Dungeons and Dragons Lore : Hag 

Where is this music at I need it in my games? Anyone have a source?

I searched for hags. At least a dozen videos came up. I clicked on A.J. Picketts because I know his information is thorough, official and he doesn't stray off into a million other off topic things. If you want information, this is the channel to sub to.

Idk whether it's an uncanny valley effect or what but, for me, hags directly stimulate that primal "hit it with a stick and set it on fire" response on a level even aberrations can't match.

I see witches and hags as distinctly different beings. At it's most simple, witches are magic-using humans, with or without a diabolic connection, and hags are not human. And there is a folkloric precedent for hags being fey beings. A good representation of a hag in my opinion is Meg Mucklebones from the movie Legend, which I happily see has two appearances in this video. There are also great appearances in the Dresden Files graphic novel Welcome To The Jungle, and the animated children's special from the early 80's called Faeries(which was based on Brian Froud's book Faeries, which also has good images of hags). An excellent example of a hag's modus operandi is the movie The Witch, although the villainous character(s) in that movie seem to be witches as I define them, but the way in which they torment and destroy the family, and turn it's sole survivor, seems to be very much in the style in which hags operate.

I have used a Night Hag for a Freddy Kreuger style villain in a game once... roll played the Nightmare Haunting as an adventure where the hag had supernatural control of the environment. One of the players was a gnome illusionist with a Deck of Illusions, and he kept freaking out whenever his illusions turned against him while the rest of the group slowly figured out that the Ravenloft-like setting was just a dream. That was a very memorable villain, and the hunt for the hag after the nightmare ended was personal for the whole group. I have also used a hag coven with their Evil alignment reinterpreted as selfish and self-serving instead of pure Evil, and put them in charge of a "school" of fey-bound Warlocks that offered training and resources to a player character group.

I'm very impressed with the care you used for this video. Baba Yaga might be the most dangerous Hag ever.

Even in DnD the saying should hold "A Hag is a Witch but a Witch is not always a Hag."

The fact that there fay and not fiends makes them scarier to me because they can make there own rules when it comes to dealings.

thanks for the beginning there may be hags in pagan lore , but it is nice that you made that distinction, thank you

I feel like this has to be said...This is the best d&d lore channel i have had the pleasure to view...i have watched every single monster ecology on this channel and each is unique and well thought out...my personal favorites are the exploring series...your able bring the planes to life in a way that is fully awesome...thanks so much for what you do.

In myth and D&D the hag and the power of 3 is of supreme importance. In D&D according to volo hags claim to have invented the motif that 3 is an important number from their covens. Well there’s 3 game mechanics based around the number 3 that hags should use. Death saves Legendary resistance Legendary actions. Mmm I like where this is going. A hag coven that shares legendary actions and legendary resistance between them and uses a unique mechanic for death saves to prolong how long the coven lasts in a fight. That sounds so interesting! Sounds like a really cool boss fight. I recently ran a hag coven where the coven had legendary actions the 3 hags shared, legendary resistances the 3 hags shares and via weird magic had one collective health pool the 3 hags shared, which was much easier to keep track of. One of the legendary action was “selfish motherhood” that made one of the hags immune to damage until the end of their next turn. Flipped the script on the structure of a hag fight focusing the closest one then cleaning hut. My Players call it the most fun and frustrating boss fight they ever had. Hags are a perfect opportunity to flex your game designer skills with weird magic items and unique game mechanics. Volo’s guide even encourages you to do so. Also, buff parts of the hags that don’t make sense. They shouldn’t have intelligence 13 if they’re going to be an 11th level caster between them and archetypical mastermind villains

"welcome to the D&D analogue of witches. no not the warlock class, the other one."

One concept that I thought of either to make Ravenloft a darker setting, or simply to add to anything, is a pair concepts I call "Arcane Reaching" & "Arcane Corruption." With Arcane Reaching a spellcaster of any class can cast a spell if even if they are out of spell slots, or attempt it if it's a higher level than they can ordinarily cast if they have a written record of it such as a scroll or another wizard's spell book. While called "Arcane" this can work for any form of magic. The problem/price of Arcane Reaching is Arcane Corruption. Arcane Corruption drives the spell caster a bit more into being something ... else I call "The Wizened." The Wizened look like ancient wrinkled versions of their former selves and are basically Hags but in either gender. Why are there no tales of male hags in much of D&D, I'd say with this option you can make Corruption of Offices & Misogyny a thing in your campaign setting. Imagine a High Priest of Pelor, now evil & corrupt but shielded by his office & reputation. A great cinematic example is Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars. Use of magic for selfish reasons tends to cause a higher chance of a blackout event when Arcane Reaching. This can serve as a constant temptation for spell caster characters, but every time they do it, they must roll a percentile die to avoid slipping temporarily or permanently into a blackout state in which their alignment shifts to Evil, the more often this happens the more ancient they start to appear as until they are fully Wizened and in the blackout state (read have the player roll a new character) full time.

night hag: "best leave me alone or i shall inflict weird creepy dreams on you!" my players: "i mess with the night hag, then then get black-out drunk so i don't remember my dreams." had to watch this one after seeing the "infernal soul trade" video. excellent fun. thanks. looks like you figured out what that soul bag was good for after all, haha.

This backing track is amazing! It is the perfect embodiment with eerie, weird, magic and foul

Bros terrified of getting cursed by a witch😂, love the work man keep it up

I actually have a gruesome way that Hags reproduce in my campaigns. Many sages say that some humans, even elves and humanoids, as they grow old and somehow stronger, lose their minds and get cursed to transform into Hags. The only thing they all have in common is that they were once infants captured by Hags, only found later as the Hag somehow kept the child alive. Most are rescued while still babies, some as teens. The truth is, that is only what was observed in rare instances of the reproduction of the Hag. When a Hag captures a female infant, it is usually gobbled up on the way to its lair. It gets pregnant that way and with a short gestation time of a mere month, it gives birth to an exact copy of the captured and eaten infant. It even has the baby's personality and memories, some say spirit (corrupted). Growing up, the child thinks it's of the copied race and she feels happy the Hag(s) don't kill her. It grows up as a member of that race, until it starts showing age (suspiciously, even an Elf shows old age around the time a half-elf would). The "Hagling" starts to seem to lose its mind, becoming cruel and starting to hate most things a Hag would. It leaves society in self-exile. Then, as a bent old person, it comes to a realization of what it really is... a Hag... and suddenly it's excited to find out what it really was, realizing all the mortal infirmities and powerlessness were a ruse to fool non-Hags while it matured.

I dated a witch once. She put her hand on my knee and I turned into a motel :D

I've always thought of Freddy Krueger basically being a night hag.

I am really digging this background music. It sound amazing for setting an atmosphere. Does anyone know what it's called?

Really like the new format of showing the art while the description is playing, it's more inspiring (Im totally stealing the toads and fish skewed image for my next hag encounter). Where do these monster request take place? In the comment section? Cause if they do gremlins, and quicklings please.

Reminds me of a girl I daited in Jersey.

This is still my favorite video of yours! If it's in Australian cinema still, I'd recommend seeing The Witch, it keeps very well to the lore of green hags, one of the best movies of the year.

Funny how much commonalities myths can be found across the world. Like how we all come to AJ Pickett for this lore. Great God's Below this music is good.

What's the song that started off this episode? Its incredibly eerie and I wanna use it in my campaign.

For any interested, I'm pretty sure the first song is a modified version of Peter Gundry, second song might be as well. Not sure which song exactly, possibly "She Who Watches", but if you like it, they are an amazing artist worth listening to.

Now give them a motivation beyond being evil - Ravel Puzzlewell comes to mind. Things get so much more interesting when you can't be sure what your opponent actually wants you to do, or maybe even are genuinely trying to be decent but failing.

“Seek to offend any witches” LMAO okay

Hags are one of my most favorite monsters!!

Definitely looking forward to the remastered version of this. I hope you’re able to find more Hag lore for us.

Smart preamble. Better not provoce the witches.

Meg Knucklebone from the movie Legend was definitely a Green Hag

Thanks AJ! This video inspired me to use a hag warlock-druid as my final villain. It turned out super-creepy, and my players loved it. Nightmare fuel!

You chose some delightfully creepy music to go along with this episode. I'm sure your to-do list is large enough as it is, but do you have any thoughts on Shambling Mounds and Xorns? I would've suggested the Homonculus as well, but I'm guessing you'll save that until whenever you start a series on Constructs in the future.

Right on man! I'm pagan and have many witches in my family, so I appreciate you taking the time to put up that disclaimer on the video. That said, hags can add a fun element to a game. I'm about to put the 3 sister hags on the Darklake to mess with the party.

The baground music is simply beautiful

Man I almost took offence there. Ha! Thought ya said no such thing as a good necrophiliac 😤 But you said Necromancer! And yes. Yes I agree. Weird, sick bastards.

that was very cool of you to say what you did at the beginning. much respect. music is a bit loud though.

Hags definitely give off a worst of the witch folklore vibe. The Gingerbread House or Mag Mucklebones sort of being.

Your videos really get my creative juices flowing

loved the music. very vaguely reminded me of legacy of kain

Jenny Greenteeth- could adapted as an undead Greenhag

old school mighty glue stick

There in the moonlight Just an hour after midnight See the swamp woman dancing with the devil

Would trolls and hags interbreed?

Hags mate with humans (either through deception and guile or through force) and feed the child a special liquid in order to turn them into a hag. Otherwise, they just have a normal kid.

I always like to think of hags as being a guy who is the "female changeling" who believes hes supposed to be a female then goes on his quest to turn into a hag and become a woman aka the hag rebirth

Late I know but, why the disclaimer to not offend witches? Are even modern day witches cancelling people.

We appreciate your disclaimer in the beginning, but we pagans take no offense to it. Keep up the great vids. I'm working on an adventure for my party where a coven of Hags plots to take over a nearby settlement with an army of nature monsters.

I don’t see why there shouldn’t be “good necromancers”. Necromancy is traditionally a religious position, with no associations with evil prior to Christian influence. Communicating with the dead as a medium, summoning guardian/ancestral spirits for protection/divination, helping spirits move on, and banishing evil/vengeful ghosts; all fall under necromancy.

Ho boy, there are a LOT of notable hags in published D&D campaigns: (BIG SPOILERS AHEAD) -In the _Tomb of Annihilation_ campaign, there are actually _four_ notable hags - a green hag and a coven of night hags. The green hag is named Nanny Pu'pu, and she is the only being on the entire planet of Toril that can perform the Rite of Stolen Life, having formed a pact with Mykrul, Lord of Bones. First, the campaign is notable because you can't bring back dead characters - upon death, their souls are being drawn into a mystical artifact called the Soulmonger upon death, and the point of the campaign is to find and destroy the artifact, which is somewhere in the jungles of Chult. However, Nanny Pu'Pu has a workaround - by sacrificing a humanoid, their soul can be implanted in a gem and given the memories and knowledge of a dead character, and said character can be brought back as an undead with everything effectively intact, albeit until their corpse rots away, which is represented by a gradual loss of maximum hit points. As for the three night hags, they are the Sewn Sisters, and helped the archlich Acererak (yes, THAT Acererak) develop the Soulmonger by using the soul bags they carry as a base. They are as wicked as they come, and even took three children and forcibly implanted their souls into small magical constructs. -The _Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus_ campaign has two night hags of note. The first is Mad Maggie, who is looking for the ultimate tale of despair and misery. When she learns that the hollyphant Lulu was the now-archdevil Zariel's war mount, she is eager to learn the truth, and helps the PCs dig through Lulu's memories. When they succeed, Maggie is elated with the story, and will provide aid to the PCs, especially if they helped her other companions, including a fiendish flesh golem with a bone devil shard stuck in his foot and a talkative flameskull that's missing a tooth (which is being held by the redcaps that work for Maggie), she will provide PCs with weapons, supplies and even infernal war machines and some soul coins to power them, basically teaching the PCs that if they give a fiend what it most desires, they'll receive assistance quite readily. The other night hag is Red Ruth, a seer and prophet of great renown - so much so that fiends from all over the Lower Planes (except maybe The Abyss) come to her for advice. The PCs will likely seek her out at the behest of a dao named Ralzala, who promises to provide the PCs a means to get an audience with Bel, the former ruler of Avernus. Red Ruth actually agrees to help the PCs as long as they do a little house-sitting while she goes to the Wandering Emporium for her once-per-century bath. If they agree, she leaves, but they are soon accosted by a pair of ghostly dryads that are basically banshees, and an undead treant. If they defeat the attackers and prevent damage to her house, Red Ruth keeps her word and uses her divination powers to truthfully give the PCs the information they need, but also reveals that the grove she lives in was once a beautiful grove on the Material Plane that she poisoned and then dragged into Avernus. She also sells potions in exchange for soul coins. -The _Out of the Abyss_ campaign has one or more green hags that can be randomly encountered in the Darklake region of the Underdark. They can provide information on the Darklake in exchange for their lives if subdued. -An annis hag named Mhaul is a shopkeeper in the underground city of Skullport. She can be met in _Dungeon of the Mad Mage_ if the PCs go to Skullport, but she is cordial and is very focused on business. She is notable for creating most of the undead laborers in the city. In addition, a coven of sea hags live in the River Sargauth that runs through the third level of Undermountain. Those are the ones that immediately come to mind.

These are the creatures from the Hansel and Gretel movie!

Meg Mucklebones from Legend. That is one nasty green hag. Pops out ov the foul waters and talks about eating Jack as if he were a piece ov cake or such. Love that part. "Foul tasting faery!" She screams as she spits out Brown Tom. Just the way she looks & speaks at Jack is so beautifully creepy. Glad you had a picture ov her at 8:20

favorite words used in this video: "hoogie-boogie" (0:45), which i had never heard before and i'm stealing, and "witchy-poo" (3:45), which i had not heard in a very long time and had apparently lost, but am now stealing it back again. man, lots of great ideas in this one. one of the images near the end gave me the idea that underneath a hag's skirt could be a horde of holocaust-thin half-human half-spider creatures, perhaps who were once children that have been sewn together by the hag herself resulting in quick-moving, mewling abominations. when the PCs approach the hag and her strangely shifting, undulating skirt those small scuttling creatures explode out from under her crawling up the walls and all over the PCs. you're in top form, AJ. really like the music too. very impressed with your re-creation of that.

It took me forever, but here we are! Artist: Peter Gundry Song: "The Elixir of Life" Album: "The Elixir of Life"! Do enjoy, and thank you again, AJ for fantastic content over these years! Keep up the great work :)

i actually really like the 5th edition version of reproduction the hole eating a baby girl and rebirthing them and waiting for them to mature and at apoint they turn into hags

This video is great take on hags, like a perversion of magic and witchcraft, a twisted side that has given magic, particularly hedge mages, druids and so forth. It's a treat to roleplay in game, particularly when peasants and inexperienced folks don't get that witches and hags are night and day. Ka Pai, AJ

What would you suggest as some extra spells to give a green hat? Or like a foul ritual she might do to create some powerful magic effect and what might that effect even be? I’m thinking like a jar that collects the souls of children and as a bonus action she can consume a soul for temporary hp, a boost in AC and a higher spell save DC. Is that a little much?

My group has made strong use of hags twice over the years, more than just the monster of the month. One of our DMs started up a Dread Adventures game, going for the dark and creepy vibe and a hag simply known as Tapper was a recurring problem for us. She was heavy into the soul trade and kept an ever-growing retinue of creepy servitors and catspaws around. The other was a homebrew setting of mine where I played up the fey/elemental connections of hags and had a green hag called Meg of Many Laments slowly tormenting the town the PCs are based out of for almost a year.

I'm sure Hags would very much like the Aztecs since both used organs and hearts for their rituals

I appreciate the disclaimer at the start of the video. It really shows a high level of awareness and sensitivity. That said I'm not particularly defensive of my religion and find the old Christian propaganda to be a fantastic source of inspiration for evil covens of all sorts. I will be running a 3.5 campaign soon and I will have a coven of cancer mages (book of vile darkness) using there base city as s playground before they even get there. See how long it takes for them to work out what Is going on, if ever. Also, remember reading somewhere. Not sure where or if it was even D&D. About a coven of hags, one of whom had the body of an attractive 25+/- year old woman. And not a magical effect either. And she was a well know and liked member of her community and it was a great cover for her unsavory actions. Oh and 3 edition had a witch class in the dungeon masters guide as the example for how to build and customize your own classes. It was like a wizard with a focus on enchantment and illusion.

Nice of you to make that distinction at the start as many are oblivious to it especially around Halloween time. Nonetheless very cool creepy/nasty creature D&D creature.

I just got around to listening to this video. I was looking for some inspiration for our halloween session, but going to be honest, I would love to see you redo this one. You sound a little congested, so pretty sure you were sick or just not feeling good, but it just seems like you didn't take this one as serious as you did your other videos. As always, love your content. Thank you for your dedication, minus one video. :)

(Obligatory apologies for tardiness.) Your comment on "dms can use hags to fully trick people with permission" is very true. A stereotypical lawful good paladin is unable to simply walk away from the encounter, so a trick is needed to prevent combat with 1) a recurring villain, and 2) an obviously deadly encounter for the rest of the party.

The music is too loud, I can hardly hear you over it. :(

I’m going to make a shipwreck dungeon with a sea hag as the boss at the end of the dungeon. Her minions are aquatic Banderhobbs that look more like Angler fish than toads, and their lures have a hypnotic effect if you look at it, kinda like Umber Hulk eyes.

Hags lure men in and mate with them, females become new hags, males are usually destroyed, but a few survive and are a playable race in Unapproachable East from 3.5 FR

turn the music down. cant hear you

7:49, that’s my favorite thing to do too:

What about a hag that is found by a flamboyant male elf who sees her and is like "bitch you ever seen a comb before?" and takes her back to his salon were it takes more than one elven hairdresser's magic to fix those split ends, after some majorly strong anti-aging moisturiser, a push-up bra and a dream he takes her to some talking spiders who sing a disney-esque song while weaving her a beautiful dress. Now looking at his beautiful hag project he enters her in a beauty pageant full of all the most beutiful characters and monsters in the lore. The beautiful hag seemed like she would win but in the end a succubus won :(.... the flamboyant elf ran on the stage screaming she was using magic to cheat, all was not lost though as the beautiful hag was crowned miss congeniality. :D Little did anybody know but God was watching over the whole beauty pageant and saw how far the hag had come and shed a tear that fell on her head, as soon as this tear touched her she ascended to Godhood become the Goddess of Congeniality and as Goddess she brought about a new and eternal age of love

let us weave a tale of woe. there once was a bard, his name long lost to the ages, a fair young elf of great talent, haunted by a most cruel misfurtune. where ever his path lead him, calamity followed, plague and war, desaster and corruption. and worst of all, his most beautiful ballads of love and hope could not soothe the suffering. soon he became so struck with grief, all his song could do was to make people weep. slowly the poor elf, still pure at heart, succumbed to depression and madness. he hid by day, and traveled and sang for the dead at night. his graceful statue more and more resembling that of a skeleton. locals started chasing him away, calling him a ghoul. one night, he rested under a gallows tree, the bard had a dream that gave his life a new purpose, it was perfect! the next day he set out to write the saddest ballad of all. every who would hear it, would see the world for how cruel it truely is, and embrace the mild relief of death on theyr own behalf. nobody would have to suffer like him anymore. seeking inspiration in the most desolate of places, he came across a deep swamp, said to be forsaken by all good and pure - it was perfect! naturally the cruel mistress of that once lush forest heard the tormented elve's heartwrenching songs, and saw him weeping over his lute ...

Didn't know my ex was in d&d.

I have never liked hags they genuinely creep me out like no other creatures

Great video, maybe less volume on the background music though

hags and crones exist as non-human supernatural creatures in many pagan myths why would they be offensive to pagans.

Thanks AJ...no you prolly won't see this but I've been a pagan over 20 years and would just like to say good looking out bro

Love the music!

Second Song: The Gift of Sight, same artist Peter Gundry

Passive perception

Btw great choice in music. Is this tune from the creators library?

I need you to tell me what music did you use in this video at 7:00? 'Tis most disturbing when I can't find some quality music I just heard. Please get back to me as soon as you can, this is of utmost importance, because I can't have my gothic themed wedding without this. It is such a delicious melancholic piece of art that I just can't proceed without it.

Where do you get your music from if you don't mind me asking? Would love to use this during a game for flavor and atmosphere. Love your videos please keep it up.

In our Tomb of Annihilation game, my Bugbear has been making deals with a hag. Not sure yet where it is going to lead him yet, but he just seems to have this weird fascination with it, as if the Hag were some kind of mother figure to him. The rest of my group is weirded out by it. Love the beak-nosed hag at 9:20 :)

Hi. Good show, kind Sir Shall ye could tell me the name of the magnificent composition for the background of this video? Pretty please?

Hurray! Thanks AJ =) The ones in mine are extraplanar nasties anyway not humans, (mostly, kind-of) so no real-life witches have been harmed in the making of this campaign. Thankyou.

great music

Thanks for the clerification aj. As a pegan i appriciate it

Did you mean you use darlings, or quicklings, as spawn of Hags because it's easy for you in your world or is that some piece of cannon lore?

As always,great info AJ! Could you add the Broodswarm to your list? Thanx!

Music of this episode?

What is the background music called? I want it for my Curse of Strahd campaign.

What is the music being used here? It's gorgeous!

hello AJ I'm new to your channel (this is my first vid, and i checked out soem of your other work recently and i really like it.) originally i was going to ask about the name of the music, but as i searched the comments i found that it wouldn't be found else where. but would mind perhaps up loading the music onto your channel? it's so dreadfully atomospheric. Hope you see this and thank you for your time.

Hey AJ! Prepping old bonegrinder for cos. Great content. Love your Videos. And i also like the music of this one. Can you tell me what it is and where to get? Thanks and all the best! Uli

He also distorted the speed and pitch for the video

At 18 strength they could do you real bad without magic.

Great video!! Music is a little loud though

annis hag ?

There's plenty to work with in this video, but could we get a bheur hag update whenever your admittedly stacked schedule allows for it?

AD&D2e Ravenloft: VanRichten guide to Hags it is a must read.