Roll Evil: Play as a Hag in D&D 5e

The Coven

Six hags. Six different ways to ruin somebody's week.

Each one has her own element, her own coven spell and her own weakness. Click any of them for the lore and the rules.

Fire and Thunder

Cinder Hag

The Hag of Flame and Ruin

She is not the fire. She is what is left after. Cinder Hags are born from catastrophe: villages razed, forests burned, lives ended in an hour. Something in the ash decides to get up.

They are not angry creatures, despite what their nature suggests. Anger requires investment in the outcome. A Cinder Hag has no investment. She burns because burning is what she does, the way a river flows downhill.

ElementFire

Damaging spells must match her elements: fire, thunder. Necrotic, physical and utility spells are open to every hag.

Wet or ColdWeakness

Rain, water and snow sting and weaken you. While you are in a wet or cold environment, and for 1 hour after you leave it, your spell attack rolls and spell save DC take a -2 penalty, and you cannot cast or assist in Coven Magic.

Coven Magic: Burning Ash

Fire / Area Control. The coven sprays black ash across a 40-foot radius.

Full creature breakdown

Poison, Acid and Plant

Green Hag

The Hag of Masks and Secrets

She is whoever you need her to be. The Green Hag is the most dangerous of the six because she never lets you know you are in danger. She lives in the forest that is supposed to be magical and good. She speaks with the voice of the grandmother who raised you.

By the time you understand what she is, she has already taken what she came for. The worst part is you gave it to her willingly.

ElementPoison & acid

Damaging spells must match her elements: poison, acid, plant. Necrotic, physical and utility spells are open to every hag.

Away from CorruptionWeakness

You draw your strength from corrupted nature: cursed woods, swamps, land tainted by dark magic. After a full day away from it you cannot use Coven Magic, you have disadvantage on all saving throws and skill checks, and your speed is halved, until you return to corrupted ground.

Coven Magic: Acidic Swamp

Acid / Terrain Control. A 30-foot diameter of ground sinks into caustic bog, thorned roots and steaming water.

Full creature breakdown

Psychic, Mind, Death and Force

Night Hag

The Hag of Torment and Souls

She does not hurt you. She visits you. The Night Hag wants something the others cannot harvest: your despair over time. Pure, cultivated suffering, bottled in a soul gem and traded on the lower planes for power that even elder hags cannot buy.

She is patient. She has been patient since before the oldest tree in the forest was a seed. She will visit you for months. You will not sleep well. You will not know why.

ElementNecrotic & psychic

Damaging spells must match her elements: psychic, mind, death, force. Necrotic, physical and utility spells are open to every hag.

Soul DependencyWeakness

You need corrupted souls to keep your strength. When you have not fed on a soul for 24 hours, you lose one spell slot of your highest level and cannot cast Coven Magic until you harvest a fresh one. You always know Harvest Essence and Nightmarish Binding, the spells you feed with.

Coven Magic: Mental Dominion

Psychic / Domination. The coven reaches into the minds of H creatures it can see within 60 feet.

Full creature breakdown

Thunder, Lightning, Water, Cold and Air

Sea Hag

The Hag of Tide and Pressure

The ocean does not hate you. It simply does not care whether you survive. Neither does she. Sea Hags emerge from the deep water because the deep water is not, at its core, alive. It is pressure and cold and the indifferent logic of weight.

The Sea Hag is what happens when that logic decides it wants to be able to look at you.

ElementThunder, lightning & water

Damaging spells must match her elements: thunder, lightning, water, cold, air. Necrotic, physical and utility spells are open to every hag.

Damp SkinWeakness

You must spend 1 hour a day submerged in water. After a full day without it your skin dries and flakes: you have disadvantage on all saving throws and skill checks, vulnerability to fire damage, and you cannot cast or assist in Coven Magic, until you submerge again.

Coven Magic: Maelstrom

Storm / Forced Movement. A vortex of dark water and lightning opens in a 20-foot radius within 60 feet.

Full creature breakdown

Earth, Thunder and Force

Annis Hag

The Hag of Iron and Bone

She is not the strongest thing in the forest. She just breaks things with more patience than the strongest things. Annis Hags are the only hags that other monsters physically fear. A troll will avoid an Annis Hag's territory.

She does not rage. She calculates exactly how much pressure it takes to break the thing she is holding, and she applies it methodically. There is nothing personal about it.

ElementPhysical, force & earth

Damaging spells must match her elements: earth, thunder, force. Necrotic, physical and utility spells are open to every hag.

Anger PointWeakness

When you take more than twice your level in damage in a single turn, or are hit by a critical hit, make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure you fly into a berserker rage: advantage on melee attack rolls and +2 damage on each attack, but you must attack the nearest creature, friend or foe, with your full strength, and you cannot cast or contribute to Coven Magic. Repeat the save at the start of each of your turns to regain control. The DC rises by 2 for each save you fail.

Coven Magic: Rockslide

Earth / Knockdown. The ground within a 40-foot radius heaves and splits.

Full creature breakdown

Cold, Water and Air

Bheur Hag

The Hag of Winter and Patience

She does not chase. She waits. Everything freezes eventually. Bheur Hags are the most patient creatures in the known world, which makes them the most dangerous. She has outlasted kingdoms. She does not need to hurry.

Her magic does not explode. It does not ignite. It slows. It accumulates. The frost builds one layer at a time until movement becomes impossible, and by then, you have already lost.

ElementCold

Damaging spells must match her elements: cold, water, air. Necrotic, physical and utility spells are open to every hag.

Brittle VulnerabilityWeakness

When you are hit by a critical hit or take bludgeoning or fire damage, make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a failure your icy form cracks and any Coven Magic you have running ends. Until you are back above half your hit points, you have vulnerability to bludgeoning, fire and force damage, your AC drops by 2, and you cannot use Coven Magic.

Coven Magic: Glacial Storm

Cold / Zone. A blizzard descends on a 40-foot radius.

Full creature breakdown

Coven Magic and New Spells

The Campaign · Daughters of the Black Forest

Run at multiple tables. Devilishly fun every time.

Plenty of different groups have played this one, and every single one of them found a way to be horrible that we had not thought of.

A hooded hag watching a sunlit village from behind a stone wall

The world has decided you are monsters, and the world is right. You are hags. You live to watch man and mer suffer, and you are good at your work.

The trouble is arithmetic. They outnumber you a thousand to one, and every road, every harvest and every crown belongs to them. Nothing your coven wants can simply be taken. So you lie. You scheme. You make yourself necessary to people who would drown you on sight, and you collect the debts later.

The free adventure starts on the night you turn thirteen. You wake in a swamp with a power you did not ask for, sisters you have only just met, and a mother the nearest village has paid off every Midwinter for three generations. That arrangement has always held. This winter it is holding badly.

A young priestess has come up the road to Abbotshire. She is kind, she is capable, and she heals for nothing what your mother used to charge for. The village is beginning to say there is no need for the old bargain any more. Your mother would like you to walk in wearing someone else's face and have a look at her.

Nothing has been decided yet. That is what makes it dangerous.

Five chapters, free. Hagspawn, The New Healer, The Gloaming Bazaar, Swamp Pox and The Broken Ward. What happens in each is on the campaign page.

Read the five chapters

Roll
Evil.

Every story has a hag in it. This is the book that lets you play one.

Everything a table needs to run a coven.

Playable hags

Classes and subclasses

New spells

Villain campaign