What sorts of things might a hag want?

[Lupine]

So, my players are soon to encounter a Beur Hag and try to make a deal with her. The only thing that she is unwilling to compromise on is that Neither she nor the adventurers may use alchemy or magic to interfere with nature. She makes this deal because the base of the PCs has been seeded with a deadly disease, and she plans to force them to be unable to help with it.

I want to have a bunch of things she's willing to take and give, but am a little short for ideas. As of right now, I have that she's willing to give up the location of a supply caravan, but demand that the adventurers find and destroy it

[Unoriginal]

What do the PCs want from her, specifically?

[Lupine]

What do the PCs want from her, specifically?

She has been using her Control Weather spell to cause arctic weather in a normally temperate area. This has been causing massive crop failures, so people are freezing to death, and starving

Every time the PCs try to capture her, she manages to slip away, using her magic and strange magics. They players naturally want to stop her, not only for the people, but also because she's causing political instability, which is what they think the villain wants

[Unoriginal]

Well, then she's in a position to demand pretty much anything. Especially because she's doing what Bheur Hags love to do with all those cold-based deaths, desolations and chaos.

Maybe she has an arch-enemy she wish to see destroyed? Or maybe she can ask for more strange magic, or a notable magic item that she cannot get herself? Maybe she needs someone to go on a planar market she's been banned from and pick up the goods she wants (ex: the fiery soul of someone burned by a shadow red dragon)?

The group is unlikely to accept a deal like "burn the remaining of the crops" or "give me the duke's children", so I'd avoid those.

[Bjarkmundur]

She has been using her Control Weather spell to cause arctic weather in a normally temperate area. This has been causing massive crop failures, so people are freezing to death, and starving

Every time the PCs try to capture her, she manages to slip away, using her magic and strange magics. They players naturally want to stop her, not only for the people, but also because she's causing political instability, which is what they think the villain wants



Has she been doing this on a whim, or does she have a set goal with these Arctic winds?

[Lupine]

Has she been doing this on a whim, or does she have a set goal with these Arctic winds?

She has been doing this kind of on a whim, but she was asked to make the city unstable by the villain, who wants to create political chaos.

[Unoriginal]

She has been doing this kind of on a whim, but she was asked to make the city unstable by the villain, who wants to create political chaos.

What did the villain pay her with for her to agree to do so?

[Lupine]

I'm not sure... I'll have to think about it. Any ideas?

[Unoriginal]

Who's the villain and what means do they have?

[Ritorix]

Hags see ugliness as beauty, so maybe the villain is hideously scarred or burned. Or maybe they are ugly "inside" and outwardly charismatic.

[Lupine]

Who's the villain and what means do they have?

The villain is a false noble, who wishes to cause chaos, and as the other noble houses start pulling apart, declare independence and become the tyrant of a region.

He uses subterfuge to do this, and has an entire house full of people who have almost absolute loyalty, because most of the people support a freedom movement (they've been under occupation due to support of a loser in a war). No one knows of his dreams to tyranny

[Imbalance]

Sounds unintentionally similar to the story of Frozen as told by the Duke of Weselton. Does she have a sister?

[Ventruenox]

Here's an idea, the hag wants the PCs to find a certain NPC Cleric, then touch her with a crystal and return it. The NPC Cleric has a reputation for being compassionate and giving of herself to alleviate the suffering of the downtrodden. The crystal steals the Cleric's emotional warmth, turning this champion of the poor into a selfish ice queen. The PCs may go along with it because the Cleric is not harmed, and it sets the stage for repercussions of PC actions when needed aid is no longer being provided. The hag causes additional suffering in a different, more vindictive way, but fulfills her end of the bargain. The villain's goal of destabilization is furthered (maybe even have the Cleric start shacking up with him), and the PCs are further entrenched in the plot as patsies.

[Merudo]

Check out Jeny Greenteeth the Hag (for AL Curse of Strahd). The info is on page 7 of this pdf (https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/ALDMGv4_print.pdf).

She runs a shop and trade spells for favors. A few example of requests she has:

- Give Jeny exactly one ounce of your skin. You can choose where on your body she peels it from

- Tell Jeny your deepest, darkest fear. You instinctively
understand that she will know if you are lying,
and that dismissing this as a laughable matter
will enrage her!

- Grant Jeny a stein full of your still-warm saliva. If it cools, you’ll have to collect it again

[Bloodcloud]

Well, Hags love to eat childrens...

Have you played witcher 3? The hags of Crookback Bog are a great inspiration for a hag encounter.

Or, make them ask for eyes, or ears. Something real creepy.

[Lupine]

Or, make them ask for eyes, or ears. Something real creepy.
That's actually a really good idea. Thanks dude!

[opaopajr]

Fey are one of those fun monster types where you may gleefully interject fairy tale logic. Also, you have real world mythology references to draw from, so you have a place to start.

The Scots Cailleach (bheur hag) is more of a spirit of Winter, like a counter point to Brigit as a spirit of Summer. One of the rituals I just looked up is the farmer first done harvesting takes the last corn sheaf and makes a corn doll out of it and then throws it onto his neighbor's field. This repeats until the last harvester is now stuck with the corn doll. That slowest farmer now has to take in and care for the corn doll all winter as if he is offering hospitality to Cailleach herself. (A fascinating way to speed up the harvest. :smalltongue: And but one of several real world rituals associated with the bheur hag.)

Or you could just go with fairy tale logic, like Jenny Greenteeth's desires, like 'a flagon of warm spit'. How about "a kiss from brave lad who can see her beauty?" Or "The fair down of a bonny youth's first shave (or a maiden's forelock kissed blonde by the last of summer's sun)?"

Go have fun making up a cluster of material component expectations! :smallsmile:

[Unoriginal]

Hags reproduce by kidnapping and eating a baby, then producing a replacement which will grow up as if they were the original humanoid child up until the day they hit hag puberty and transform into a hag.

Maybe the bheur hag's mother did that to the baby of the city's rulers, and the villain promised her the throne (as she still see herself as the legitimate heir she was raised as).

You could have her agree to stop if the PCs go and kill her hag mother, who is now weaker than her but who took precautions to make sure her offspring couldn't off her directly.

Maybe have something that her humanoid parents actually still love her despite everything.

It'd be a nice twist if it turns out the old crone is actually barely in her 20s.

[Sigreid]

She should demand that they turn over to her an infant ripped from her mother's breast while feeding, with the father there.

Wreck their morals and reputation.

[Lupine]

Hags reproduce by kidnapping and eating a baby, then producing a replacement which will grow up as if they were the original humanoid child up until the day they hit hag puberty and transform into a hag.

Maybe the bheur hag's mother did that to the baby of the city's rulers, and the villain promised her the throne (as she still see herself as the legitimate heir she was raised as).

You could have her agree to stop if the PCs go and kill her hag mother, who is now weaker than her but who took precautions to make sure her offspring couldn't off her directly.

Maybe have something that her humanoid parents actually still love her despite everything.

It'd be a nice twist if it turns out the old crone is actually barely in her 20s.

That's a really good idea. I'll take a look at it

[Angelalex242]

If you tell me to give an evil monster a baby, I'm gonna break out the smiting sword, not deal.

[Lupine]

I've worked this in. Great idea.

[Sigreid]

If you tell me to give an evil monster a baby, I'm gonna break out the smiting sword, not deal.

As you should. But it can be fun to dangle something the party really wants in front of them as something they can have in exchange for an atrocity.

[Hail Tempus]

If you tell me to give an evil monster a baby, I'm gonna break out the smiting sword, not deal. Something like that is a little too unsubtle for a Hag. They're genre savvy enough to know that heroes won't turn over an infant. A hag should ask the players to do something disturbing and just short of crossing the line (grave robbery, or desecration of an altar). It should be something they're willing to compromise their morals over because it isn't outright evil (or so they think).

You never get the better side of a deal with a Hag.

[Unoriginal]

Could ask them to sacrifice a really terrible, non-redeemable person to an evil god. Like, a mass murderer whose only regret is that they didn't kill enough before getting captured, or a bandit leader who's been taking advantage of the winter to destroy or enslave villages thanks to being a Genasi not as affected by the cold as the rest.

Turns out sacrificing people for gain is still ****ing messed up and evil, no matter how terrible the person is, but PCs can be tempted.

I wouldn't go with that storyline personally though.

[Sigreid]

One of them has to get with her. Granny needs some sweet loving.

[Hail Tempus]

One of them has to get with her. Granny needs some sweet loving. This is hilariously awful. That's really taking one for the team.

[ImproperJustice]

She should demand that they turn over to her an infant ripped from her mother's breast while feeding, with the father there.

Wreck their morals and reputation.

I think I might get up from the table and go find a new hobby at that point.

[Sigreid]

I think I might get up from the table and go find a new hobby at that point.

My characters would typically just try to kill her at that point. Few of my characters are good alignment, but none of them think trafficking with supernatural evil is a good idea.

[Angelalex242]

This is hilariously awful. That's really taking one for the team.

Actually, this is a better idea than 'feed me a baby.'

A PC might actually do that one.

[JakOfAllTirades]

Actually, this is a better idea than 'feed me a baby.'

A PC might actually do that one.

Yeah, usually the Bard. <sigh> Why is it always the Bard....

[Unoriginal]

As the old saying says:

https://1d4chan.org/images/thumb/7/7a/Magical_realm.png/200px-Magical_realm.png


Seriously, only bring sex bargain stuff if you've checked everyone is fine with it.

[Lupine]

Anyone have good ideas of things a hag could demand/concede that I could use as give or take points?

[Lupine]

Anyone have good ideas of things a hag could demand/concede that I could use as give or take points?

I don't really want to make my players too uncomfortable, and one of them is near paladin levels of uncompromising good. I want to give them things where they think they're doing good, just to do the opposite.

Also I'm sadistic and look forward to playing the hag and flaunting how their deal that they thought was a good idea really wasn't.

My players seem to love when I lay future plans into the deals they're making now, and I also want to make this hag a really good recurrent villain that they will love to hate.

[Unoriginal]

I don't really want to make my players too uncomfortable, and one of them is near paladin levels of uncompromising good. I want to give them things where they think they're doing good, just to do the opposite.

How is that NOT going to make them uncomfortable?

Being tricked into doing evil isn't comfort

[Lupine]

How is that NOT going to make them uncomfortable?

Being tricked into doing evil isn't comfort

One of my players is pretty squeamish. He doesn't mind gore, but he's expressed preference not to have sexual things, and not to take things too far.

Otherwise, he's game for mostly everything, and loves he found he made a wrong choice and has to pay for it. I've made a whole plotline out of that linked back to the main villain, and he's drinking every bit of it

[Sigreid]

I don't really want to make my players too uncomfortable, and one of them is near paladin levels of uncompromising good. I want to give them things where they think they're doing good, just to do the opposite.

Also I'm sadistic and look forward to playing the hag and flaunting how their deal that they thought was a good idea really wasn't.

My players seem to love when I lay future plans into the deals they're making now, and I also want to make this hag a really good recurrent villain that they will love to hate.

Go the granny loving route and have her insist on the near paladin. In a year of game time or so, he finds he has an illegitimate son. Go all Arthurian Legend on them.

Edit: Fade to black for the deed. There's no one at my table I want to actually discuss a bad porno scene with...

[Lupine]

Go the granny loving route and have her insist on the near paladin. In a year of game time or so, he finds he has an illegitimate son. Go all Arthurian Legend on them.

Edit: Fade to black for the deed. There's no one at my table I want to actually discuss a bad porno scene with...

No one at my table either. As amusing as this is, one or all of my players would dislike a demand such as that. That said, I could use it at as twisted way for her to demand more...

Now, please people, stop with the weird porn stuff. I can get all that stuff from 4chan if need it.

[Sigreid]

No one at my table either. As amusing as this is, one or all of my players would dislike a demand such as that. That said, I could use it at as twisted way for her to demand more...

Now, please people, stop with the weird porn stuff. I can get all that stuff from 4chan if need it.

Well, if she knows anything about negotiation her first couple of suggestions are going to be things that she knows will be a hard no from the party. It'll make whatever she's really after seem a lot more reasonable.

Edit: Next suggestion, a single dram of blood from each party member. They'll certainly expect her to want to do something bad with it so she'll agree to swear an oath that it will not be used to focus her magic on them. What they don't know is that she will use it to grow evil clones of them to unleash upon the world.

[Haps]

What do you give a lady who has everything? :smalltongue:

Perhaps she's in need of some innocent-sounding spell components that just happens to be for an even more destructive spell.

Perhaps she tells the party that a nearby devil is forcing her to do it - if only someone was powerful enough to banish it back to the Nine Hells... And then when the party does so, the hag shows up to trap the soul of the devil and use it to finish making a souped-up intelligent Rod of Rulership that the false noble comissioned to browbeat the city into submission as a plan B.

Cutting deals with Hags is so fun!

[Ventruenox]

I think that you need to understand the mindset of the fey in order to get the right payoff with your players. The fey have alien values, and therefore understand repercussions that players wouldn't. It takes a subtle touch and a little bit of DM metagaming. You need to present a seemingly innocuous request, with what would be a fairly obvious expected result, but a completely different one kept hidden.

For instance, a request of half of one's remaining life would be interpreted as a shortening of years, but instead forces servitude every time one sleeps.

The request for a memory of the character might be taken from the character's parents of the PC's birth, and is now the PC is unknown by everyone in the character's backstory.

Alternatively, go back through your notes from past adventures and pick one where you ask yourself, what if the bad guy was victorious here?

The PCs need to feel like they should be making an easy deal that doesn't conflict with their morals or motivations. If you claim to have that DM sadistic streak, this is your chance to prove it.

And some degree of d*ck jokes go hand in hand with D&D.

[Hail Tempus]

My characters would typically just try to kill her at that point. Few of my characters are good alignment, but none of them think trafficking with supernatural evil is a good idea.
The thing about Hags is that, as a DM, you need to make it so that killing her isn’t an option.

Like, if the characters need to find a missing child or recover some artifact and only the Hag knows where to find them, violence won’t work because if you kill the Hag, you automatically fail your quest.

[Sigreid]

The thing about Hags is that, as a DM, you need to make it so that killing her isn’t an option.

Like, if the characters need to find a missing child or recover some artifact and only the Hag knows where to find them, violence won’t work because if you kill the Hag, you automatically fail your quest.

Yeah, I hate only one answer situations and my characters will likely leave. It's fine if the hag is the most likely to give a quick answer, but there should be some other way, even if it's just guessing or will take to long to meet a time requirement.

Still stands though, my characters won't typically try to bargain with supernatural evils. Way too likely that you won't even really understand the deal you've made and almost certain that their end is designed to cause harm somewhere to someone.

If I'm DMing I'll offer bargains from supernatural evil. And I'll have evil beings that I'll describe as having done or desiring the party to do horrific things. I kind of want even the evil PCs to decide that this thing is way to far over the line...eventually.

[Kadzar]

In my last campaign, I had a hag who would trade in various things, though the players just with her for information. One player gave up knowledge of his sister's name, though it was actually just her middle name, but the hag was fine with it because he just wanted to know the location of some guy he wanted to murder. Another traded some poetry he had written and knowledge thereof to learn about any special magical swords in the area (he got to learn about one, but not its location). And the last of the group to make a bargain was the wizard, who traded a scroll he didn't want for knowledge of the location of a certain NPC he'd been wanting to contact.

Later on, they met a farmer, whose wife had been transformed by the hag into a chicken that could lay golden eggs, though I think he assumed they had been exchanged.

I got the inspiration from the oracle from Loading Ready Run's Temple of the Lava Bears campaign (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN8kb3GBqGg&feature=youtu.be&t=2445).

Personally, I don't like to play hags as purely vindictive. I prefer to have them want things and have plans that involve things seem innocuous to most people, but will eventually end with them gaining great power and/or influence.

[Lupine]

Personally, I don't like to play hags as purely vindictive. I prefer to have them want things and have plans that involve things seem innocuous to most people, but will eventually end with them gaining great power and/or influence.

That's my take on them too, but what sorts of things and plans would a hag have? I've been on the lookout for specific things I could throw into my session.

[Ventruenox]

As the DM, the hag has anything and everything that you want to insert as a plot hook. If something your players ask the hag for what sounds interesting or sparks a monkey paw-esque idea, go with that. If you need inspiration to hag mindsets, there are plenty of folklore sources (Baba Yaga, Frau Totenkinder, etc.). Given how this more than the first thread bump from you asking for essentially the same thing, if you want us to write your campaign encounter for you, please just say so.


And some degree of d*ck jokes go hand in hand with D&D.
Such a waste of a setup (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1158.html). *sigh*

[TyGuy]

Actually, this is a better idea than 'feed me a baby.'

A PC might actually do that one.

This is a question of "what motivates a hag"

Eating children and destroying beauty are the go-to choices. Defeating an enemy would work. Maybe retrieval of an artifact/item that she can't get.

It's a fey, so unpredictability would be neat. Like "get this seemingly innocuous item" and when/if they do she gets even more dangerous.

[Lupine]

Given how this more than the first thread bump from you asking for essentially the same thing, if you want us to write your campaign encounter for you, please just say so.

No, I guess I'm just looking for specific things that have worked for ya'll as both players and DMs. I should have been more specific. Communicating across the internet is not something I'm good at...

[Astofel]

In my eyes what a hag wants is to spread as much torment and suffering as she can, preferably in the guise of giving someone what they think they want. In the past I've had a hag ask for the eye of one of the PCs, and once she had it she used it to see through that character's senses for the purposes of messing with them later. She used it to get to the character's long-lost father before the character could, and then bargained with him to obtain his 'most treasured possession.' Turns out that was his memories of his daughter, so when the PCs finally showed up to 'rescue' him from the hag he had no recollection of who they were.

For a more lighthearted option, you could have the hag ask for an "eye", only what she actually means is "I" and she removes a character's ability to refer to themselves in the first person. Bonus points if she does it to an int-based character who then has to deal with sounding like the stereotypical simpleton.

[Demonslayer666]

Teeth...

wart remover...

[Angelalex242]

A lot of these sound like, "Meh, get out the smitin' sword, it's simpler. Might as well pay the temple for divination at this point."