Hag, General Information [311]

Commentaires : Hags are witchlike beings that spread havoc and destruction, working their magics, and slaying all whom they encounter. Hags appear as wretched old women, with long, frayed hair and withered faces. Horrid moles and warts dot their blotchy skin, their mouths are filled with blackened teeth, and their breath is most foul. Though wrinkled and skinny, hags possess supernatural strength and can easily crush smaller creatures, such as goblins, with one hand. Similarly, though hags look decrepit, they run swiftly, easily bounding over rocks or logs in their path. From the long, skinny fingers of hags grow iron-like claws. Hags use these claws (and their supernatural strength) to rend and tear at opponents in combat. Their garb is similar to that of peasant women, but usually much more tattered and filthy.
Combat : The combat abilities of hags vary with each type (see below for details), but all hags possess the following: 18/00 Strength or greater, some level of magic resistance, and the spell-like ability to change self at will. Hags use this last ability to attract victims, frequently posing as young human or demihuman females, helpless old women, or occasionally as orcs or hobgoblins. A disguised hag reveals her true form and leaps to the attack when weak opponents come near. Against well armed and armored parties, hags maintain their disguise and employ further trickery designed to place the intended victim in a more vulnerable position. This trickery can take any of several forms, including verbal persuasion, leading the victim into a prearranged trap, and so on. The one weakness of hags is their arrogance. Hags have great disdain for the mental abilities of all humans and demihumans and, though hags are masterful employers of disguise, clever characters may be able to glean a hag’s true nature through conversation.
Habitat / Société : Hags live alone or in coveys of three. They always choose desolate, out-of-the-way places in which to dwell. They sometimes coexist with ogres or evil giants. The former act as servants or guards for hags, but giants are treated with respect (for obvious reasons) and often cooperate with hags to accomplish acts of great evil against the outside world. While individually powerful, hags are much more dangerous when formed into a covey. A covey is composed of three hags of any combination (e.g., two annis and a green hag, three annis, etc.). Coveys have special powers that individual hags don’t possess. These powers include the following spells: curse, polymorph other, animate dead, dream, control weather, veil, forcecage, vision, and mind blank. Covey spells can each be used once per day, and take effect as if they were cast by a 9th-level spellcaster. To cast one of these spells, the members of the covey must all be within 10 feet of each other and the spell being cast must be in lieu of all other attacks. Coveys never cast these spells in combat, instead these spells are used to help weave wicked plots against neighboring human or demihuman settlements. A common ploy by coveys is to force or trick a victim into performing some heinous deed. This deed usually involves bringing back more victims, some of whom are devoured by the hags; the rest are used on further evil assignments. Any creature fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to resist a covey is immediately devoured. A covey of hags is 80% likely to be guarded by a mixture of 1d8 ogres and 1d4 evil giants. Coveys often use one or two of their ogres as spies, sending them into the world beyond after polymorphing them into less threatening creatures. These minions frequently (60%) wear a special magical gem called a hag eye. A hag eye is made from the real eye of a covey’s previous victim. It appears to the casual observer to be no more than a low-value gem (20 gp or less), but if viewed through a gem of true seeing, a disembodied eye can be seen trapped in the hag eye’s interior. This hidden eye is magically connected to the covey that created the hag eye. All three members of the covey can see whatever the hag eye is pointed at. Hag eyes are usually placed on a medallion or brooch worn by one of the hag’s polymorphed servants. Occasionally hag eyes are given as gifts to unsuspecting victims whom the hags want to monitor. Destroying a hag eye inflicts 1d10 points of damage to each member of the covey that created it, and one of the three hags is struck blind for 24 hours. Hags commonly inhabit bone-strewn glens deep within forests. There is an 80% chance that hags are keeping one or two captives in a nearby earthen pit or forcecage. These prisoners are held for a purpose known only to the hags themselves, though it will certainly involve spreading chaos into the outside world. Prisoners kept in a pit are guarded by an evil giant or one to two ogres; those in a forcecage are left alone.
Ecologie : Hags have a ravenous appetite and are able to devour man-sized creatures in just 10 rounds. They prefer human flesh, but settle for orc or demihuman when necessary. This wanton destruction has earned hags some powerful enemies. Besides humanity in general, both good giants and good dragons hunt hags, slaying them whenever possible. Still, hags multiply rapidly by using their change self ability to appear as beautiful maidens to men they encounter alone. Hag offspring are always female. Legends say that hags can change their unborn child for that of a human female while she sleeps. They further state that any mother who brings such a child to term is then slain by the hag-child she carries. Fortunately, such ghastly tales have never been proven. Hags hoard fine treasure, using the jewelry and coins to decorate the bones of their more powerful victims, and the finer gems (500 gp value or higher) to manufacture magical hag eyes.