. Comely young girls less than 13 years of age are also of value to a hag, for they will seek to corrupt them into a hag in waiting, using their twisted and vile parallel of the maternal instinct. Hags are not all the same, and some welcome the rush of corrupting mortals, some can’t be bothered, and some just want to feel bones crunch between their teeth. Hags have personalities as varied as humanoids. Lastly, if a hag can find a way to corrupt something, she will. Hags believe that there is nothing so sacred that it cannot be corrupted.

Age and Power. Hags become more powerful the older they get. Auntie and Grandmother are titles reserved for the truly nasty, old, and vile amongst the hags. There are also young hags, sometimes called feral hags, that are as erratic and violent as they are easy to destroy. Ferals are 13 to 16 year-old humanoid females, who are in the final stages of changing into a hag. If a young hag survives or is properly protected and guided, then she turns into a hag on her 16th birthday and assumes her first hag form. Hag Reproduction. Contrary to rumors, hags do not reproduce by eating babies and then having their own. A hag will reproduce the old fashioned way and then replace a humanoid baby with her own. She will then eat the swapped baby to dispose of it. A hag can reproduce with just about any humanoid, goblinoid, or ogroid and generally choose a mate based on their bloodline or social and political power. Though most hags could take a mate by force, most will not. The reasons are varied but an old sylvan saying translates into, “there is no potion, no word, nor aphrodisiac like trickery!” If a hag allows the partner to live, then she usually has an ulterior motive or values his bloodline’s power. Most humanoids and goblinoids will not mate with hags in their normal shape therefore most are tricked or agree only in exchange for power. Hags will rarely ever mate with the same creature more than once out of fear of being “infected with love.” Female children of hags are either hags in waiting or forgotten depending on whether or not they are being coached into becoming hags. Male children are called hag spawn, and are easily confused for ogres. Male children are either abandoned at birth, experimented on, or given to ogre tribes. Hags will never raise children on their own and show no maternal instinct towards the male or female children they have created. Those hags suspected of having or showing love for a child are quickly torn to pieces by their peers. Hag Weaknesses. Most hags are very superstitious and will see meaning in many innocuous events. A DM can use this to allow weak characters to battle a stronger hag after they learn how to manipulate her superstitions or use it as a way to improve roleplaying between the characters and the hag. Hags are also deathly afraid of ever being accused of loving something or someone. This is seen as the ultimate betrayal amongst hags and those proven to be in love (infected by love is how hags say it) are hunted down and torn to shreds. Hags consider love as a type of contagious disease that needs to be eradicated before it spreads. Hags also tend to be very jealous of each other and clever characters can manipulate two hags, not in the same coven, to act against each other. But those who fail at this soon find they have two enemies instead of one. The hag sisterhood is twisted and filled with jealousy, but it is still a sisterhood. Hag Superstitions. Hags are very prone to acquiring superstitions and believing a wide variety of items are lucky or unlucky depending on their own experiences. Besides whatever superstitions a hag acquires on her own there are some superstitions that affect most hags. Hags are afraid of any eclipses, seeing this as a time when Sister Sepia is at her strongest and Cegilune at her weakest. During an eclipse, most hags will lock themselves away in their lair refusing to greet guests or do business until after the eclipse has passed. Hags are likely to flee battle, even against weaker foes, if they are surprised by an eclipse.

Hag magic that requires moonlight usually has a teal glow to it, and hags believe that red-orange or orange light weakens their connection to Cegilune. They often whisper amongst themselves that the servants and messengers of Sister Sepia use a unique form of light that drains them of all their power. Colors of light have no real effect on gameplay but hags will universally express a dislike for orange and red-orange colored objects. Most hags are obsessed with geometry, numerology, and astronomy (to track the cycles of the moon). They hate any number divisible by both three and two, such as six and twelve. They may make strange demands when bartering to ensure that nothing is in a group of such numbers or otherwise act irrational when dealing with such numbers. Hags have very wild ideas about how planets move through the sky in ellipses, the sun is the center of the universe, etc. Hag Covens General Information. Hag covens are three hags that agree to work towards a common cause and share power. Most hag covens are temporary by immortal standards, only lasting a few decades before breaking apart due to infighting, paranoia, change, or boredom. Some covens are exceptions to this rule, especially if the hags are related. These covens are not held together by love and respect, but by blood bonds and power. There are also the rare hag covens that only meet in response to powerful threats and events. These covens can be compared to evil adventurer parties of three hags that come together, fight against something, and then immediately break apart once the threat has passed. As a general rule, a hag can only be a member of one coven per personal metamorphosis. Hag metamorphosis is explained in Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Hag covens will almost always lair together for as long as the coven exists. Existing Coven Information. The Monster Manual and Volo’s Guide to Monsters both describe basic covens in detail. Most covens will resemble the covens mentioned in those previous books. Each hag in a coven will have Shared Spellcasting as long as they are within 30 feet of each other. Collectively the coven will have access to sigil stain and woe and weal (new spells) as ritual spells, 12 known spells, and the following 11-th level wizard spell slots: 1st level (4 slots): 2nd level (3 slots): 3rd level (3 slots): 4th level (3 slots): 5th level (2 slots): 6th level (1 slot): Known exceptions are a coven of night hags found in Hades, covens with an auntie, and covens with a grandmother hag. Night Hag Coven. Three night hags, lairing in Hades, can form a specific coven to Cegilune, and their collective powers are closer to those of a warlock. Cegilune can only provide power to three separate night hag covens. These three separate covens never work in concert and would have an impossible time getting along even if Cegilune was faced by a serious threat. This night hag coven will only increase the Challenge Rating of the encountered hags by +2, just as any hag coven would. Night hags in this coven have the feature, Shared Spellcasting, but their spellcasting will be different. A night hag coven can collectively cast 3 of the following spells at 6th spell-level: 1st level: armor of Agathys 2nd level: spider climb, suggestion 3rd level: dispel magic, hunger of Hadar, magic circle, tongues, woe and weal (new spell) 4th level: blight, dimension door 5th level: dream, scrying 6th level: wail of the banshee (new spell) A night hag coven can also cast, circle of death, once per day without using up a spell slot. The collective spell DC is 12 + the hag’s Charisma modifier, and the spell attack bonus is 4 + the hag’s Charisma modifier. 9 PART 1 | HAGS IN GENERAL

Aunties and Hag Covens. The hags in a coven with an auntie hag in it can all cast symbol as long as they are within 30 feet of the rest of the coven. Each hag can cast this spell once every year and a day. This spell still requires material components, and this spell cannot be cast in combat. The symbol is permanent until triggered or destroyed, and each hag can only maintain one magical symbol at a time. Symbol is usually used to trap a valuable object near the edge of the coven lair. A coven with one auntie in it could still have up to three magical symbols defending its lair. Hag symbols will use crude and very visible sigils based on their sigil wheel. If the coven is ever reduced to two or less hags, then all of the symbols are dispelled. Grandmothers and Hag Covens. A grandmother hag grants the coven the powers granted by an auntie and control weather once every year and a day, as long as the rest of the coven is within 30 feet and out of combat. This spell does not require all three hags to concentrate so long as at least one of them is; this task is usually forced upon the weakest of the three. The duration of the spell changes to one hour per CR of the most powerful hag in the coven. A coven of two annis and one annis hag grandmother casts control weather that lasts for 10 hours. Magic, Ritual, and the Weird. All hags are deeply invested in knowing the cycles of the moon and seasons, which are based on their own calendars. They also study certain powerful bloodlines or those families that tend to have triplets. Three is a powerful number to a hag, but they also have a wide ranging perspective and obsession with numerology and genealogy. Their rituals involve very specific geometry, tightly measured angles, and specific timing corresponding to natural events. Hags use a form of magic that is easily recognizable by spellcasters. But all hags also have their own rituals, weird objects, spells, and oddities that they may or may not share with their sister hags. An adventurer should always expect something new and deadly every time they converse or fight with a hag. Hags using the new spells will prefer to fight in moonlight or some of their spells will not work. A hag that is properly motivated, usually by jealousy or hate, can craft truly powerful items and terrible rituals given time, resources, and their uncanny knack to experiment until they get something right. The spell chapter will discuss some of the hag spells that have been documented as well as a few used by their minions and enemies. Challenge Rating and Hag Weird A DM is only limited by their creativity and imagination when creating weird items, spells, rituals, etc. for hags. The CR for an encountered hag should increase depending on how many and how powerful her weird objects and rituals are. Some are listed in this book. 10 PART 1 | HAGS IN GENERAL

The weird items and gifts that hags make include such vile things as witch fingers, seed satchels, and some of their more well known and odious creations. Hag Sigil Wheel. Hags use a sigil wheel, similar to those used by hedge or green witches for sigil creation. Hags use power very differently than a hedge witch; their sigil wheels are literally backwards and opposite of the old ways. A hag looking to create a personalized sigil will trace a word or phrase using the wheel above. She will start with the first letter and then connect the rest. Hags will paint or carve their sigils quickly and never ornament them or take excessive care in how they look. Hags will not use the sigil wheel for complex codes; they use sigils to tie a ritual to an object or place. More sigil examples, commonly called stain sigils, are shown in the beginning of Chapter 9 before the new spells are explained. Cegilune Goddess of Hags. Cegilune is the patron goddess of hags. Cegilune takes a toll from every night hag herding larva and she is obsessed with her own hideousness and the destruction of all beauty in the multiverse. Her avatar can take one of three different forms that are associated with phases of the moon. The hags call these forms the three faces of the moon. Her young form is seen during the new moon, her crone form is seen during the full moon, and her nightmarish form is seen on any other night when her avatar visits the Material Plane. Cegilune’s lair in Hades is said to be a large bone-strewn cave filled with all manner of evil fluids and curiosities. Her unholy symbol is usually portrayed as an overflowing black cauldron. It is said that there are only two things Cegilune wants more than larva: unique magical items and living creatures for her cauldrons. Any creature that goes into one of her cauldrons has its soul utterly consumed and any magic item is completely destroyed. Unlike devils who use souls to wage war on demons, what Cegilune uses soul power for is not understood. 11 PART 1 | HAGS IN GENERAL

Cegilune and the Nightshades. Scholars believe that nightshade hags were unleashed or created by something other than Cegilune to challenge her power. Regardless, some nightshades worship Cegilune and some openly do not. Nightshades are a relatively new development amongst the immortal evil dark, with the oldest nightshade hag only 400 years old; the same age as the Witch Hunter organization. Cegilune is said to punish those who stray from ugliness, deceit, and jealousy by withholding her favor, which in practical terms means that a hag would lose her access to ritual magic and could grow old and die. Nightshade hags, who seem to favor the power of their beauty over ugliness further confuse things, for it is assumed that Cegilune is not granting them immortality. Nightshade hags must be using a different source for their immortality or Cegilune is allowing them to continue with their strange behavior. For those hags that do worship Cegilune there is only one sacrilege worse than beauty: love. Love is the one absolute taboo for hags. A green hag would rather wear the skin of a beautiful maiden for eternity than fall in love. A hag accused of love is quickly hunted down and ritually torn to shreds, and her head turned into a type of totem, lest her “sickness be catching,” as the hag term goes. And in love there is one sinner above all: A hag that loves her child. The Immortal Three General Information. Hags are granted their immortality through their worship of Cegilune and various dark rituals and mystic rights that they perform. They have the lesser form of immortality where old age cannot slay them, but they can be killed like any other monster. The average hag has at least 100 years of evil and scheming in her bag of tricks. And like most things that involve the hags the number three is once again important. There are three truly Immortal hags. These three are very powerful and are never found in covens. More information on these three are found in Appendix B. Ravel. Ravel goes by many names. She has been called Ravelhair, Knottedvine, Tumblemazer, Wellpuzzle, and others, but any hag calling her auntie or grandmother is said to meet a gruesome end. Ravel is thought to be the most powerful of the three Immortal hags, and as luck would have it, she tends to keep her mad schemes outside of the Material Plane. Ravel is obsessed with immortality and what she calls the weight of a soul. She has completely abandoned Cegilune and is openly attempting to supplant her. Because of this, Ravel has had to find a new way to stay immortal. She stays immortal through the use of ravel witch fingers, which grant great power to hags that find and wear them. Each hag wearing a ravel which finger has a small chance of being the new host for Ravel when she tires of her current form. It is assumed that it was Ravel that first demonstrated or taught the rest of the evil dark how to ritually sever the finger of a spellcaster to gain power. Ravel loves to talk and hear how lovely her hideous beauty is. She will usually initiate a conversation before combat, assuming a person has any wit at all. Afterwards she is just as likely to wander off as to eat a person. Those who survived an encounter with her played to her vanity and spoke with her at great length. Ravel has even been known to debate philosophy and mathematics with some 12 PART 1 | HAGS IN GENERAL

creatures. The wise do not go looking for Ravel or any of the other truly Immortal hags. Baba Yaga. This Immortal hag is odd, even by hag standards. She seems to be completely neutral in her moral outlook and she even fights on behalf of the natural environment like most druids. She has been known to hunt and kill the occasional hag, but Baba Yaga is not an ally to mortals humanoids. Baba Yaga has also eradicated entire towns, buildings and all, if she feels the natural balance has been disturbed or if they have cheated her personally. When she does this she leaves behind an unusually large fruit tree, called a tombstone tree. These trees are gigantic with charcoal black bark and they bear the bones of the dead as a normal tree would bear fruit. Baba Yaga is not to be bargained with or even communicated with unless the speaker has a strong connection to nature. She may kill the occasional hag but she has often flayed many a sentient creature without bothering to give a reason why. Her lair is a colossal hut that moves on three massive chicken legs. This hut is fully sentient and fiercely loyal to Baba Yaga. This same hut has leveled at least two castles in recent memory. Great Granny Dark. No deaths or mayhem are attributed to her, but all hags whisper about the evil and power of Great Granny Dark. Half of all scholars are not even convinced that Great Granny Dark exists. The other half are convinced that she is just an avatar of Cegilune. Great Granny Dark No statistics are provided for Great Granny Dark so that a clever DM can make it whatever the DM needs it to be. In your campaign she might not exist at all. She might be the equivalent of a hag’s faerie godmother that only exists in their imagination because they can’t stand the number two. Great Granny Dark could also be the hag goddess before or after Cegilune. Or the DM is free to dream up any other possible scenario. Hag Allies. With the exception of deep wilderness areas ruled by a nightshade, hags don’t keep treaties or formal pacts with potential allies. A hag will either warp the natural world around herself, make use of existing hazards to protect the area around her lair, or create a loosely based understanding with something powerful nearby. This understanding usually goes something like, “if you defend me I’ll make it worth your while.” A hag will often subjugate, coerce, or otherwise find a way to surround herself with a wide variety of slaves, minions, traps, etc. But they have no real allies other than each other. Hags are even despised by most of the fey who hate their obsession with ugliness. There are a few exceptions. Darker druid sects and the more predatory variety of rangers will sometimes ally themselves with hags until such alliances become taxing for either group. 13 PART 1 | HAGS IN GENERAL

Hag Enemies. Hags are enemies to almost everything imaginable. Celestials hate them, devils tolerate them at best, and demons will kill and eat them if they can get away with it. All types of natural animals, sentient creatures, or beautiful supernatural things hate hags. The forces of neutrality also hate all hags due to their disruption of the orderly passage of souls. The only plane of existence where hags are more than just tolerated is Hades, where Cegilune has her domain. Other than the witch hunters, and Sister Sepia, the most persistent and greatest enemies of hags are the swanmay societies, most rangers and druids, civilization, and treasure and glory seekers hoping to loot a hag lair. Sister Sepia & The Burning Bright Unlike Great Granny Dark, Sister Sepia’s influence on hags is real. Hags that will speak of Sister Sepia say that she was the price that Cegilune paid to become divine. Sister Sepia is said to hunt down hags that devoutly worship Cegilune, carrying their souls off to the “Burning Bright,” which is a hag’s punishing afterlife. If hags see the irony of being punished for eternity for their devotion to their goddess, none of them speak of it. Hags refuse to call Sister Sepia a goddess. They will speak about her with terror, the way a peasant would speak about a pit fiend. Regardless of Sister Sepia’s motives, most scholars agree that her power can only manifest during daylight or solar eclipses. By all accounts she and her minions appear powerless in the moonlight. Sister Sepia is said to live on the other side of the moon in a palace made out of pure light called, Burning Bright. Because of this, most hags believe the opposite side of the moon is a painfully bright and beautiful place filled with unending terror. No two hags can agree on what Sister Sepia looks like, but they will agree on her chosen avatar: a reddish-brown variant of the behir, called a sepia’s daughter. Most hags will flee in panic if they encounter a sepia’s daughter, for no hag has ever claimed to have slain one. Only a coven of hags or a powerful auntie or grandmother hag would stand their ground against this hated and dreaded messenger of Sister Sepia. For gameplay, the Burning Bright is a demiplane that can only be entered if a sepia’s daughter brings a creature with it. If the characters need to travel to the Burning Bright, then they will have to talk a sepia’s daughter into bringing them along. This “hag’s hell” is a place of beauty and constant light. 14 PART 1 | HAGS IN GENERAL

Hags Lairs G eneral Information. A hag’s version of home and normal is the exact opposite of what most humanoids would agree with. A hag could live in a normal looking cottage, but all the furniture inside might be made out of bone. She might live in a lighthouse on a barren outcropping of rock, designed to bring boats against the rocks. Their gardens grow turnips adjacent to toxic plants and vile things. Their orchards have wonderful smelling trees bearing beautiful fruit, with some you can eat and some that will curse you, your children, and grandchildren. Some hag lairs are open for business and some hag lairs are designed to kill anything foolish enough to invade it. A party of adventurers deciding to track and attempt to kill a hag in her home should be prepared for a layered and frightening defense. Assuming they live, they will forever shudder about the horrors and utter strangeness they witnessed. Hag lairs are generally categorized in two varieties. There are those hags that lair near civilization and those that lair far away. Hag Lairs Near Civilization For the purpose of hag lairs, near to civilization means within a few hours walk of a village, city, citadel, port, etc. Hags that lair a few weeks away from civilization are lairing in the wilderness. Most hags that lair near civilization will be younger hags or those looking after hags in waiting or the forgotten. Hags near civilization will do everything in their power to reduce their dark lair effects found in the Monster Manual. In a civilized setting this translates into a slow and steady decline in property values, an increase in criminal activity, stray animals may go feral and or rabid, minor diseases might always seem to begin their spread in the general area, etc. A hag knows this will happen so they tend to make their lairs in parts of civilization where these things are already happening like slums, garbage dumps, sewage outlets, or lower class living areas. Lairs near civilization have no regional effects (see Volo’s Guide to Monsters) unless the hag is lairing in an openly evil civilization, monsters are free to move openly, or the hag has given up all pretense of hiding.

A hag operating near civilization is usually not an auntie or grandmother, and will be up to some of the following mischief: Looking after an unknown forgotten, tempting desperate females onto a path that eventually turns them into hags, eating children that won’t be missed, spying for a more powerful hag, waiting for moments to manipulate good creatures down darker paths, or see any other twisted plan carried out. Sometimes a hag will actually be looking to hire adventurers to gather hard to find components. She will be very careful in doing so, and attempt to trade favors, instead of valuables whenever possible. Benefits of Lairing Near Civilization. A hag near civilization has more access to creature comforts, alcohol, drugs, conversation with powerful and evil humanoids, bored children, potential victims, slaves, and access to merchants and adventurers who can gather certain hard to find things. Hags will ally themselves with organized evil depending on their situation and what they might gain from it. This can sometimes be as simple as providing a thieves guild with a steady supply of poison in exchange for protection or a spy network that will alert the hag if adventurers come calling. Dangers of Lairing Near Civilization. A hag knows that the chances of attracting negative attention while operating near civilization are much higher than if she had made a lair in the middle of the swamp. A passing paladin just might realize how evil the herbalist’s hut is or adventurers may be hired to figure out where Sally the milk maid ran off to, or they might poke their noses into other shady occurrences. A more subtle danger to hags is their reduced options when it comes to protecting their lair. An herbalist cottage is normal in a village, but a two acre orchard of permanently rotting fruit will immediately draw negative attention. There are a few components that a hag just simply can’t keep on hand and she will have to risk trips into the deep wilderness to find these things. Hags will tend to have less powerful minions this close to civilization, because it is always easier for a hag to hide herself, than hide the three hill giants that are convinced that she is a goddess. Herbalist Cottage or Shop Many hags operating near civilization use the classic herbalist shop with a dark back room as their lair. In that cottage they will train apprentices and look out for potential victims that will not be missed or who are already outcasts. This cottage needs to be large enough to be sectioned into two distinct areas and needs to have a finished basement. The front of the cottage will usually be where one to three young humanoid female apprentice herbalists (commoners) run a well stocked herbalist shop. There is a good chance that at least one of the apprentices is either a forgotten or a hag in waiting that is being groomed by the hag who is nudging her down a dark path that will turn her into a young hag. The front of the cottage will be well stocked and respected for selling elixirs that actually work. The apprentices have instructions to look out for any strange requests, desperate people, or overtly evil shoppers. If the apprentices believe that "granny" is not in danger they will send targets into the backroom. In the back, the hag will usually take on the appearance of an old loving grandmother. The hag may have poisons, drugs, scrolls, or various magic items for sale in the back room. She will hide the truly vile items in the basement. The cottage will have a very robust kitchen with at least two stoves and a fireplace.

The hag will be very careful to not leave any humanoid bones scattered about, unless they are in her basement. The cottage basement will be where the hag can rest in her own horrid skin, decorate like she wants to, or commune with vile creatures. The door to the basement will be hidden to some degree and trapped with magic if possible. In the basement the hag will keep a few minions that do not require constant upkeep (snakes, large beetles, giant spiders, zombies, etc.). The hag will arrange the basement with furniture or boxes to reduce an invader’s ability to surround her. A well established hag may have an escape tunnel leading out of the village, but this is one more access point that has to be trapped and warded. If the hag maintains a weird garden it will have to be fungi and other things that require no sunlight to grow. She could possibly also have a very small death yard in the basement. A hag who has been successful at this cottage will have access to more conventional magic items and potions depending on how many merchants, evil guilds, adventurers, etc. she has traded with. Large Active Graveyard The larger cities tend to have large poorly patrolled graveyards. A hag lairing here will have less trouble hiding dark lair effects but may have more competition with other creatures for space. A hag will either take over a large sepulchre or remove the contents of a grave, using it as a secret entrance for a series of caves or other underground areas. The reasons for lairing in a graveyard are many but include harvesting spirit berries, researching death and undeath, or just satiating a fascination with death. Hags that lair in graveyards tend to not entertain mortals at all. They will have a well stocked death yard which is easily concealed in a graveyard. The hag’s lair entrance will then be concealed with debris, illusions, or other magic. The hag will either have arrangements with a guardian or use traps to keep out unwanted visitors and night critters. Hags have even been known to share their lairs with leucrotta, monsters described in Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Since most hags in an active graveyard are experimenting or dealing with foul experiments, their largest room tends to resemble the workshops of a mad genius. A hag fighting in her workshop will have any number of foul substances to throw at intruders as well as at least one escape route. Because of her location, this hag is more likely to have undead servants or creatures that eat carrion. Sewer or Dungeon This is usually the lair of choice for a hag that wants to lair under a large city. The sewers allow her to abduct a child in one section, dispose of its bones in another, and lair well away from both. A very clever hag might be able to link a sewer lair to a storefront that acts as an apothecary, herbalist, or minor magic item shop. The sewer offers the most protection against dark lair effects being detected, especially if the hag has access to the deepest corners of a sewer.

A hag lairing in a sewer must contend with other creatures and organizations that might be more powerful than she is. A hag unwilling to negotiate with her neighbors in a sewer or dungeon is quickly destroyed. The differences between lairing in a sewer and lairing in a dungeon tend to be superficial. A hag is rarely the meanest thing in a dungeon, but she may be the most likely to get along with a wide variety of dungeon denizens. Sewer and dungeon lairs allow for multiple ways to enter and exit, and the hag will use already existing monsters that she can avoid or cajole into protecting her. A hag with the Amphibious feature will use her ability to breathe water and air to her advantage. Her main lair room will be accessible only via a submerged area. A hag lairing in a sewer will have a convoluted maze-like collection of areas or rooms that make perfect sense to her but may cause confusion in invaders. She will have means of exiting the sewer that are one-way (thirty foot drop, heavy sewage flow that she is willing to swim in, a bladed hallway that is safe to pass in one direction, etc.). Sewer lairs tend to be relatively temporary for a hag, because she is very close to all of the things that want to destroy her. Most hags are in the city for a relatively short lived (less than 10 year) time. She might be looking to observe a group of adventurers who have vexed her in the past, trading for dark magic, negotiating with dark cults and guilds, going on a children eating binge, etc. Haunted House A hag won’t actually dwell inside of something haunted or shunned by the locals but could use it as cover. Hags will usually lair under a haunted building, take over the cellar, wall up the stairs, and then use a tunnel to enter and exit. Only a hag with a death wish would actually lair in a haunted house. But if she is nearby a haunted site, then her dark lair effects can be masked by the haunted house or blamed on it. This still has risks, because haunted houses sometimes get burned down by brave or drunken villagers. A haunted house with a strong monster dwelling in it can also help mask a hag’s diet, especially if that creature also preys upon the weak. A very clever hag may end up in a symbiotic relationship with whatever is haunting the house and they could share traps, intelligence, minions, etc. A hag must be careful when dealing with powerful evil monsters because if the thing haunting the house decides to end the relationship it could easily be powerful enough to slay her. There is also another reason why a hag may lair near or under a haunted house. Haunted houses tend to be evil and disgusting. A hag might stay near one just to enjoy its decor. Haunted houses may open up stronger minions for the hag if she can control them, but they will most likely be undead and she will have similar issues as if lairing in a graveyard. Eventually people will begin to wonder why there is smoke coming out of the chimney of an abandoned house, or something else will give her away and mercenaries or adventurers will come along to conquer the haunted house and the hag will have to flee. Hag Lairs in the Wilderness Hags that lair in the wilderness are much more free to grow weird gardens, rotting orchards, death yards, employ dangerous minions, summon titanic forces, etc. Hag lairs may even be known by nearby villages as the last stop for the truly desperate. These types of lairs will be more recognizable and in line with the lairs described in Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Hags that lair in the wilderness are more likely to be older or part of a coven. Wilderness lairs often include multiple locations that the hag calls her own.

A hag is only limited by how much attention she wants to draw to herself and the power of her sisters. Aunties and Grandmothers will all have well stocked weird gardens, rotting orchards, death yards, and shrines to Cegilune. A hag in a large wilderness area knows 1d6 other hags within three days travel by flight. Other Planes of Existence Hags that lair outside of the Material Plane are usually hiding in the Feywild or they are night hags lairing in Hades. Hags tend to stay out of the Blood War and are much more likely to behave themselves if they are not in the Material Plane, for there are far more powerful creatures found in the Outer Planes that could slay them. Feywild. This section ignores the rare hags that have carved out a place amongst the fey court, focusing instead on the hags who lair in the Feywild for a short period of time. Any hag can have a lair in the Feywild, but it will be well away from the judgmental eye of the fey courts. A hag living in the Feywild will only do so for a limited time and only if she has a good reason to avoid the Material Plane. Everything a hag wants to pervert or manipulate is on the Material Plane. In short, hags can’t stand the Feywild, but it is one of the few places they can truly hide. The fey despise a hag neighbor, but they will quickly hinder or attempt to slay any foolish enough to wander the Feywild without permission. Most of the plants and supernatural items a hag relies on cannot be grown or created in the Feywild. Hags consider the Feywild a sort of living exile. A hag found in her lair here, depending on her frame of mind, may not even resist if attacked. Hades. In the Outer Planes a night hag makes her lair in Hades, where they can perform their duties for Cegilune as the herders of larva and souls. In Hades a night hag has little to worry about as most of the local nycaloths are paid mercenaries and bodyguards. Someone attacking a night hag in her lair in Hades is looking for a quick trip to the afterlife. But if the hag is not home then her lair might be a good place to loot, assuming the guardians and traps can be defeated. Attackers also run the risk of having an Avatar of Cegilune show up to defend a hag lair, especially if it is one of three covens she personally mentors.

Allies, Brutes, Minions, Servants, and Slaves G eneral Information. Volo’s Guide to Monsters has a great list of hag servants and brutes. The creatures mentioned in this chapter expand upon that work, and they can be found in the following resources: Volo's Guide to Monsters Chapter 10, The Complete Hag Start at Challenge Rating (CR). The following table provides a die modifier for follow-on 1d12 rolls. Determine the strongest hag if the lair belongs to a coven, and assign modifiers off of just one, not three hags. Note that individual hags can range from CR 2 to CR 14 so use these tables as suggestions. Hag Lair Die Roll Modifiers Mod. Hag in Lair CR +1 Annis Hag 6 +2 Bheur Hag 7 +0 Green Hag 3 +1 *Night Hag 5 +6 Nightshade Hag 14+ -1 Sea Hag 2 +2 Hag Coven Lair +2 +2 Auntie Hag +2 +4 Grandmother Hag +4 (Nightshades are not aunties, grandmothers, or in covens.) The highest die roll bonus is +8 for a Grandmother Bheur Hag in a coven. *These tables assume that the night hag is lairing on the Material Plane. None of the following tables will specify how many of a particular creature are encountered. This was done on purpose to give the DM more flexibility when creating hag lairs. Allies Allies are creatures that could come to a hag’s aid if persuaded or bargained with. An ally is very different than a minion or powerful creature under some sort of compulsion to serve. Allies will rarely fight to the death in defense of a hag and are almost always evil and powerful in their own right. A hag that has an ally will normally only have one or maybe two allies. Hag Lair Allies D12 Ally 0 Chull (CR 5) 1 Quickling (CR 1) 2 Ogre (CR 2) 3 Wererat (CR 2) 4 Wereboar (CR 4) 5 Lamia (CR 4) 6 Troll (CR 5) 7 Hill Giant (CR 5) 8 Cambion (CR 5) 9 Evil Transmuter (CR 5) 10 Half Dragon (CR 5) 11 Galeb Duhr (CR 6) 12 Chimera (CR 6) 13 Young Chromatic Dragon (CR 6-10) 14 Young Chromatic Dragon (CR 6-10) 15 Fomorian (CR 8) 16 Spirit Naga (CR 8) 17 Glabrezu Demon or Bone Devil (CR 9) 18 Behir (CR 11) 19 Erinyes (CR 12) 20 Beholder (CR 13)

Brutes Brutes are kept near a lair to either intimidate potential clients, act as muscle, or to conduct patrols of the area. A brute usually serves out of its own evil desire to be around something powerful, or need of money and violence. Hag Lair Brutes D12 Brutes 0 Merrow (CR 2) 1 Ghoul (CR 1) 2 Bandit Captain (CR 2) 3 Meenlock (CR 2) 4 Redcap (CR 3) 5 Wight (CR 3) 6 Slithering Tracker (CR 3) 7 Displacer Beast (CR 3) 8 Girallon (CR 4) D12 Brutes 9 Barghest (CR 4) 10 Helmed Horror (CR 4) 11 Wood Woad (CR 5) 12 Banderhobb (CR 5) 13 Balgura Demon or Barbed Devil (CR 5) 14 Catoblepas (CR 5) 15 Cyclops (CR 6) 16 Chasme Demon (CR 6) 17 Stone Giant (CR 7) 18 Evil Cloud Giant (CR 9) 19 Iron Maw (CR 10) 20 Froghemoth (CR 10) Minions Minions are used by a hag either for supervised labor, messaging, tormenting slaves, scouting, or support to brutes if the hag is expecting or starting serious trouble. Minions usually serve out of fear of either the brutes or the hag herself. Hag Lair Minions D12 Minion 0 Sea Spawn (CR 1) 1 Awakened Shrub (CR 0) 2 Goblin (CR ¼) 3 Blight, Vine (CR ½) 4 Orc (CR ½) 5 Bugbear (CR 1) 6 Harpy (CR 1) 7 Quiller (CR 1) 8 Ghouls or Ghasts (CR 1-2) 9 Gargoyle (CR 2) 10 Ettercap (CR 2) 11 Intellect Devourer (CR2) 12 Werewolf (CR 3) 13 Evil Knight (CR 3) 14 Wight (CR 3) 15 Uridezu Demon (CR 3) 16 Doppelganger (CR 3) 17 Collective Cranium Rats - Cranium Rat Swarm (CR 5) 18 Invisible Stalker (CR 6) 19 Evil Mage (CR 6) 20 Oni (CR 7) Use swarm of cranium rats if you do not have access to Collective Cranium Rats: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/287948. 23 PART 3 | ALLIES

Servants or Lair Guards Hags treat their servants as verbal punching bags or favored pets. Hags are not above hanging pots and pans off of a helmed horror or using a flesh golem as a mannequin. Servants rarely leave the lair and guards are usually placed in a specific place to maximize their usefulness. Living servants have given up hope of the hag ever dying in combat long ago and fight to the death unless the hag is slain. Hag Servants and Lair Guards D12 Servant or Guard 0 Poisonous Sea Snakes (CR ⅛) 1 Crawling Claw (CR 0) 2 Swarm of Mind Maggots (CR ½) 3 Cockatrice (CR ½) 4 Gremlin (CR 2) 5 Mimic (CR 2) 6 Guard Drake (CR 2) 7 Spined Devil (CR 2) 8 Evil Druid (CR 2) D12 Servant or Guard 9 Hell Hound (CR 3) 10 Bloodthorn (CR 4) 11 Yeth Hounds (CR 4) 12 Basilisk (CR 3) 13 Leucrotta (CR 3) 14 Spectator (CR 3) 15 Golem, Maggot (CR 4) 16 Flesh Golem (CR 5) 17 Wyvern (CR 6) 18 Medusa (CR 6) 19 Hag Tree (CR 10) 20 Stone Golem (CR 10) Slaves Slaves have either been sold or given to a hag in exchange for favors. Slaves can also be poor fools who got more than they asked for from a hag bargain, or who failed to read between the lines. A slave can be more powerful than the hag encountered but they are almost always controlled by a long term magical contract, geas, or some other means. Slaves are what make the lowly minion feel slightly better about their lot in life. This list is just a sample of what could be found. Slaves are either sold, eaten, or kept for a specific dark ritual unless they are valuable to the hag in some way. D12 Hag Slaves 0 Kuo-Toa (CR ¼) 1 Grung (CR ¼) 2 Xvarts (CR ⅛) 3 Mephit (CR ½) 4 Bullywug (CR ¼) 5 Pixie (CR ¼) 6 Vegepygmy (CR ¼) 7 Hobgoblins (CR ½) 8 Nonplayer Character (CR 1-3) 9 Jackalwere (CR ½) 10 Imp/Quasit (CR 1) 11 Manticore (CR 3) 12 Dragon Wyrmling (CR 1-4) 13 Warlock of the Archfey (CR 4) 14 Will-O-Wisp, Ghostlight (CR 4) 15 Ettin (CR 4) 16 Elemental (CR 5) 17 Nonplayer Character (CR 4-6) 18 Werebear (CR 5) 19 Swanmay Ranger (CR 6) 20 Genie (CR11) 24 PART 3 | ALLIES

Hag Lair Trimmings G eneral Information. Hag lairs can be as complex or simple as the DM dictates. A hag lairing in a 30-foot-by-30-foot cave in the third level of a dungeon will not have access to all of the minions, trimmings, or creature comforts that she wants. A hag lairing in a forbidden swamp may call a large portion of the swamp her lair and may even control multiple locations. There are no random tables in this chapter, just ideas and inspiration. Hag lairs can have four hag specific areas: weird gardens, rotting orchards, death yards, and a shrine to Cegilune. Weird Garden A hag’s weird garden can appear as a haphazard mess to an outsider, but it makes perfect sense to the hag that tends it. These gardens are also reflections of the hag’s personality, so some are orderly while others are all but forgotten and overrun with mundane plants and weeds. A hag has many poisonous plants and a wide variety of mindaltering plants and fungi mixed in with edible varieties of both fungus, vegetables, and tubers. Hags are accomplished alchemists and herbalists, and once they have lived long enough to be an auntie or grandmother they can easily be counted amongst the best master herbalists and alchemists. Plants that are intoxicating, poisonous, or of interest to herbalists are found in Appendix C. Supernatural plants are also found in hag lairs and they are listed at the end of this chapter. Rotting Orchard Hags that have rotting orchards lair in the wilderness or civilizations that are wholly evil and corrupt. A rotting orchard will contain between twenty and a hundred natural trees of any variety that the hag has need of. Rotting orchards get their names from the hanging corpses found throughout them and the hag gift called hanging rotter. A hag only occasionally harvests mundane fruit trees but she will still demand a stiff price if she catches anything eating from the trees or collecting fallen fruit. Hags are known to allow evil druids or rangers to take up residence in their rotting orchards but these arrangements tend to be alliances of convenience or necessity. Hags also encourage natural and giant bees, wasps, and other stinging insects to make homes in their rotting orchards. Death Yard Death yards do not always resemble graveyards, but are often hidden inside one. Death yards are patches of land that a hag has systematically corrupted to the point where nothing natural will grow in the soil. These death yards sometimes serve the mundane purpose of burying dead hags, favored guardians, nightmares, or the occasional evil

ally that garnered true respect from a hag or coven. Death yards, outside of the ones hidden in humanoid graveyards, are placed underground or in wilderness settings that never see the light of the sun or the moon. Hags will sometimes keep death yards only because they find comfort in the morbid and macabre. Hags use death yards as a place to grow supernatural fungus and plants. The section of a death yard that is truly despoiled is circular in nature because a valuable object that radiates evil or madness, a corrupted good object, or an upside down totem is buried at the center of the death yard. The power of the buried object dictates the radius. Death yards hundreds of feet in radius have been discovered with very potent items buried at their center, but must death yards are only ten to twenty feet in radius. Shrine to Cegilune Most established hag lairs will have a shrine to Cegilune somewhere nearby. A shrine to Cegilune is simply a well maintained cauldron that is exposed the moonlight at least once a week. These cauldrons are never fired for cooking or brewing but will be used once a year by a hag or coven for sacrifice. Sacrifices are usually performed to venerate Cegilune, ritually slay an enemy, destroy an object generally associated with good or beauty, or to try and attract an Avatar of Cegilune. Certain weird objects or hag gifts can only be made if a hag has a shrine to Cegilune in her lair. After tending to a shrine to Cegilune for 101 years a hag can sacrifice a unicorn to create a temporary portal to Hades. This is one method a hag can use to travel to Hades or metamorphosize into a night hag. This portal will last for three hours and is only one-way. Any shrine to Cegilune that has either had a unicorn or swanway sacrificed in it becomes blessed by Cegilune’s avatar during a three night ritual. Once blessed, these shrines will allow a hag or a coven of hags to cast bless once per day as long as they are within sight of the blessed shrine to Cegilune. This spell can only be used on hags. Supernatural Plants General Information. A hag can only support the upkeep of one supernatural plant per Charisma modifier. A coven triples the Charisma modifier of the most charismatic member. Most supernatural plants have difficulty growing or quickly die in sunlight as a general rule. If the hag that was tending to a supernatural plant dies or otherwise abandons it, there is only a 1 in 100 chance that the plant does not wither away within a day. Those that don’t are very rare and tend to be places that attract evil or chaos. Almost all of these plants cannot be grown in the Feywild. Bloodthorn Bloodthorns are monstrous plants described in the bestiary. They can only be grown in the Material Plane if tended by a hag. The hag must keep the plant near an object of great evil or madness or the plant will begin to die in 2d8 hours. She will grow a bloodthorn because of their tendency to attack everything nearby, but they also bear very nutritious and unique fruit. In order to harvest a bloodthorn the hag will sacrifice four slaves to keep the vines busy while she quickly gathers the fruit. The fruit is not magical but nothing quite tastes like it on the Material Plane. Bloodthorns can be grown in rotting orchards or weird gardens. 27 PART 4 | HAG LAIR TRIMMINGS

Blood Squash Blood squash is a supernatural squash that will only grow over the grave of a humanoid that was buried alive. Once a blood squash seed is planted it must be tended by a hag or skilled herbalist for a year and a day. Once it sprouts and begins growing on its own, all it needs is water. A blood squash plant will completely disintegrate the corpse that it is planted over and produce roughly 40 pints (20 liters) of blood when the squash are harvested. If multiple creatures were buried alive then this supernatural plant will continue to produce blood squash for one year per additional corpse. The blood inside a blood squash is the same type of blood as the creature that was buried alive. This blood is considered fresh if drawn from the squash as soon as it is picked, and will even sustain a vampire. This plant has no purpose other than providing a hag with a large amount of blood for use in her cooking and rituals. Blood squash can be grown in weird gardens or death yards. Carbuncle Cabbage Carbuncle cabbage is a lavender cabbage that smells like rotting meat. Hags will grow these from decaying organs to create a variety of slow acting and not very fatal diseases. If a hag is bored or wants to teach a nearby village a lesson she will take a few of these and feed them to livestock or a humanoid dumb or desperate enough to eat it. In a day or two the creature will begin to spread a disease called purple carbuncle. The hag will usually wait near the village, ready to cure the desperate for a price. Hags have been known to spend years slowly cultivating carbuncle cabbage to get the exact type of diseases effect that they want, so a DM should feel free to create their own hag specialty diseases. Carbuncle cabbage can be found in death yards or weird gardens. Corpse Clover Supernatural corpse clover is not to be confused with the corpse flower plant found in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. A hag will plant corpse clover on an unburied corpse and through ritual and attention the clover will grow and spread over the corpse, completely consuming one corpse per season. This supernatural clover has no special effect, but a beehive near a corpse clover will produce enough honey for a hag to make 1 dose of corpse clover honey per month. Corpse clover can only be found in rotting orchards. Disease (Purple Carbuncle) This disease is not fatal but it does create very nasty and hideous clusters of purple boils on the face, chest, and legs. This disease is a hag favorite because it often forces those who can’t afford a lesser restoration into their waiting arms: begging for help. A creature sharing the same water as a creature infected with purple carbuncle must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or become infected. After an incubation of 2d3 days the infected will show symptoms and any water they use can spread this disease to others. Any creature eating a carbuncle cabbage will contract the disease unless they succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw. After the incubation period the victim has a minimum exhaustion level of 1 after any rest and has disadvantage against all saves to avoid exhaustion. Purple carbuncle causes no other damage and an infected creature can start to make DC 11 Constitution saving throws every other day that they are infected with purple carbuncle. If a victim makes three saving throws in a row then they are cured of this disease. This magical disease is difficult to cure naturally and any natural ability checks to cure the disease are made at a disadvantage. Corrupted Fairy Ring A hag will either corrupt a naturally occurring fairy ring or create one herself over the course of three years. Natural fairy rings are mushroom rings that occur naturally and they can form rings as large as ten feet in diameter. A hag wanting to create a supernatural corrupted fairy ring or to corrupt one that already exists will need the help of an evil druid. Once that help is secured they will trace out a perfect circle in a shady clearing. They will then dig and remove

roughly five feet of earth and corrupt the base of the pit using a dark ritual. As woodland creatures approach this pit they succumb to a suggestion that makes them enter the pit, lied down, and then slowly die. After three years, enough corpses and rot has accumulated for the hag to replace the soil. The size and perfection of the circle is often a clear indication of the intelligence or power of the hag and druid that created the corrupted fairy ring. Hags can usually manage rings roughly six feet wide, with some grandmothers making corrupted fairy rings almost twenty feet wide. Druids can also ask a hag to help them create a corrupted fairy ring near their sacred areas for their own use. Corrupted fairy rings work as permanent magic circles per the spell. These circles allow an evil spellcaster to stand in it and gain advantages against good aligned creatures and humanoids. As long as an evil spellcaster is inside the corrupted fairy ring, any humanoids or good aligned creatures that gets within 5 feet of a corrupted fairy ring will take 3 (1d6) necrotic damage per round spent in or within 5 feet of the fairy ring. Corrupted fairy rings can never function as inverted magic circles. The rings are destroyed by a 5th spell-level dispel magic, dispel evil and good, sunbeam, sunburst, or 10 or more points of energy damage inflicted in one combat round. Corrupted fairy rings can be found in death yards, rotting orchards, or the sacred areas of evil druids. Fey Thyme Fey thyme represents that rare supernatural plant that can grow both in the Feywild and in the Material Plane. Legend goes that this plant was created by Titania long ago as a gift to a very busy lover. Fey thyme looks exactly like the mundane herb, thyme, and can only be identified by a very skilled herbalist or alchemist. To further complicate its identification, each plant contains all three varieties, which also look exactly the same. A DC 22 Intelligence (Nature) check is required to properly identify which type of thyme has been harvested. Fey thyme will grow near portals to the Feywild, near objects of potent magic involving the manipulation of time, or if carefully tended by hags or master herbalists. Fey thyme loses all magical properties if cooked or ten minutes after being harvested. A creature that uses more than one dose of this supernatural plant in a twelve-hour period must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 round. Fast Thyme. Eating a sprig of fast thyme will grant the user the ability to take two actions in one round. Fast thyme can not grant more than one extra action per round. Slow Thyme. Eating a sprig of slow thyme will stun a creature for 1 round unless they succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. Hags will sometimes sneak this into uncooked foods if they need extra help subduing a powerful victim. Wild Thyme. Eating this variety of fey thyme immediately creates a fifteen-foot-radius area of chaotic time, centered on the user, that lasts for three rounds. This effect cannot be resisted and the area of effect follows the user if they move. The eater of wild thyme suffers disadvantage on all die rolls for the next three rounds. Those within fifteen feet of them have an equal (50% chance) of either gaining disadvantage or advantage on all die rolls for the next three rounds. Gluevine Gluevine is both a sticky trap and a source of immediate intoxication for those that can harvest its grape-like berries. Gluevine looks like sticky hemp climbing vines that cling to any surface. They require no sunlight but require a steady supply of spell energy to grow and survive. Hags will either grow gluevine around a steady source of magical energy or cast at least two spell-levels of spells on it per day to keep it growing. It takes spells and attention to grow for the first year, at which point it will have covered roughly a five foot square section of floor or wall. After it reaches this stage it only needs spell energy once a month and will slowly spread along any surface. Gluevine is either grown like cultivated grapes or it is encouraged to grow along the floor or bottom of pits due to its sticky nature and ability to absorb spell energy. If used as an intoxicant, then the berries can be used to make a slightly unpleasant wine with the alcohol content of liquor. Gluevine drinks are used by hags for a variety of purposes to include keeping their captives intoxicated. Gluevine Trap Simple trap (level 1-4, moderate threat) A gluevine trap is employed in five-foot squares, usually on the floor or walls. These mats of green sticky vines are not hidden and can usually be avoided or destroyed once the target understands what they are. Trigger. Anyone touching, falling, or walking on a mat. Effect. Anyone who steps on or touches a mat of 29 PART 4 | HAG LAIR TRIMMINGS

gluevine must make a DC 12 Strength saving throw or gain the restrained condition. The restrained target can reattempt the saving throw at the end of their turn. Complication. If a level 2 or higher spell is cast on the gluevine or on a target restrained by the gluevine then the spellcaster must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or the spell does not function correctly; the vine either quickly grows to restrain the victim further or it spreads into another five-foot section. The saving throw to remove the restrained condition is increased by +2 each time this complication occurs, to a maximum DC of 18. Countermeasures. A successful DC 10 Intelligence (Nature) ability check reveals the sticky nature of this vine. Fire will quickly destroy a patch of gluevine and water and alcohol neutralize the sticky substance, removing the restrained condition. Gluevine is also placed on walls to make climbing more difficult or at the bottom of pit traps to further delay an enemy. Hallow Tree Hallow trees are the remaining eight to twelve feet of burnt out tree husks, corrupted by foul magic. A hag creates a supernatural hallow tree by hollowing out a tree that has been damaged by lightning. She then stuffs a cleric or holy humanoid of a good aligned god upside down into the hollow opening. She will often drug, paralyze, or otherwise incapacitate the victim so that she can perform the requisite three hour ritual in peace. Her ritual always ends when the hag commands insects to eat the poor priest alive. Any sentient creature watching this may face horror or madness consequences. Once the ritual is complete the hallow tree will gain supernatural powers a year and a day after the victim died. Hags will carefully tend and protect this tree from strong winds or fire because it is easily destroyed before a year and a day pass. After a year and a day the hallow tree becomes supernatural and it forms a 90 foot-radius zone of magic very similar to the hallow spell that prevents celestials, humanoids, and unaligned creatures from approaching unless they succeed at a DC 15 Charisma save. A creature can reattempt this saving throw at the beginning of its next turn. All other effects of hallow apply, but the hallow tree, and its magical effects, will only last for 101 years. The hallow tree can be destroyed, has an Armor Class of 14, 20 hit points, and is resistant to all damage other than lightning or radiant. Depending on what ritual the hag used to make the hallow tree, the tree will also do one of the following: Energy Protection. Fey creatures, night hags, and any undead gain resistance to one type of energy damage if they are within 90 feet of the hallow tree. This resistance is chosen when the hallow tree is created and cannot be changed. Never Rest. Any suitable corpse that is buried within 90 feet of the hallow tree will raise as an undead monster a year and a day after being buried. 90% of all corpses will rise as skeletons or zombies, 5% will rise as ghasts, and the remaining corpses will rise as wights. The hallow tree does not grant command of the undead. Refrigerate. This version of the hallow tree is used for the very mundane purpose of refrigerating anything placed within it at a temperature just above freezing. Hollow trees are only found in death yards and rotting orchards. Lemony Tree An observer that gets within 90 feet of this supernatural tree can tell its not a lemon tree if they make a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Nature) check. Hags only water these during a new moon or when the sky is so dark that there is no moonlight, for lemony trees will not accept any other form of water. Hags tending to lemony trees have given rise to the saying, “madder than a hag watering a tree in a thunderstorm.” Detect magic cast on a lemony tree will show faint evocation in the yellow fruit, which adorns the tree yearround. If any magical light spell or effect comes within 90 feet of a lemony tree then the light is dispelled and two to three lemons will wither to dust on the tree. This is just a secondary effect, for the true purpose of a lemony tree is to attract and then capture a unicorn alive. There is a joke familiar to hags that goes something like, “when life gives you lemons, make unicorn blood!” Unicorns within a quarter mile of a lemony tree must make a DC 8 Charisma saving throw at the beginning of each week or slowly and subconsciously move towards the lemony tree. This very subtle compulsion usually goes unnoticed until a unicorn finds itself ambushed and captured while grazing near a lemony tree. Every lemon on the tree will burst in a chromatic and dazzling display if a unicorn comes within 90 feet of it.

Those who view this display make a DC 16 Charisma saving throw or they are paralyzed for 2 rounds. Those who succeed on their saving throw are still stunned for 1 round. The unicorn that triggered this effect has disadvantage on its saving throw. Hags are not immune to this dazzling effect, and will instruct all their minions to keep their eyes closed and will demand that the unicorn be taken alive at all costs. A lemony tree does not have supernatural powers unless it has been watered by a hag for over ten years. A hag then needs to be prepared to wait for years or decades for a nearby unicorn to be affected by the lemony tree’s lure. Lemony trees can only be found in rotting orchards and a hag can only maintain one at a time. Magic Mushroom, Purple Hags grow these mushrooms in a specific mix of gravedirt and ground giant bones. In the best of conditions, and if a hag is lucky, she can possibly harvest 2 or 3 magic mushrooms each year from this incredibly slow growing fungus. Most magic mushrooms are purple in color, but sometimes a rare color will grow, with variant magic mushroom colors listed later. Each mushroom, if properly harvested with a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check, will retain its magical potency for 2d20 hours. A creature that eats a magic mushroom must make a DC 8 Constitution saving throw or gain the poisoned condition for 1d4 hours. Regardless of the saving throw results, the creature is enlarged, per the enlarge/reduce spell for 20 minutes. If the campaign uses the intoxicated condition then the creature eating a magic mushroom has gained two levels of intoxication after the spell effects wear off. If the campaign does not use the intoxicated condition then the creature gains 1 level of exhaustion. Each variant magic mushroom also causes intoxication or exhaustion depending on the campaign. The DM should feel encouraged to add to the following list, but the effects should be equivalent to a 2nd-level spell or lower. Magic Mushrooms can only be grown in death yards. Variant Magic Mushrooms Black. This version is usually given to a knight or other powerful creature looking for help in battle. Once the mushroom is eaten the creature gains advantage on their initiative and attack rolls for 20 minutes. If used in battle the eater must make a DC 7 Wisdom saving throw at the beginning of each turn or go into a berzerk frenzy. This frenzy lasts for 1 hour and the creature will gain the Mobile and Tough feats, but they will attack everything they can see. Assuming the creature lives, they will then become unconscious and wake up in three days. The hag, hoping to use the target’s behavior to her benefit, safeguards the victim from hard while they sleep.. Blue. This version will grant the eater an effect similar to the spider climb spell for 20 minutes. The only difference is that the eater must have nothing on their feet for this effect to work. Green. This version grants the eater advantage on all Charisma ability checks for the next 20 minutes. Any failed checks usually have disastrous results as the target flies into a jealous rage. What happens next is up to the DM. Pink. This rare color will act as a lesser restoration if eaten. This is also the only known magic mushroom that will still function if dried and protected from the elements by a skilled herbalist (after a successful DC 18 Intelligence (Nature) ability check). Dried pink magic mushrooms will retain their potency for up to three years. White. This version is incredibly dangerous to hags and it is usually destroyed immediately unless a hag plans to kill another hag. The white magic mushroom causes 30 (5d8 + 10) poison damage to a hag, which also gains the poisoned condition for an hour. This poison ignores any poison resistance or immunity that a hag may have. There is no saving throw against this poison. The white magic mushroom has no effect on anything that is not a hag. Yellow. These mushrooms are exactly like the purple ones but this mushroom reduces the size of the eater, per enlarge/reduce spell. Spirit Funnel Two minutes of sunlight destroys this thorny holly-like bush with pale blue berries and deep purple leaves. In darkness, this plant will emit a dim teal glow out to 5 feet. Hags who lair in or have good access to graveyards will sometimes plant one of these in an area that never sees sunlight in the hopes of capturing spirits. This plant functions in a completely passive way and will capture an incorporeal spirit every 6d10 days if planted in or near an active graveyard. 31 PART 4 | HAG LAIR TRIMMINGS

When a spirit funnel catches a spirit, the plant will briefly flash bright blue light out to 20 feet, with 20 more feet of dim blue light. This flare will only last for a second. Spirits caught in this way are the non-dangerous variety. Undead monsters such as ghosts or specters are filled with too much purpose or willpower to be affected by this plant. Spirit funnels store the captured spirit in one of its berries. This berry will then swell and change to look like a large brown pearl and fall off in a few days. There is no maximum to the number of weak spirits a bush like this could collect given enough time and a steady supply of weak spirits. Hags prize these spirit berries which have value to undead, fiends, hags, and the unsqueamish. The spirit berry is discussed in Chapter 5. Spirit funnels only grow in death yards. Tombstone Tree Tombstone trees are only created and left as a warning by Baba Yaga, after she has annihilated a village. There are many theories as to why Baba Yaga destroys villages, but it is assumed that a group of humanoids have tried to back out of a deal with the Immortal, failed to honor their end of a deal, or betrayed nature in some horrible way. What is certain is that all of those that die to Baba Yaga while she is annihilating a village contribute their corpses and souls to the tombstone tree that is erected two hours after midnight. These powerful symbols of her power seem to only serve as reminders to those who try to cheat or betray Baba Yaga or her version of the natural order. The tombstone tree is always a very large fruit tree with coal black bark and bones of all shapes and sizes that grow on the tree, ripen, then fall to the ground, bursting like overripe fruit. The stench around these trees is legendary and eventually anything within sixty feet of this tree will die and the ground will end up barren. How Baba Yaga justifies this destruction isn’t exactly clear. Any living creature within 60 feet of the tree, that breathes and is not immune to poison, must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or gain the poisoned condition for 2d4 hours and take 18 (4d8) poison damage. Those that succeed take only 9 (2d8) poison damage and are not poisoned. This effect must be saved against every round that a creature begins its turn within 60 feet of the tombstone tree. These trees can be destroyed. They have 160 hit points, AC 14, and are immune to all conditions, fire, and lightning. Once destroyed the fragments of the tree will evaporate and the land will return to normal after 2d4 years. Curiously, Baba Yaga never seems to notice or care that one of the tombstone trees has been destroyed. Triple Arched Portal Triple arched portals occur very rarely in nature or are planted, grown, and nurtured over the course of twenty to thirty years. Triple arched portals can occur when three different tree species (ash, oak, and hawthorn) grow in such a way as to link together, leaving a four foot high archshaped void through or under the trees. This arch is then enchanted to become a two-way portal to the Feywild. The triple arched portal trees found in nature can function as portals but figuring out the portal key or necessary conditions to turn it on can be very difficult. A hag who creates one of these portals will have to perform a complex ritual when she wants to turn the three twisted trees into a portal. This ritual will take at least a week and consume the equivalent of 2000 gold pieces of material and the sacrifice of a fey creature (even another hag) or full-blooded elf or gnome. Once complete, the trees supporting the portal can only be damaged by magical weapons or fire. The hag also decides what item or specific condition will unlock the portal. A triple arched portal, made by a hag, can can only be found in rotting orchards. Most hags will negotiate the terms of keeping a stable portal open with the fey before creating one of these. If a hag surprises the Feywild with a portal she can expect an immediate and angry, if not very violent, response. 32 PART 4 | HAG LAIR TRIMMINGS

Wailing Mandrake The wailing mandrake is one of the most difficult supernatural plants for a hag to tend. Not only does the planting of this mandrake require virulent poisons and a living child no older than three months, but it also needs constant attention for the first six months of its growth. A hag or another skilled herbalist must make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) ability check each month or the plant dies. After six successful months the mandrake can be left to grow on its own. After a year the wailing mandrake is matured and ready for use. The wailing mandrake will then live for roughly 8 more years until it wilts and dies. A wailing mandrake can be used in two ways by a hag or skilled herbalist. It can be yanked from the ground violently as a bonus action in combat, which causes the strangely child-shaped mandrake to begin bleeding and screaming. Any creature that witnesses this may have horror or madness issues based on the campaign. Any creature within 40 feet of the uprooted wailing mandrake, that can hear, must make a DC 13 Intelligence saving throw at the beginning of their turn or take 5 (1d10) psychic damage. This saving throw must be made as long as a creature is within 40 feet of the wailing mandrake, which can be picked up, thrown, buried, silenced or killed (it has an armor class of 10 and 3 hit points). A wailing mandrake will wail for 2d10 rounds before dying. Hags are not immune to a wailing mandrake’s damage and will either plug their ears or take other precautions if they are expecting to use this in battle. Outside of combat, a wailing mandrake can be carefully and slowly removed from the ground with a DC 10 Intelligence (Nature) ability check. Once removed from the ground the mandrake will sleep until shaken or startled, where it will begin to make an eerily similar noise to a very small humanoid child crying. Any creature that succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check realizes that the noise is not coming from a real child. Hags will most often use these as lures or delaying tactics to slow down invaders. A wailing mandrake that is damaged or hit with bright lights will begin to wail as above, inflicting psychic damage to everything within 40 feet.

Hag Gifts G eneral Information. Strange and weird items, made by hags and usable by anyone, have been called hag gifts for a very long time. Hags will sometimes use hag gifts as a reward, or trade them for a service, especially if the gift they give has a hidden complication. All hag gifts should be accepted or used with caution, for there is always a price to pay for power, even if it is not immediately obvious. More often than not, the price for accepting a hag gift is not overt. The gift received by a creature may alienate them from another source of information, or it might rightfully belong to a different hag who will now send minions to try and get it back. Hags can also use hag gifts, especially those with no side effects. Hags will never use truly cursed items. But they could make one, for the right price. Hag gifts can be used by any sentient creature. Hag gifts are different from weird items because gifts can be at least partially useful to creatures other than hags. Hag weirds are items useful only to hags, they are covered in chapter 8. Identification and Detection of Hag Items. Hag gifts can only be identified by a successful DC 20 Intelligence (Nature) check, legend lore, or wish. A hag and most creatures native to the Feywild can identify all hag items, for a price. Identify has no effect on these items. Detect magic only detects faint transmutation. Detect evil and good will detect evil on all hag gifts. Hag Item Description. If an item has “Hag” in the description brief then it can only be made by hags or under hag supervision. Hag gifts that are consumed usually do not have to be displayed. For example, the candied slug brief states, “Wondrous Item, Hag, Common.” Therefore candied slugs should only be made by hags or under a hag’s supervision. There are additional guidelines in the General Rules of Hag Items table. Known Hag Gifts Candied Slug Cloak of Thorny Poison Corpse Clover Honey Death Skull Eye of Perth Hag Eye Hanging Rotter Hooked Larva Innocent Tongue Love Potion Seed Satchel Serpent Belt Skin Cloak Spirit Berry Spell Pudding General Rules of Hag Items 1) Must be displayed openly or they do not function at all. 2) Cannot be used if the user is hidden or invisible. Shape change and illusions will allow hag items to work so long as the hag item’s appearance is not changed at all and is still displayed openly. 3) When in doubt the craft time is a year and a day. 4) Most of these items are vile and using them is considered an evil act. 5) Victims and witnesses of hag items in use may have Horror or Insanity issues depending on the nature of the DM’s campaign. 6) Users of hag items may have Horror or Insanity issues depending on the nature of the campaign. 7) Work in all known planes of existence. 8) When used in the Feywild they could have, at the discretion of the DM, more potent effects and therefore more potent penalties. 35 PART 5 | HAG GIFTS

Candied Slug Wondrous item, Hag, Common The use of this item is revolting but not evil. These candied slugs are usually two to three inches long and coated with sugar of bright garish colors. A hag, or anyone making a successful DC 18 Intelligence (Arcana) check can determine the effect of a candied slug. As a bonus action, a creature eats up to three candied slugs at once. If they were found randomly then each use of a candied slugs has a random effect on the table below. Candied slugs that are kept by hags are carefully separated. Candied slugs come in a variety of forms and their colored coatings do not indicate what effect they give. Random Candied Slugs D10 Result 1 Tastes like wet dirt. Eater recovers 2 hit points at the beginning of each round for the next ten rounds. 2 Tastes like tea. Eater gains one level of Exhaustion if they fail a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. 3 Tastes like stale water. Eater’s initiative roll result is increased by +2 for the next ten rounds. Eater’s initiative order may change. 4 Tastes like oranges. Eater makes a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or gains the poisoned condition for 1d4 rounds. 5 Tastes like worms. Eater belches out a 5-footradius stinking cloud, per spell, spell DC 10, lasting 1d3 rounds. Eater is not immune to this effect. 6 Tastes like sugar syrup. Eater can belch out a swarm of insects as an action. Eater has three rounds to use this power. If the eater does not use the power then they make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 7 (2d6) poison damage. 7 Tastes like chalk. Eater gains resistance to poison damage for the next 2d3 rounds. 8 Tastes like bread. Eater makes a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or takes 7 (2d6) poison damage. 9 Tastes like pork. Eater’s teeth glow bright red and they gain a bite attack that does 2 (1d4) piercing damage. The victim of this bite must make a DC 10 Intelligence saving throw or take 4 (1d8) psychic damage. This effect ends in 3d6 rounds, and once ended, the eater will take 4 (1d8) psychic damage. 10 Tastes like sweat. Eater has advantage on their next saving throw as long as that occurs in the next three rounds. The slugs that hags use for candied slugs are slugs found in death yards, weird gardens, or rotting orchards. These slugs are either found eating decomposing creatures or dangerous plants and fungi. The hag simply candies them normally to preserve them for later. Cloak of Thorny Poison Wondrous item, Hag, Rare This cloak grants power to those with the courage (or poison immunity) to wear it. This cloak is always dark, heavy, and oily. The cloak is covered, inside and out, in many small lumps that sprout thorns when the wearer is in combat. The wearer of the cloak of thorny poison emits a strong vinegar and mustard smell. This smell cannot be removed. The first cloaks of thorny poison were given to yuan-ti allies of the hags, but a few humanoids have also sought out a cloak of thorny poison. Creatures that do not bleed gain no advantage for wearing this cloak. A hag will rarely ever wear one of these. Disadvantages. The wearer of a cloak of thorny poison has a stench that cannot be masked. This smell grants advantage to any creature trying to detect or track the wearer using smell. 36 PART 5 | HAG GIFTS

This cloak sprouts sharp claw-like thorns that pierce the wearer’s skin on their first round in battle, doing 4 (2d4) piercing damage and causing 3 (1d6) poison damage. If the wearer attempts to remove this cloak while in combat then they must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw. The wearer will suffer 4 (2d4) piercing damage regardless of success or failure, as the thorns dig and tear at their flesh. The wearer will lose one hit point at the start of each additional round as the cloak drinks their blood. The wearer must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw at the beginning of each round or gain the poisoned condition. If the wearer is immune to the blood loss or piercing damage then this cloak grants no advantages. After combat, the thorns retract and the wearer can remove the cloak safely. If the wearer reaches 0 hit points while wearing this cloak they will automatically fail all death saves as the cloak continues to feed on them. Advantages. Any creature within ten feet of the wearer of a cloak of thorny poison, who successfully hits the wearer, takes 3 (1d6) poison damage and 3 (1d6) acid damage as the cloak sprays a foul greenish liquid at the attacker. This poison spray can only occur once per enemy target, once per round. On the wearer’s turn, the cloak can be made to slash at a foe within ten feet as a bonus action. This slash is a Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 feet., one target, Hit: 3 (1d6) slashing damage. The target must also make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or gain the poisoned condition for 1 minute. Creatures immune to the piercing damage will find that this cloak does not function for them, but creatures immune to poison will still be able to use a cloak of thorny poison. Corpse Clover Honey Potion, Hag, Rare This honey is made by bees encouraged to pollinate a corpse clover. It is usually stored in a glass jar and will glow with a dim white light, out to 15 feet. This honey has no special effects if consumed. If the honey is spread on the skin of a living creature then mindless undead creatures will believe the living creature is undead and ignore it. Intelligent undead can tell the difference unless the humanoid is also behaving like an undead (successful use of Charisma (Deception) ability). Each corpse clover honey jar also grants resistance to necrotic damage and coats up to two Medium creatures or one Large creature. These effects last 2d4 hours. If an undead creature is coated in corpse clover honey then they gain 21 (2d10 + 10) temporary hit points for 2d4 hours. Death Skull Wondrous item, Rare to Legendary (attunement) Using a death skull is an evil act. These strange small dragon skulls are fashioned by hags. The death skull's power is based on how young the dragon was when it was ritually slain. A hag chars the skull with fire, pitts it with acid, and spends at least a year and a day crafting a death skull. Death skulls are a good example of a hag gift with a hidden penalty. Any dragon, regardless of their alignment, will immediately recognize this vile object and attack the bearer on sight, often ignoring all other foes in their rage over the defiled wyrmling. A hag displays a death skull in her hair or on her head. A humanoid wearing one of these needs to fashion it to their armor or clothes or wear it like an amulet. A creature can only have one death skull active at a time. Knowledge of how a death skull is made may cause horror or madness depending on the DM. Death Skull of the Wyrmling (Rare). This charred or pitted dragon skull, crafted from the corpse of a wyrmling, is roughly the shape and size of a kobold’s skull. Two large garnets are sometimes attached to the skull's eye sockets. The wearer of this skull can read, speak, and write Draconic fluently and has advantage on all ability checks or saving throws for or against kobolds. Once per day the user may target a 10-foot-radius area no more than 90 feet away with a Dragonling Death Scream. Dragonling Death Scream. You create a burst of magically augmented screaming and terror that is horrendous to listen to. Targets caught inside the area of effect make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw, or take 19 (3d12) psychic damage and gain the frightened condition for one round. Targets outside of the area of effect who can hear the screaming sound must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw or gain the frightened condition for one round. On the next round the area targeted by Dragonling Death Scream is filled with energy damage associated with the type of wyrmling that donated the skull. This damage is 10 (3d6) damage per round for any creature that ends its turn in the spell area. This energy damage effect lasts for 1 + the user’s Charisma modifier rounds. 37 PART 5 | HAG GIFTS

As an example, a death skull of the gold wyrmling would fill the area with 10 (3d6) fire damage the round after Dragonling Death Scream was used. If the user has a Charisma of 16 then this energy damage will fill the area of effect for four rounds. Death Skull of the Sacrifice (Very Rare). This item is very similar to the death skull of the wyrmling. What sets a death skull of sacrifice apart is how the skull was made. If the hag can get her hands on a living wyrmling then she will produce this version by doing her rituals on a living specimen. The user of a death skull of sacrifice can use Sacrificed Death Scream once per day with a range of 120 feet: 15-foot-radius area of effect. Sacrificed Death Scream. You create a burst of magically augmented screaming and terror that is horrendous to listen to. Targets caught inside the area of effect make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or take 26 (4d12) psychic damage and gain the paralyzed condition for one round. Targets outside of the area of effect who can hear the screaming sound must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw or gain the frightened condition for one round. On the next combat round the area targeted by Sacrificed Death Scream is filled with energy damage associated with the type of wyrmling that donated the skull. The damage is 14 (4d6) per round for any creature that ends its turn in the spell area. This energy damage effect lasts for 1 round + the user’s Charisma modifier. Death Skull of Infanticide (Legendary) (attuned by spellcaster only). This item is the charred or pitted skull of an infant dragon with diamonds attached to the eye sockets. This skull does one of two things. If the user can cast finger of death or can use an object to create the spell effect, then this skull increases the potency of that spell. When the death skull of infanticide is used this way then the finger of death spell functions as normal but a survivor must make another Charisma save at the same spell DC or take an additional 18 (6d6) psychic damage. Any target immune to fear has advantage on this saving throw. The user of a death skull of infanticide can use this effect once per day. The second effect of the death skull of infanticide can be used once per turn as a reaction. A creature hit with any spell, cast by the user, also takes 6 (1d12) energy damage of the same type used by the infant dragon used to create this hellish device. Eye of Perth Wondrous item, Legendary (attunement) Attunement to this item is an evil act. The use of this item is also an evil act. When this eye is found outside of an attuned user it is usually stored in a safe place and looks like a bright orange eyeball with a misshapen iris. The eye is usually stored in a sterile liquid. This magical eye looks organic but it can only be damaged by magical or adamantite weapons, or spell damage. The eye of perth has 30 hit points and an armor class of 14 (20 if currently inserted in an eye socket). Attunement. In order to attune to this eye the user must pull out an eye from at least three sentient creatures, with one of the eyes being their own. The creature attempting to attune to the eye of perth must then burn the eyes while the victims are still alive and within 15 feet of the burning eyes. Once the eyes have burned to ash the user places the eye of perth into their empty eye socket. On the next round, each victim who had an eye burned, to include the one attempting to attune to the eye of perth, begins to writhe in pain as the foul magic begins to take hold. They each must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or die as their heart ruptures in their chest. Whoever has the eye

of perth in their eye socket has advantage on this saving throw. Once only one victim is left alive the eye of perth is attuned to the survivor. If everyone fails their Constitution saving throw, then the survivor is the person who came the closest to succeeding. Small to large creatures can use the eye of perth. Powers. Once attuned and inserted (and not covered or concealed), the eye of perth gives the user darkvision up to 60 feet. This vision does not stack or increase pre-existing darkvision. The user of an eye of perth also has advantage on any saving throw to resist a gaze attack. The user can, as a bonus action, cast see invisibility 3/Day, which lasts for 1 minute. The user of an eye of perth can, as an action, cast eyebite (sickness only) 1/Day on any target within 60 feet that can also see the eye. Targets can resist this effect with a successful DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. The target can reattempt their save at the beginning of their turn. Once a target successfully saves against this eyebite attack, the target is immune to it for the next 24 hours. When this eye is attuned and inserted into an eye socket, the eye changes its appearance once until it is attuned to another. The user can choose for the eye of perth to resemble a natural eye or any other fantastic or beastial eye they can imagine. Side Effects. Depending on the appearance of the eye of perth, the user may have difficulty dealing with sentient creatures. Anyone looking at the eye for more than a few minutes can make a DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check to determine what the eye is. Anyone who learns what the eye is will know that the item is evil and will take appropriate actions depending on their power and alignment. Any creature with truesight will see the eye in its original form, that of a bright orange ball with a misshapen iris. The user cannot conduct a short or long rest if the eye is in their socket. They will find it impossible to concentrate, rest, or meditate. If the user wears this eye for more than 12 hours they will have disadvantage on any saving throws to resist exhaustion. This eye has no loyalty and can be stolen and attuned by another sentient creature. But if this does happen, and the creature currently attuned to it is on the same plane of existence, then they are forced to make the attunement saving throws above, with the same consequences if they fail. Hags and the Eye of Perth. No hag can attune to the eye of perth but a hag that can see the user of the eye can force a Charisma ability contest with the user. The hag can attempt this contest through scrying or any other means of remote viewing. If the hag wins the contest then the target is unaware that anything has happened and the hag can see from the user’s point of view for ten minutes. This effect can only be used three times a day by the hag. If the hag fails the Charisma contest then she must wait 2d4 hours before she can make another attempt. If the hag fails by more than 4 points, or rolls a critical failure, then the user of the eye of perth knows that a hag attempted to see from their eye and they gain advantage on all Charisma ability contests or saving throws against that hag for the next year and a day. This contest can also be attempted by a coven of hags that can all see the the user of the eye of perth. A coven attempting this Charisma contest will have an advantage, and the hag with the highest Charisma ability will make the attempt. If they fail by more than 4 points or roll a critical failure, then the same rules apply but the user has advantage against the entire coven for a year and a day. Hag Eye Wondrous item, Hag, Uncommon, (attunement) This hag item works even if it is concealed or hidden. A coven of hags can make a hag eye in nine days. A hag on her own can make one in 101 days. These are made out of gems no less than 50gp in value and they retain the illusion of the original stone. Anyone looking at a hag eye with truesight will see it as a mutilated eye of an indeterminate race. The use of a hag eye is not evil and they tend to be given to creatures that a hag wants to keep track of. A hag will either work the gem into a piece of jewelry or toss it in a bag of other gems in an attempt to conceal it. A hag eye lets the hag (or person attuned to it) spy near the eye’s location, even if it is locked in a chest or put in a pocket. The hag will spy on the bearer of the eye as if a constant clairvoyance spell, with both sight and sound, were cast on the bearer. The range of this effect is 100 miles. Hag Eye This hag eye replaces the hag eye described in the hag section of the Monster Manual. Hanging Rotter Wondrous item, Hag, Rare (attunement) A hanging rotter is a simple woven vine noose, hung from a tree until activated by a hag or whoever is attuned to it. As long as the attuned user is within sight of the hanging rotter, then they can activate it as a bonus action. 39 PART 5 | HAG GIFTS

The hanging rotter will stay activated for up to one hour per day and if any humanoid comes within thirty feet of the hanging rotter its power activates against the target. A target will see an illusion of their own rotting body, hung from the tree. The target makes a DC 13 Charisma saving throw or gains the frightened condition for 1d10 rounds. Those who fail their saving throw will also see a thin red yarn leading from their neck to the noose. The line can stretch out to 60 feet if the victim moves away from the hanging rotter. If the victim is reduced to 0 hit point and they are within 60 feet of the hanging rotter, then their body is teleported and hung from the noose; they automatically fail all death saves. Anyone who sees this must make a DC 13 Charisma save or gain the frightened condition for 1 round and take 7 (2d6) psychic damage. The hanging rotter loses all magical power once a creature dies while hanging from its noose. Hags can make a hanging rotter if they kill a sentient creature while it sleeps. Within a minute of the victim's death, the hag must start to wrestle with the victim’s soul. If the hag is interrupted during the next ten minutes, then she has failed to capture the soul. In order to succeed the hag must win a Charisma contest against the target’s Charisma ability that they had in life. If she succeeds then she will place the spirit in a loop of rope. The spirit is finally freed once the hanging rotter teleports a dying creature into its loop. A hag must spend ten minutes each month tending a hanging rotter or the spirit departs and the noose rots into dust. In game terms this means that a hag cannot have more than three hanging rotters around her lair. An evil creature that understands what a hanging rotter is can make use of one it finds or buys from a hag. But they must make a DC 10 Charisma save each month or the item loses its power and the spirit escapes. Hooked Larva Scroll, Hag, Rare Selling, buying, or consuming larva is an act of evil. Each larva represents an evil soul, usually harvested by a night hag. Larva details can be found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Hooked larva are larva that have been reduced in size by hag alchemy and rituals. Instead of being the normal 5 foot long larva with a humanoid face, the hooked larva are five inches long with tiny humanoid heads. Each hooked larva is writhing around on an iron hook or nail that it has been pierced with. These hooks are then bent and put on a large iron ring in a similar fashion to a key ring. A creature can remove one larva and chew it as a bonus action. Doing so restores 3 hit points and the creature will not need to drink or eat for the next 24 hours. This act destroys the larva’s soul. A hag can convert up to twelve larva into hooked larva over the course of 8 hours. A hag usually spends the equivalent of 15 gold pieces per larva in rare herbs, plants, ointments, and minerals. Hooked larva can be traded to most devils for soul coins, but the devil will usually only trade one coin per three hooked larva due to their shelf life. Each hooked larva needs a tablespoon of blood from a sentient creature each day or it loses one hit point. After nine days of not feeding a hooked larva evaporates. This shelf life of hooked larva is one of the main reasons why the lower planes don’t trade in hooked larva anymore. These larva, reduced for easy transport and commerce, used to be the coin of choice amongst hags and fiends before the recent indoctrination of infernal soul coins. Hooked larva can sometimes be created by a night hag after a target dies while under the effect of waste-not hook. Innocent Tongue Wondrous item, Hag, Uncommon Using this item is an evil act. Any hag with a shrine to Cegilune in their lair who is capable of kidnapping a humanoid child can create an innocent tongue. An innocent tongue, once enchanted by ritual, will last for up to three years before it rots and loses its power. In that time any creature willing to eat this vile thing will gain powers for three hours. An eater of an innocent tongue will force disadvantage on anyone using an ability to detect falsehoods or lies spoken by the eater of an innocent tongue. Any spell that detects lies or alignment will only detect what the eater wants to have detected unless the spell or spell-like ability is 4th spell-level or higher. Creatures that are not evil that use an innocent tongue will gain the poisoned condition for 1d6 hours once the magical effects wear off. Love Potion Potion, Hag, Uncommon This potion is one of the oldest hag gifts that hags still know how to make. Drinking a hag love potion willingly is not an evil act. Giving this potion to an unwilling or unaware victim can be an evil act, depending on the situation and the DM. A love potion is one of those rare items made by hags that doesn’t look like they were made out of blood, gore, and muck. These potions are kept in lovely clear bottles of glass, usually adorned with anything that sparkles or pictures of hearts. This potion has two main uses and its effects change based on who the drinker is. Willing drinker. A willing drinker has usually purchased a love potion from a hag, who told them that the safest way to use it is to drink it around as many people as possible so that the potion has a larger group to choose from. Any male humanoid dumb enough to drink a love potion near a hag blacks out for three days and wakes up roughly 10 miles away with all of their belonings but an exhaustion level of 3. The hag will forever ignore that male and answer no questions about the lost time. As she gets closer to giving birth she will disappear into obscurity, usually surrounded by other hags, until the child is born. A willing drinker who drinks a potion with only one person within view will fall madly in love with that person. 40 PART 5 | HAG GIFTS

If they are lucky, the feelings will be reciprocated. Regardless this feeling will evaporate a month later unless the drinker drinks another love potion. If the person is unreceptive to the drinker’s love, then the drinker will need to make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw each day for a week. If the drinker fails a saving throw then the drinker will attempt to take the target of their affection by force, regardless of witnesses. This is considered a charm, and it can be dispelled by a 5th spell-level dispel magic, dispel evil and good, greater restoration, or wish spell. A person under the effect of this charm who is reduced to 0 hit points will wake up with no recollection of their actions. Unwilling drinker. The victim is either fed a hag love potion unwillingly or has had it slipped into their food and drink. Upon consuming the potion the victim makes a DC 15 Wisdom save, and upon success is completely unaffected by the potion and is immune to love potions for a year and a day. If the drinker fails their saving throw then the potion takes effect on the victim. They are now Love Drunk for the next seven days. A hag will often sell a cure to love drunk (she drugs the victim and locks them in a cage for a week). Seed Satchel Wondrous item, Hag, Rare (attunement) Using a seed satchel is an evil act. Hags rarely make these for others because they are made from hag hide. When given to others, a seed satchel is usually made out of the hide of a rival hag that was disposed of by the recipient. Seed satchels are dull green or brown hide bags and are often covered with various bodily fluid stains. Seed satchels often contain other oddities besides seeds or teeth. It takes a hag 1d3 years to make a seed satchel. The seeds themselves have to be the teeth of children of any sentient species. Hags can only use the Love Drunk If any viable target of affection (humanoids will not be normally attracted to animals, some have a particular gender preference, etc.) is seen within 90 feet of the victim then the victim must make a DC 13 Charisma saving throw or fall madly in love with the target. Once a target has been determined the following saving throw must be made every day for a week if the target does not return the victim’s love. If the target of love drunk is the creature who forced the victim to drink a love potion, then the victim has disadvantage on the saving throw. Upon failing a saving throw the victim suffers from Short-term madness (see Dungeon Master’s Guide) for 1d10 minutes. If at any point the victim has two failed saving throws during this week then they now suffer from Indefinite madness. This is considered a charm, and it can be dispelled by a 5th spell-level dispel magic, dispel evil and good, greater restoration, or wish spell. teeth of children that have been digested in some way, with the teeth collected after they pass. Seed satchels usually contain 9 (1d6 + 6) teeth or "seeds," but can easily hold more depending on the hag’s ability to find children. Seeds can be used to do the following: Create Skeletal Wyvern. The user buries a seed in mud, swamp, brackish water, or very damp earth and in 1d10 minutes, a skeletal wyvern will burst from the seed. The wyvern will serve the bearer of the seed satchel until destroyed, at which point one of the skeletal wyvern’s teeth will be a recoverable seed for use in the satchel. The user can only have one skeletal wyvern at a time.

Hex. As an action, the user throws a seed, Ranged Weapon Attack + (their ranged weapon attack or spell attack modifier), range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 1 bludgeoning damage. If the seed hits the target, then that target is affected by a 3rd spell-level hex. The user does not need to concentrate to maintain this hex, and can attempt to hex a different target with a seed per round. Each hex effect lasts for 10 minutes. Seed Snaps. A seed can be eaten as a bonus action, but in order to have effect the teeth must be chewed up before swallowed. A creature can chew three seeds at once. The person eating the seeds will taste thick sweet citrus juice and will be healed for 6 (1d4 + 4) hit points per seed eaten. Every three seeds eaten also removes one exhaustion level. All creatures within 10 feet of the eater, except for the eater, hear high pitched screams of panicked children. They must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or gain the frightened condition for one round. Once a target succeeds at this save they are immune to this effect for the next 24 hours. This may cause horror or madness depending on the DM. Spawn Tree. The user can bury a seed and a tree will grow quickly over the course of 3d4 hours into a mature tree roughly 40 feet tall. After 2d4 days the tree will no longer be detected as magical and becomes a random fruit bearing tree. But after 10 years this tree will begin to bear fruit, and 1 in 20 of its fruit have a small child’s tooth imbedded inside. This tooth can be used as a seed for a seed satchel. These trees are not immortal but are highly resistant to non-magical poison or disease. Most evil druids will gladly use up an entire seed satchel to plant these very sturdy trees. Wall of Thorns. The user throws a seed up to 60 feet away as an action. At the beginning of the user’s next round a wall of thorns will spring into existence, per spell, with a spell DC 15. This wall will last an hour and then die, leaving behind a brittle rotten wall of thorns that does no damage and is easily hacked through. No seeds are recovered from this use. Hag Use of a Seed Satchel There are few hag gifts more powerful than a seed satchel in the hands of a hag. A hag can use a seed to do all of the functions listed previously, and the following: Hag Geas. The hag either sneaks a seed into a target’s food or drink, tricks the user into ingesting it, or gets a target to swallow a seed willingly. Either way the effect it has on a target is called a Hag Geas. The hag gease is often used as part of a bargain or deal, in which the target must willingly agree or the hag refuses to deal at all. Hag Geas A willing target of a hag geas has an increased saving throw DC and increased penalties for acting against the geas. An unwilling victim will be able to resist the geas a little easier. Because of this, hags go out of her way to talk a creature into accepting the hag geas willingly. Any sentient creature under a hag geas is affected as if they are under a 6th-level geas spell. The spell DC will be the spell DC of the hag’s spells or special abilities. If the target willingly accepts the hag geas then add +4 to the spell DC. A willing target of a hag geas is also vulnerable to psychic damage when the source is hag geas. Remove curse and dispel magic will not work against a hag geas but a wish spell will. Someone attempting to remove a hag geas with a greater restoration will succeed only if the caster also wins a Charisma contest against the hag who placed the hag geas on the victim. The spell automatically succeeds if the caster and the hag are on different planes of existence. Transmute to Poison. The hag can place a seed into any container of liquid and poison its contents. Transmute to poison is more effective against unenchanted liquids, such as water, holy water, acids, beer, etc. This transmutation is instantaneous and does not change the color, smell, or taste of the liquid. This effect turns liquids into the poison, swan’s lament. Potions affected by transmute to poison become potions of poison. Poison - Swan’s Lament (Ingest) This poison can only be created by a hag with a seed satchel. Against any creature that is not a swan or a swanmay, this poison causes 28 (8d6) poison damage, or half damage with a successful DC 15 Constitution saving throw. Those that fail their saving throw also gain the poisoned condition for 4 (1d6 + 1) hours. Against a swan or a swanmay this poison is very virulent and dangerous. Swans will automatically die if this poison is drunk. 42 PART 5 | HAG GIFTS

Swanmays face a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or they lose 2d4 points of Constitution. While under this effect they will have dreams of drinking blood with the certain knowledge that doing so will cure them. The Swanmay then faces a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or she is compelled to find the nearest humanoid and drain and drink its blood. If they do this then they forever lose the ability to assume the form of a swan, but they are no longer poisoned and their Constitution is restored to normal. Call Treant. The hag buries a seed near her lair and within 2d6 days a treant arrives, not under any magic control or compulsion, but very suspicious of the hag. The hag and the treant will then start a long conversation. Over the course of the next few days the treant and the hag will discuss nature, the weather, and any nearby threats to the wilderness. The hag will be on her best behaviour and will have the truly hideous objects and minions well hidden. She will slowly try and tempt the treant into a partnership of sorts, playing to its anger of fire and encroaching civilization. In game terms this translates into a week long Wisdom ability contest, where the hag has advantage if there has been any recent (within the last 10 years) wilderness incursions by civilization, monster hordes, etc. The treant will have advantage on the Wisdom contest if something not of the wilderness or natural world has acted recently to defend the forest or the creatures within it. If the treant wins the contest it ambles away and the two part on neutral terms. If the hag wins the Wisdom contest then she can turn the willing treant into a vengeful treant who volunteers to storm into civilization and wreak havoc or defend the nearby wilderness violently and without quarter. Transmute Treant to Vengeful Treant. A willing treant will accept a seed and allow it to take root somewhere on its body if successfully talked into this transformation by a hag. This ritual transforms the treant slowly over the course of 3d4 days. This vengeful treant is not magically compelled by the hag but its mind has been corrupted by her presence and rituals, which changes the treant’s statistics and its alignment to chaotic neutral. All or Nothing. A Hag who is facing overwhelming odds and is willing to completely destroy her seed satchel can use all the seeds she has remaining (no less than 3) for a last ditch effort to destroy the general area and escape with her life. In order to do this she must, as an action, violently empty the contents of her satchel and toss the satchel into the air, where it will burst into flames. On the hag’s next turn she levitates, per spell, but with the ability to move horizontally if she choses. Her location at the start of this same round is also the center of an earthquake spell. The hag can take no action while maintaining the earthquake effects other than levitating 60 feet either vertically or horizontally. A hag can maintain the earthquake for a number of rounds equal to twice her Charisma modifier (minimum of 2 rounds). If she does anything other than levitate then both the levitation and earthquake spell ends immediately. Serpent Belt Wondrous item, Uncommon (attunement) The use of this belt is not evil and this is one of the rare hag objects that has utility without any side effects. A hag can make this belt out of the remains of a loyal snake that served her and died of old age. To make a serpent belt, she carefully cleans and works with the snakeskin, slowly enchanting it over a week.

A finished serpent belt has two functions. It can simply be worn as a belt, which provides advantage on any ability check involved with making, using, or detecting poisons. This belt also grants +1 to armor, which will not stack with any other armor bonus. The belt can also be animated as an action, in which case, it turns into a poisonous snake with the ability to breathe both air and water. This snake will share, telepathy 30 feet, with whoever attuned to the belt. The user cannot gain any other benefits from the belt while it is animated. The animated snake has an Intelligence of 3 in this form so it can understand very simple commands and warn its user of threats. Hags tend to keep their serpent belts animated unless they are working with virulent poisons. In a hag’s lair, or similar location filled with oddities, a poisonous snake will have advantage on its stealth checks. Serpent Belt as a Familiar A serpent belt can also function as a familiar, as the find familiar spell. As a familiar, it will gain the fey creature type. A serpent belt will only function as a familiar while it is in poisonous snake form. Skin Cloak Wondrous item, Hag, Legendary (attunement) Attuning to a skin cloak is an evil act. These cloaks are very rare and only a few hags know how to make one properly. Skin cloaks are made by using the skin of a humanoid, and that is exactly what they look like. A skin cloak cannot be mistaken for anything pleasant. Sewing humanoid skin with humanoid hair is not as difficult as keeping a flayed humanoid alive during the process. Any humanoid watching this crafting, regardless of alignment, is at serious risk for having horror or insanity complications. The hag, but usually an entire coven, will work as quickly as possible to sew the cloak together before the flayed victim dies. All attempts to magically keep a victim alive or sedated end up with cloaks with no magical properties. A coven of hags has to expect to “practice” this a few times with various natural substances and techniques before they get it right. Skin cloaks are not made very often because of the immediate hatred and anger sentient creatures react with when they see a creature wearing a skin cloak. The skin cloak does not function if it is covered or glamoured, therefore the wearer has given up on all pretext of interacting with civilization in a hidden or subtle way. The rarity of these cloaks means that they are gifted to a non-hag only in the strangest and rarest of situations. The cloak gives magical properties based on the humanoid skin and hair that makes it up. And there are no known versions of mixed race skin cloaks. The known varieties are elven, gnomish, human, and orc skin cloaks. Elven Skin Cloak. This cloak grants +3 bonus to all ability saving throws. The cloak’s design is obvious if an observer gets within 40 feet of the wearer and most humanoids will either attack the wearer on sight or flee. Fey, other than hags, will immediately attack anyone wearing this if they believe they can kill the wearer. It isn’t understood why the fey react so negatively to this skin cloak and not the other varieties. Gnomish Skin Cloak. This cloak grants immunity to the entire school of illusion. The wearer can see invisible creatures and ignore illusionary defenses (mirror image for example) if the target is within 30 feet of the wearer. Human Skin Cloak. This cloak affects all friendly and enemy sentient living creatures (other than those with the unaligned alignment) who are within 30 feet, and sight, of the wearer. Those targets have disadvantage when using Charisma abilities against the wearer, and the wearer has advantage on any Charisma saving throws if the source of the attack is within 30 feet of the wearer. This cloak also grants immunity to all suggestion spells. Orcish Skin Cloak. This cloak has only been made once and it was for a long dead annis hag that loved battle more than anything: to include her own life. The wearer of this cloak is granted the abilities of rage and mindless rage as per the Barbarian berserker class features found in the Player’s Handbook. The wearer can go into this berserker state at will. This ability cannot be turned off until all foes within sight are dead. If the wearer of this cloak rages for ten consecutive rounds, then they must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or gain one level of exhaustion. At the end of a combat encounter the wearer must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or gain one level of exhaustion. A wearer facing multiple battles between long rests could easily die from exhaustion while wearing this cloak. If the wearer is immune to exhaustion then this cloak grants them no powers. 44 PART 5 | HAG GIFTS

Spirit Berry Potion, Hag, Rare Willfully eating this berry is an evil act. This berry has a thick crust that resembles hard pearlescent brown sugar or pale chocolate. It is slightly larger than a blueberry. This berry can only be identified by a hag, or with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Nature) check. Spirit berries are grown on supernatural plants near graveyards or other areas frequented by weak spirits. The ones listed here have a trapped and weak spirit contained within them and eating a spirit berry destroys the trapped soul. When held, the spirit berry feels cold and any creature, not immune to fear, will have to make a DC 8 Wisdom saving throw to overcome their natural revulsion if they want to eat one of these berries. If placed in the mouth, the berry starts making horrible whimpering sounds that only the user can hear. This may cause madness or horror. Anyone who has ever eaten a spirit berry before, and hags, are immune to this effect. If a creature succeeds at eating a spirit berry then the results depend on their alignment if they are not a hag: Hags. Hags are affected by a bless spell for 4d10 minutes, and all attacks originating in the Ethereal Plane have disadvantage against the hag. The hag also recovers 25 (2d12 + 12) hit points worth of damage. Good. Good aligned creatures who eat spirit berries take 19 (2d12 + 6) poison damage, or half damage if they make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. They gain the ability to see into the Ethereal Plane for 10 minutes. Neutral. Neutral aligned creatures who eat spirit berries will gain the ability to see into the Ethereal Plane for 10 minutes. Evil. Evil aligned creatures who eat spirit berries will recover 12 (1d12 + 6) hit points worth of damage and gain the ability to see into the Ethereal Plane for 3d10 minutes. A creature that eats another spirit berry before any of the effects have worn off from the first one will not gain any additional benefits. They will have to make a DC 14 Constitution save or have their maximum hit points reduced by 19 (2d12 + 6) until they recover after a long rest. This penalty will affect evil creatures and hags. Spell Pudding Potion or Scroll, Hag, Very Rare A creature might negotiate with a hag, but the magical effect will have to be stored for later use or the hag will not have the target that requires her “magical attention” nearby. In such cases a hag will cook a thick pudding in one of her smaller cauldrons, and often goes to great lengths to make it appealing and tasty. Through a process only hags understand, and often taking days to accomplish, a hag will be able to transform a magical potion or scroll into a spell pudding. Often these dishes are literally puddings, but they can theoretically be any edible meal, like a cake, roast pig, pie, etc. The hag will then have the meal delivered to whoever purchased her assistance. Unless the hag is frightened of the purchaser or otherwise obligated to not, as the hag saying goes, “put twists into the pudding,” there will likely be a hidden cost or consequence. This consequence usually has a loophole that will likely bring the target, the victim, or both, back to the hag to negotiate further. Spell Pudding Spell Pudding was inspired and adapted from Refinnej, the Brave’s hag food submission. 45 PART 5 | HAG GIFTS

Witch Fingers S ome have named me crone, gray lady, Yaga sister, night hag -- but MYSELF is my name, Ravel, Ravel who puzzles well, providing conundrums to decipher and laying impossibilities low. Ravel (Planescape: Torment) General Information. Witch fingers, except for the common ones, are the severed fingers of still living spell casters, which will be referred to as the victim for this chapter. These items, like most hag gifts, must be worn openly or they will not function. The use of common witch fingers is not an evil act, nor is it evil for a character to use their own finger. But using the severed finger of another living creature is evil. Game Statistics. Witch Fingers come in three broad categories named, common, living, and your own personal witch finger. Witch Finger Wondrous Item, Varies (attunement by a spellcaster) This gruesome talisman is made from the forefinger of any spellcaster. The most common of these tend to come from humanoid races and once successfully made they stop decomposing. The victim must survive the severing of the finger and the hours long process it takes to make a witch finger. If the victim ever regenerates the forefinger used to make the witch finger, then the severed witch finger disintegrates. When a victim dies the witch finger associated with them becomes the common variety. The power of a witch finger, like most hag gifts, only works if it is displayed openly and not hidden. It can be hung from a belt, a leather tong, the ear, hair, etc. You may have more than one witch finger but can only be attuned to one at a time. Hags and Witch Fingers. Witch fingers are a way for spellcasters to gain more power over their own abilities, and for hags, a sign of their power and standing amongst their peers. Hags also get more power out of witch fingers if using their own finger or the finger of another living hag. Hags encountered with witch fingers, other than common ones, could easily have their CR increased by 1. Hags more than a few dozen years old will have, at the very least, a common witch finger. More powerful hags usually use one of their fingers or the finger of a hag that needs to be kept in line or be punished publicly. Ravel, one of the most powerful known hags, sends her own fingers out into the multiverse in a bid to maintain immortality without the help of Cegilune. Hags are open about teaching humanoid spellcasters how to make witch fingers. If a hag’s services are paid for, spellcasters almost always survive the painful process of making their own personal witch finger. A humanoid should expect to owe a hag one year and a day of service and the service should be agreed upon before the process begins if the humanoid has any sense of self preservation. A hag will always help with the fashioning of a witch finger if the requestor is a beautiful female humanoid, because the hag will want to see what else she can talk her into and possibly take her down a path that leads to further desecration of her body and soul. Recognizing Witch Fingers. Hags can immediately tell the difference between displayed witch fingers, knowing at a glance, what their powers are. Other spellcasters can differentiate between witch fingers only on a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) or (Religion) ability check. If the spellcaster is currently using a witch finger, then they have advantage on the ability check. Good aligned spellcasters who, for whatever reason, made their own personal Witch Finger will find themselves in many situations where they will have to speak quickly and explain their morbid talisman. At the DM’s discretion, anyone attuned to a witch finger who consciously attempts to conceal it, may have to attune to it again in order to begin using it again. This rule exists for those who want their cake but don’t want to explain where they got said cake to the randomly encountered good paladins. Witch fingers can be, and often are, used as a spell focus. Consequences of Use and Display The use of a common witch finger is usually tolerated in most civilized areas but it immediately identifies the wearer as a spellcaster. This can have some negative consequences depending on which variety of civilization the wearer is in. Anyone with even a remote understanding of religion, arcana, or spellcasting will assume that the wearer is neutral or evil in alignment. This may help or hinder the wearer of a witch finger depending on the circumstances. For instance, an encountered hag who has 47 PART 6 | WITCH FINGERS

surprised the party may initiate conversation on her surprise round instead of opening up with a cone of cold if she sees a witch finger. Then again, the characters may encounter a group of paladins and have to do some quick talking or violence may ensue. Characters in campaigns with horror, terror, and madness may suffer further complications based on their DM’s whims. Making a Witch Finger Making a Witch Finger. This is a difficult and risky process if not attempted under the supervision of a hag. The crafting and ritual will take two hours at minimum, and often longer if a hag is assisting. Cutting your own finger off and making it into a witch finger is an act of desperation, madness, or masochism. If you succeed you gain, your own personal witch finger. If you bring a captive to a hag and are prepared to claim responsibility for its care and feeding then a hag can also help in making a witch finger using your captive’s finger. No creature of nonevil alignment should even consider this. If you fail at this crafting then you have successfully maimed yourself or your captive. Any spellcasters of level or CR 2 or greater can be used to make witch fingers. Any such victim or volunteer can never be used to make more than two regardless of how many hands they have or fingers that get lopped off. Hags and the willing under their supervision automatically succeed on making a witch finger. If a hag is assisting a spellcaster in the making of a witch finger off of a living captive, then ability checks for crafting are made with advantage. A spellcaster attempting to craft a witch finger on their own can expect to spend 10 gp per spellcaster level or challenge rating of the victim and they must succeed at a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) or (Religion) ability check for partial success or DC 20 for a gruesome success. Warlocks and those suffering from any form of madness during these ability checks have advantage on their checks. A good creature not suffering from madness (even a good aligned warlock) who attempts to use their own finger has disadvantage on their check to successfully craft a witch finger. Destroying a witch finger should follow whatever rules the DM uses for the destruction of magic items in their campaign. The witch fingers do not gain any exceptional resistance to destruction. Gruesome Success. If the crafter succeeds on their ability check by more than 5 (modified result of 20 or higher on their ability check) then they suffer no ill effects other than possible regrets over their poor life choices. A natural roll of 20 also grants a gruesome success. Partial Success. If the crafter only had a partial success (total ability check result between 15 and 19) then they or the victim suffers the following: Modified result of 15. The victim loses 2 Dexterity, 1 Strength, and 2 hit points permanently. Modified result of 16. The victim loses 2 Dexterity and 2 hit points permanently. Modified result of 17. The victim loses 1 Dexterity and 2 hit points permanently. Modified result of 18. The victim loses 2 hit points permanently. Modified result of 19. The victim loses 1 hit point permanently. Failure. If the crafter failed then the severed finger (and hand) is ruined and the victim suffers all the negative effects of a “partial success 15.” On a natural roll of 1, the crafter fails to contain the bleeding and the victim is reduced to 0 hit points, with normal death saves to follow. Regrets and Reversing. The negative stats and negative hit points associated with partial success or failure can only be recovered by regeneration (which destroys the magic witch finger as the severed finger regrows) or a wish. Heal, greater restoration, and like spells and effects will not restore or fix poor life choices. If the witch finger was crafted from an unwilling victim, then a heal spell will destroy the witch finger and restore permanently lost hit points. But the finger will need to be regenerated before a greater restoration can fix the ability score loss. 48 PART 6 | WITCH FINGERS

Witch Finger Descriptions Common Witch Finger Wondrous item, Common (requires attunement) This magical severed finger can come in any imaginable variety of creature and decomposition as long as the finger bones are more or less intact and touching. Openly displaying this gruesome thing grants the bearer the ability to cast one cantrip (decided randomly when any witch finger becomes common) that the original victim would have had access to when they were alive. You now have access to that cantrip, regardless of your class restrictions. Your spell DCs and attack rolls are not changed at all. As an example, Horrid Ochre Teeth is a 5thlevel druid who has a common witch finger from a dead 20th-level sorcerer, granting him access to the cantrip, shocking grasp. Horrid can use this cantrip whenever he could normally use any of his own cantrips and it does not take up a spell slot. Horrid’s shocking grasp only does 2d8 lightning damage because the cantrip uses his current level and not the level of the sorcerer victim. This simple bit of power is all that remains from what used to be a more powerful magical item when the victim was alive. Power And Living Witch Fingers A living witch finger is different from a common witch finger because the victim is still alive. If the living witch finger is your own finger then you get an increased power explained below. The power and abilities of any living witch finger depends on: Knowledge of the victim The victim’s race The victim’s level of power Living witch fingers still function if the living victim is on a different plane of existence from their severed and enchanted finger. The following list is not exhaustive, but represents the sort of living witch fingers found on neutral and evil spellcasters, the deranged, the desperate, or in stolen loot piles. Your Own Personal Witch Finger Wondrous item, Unique This witch finger is unique and if you are the victim of this particular witch finger then you get +1 to your spell DCs or +1 to your spell attack rolls. This decision is made when the finger is created. It cannot be changed. This unique bonus is in addition to the bonuses associated with a living witch finger. Living Witch Finger Wondrous item, Any (requires attunement) All living witch fingers that are displayed properly as hag gifts grant a +1 bonus to AC. This armor class bonus will not stack with any other armor bonus. Each living witch finger is slightly different and will grant different powers to you based on your knowledge of the victim, their race, and their level of power. Knowledge or Intimacy. The level of knowledge and or intimacy with the victim will grant one of the following bonuses. Note that randomly discovered witch fingers usually result in no knowledge of the victim. Nothing. Common, no bonus. Circumstantial. Common, +1 to a random skill. Understanding. Uncommong, +2 to a random skill. 49 PART 6 | WITCH FINGERS

Complete. Rare, +1 to skill of your choice, and +1 on Initiative rolls. If this finger used to belong to you then this is your level of understanding. The legend lore spell, at the DM’s discretion, will increase the knowledge level of a randomly found living witch finger to this level. Great Enemy. Very Rare, +1 to all skills you are proficient in and +2 on Initiative if in combat with this great enemy. This is the level of knowledge a hag has when displaying another hag’s Living Witch Finger. Mad Love. Legendary, +1 to your Proficiency when your twisted object of affection is within 120 feet and visual sight of you. If you fail a saving throw and your love is within sight then you can choose to succeed instead, but only once per day. Race of the Victim. Note that undead victims are listed in the legendary section, and their once living bonuses for their race are lost. Player Races. Common. Common, advantage on an ability check 1/Week. Uncommon. Dragonborn. Uncommon, your spells of one type of energy damage, inflict +1 damage per die (Recharge 5-6). This damage increase will match the energy damage of the particular dragonborn victim that lost a finger. The living witch finger from a white dragonborn will add +1 cold damage per die with spells that do cold damage, such as cone of cold. Gnome. Uncommon, you have advantage on all Intelligence saving throws against magic spells or effects. Half-Elf. Uncommon, you have proficiency with a random skill that you are not already proficient with. Half-Orc. Uncommon, when you are reduced to 0 hit points you can choose to be reduced to 1 hit point instead. You can use this ability once per long rest. Tiefling. Uncommon, hellish rebuke, is now in your list of spells you can choose from. If you already have access to this spell, then you can cast it innately 1/Day. Rare. Eladrin. Rare, you can innately cast misty step (self only) 3/Day. Aasimar. Rare, you can innately cast lesser restoration (self only) 3/Day. Firbolg. Rare, you can innately cast invisibility (self only) 3/Day. Kenku. Rare, you can innately cast knock (range 5 feet) 3/Day. Lizardfolk. Rare, you can innately cast barkskin (self only) 3/Day. Tabaxi. Rare, you can innately cast darkvision (self only) 3/Day. Triton. Rare, you can innately cast water breathing (self only) 3/Day. Monstrous Races. Rare. Bugbear. Rare, you can choose to deal 7 (2d6) additional damage with a spell that hits a surprised target. You can do this once per combat encounter. Gnoll. Rare, you can heal yourself for 7 (2d6) hit points if you kill a target with a spell attack, if the target is within 30 feet of you. You can do this once per combat encounter. Goblin. Rare, you do 7 (2d6) additional damage with a spell against a target that is a size category larger than you. You can do this once per combat encounter. Hobgoblin. Rare, you can choose to be immune to the effects of your own spell if you are allowed a saving throw. This immunity ends when your turn is completed. You can do this once per combat encounter. Kobold. Rare, you can choose to have an advantage with a spell attack roll if you have an ally within 5 feet of your spell’s target. You can do this once per combat encounter. Orc. Rare, you can move up to your normal speed as a bonus action, as long as it is towards a target you have cast a spell at this turn. You can do this once per combat encounter. Sahuagin or Kua-Toa. Rare, targets of your spell that can or are breathing water currently, regardless of how, take an additional 6 (2d6) acid damage. You can do this once per combat encounter. Yuan’ti. Rare, you can reduce the resistance to poison of a target of your spell if that spell does poison damage. Invulnerability becomes resistance; resistance becomes normal (no resistance); normal becomes vulnerability to poison. You can do this once per combat encounter. Very Rare. Arcane. (see bestiary). Very rare, you have advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks if the target profits in some way by agreeing with you. Doppelganger. Very rare, you can chose to shape change into a creature you have killed with a spell less than 10 minutes before. The target must have been the same size category as you and you can only change into that shape or back into your true form. If you spend more than an hour in their form you may suffer madness complications based on the DM’s choice. Fey. Very rare, the damage dice used to determine your spell damage are increased by one step. For example, d3s become d4s, d4s become d6s, d6s become d8s, and so on. You can do this once per combat encounter. Githyanki. Very rare, as a reaction, any failed saving throw to resist a spell effect, succeeds instead. You can do this once per combat encounter. Githzerai. Very rare, if you cast a spell and its target or targets require a Wisdom saving throw you can force all or none of the affected targets to reroll their saving throw, even if they failed their saving throw the first time. You can do this once per combat encounter. Hags. If the user of a hag’s living witch finger is another hag, then they are immune to the victim hag’s spells or abilities. A hag will also have a +1 to all of her proficiencies. This bonus does not count for a hag using their own finger as a witch finger. A Hag using her own personal witch finger increases the saving throw DC of her abilities, spells, and abilities by +1 (this can stack with other witch finger bonuses).