OSR: Hags (Part 2): Bheur and Night
- seeroftheabyss
- 13 minutes ago
- 20 min read
Bheur Hag
Number Appearing: 1 or 3
Alignment: Any Evil
Languages: Lingua Franca, + 1d4 local languages
Treasure: frozen corpses, jewelry, plundered grave goods, pelts of arctic creature
Bheur Hag
HD 5
AR 2
Atk Graystaff (1d6+2/1d6+2) or Spell
Mor 13
Saves 12 or less
Immunity to Cold/Ice Damage
Resistance to Fire Damage
Illusory Appearance: As an action, a Bheur Hag may create an illusion over herself to alter her appearance. The illusory disguise must be of the Hag's general size and shape, being a Medium creature. Additionally, the illusion fails to stand up to physical inspection- if the Hag is disguised as a maiden and you touch her hand, you will not feel the soft skin of a young woman, but the rawhide flesh and sharp claws of a Hag. The Bheur Hag may dispel this illusion as a free action.
Soul of Ice: Bheur Hags can lower the temperature of an object by touching it. This causes their melee attacks to do +1d6 ice damage on a hit. They can also freeze water that is either slow-moving or stagnant by touching it. If a Bheur Hag is grappled or grapples a creature, she can cause that creature to take 1d6 ice damage each round the creature touches her.
Feast of Blood: If a Bheur Hag feeds on an intelligent humanoid, or it's corpse, the Hag heals for a number of HD equal to that creature's HD. This meal takes at least 10 minutes.
Magic Item: Graystaff: Bheur Hags wield special weapons called a Graystaff. These magical staves can grant them a bonus to any spell they cast 3/Day (see below) and allow the Hag to fly or levitate on them for up to 3 hours a Day. If a Bheur Hag's Graystaff is destroyed she will be weakened and suffer magical backlash. A Bheur Hag can also sense the presence of her Graystaff and if separated from it, she will be able to sense what direction it is from her. The closer she is, the more reliable this sense is. If her Graystaff is in danger or taken, she must succeed a morale check, on a failed check she will pursue it, regardless of potential risk.
Spellcasting: Bheur Hags have 5 spellcasting dice and 7 spells prepared. Her spellcasting dice burn out on a 5 or 6. The spells she has prepared are Bloody Feast, Create Undead Servant, Conjure Ice, Enslave Undead, Freeze Ray, Ring of Frost and Sepulchral Voice.
Chaos: If a Bheur Hag casts a spell with 2 or more spellcasting dice and rolls doubles or triples, she invokes Chaos. If she does invoke Chaos, roll on the table below.
Chaos of the Bheur Hag:
1d6
1- The area for 50' around the Bheur Hag is plunged into magical darkness.
2- The next time a fire spell that does damage is cast, the Bheur Hag is automatically the target.
3- The next spell within 50' that does elemental damage does the opposite type of damage.
4- The Bheur Hag's body heats up to 200 degrees F. This does not hurt her, but it does damage anything she's touching.
5- The nearest corpse rises as a 1d4 HD Undead under no one's control.
6- A wave of power passes out of the Bheur Hag. All creatures within 30' must save or be stunned as their muscles lock up from the cold.
Tactics:
- Only fight when you have the advantage
- Scout carefully and gather information first
- Take steps to ensure victory before the fight starts
- In in danger, sacrifice allies and flee
To customize a Bheur Hag, roll on the tables below:
Where does she dwell?
1d6
1- An icy cave atop a snow-shrouded mountain.
2- An ancient ruin amidst the tall pines of the taiga.
3- A palace of ice in a frozen land.
4- An iceberg, with tunnels and caves carved out of it's freezing heart.
5- A dilapidated shelter overlooking a snowed-in mountain pass.
6- A massive sailing ship, locked in the ice and stuck in place.
Who or what does she recruit to help her in her schemes?
1d6
1- A group of Half-Ghouls. A group of murderers and cannibals who are slowly losing their humanity as they consume human flesh. They hate themselves but can't stop.
2- A coven of Vampires. They were human but the progressive of the disease of Vampirism has robbed them of life's pleasures. Now they live only to feed and deprive others of life.
3- An Incubus. She envies him of his power and eternal life and is also probably quite attracted to him, much to her own disgust.
4- A family of Yeti. Primitive creatures who hate the civilized folk, they share the Hag's goal of vengeance
5- A group of Unseelie Fey. Cruel, wicked things who live to cause problems and watch the chaos. The Hag doesn't trust them an inch and she is right to do so.
6- A fellow victim. Someone who was victimized by the same people that the Hag was. Their shared antipathy has bonded them together like two pieces of metal cold-welded to each other.
Who does she despise?
1d6
1- The talented young Maga.
2- The beautiful, virtuous maiden.
3- The handsome, if mostly clueless young lord.
4- The jolly priest.
5- The happy young couple.
6- The passionate reformer.
What special treasure does she possess?
1d6
1- A figure from local history, frozen in ice. He could be revived if the ice were thawed, a stranger from that distant country called the past.
2- A pile of ancient jewelry, made of amber and bone.
3- A collection of stone tools, looted from the ancestral tombs of a primitive tribe. If they are still around, they would be overjoyed to have these precious artifacts returned to them.
4- A stone tablet that depicts something huge and important hidden in the frozen wastes, such as a lost city, towering pyramid half-buried in snow or the secret entrance to a mammoth cave system.
5- A pile of fine furs, taken off trappers who froze to death, either due to sudden storms or her intervention.
6- A bag of gold nuggets. These were taken off a prospector who struck a good vein. There's probably more gold somewhere around here, you'd just need to find it.
She has a 5-in-10 chance of possessing a magical item. If she does, what is it?
1d6
1- Bruiser's Hide. Composed of wide bands of flayed strips of skin covered in runes. If wrapped around the hands and arms, they grant the user the ability to make unarmed strikes that do 1d6+Atk damage. Additionally, 3/Day, the user may create a shockwave emanating from one of their fists. This shockwave blasts out in a 15' cone and strikes all creatures within. All creatures must save, on a failed save they take 1d6 damage and are thrown 1d4*10' backwards. On a successful save, they are still launched backwards, but take no damage.
2- Rattling Staff. A staff of bone, wrapped in the complete skeleton of a serpent. Allows the user to fire blasts of necrotic energy as an action, they do 1d6 damage on a hit. The staff can also 3/Day, summon the ghost of a snake to attack a creature. The ghost-snake functions as a normal snake, but it can fly, move through non-magical objects and only be hurt by magic, magic or holy weapons or fire. The snake sticks around for 10 minutes or until it is destroyed or dismissed by the user.
3- Corpse Key. A heavy key made of iron hanging from a chain. The first person to touch it becomes it's owner. That creature will remain it's owner until he willingly hands it over or dies. If placed on the body of an Undead, usually as a necklace, that Undead will be forced to obey the owner of the Key. This control lasts as long as the Key remains on the Undead. If removed, the Undead may do as it wishes once more.
4- Double Shuffle. A magical ring that, when worn, will inform the wearer the best way to cheat at whatever game the wearer is playing or thinking about. For example, if you are at a poker table, it will help you count carts. However, the ring is cursed. Each time the wearer uses it to cheat, the ring has a 1-in-6 chance of informing all the other players telepathically that the wearer is cheating.
5- Fearweaver/Terrorvex. A magical flower made of glass that conjures fear. Can be used 3/Day to force creatures to make a morale check, on a failed check they become frightened and will not want to approach or continue fighting the wearer. Alternatively, it can be turned on at a low level and placed inside someone's house, bathing the whole structure in an extremely light aura. This will cause anyone living in the house to have recurring nightmares and feel vaguely uneasy. Over time, this can grind down someone's sanity and drive them to madness.
6- Heatsink. A magical axe that absorbs heat. 3/Day, upon contact, the user can force another creature it touches to save. On a failed save, that creature's core temperature drops dramatically. That creature has disadvantage on all checks based on physical movement until the creature takes 10 minutes to warm up or takes at least 1 point of fire damage. On a successful save, the creature takes +1d6 cold damage.
Bheur Hags are creatures of frozen passion and compressed hatred, bitter old crones that despise youth, passion and potential. Having wasted theirs on wickedness, pursuing pleasure or folly, they sit and scowl down at other mortals, despising them for the thing the Hag can no longer have. This feeling is so great it demands recompense, vengeance!
So the Bheur Hag sets out from her home on a mission. If Sea Hags strong-arm and Green Hags manipulate, Bheur Hags devour. They do seek to deprive you of something because they want it, that is mere machinery to them. The real joy is depriving others of the natural virtues that the Hag no longer possesses.
Like the Sea Hag, they despise beauty, (all Hags do, in truth) but more then that, Bheur Hags hate innocence and passion. They hate warm summer days and chasing your beloved through a field of dew-damp grass, huge silver moon shining down on her white dress, turning her blonde hair to a regal garb and her pale skin the finest porcelain.
They hate that first, romantic kiss while the fireworks go off, of meat roasting on a spit over an open fire or the hearty stew that your Mother made for you when you were sick. They hate the glee you felt whenever it was time for Goblinwatch or the joy you felt when you first won the town riddle contest at 21, along with the razor-sharpness of your mind. All the signs and tokens of youth are infuriating to Bheur Hags.
Bheur Hags pick and choose their targets carefully, though if things escalate, they have no problem in destroying a whole village. What they will do is select one person, usually someone virtuous, beautiful and most importantly, young, and then the Hag will devote her resources to destroying that person. She will be as careful as she can not to tip her hand. An example would be a young nobleman, who is kind-hearted, wealthy, but kind of clueless.
The Bheur Hag will have his young bride poisoned on her wedding day, have his Father die in a mysterious "accident", slander his reputation, kill one of his rivals and plant clues that it was him, then threaten his friends into abandoning him. Then, she'll set his house on fire. Once this young man has lost everything precious to him, only then will she kill him.
These campaigns of cruelty dominate the life and times of Bheur Hags- they are consumed by the need to harm others and lord over them. While Sea Hags crave the feeling of superiority and Green Hags love to deceive, they lack the sheer passion that Bheur Hags have for destroying others. Bheur Hags are so consumed by their desire to drag others down that they rarely pursue bigger objectives or greater goals.
They are perfectly content to sit on their porches and glower down at the villagers in the nearby town, seething with envy and plotting to carefully, sadistically brutalize all those who have all the things they are denied. In this way, they are less dangerous than some other Hags, for they almost never lift their eyes to harm anyone besides those who have personally offended them. For those that have, however, there is nothing but ice-cold cruelty.
<Sidebar>
Bheur Hag Free-Form Magic:
If using Free-Form magic instead of spell magic, then Bheur Hags have +2 to any check made to use Magic. They can have an affinity for the following types of magic:
1d4
1- Elemental: Ice.
2- Elemental: Shadow.
3- Necromancy.
4- Abjuration.
Graystaff:
All Bheur Hags carry a Graystaff. This Graystaff allows them to fire blasts of necrotic energy (1d6 damage on a hit) or +1d6 necrotic damage if they succeed on a melee attack. They can also use their Graystaves to fly, sitting astride them like a witch's broom. No one but the creator of the Graystaff can use one, in the hands of anyone but the creator, it is just a wooden staff.
If a Graystaff is stolen, a Bheur Hag will do whatever it takes to retrieve it. If broken, a Bheur Hag takes 1d4 psychic damage and loses 2 MD. This forces her to make a morale check. On a failed check, she will fly into a rage and attack the creature responsible. On a successful check she will instead immediately retreat (and vow vengeance).
</Sidebar>
Bheur Hag plot hooks:
1d6
1- The Bheur Hag hates a young, beautiful woman who lives in the valley beneath her home. The young woman had many suitors, but they keep dying in strange "accidents". The rumor is that the woman is cursed. She has hired you to try and figure out what's wrong, before her childhood sweetheart proposes to her. Secretly, a Bheur Hag is killing them, in ways that can't be directly connected to murder.
2- A wife is very concerned about her adventurer husband. He ran off to explore some ruins in the mountains and hasn't been seen in weeks. She hired someone to go find him, but the guide has also disappeared. She wants you to find the guide and see what he knows. Also, if possible, get her money back. Secretly, the husband and his party have been captured by the Hag and are being tortured in a cave of ice. The guide was "encouraged" to run away. He's a few towns away, drowning his fears and guilt in booze and women.
3- People have started disappearing in the village. First it was the shepherd boy, then an old man who lives alone. There is no evidence but many theories. A Bheur Hag is responsible, she is planning on framing her latest target as a serial killer.
4- A Maga is in town conducting research, but she keeps encountering difficulties. Her research notes keep disappearing, even when she cast wards over them. She thinks someone is trying to sabotage her, for some reason. She wants you to help her catch the saboteur. Secretly, a Bheur Hag is resentful of her abilities and skill. The Bheur Hag plans on luring her into a magical trap designed for a magic-user like her.
5- The local elderly Wizard has been acting strangely recently, claiming people have been spying on him. There have also been a few incidents in the graveyard, graves dug up, bodies taken, etc. The local authorities hire you to investigate the Wizard, who they fear might be trying to experiment with necromancy to extend his life. A Bheur Hag is harassing the Wizard, attempting to frame him for being exactly that. He is old and feeble now and she is now targeting him, as he was too strong when he was young.
6- A politically-minded scholar is attempting to petition the local ruler, to better the lives of the peasantry. The idea of anyone trying to fix anything infuriates the Bheur Hag, so she plans on trying to frustrate the scholar's progress then once he is sufficiently unstable, frame him for a crime so the ruler will execute him. The irony will be delicious, the self-appointed helper dying as a criminal and failure.
Night Hag
Number Appearing: 1 or 3
Alignment: Any Evil
Languages: Lingua Franca, + 1d8 local languages
Treasure: books of forbidden lore, luxury goods, evil magic items
HD 5
AR 3
Atk Claws or Weapon (1d6+2/1d6+2)
Mor 13
Saves 12 or less
Shapeshifter: As an action, a Night Hag can change her shape to that of another creature, whether a beast, another species or a specific person that she has seen before. She adopts the physical stats of that creature, unless that creature is stronger than her, in which case she uses her original physical abilities. She also cannot transform into any creature larger than Medium sized.
Spellcasting: Night Hags have 5 spellcasting dice and up to 10 spells prepared. Her spellcasting dice burn out on a 5 or 6. The spells she has prepared are Baleful Charm, Blight, Dream a little Dream of Me, It's only a Paper Moon, Morbid Metal and Wave of Mutilation.
Chaos: If a Night Hag casts a spell with 2 or more spellcasting dice and rolls doubles or triples, she invokes Chaos. If she does invoke Chaos, roll on the table below.
Chaos of the Night Hag:
1d6
1- For the next 1d10 minutes, it starts raining blood for 1 mile, centered on the Hag.
2- If someone died within the last 1d6 minutes, in the presence of the Hag (when they died) that person suddenly finds his body healed and "returns to life". This person will be hunted down by the Slaves of Heaven for violating the Laws of Death, but for now, they are alive!
3- All creatures within 100' that can laugh must save. The first person within 100' that fails his saving throw must make a melee attack against the nearest creature. This consumes the creature's action.
4- The next successful attack within 100' misses instead.
5- The next missed attack within 100' hits its intended target instead.
6- Choking black smokes explodes out from the Hag, filling the air for 100' around them. Anyone in the cloud must save. On a failed save, they lose their action as they start choking.
Tactics:
- Pretend to be a friend
- Attempt persuasion and manipulation first
- Feign weakness to gain sympathy
- If violence is necessary, strike without mercy
To customize a Night Hag, roll on the tables below:
Where does she dwell?
1d6
1- In a crumbling, formerly palatial estate.
2- In a long-neglected, formerly high-class tavern that has been in decline for centuries.
3- In a abandoned building inhabited by the poor and desperate.
4- In the boarded-up shrine of a dead god.
5- In the catacombs beneath the city, among the forgotten dead of ages past.
6- A luxurious apartment in a den of vice.
What is her secret identity that she uses to walk among mortals?
1d6
1- The most beautiful whore in a local brothel.
2- The kindly matron who runs the orphanage.
3- The foreign scholar, exotic and beautiful, who has all the subtlety and guile of a brick to the face.
4- The Flesh-Trader, powerful, well-connected and definitely evil.
5- The minor noble lady who has fallen on hard times.
6- The alcoholic drifter who would seemingly sell her soul for a cup of cheap booze.
Who (or what) has she recruited to help her with her schemes?
1d6
1- Wicked men. They are criminals, scammers or thieves. Perhaps they deal in legal, but unethical businesses. They are her servants and she is their generous patron.
2- A Demon. An Evil Outsider, either bound to her via magic or they have a contract.
3- Flesh-carved monsters. Unnatural beasts she has created with her magic, twisting ordinary forms into new, monstrous shapes.
4- Undead servants. The Dead rise at her command, the souls of the damned summoned back and bound to vessels of bone and decaying flesh.
5- An Outlaw Mage. A Magus who practices illegal or black magic. He is her student, confidant or fellow traveler.
6- Urban Monsters. Any sort of monster that lives among humans and conceals it's unnatural nature. The creature and the Hag keep each other's secrets and work together when their interests overlap. Examples can include an Empusa, a Rakshasha, a Lamia or another Hag.
What special treasure does she possess?
1d6
1- A book of information that could be used to blackmail some very powerful, important men.
2- A bottle of extremely expensive wine from a rare vintage.
3- A collection of high-quality, but blasphemous, art.
4- A pair of semi-tame pet tigers.
5- A scroll upon which is written the True Name of a Demon.
6- A silver statue of excellent craftsmanship depicting a horrible, ugly act, such as murder or incest.
She has a 5-in-10 chance of possessing a magical item. If she does, what is it?
1d6
1- The Orb of Dragon-Binding. By staining this orb with the blood of a living Dragon, the holder of the Orb can enslave that particular Dragon and force him to obey the holder of the Orb.
2- The Book of Beauty. A seemingly innocuous spell-book full of spells that can be used to modify physical appearance- change skin and eye color, make you taller or shorter, etc. The book is actually designed to ensnare the reader in the sin of vanity and vain-glory. The longer you use the book, the more ugly and unappealing you will find your former self. You will seek to modify yourself further and make the changes permanent, which the book will reveal to you. All it requires is signing on the dotted line...
3- Scroll of Slaughterers. A bestiary of monsters, beautiful and entrancing. If an ordinary person reads it, nothing will occur. However, if a Wizard or person with magical talent reads it, it will transform the Wizard into a flesh-eating monster which will go on a rampage until it is killed.
4- Stone of Sacrifice. A huge, flat boulder with two metal rings set into it and a pair of ancient chains dangling from each, enough to shackle four limbs. If an intelligent creature is placed on the stone and sacrificed, gold will appear inside their body. The amount of gold depends on the value of the sacrifice to the person who wields the knife. A total stranger would net you a small amount (1d10 pieces), an enemy would earn you more (Xd10, depending on how much you hated them) and for a loved one or your own child, it would provide a great deal (Xd10 (minimum 6).
5- Iron Idol. A statue of a monstrous, four-armed creature with an ghoulish face, holding four weapons in it's hands. At the command of the owner, the statue will animate and obey any order it is given. The statue can remain animate for 1 hour a day, after which it reverts to an ordinary metal statue. The statue's weapons are actually part of it's hands, it cannot drop them. The statue attacks as a Level 5 Fighter and has resistance to damage from non-magical weapons and fire, as well as 50% Magic Resistance. It also cannot be hurt by anything that couldn't hurt a metal statue, such as poison or psychic damage (it has no mind to attack).
6- Soulblaze. A sword with the power to absorb and feed on souls. 3/Day, if the wielder damages another creature with this sword, he can force that creature to save. On a successful save, the creature takes 1d4 radiant damage. On a failed save, the creature's soul is sucked out of it's body and absorbed by the sword. The sword will then do +X damage on a hit for the next X rounds, where X is the number of HD a creature had. For example, if you extracted the soul of a 1 HD Goblin, Soulblaze would do +1 damage for 1 round.
Magic, while sometimes dangerous, is an undoubtable good. Magic allows mortals a chance to fight back against monsters much stronger than them and to change the world. That being said, it is still dangerous, because it has such potential for good. And the greater a creature's potential for good, the worse it will be if it falls. For this reason, governments, religions, even Deities place restrictions on certain types of magic.
Examples of such magic include such things as Necromancy, Biomancy and any sorcery that seeks to undermine and overcome the Eternal Laws of Nature. The spells that seek to fuse and combine Male and Female, that seeks to contact the powers beyond Heaven or stir the Elder Evils from their slumber, these are all forbidden. Of all these crimes though, the greatest and most black is any magic that seeks to control and manipulate souls.
The soul is a complicated thing, but conventional wisdom states that it is our bridge between the bestial and the divine. Mortals dwell in this gray area between the two, similar to both, but belonging to neither. To attempt to meddle with that delicate balance is madness and heresy, an abomination against the laws of God and men. Those who attempt to do so and have their crimes discovered are driven from society, hunted like the Necromancer, branded with the name "Witch".
This is a title that the Night Hag wears with pride. They are the "female" equivalent of the Lich, an open rebellion against all of Reality, a declaration to tear down the universe and remake it in their image. Wherever they go they bring death, suffering and chaos. They sometimes are known to create long terms plans, grand schemes involving enormous amounts of magical power, slaughter and suffering.
Just as often, however, a Night Hag is content to slip through the cracks in the great powers, evading the Agents of the Law as easily as they hide themselves from the Slaves of Heaven. Here, in the shadows, they perpetrate small acts of wickedness, seeking not the destruction of a whole people, even though such things are often the goals of an ambitious Night Hag, or a Coven of the same, but the ruin of a single man. And not just any type of ruin.
What she seeks is the more desolation of this man, to force him to betray everything he stands for, to make him fall and to willingly reject the Good. A Night Hag who can do this is to be feared far more than any who can whisper death to Kings or plunge whole cities into darkness. For the Crown will pass to another and in time, even the greatest of cities will be nothing but a heap of rubble, forgotten by all. But Man lives forever, so to pollute him, to transform a small immortal into an everlasting horror, that is the greatest feat of wickedness imaginable.
Night Hags do not do this merely for their own amusement, but they also do it because Night Hags deal in vile treasures. Artifacts crafted by the Dark Powers, magic items that were once used by history's greatest villains, magical debts and last but certainly not least, the souls of mortals. A mortal's souls can be useful for many purposes; they can be used to power an ascension to Daemonhood; or to fill the bodies of the slain, to raise them as Undead; or if the mortal whom the souls belong to still lives, to make them your slave.
Night Hags corrupt mortals so that they will be more likely to sign over their souls to the Hag. The personal satisfaction they get at watching something good be twisted into a grotesque parody of itself is just a bonus.
<Sidebar>
Night Hag Free-Form Magic:
If using Free-Form magic instead of spell magic, then Bheur Hags have +3 to any check made to use Magic. They can have an affinity for the following types of magic:
1d4
1- Conjuration.
2- Divination.
3- Necromancy.
4- Mind Magic.
</Sidebar>
Night Hag Plot Hooks:
1d6
1- A kingdom at war has been gifted with a highly skilled general who happens to come from low social standing. He could save the country and bring an end to the war. A Night Hag is preying on him, trying to tempt him to stage a coup and overthrow the king. At the same time, she is whispering in the ears of the jealous nobles he is upstaging, claiming that he will be permitted to wed the princess to stoke their fury towards him.
2- A Night Hag is attempting to convince a pair of rival city-states to go to war. She skillfully manipulates events, having messengers disappear or messages altered, threatens or black-mails various officials into enacting small pieces of legislation or doing small, illegal things, building tension between the two states. Eventually, when the tinderbox has been prepared, she will attempt to engineer a spark that will result in war.
3- A Night Hag begins manipulating the dreams of a religious individual, sending dreams that seem to be prophetic or from a divine source. She wants them to be convinced they are the child of prophecy, so they will declare themselves the promised King and stir up a religious revolt.
4- A Night Hag spreads rumors of a treasure in an isolated, dangerous location, then posing as different people, hires two different adventuring parties to recover the treasure for her. Then she stalks them, posing as one of the other adventurers to harass or attempt to stop the other party. She starts small, trying to force real recriminations. Her goal is to get them to fight each other. The winners of this conflict will be given the opportunity of serving her, while the survivors of the losers will be given their chance for revenge, in exchange for the same.
5- A Sage has just made a discovery that could revolutionize the world and provide great benefits for many. Unfortunately, a Night Hag has discovered this and wants the secret for herself. She will attempt to convince powerful people that they will benefit from being the sole controller of said technology. She will encourage them to take it.
6- The Night Hag plants a cursed magic item where someone righteous can find it, in the hopes that it will corrupt that person. However, a good-hearted Seer has a vision of this happening and moves to stop them. The Seer will try to steal the cursed item before the righteous person can fully appreciate it's power, while the Hag will try to stop the Seer.
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