The Hag is a staple monster for any group of adventurers to fight. They often take the form of beautiful women, using their unassuming form to spread their evil and poison across the lands. There are all sorts of Hags, from those who live in swamps to those in the ocean. They disguise their forms, hoping to lure in unsuspecting children, and adventurers, with dreams of turning them into meat pies and potion ingredients.

OD&D - Sea Hag

No. Appearing: 1-6
Armor Class: 5
Move: 12
Hit Dice: 2
% in Lair: 20
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 1-4 or by weapon type
Treasure: Type C

The Hag makes her first appearance in the Blackmoor Supplement (1975) and that’s all anyone wants to see of her. What we mean is that the first Hag to be introduced is known as the Sea Hag and can kill with how ugly she is, so you don’t want to look at her at all. It’s nice that in her one-sentence description, they take the time to tell you that she is so ugly you’ll die if you gaze upon her, and that is really all that separates the Sea Hag from a dryad. An original Sea Hag has all the same powers as a dryad, just the added bonus of killing with her looks, which we assume is instead of the dryad’s ability to charm you with her looks.

It feels mean since we’ve discussed plenty of creatures that were way less attractive than the Hag. We aren’t sure if the Hag should be offended or view it as a point of pride that they can channel their hideous looks so well they can kill you with them. At least you’ll get to make a saving throw.

The only other change is the Sea Hag has a treasure type of C, versus the dryad’s type D, which means you’ll get a lot less treasure for fighting a Hag than a dryad. Apart from that, there is no other information on the Hag, be it in the sea or elsewhere.

Basic D&D - Hag (Black)

Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 11-20
Move: 150’ (50’) / Swimming 60’ (20’)
Attacks: 2 claws/1 spell
Damage: 2-8 + poison or spell
No. Appearing: 1 (1)
Save As: Cleric of same level
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: C
Alignment: Chaotic
XP Value: See below (XP Value by HD); 11 = 4,300; 12 = 5,625; 13 = 6,100; 14 = 6,500; 15 = 6,900; 16 = 7,350; 17 = 8,900; 18 = 10,225; 19 = 11,550; 20 = 13,175

The Hag doesn’t appear until the BECMI Master Rules Box Set (1985), and we begin by insulting them immediately. They are all ugly human females who are monsters. Very blunt, very mean. Luckily, they are quite powerful creatures with hit dice starting at 16 for Black Hags and Sea Hags get 6.

We are introduced to two Hags, the previously mentioned Sea Hag, and the new Black Hag. Both gain the ability to control undead, which is good for them and bad for you. If you decide to fight fire with fire and bring your own skeletons, zombies, and the occasional mummy to the fight, they aren’t going to be as helpful as you hoped. Hags are immune to all undead special abilities and attacks, so you can forget about draining their energy or infecting them with mummy rot. In addition, they might just steal control of the undead from you, meaning you are going into a harder fight than you might like.

The Black Hag appears as what many people envision a Hag to look like, with long, stringy black hair and sickly bluish-black skin covered in warts. A Black Hag enjoys the company of various evil creatures, especially undead, along with any number of oozes and slimes. Where do these Hags reside? In dark secluded caves or the stereotypical tiny hut in the woods, of course! We hate to state the obvious, but a small hut in the woods should always be left alone, just like the treasure chest in the middle of an empty room that is definitely not a mimic.

These Hags prefer to cast spells that aren’t healing unless, of course, it’s on themselves. If you get all close and personal with a Black Hag, it will slash at you with its vicious claws. Not only are these claws somehow made of iron, but they are also quite poisonous. In usual early Dungeons & Dragons-style, if you fail your saving throw against this poison, you die. Immediately.

The Sea Hag gets no respect and is considered by many to be the ugliest creature in all the land. If you’ve ever seen an otyugh, you’ll understand just how hideous a Sea Hag must be. As the name suggests, they live in the sea but may come up onto land for up to 3 hours at a time. That’s more than enough time to kill you and all your friends.

They are so ugly that if you try to rush in and hit them with your shiny magical sword, you need to make a saving throw when you get within 10 feet. Fail, and you run away for up to 25 rounds, screaming in horror and trying not to vomit. You’ll wish you did run away when the Sea Hag hits you with one of its claws. No deadly poison this time, just an energy drain of 1 level per hit, along with being infected by the disease. An energy drain means that you immediately lose a full level of experience, with no way of getting that back except the old-fashion way of killing monsters and finding treasure. You don’t even get to make a saving throw, these effects are automatic. We can understand why no one wants to deal with these creatures, it’s hard enough to survive without instant death effects or being sent back to the frailty of 1st level.

AD&D - Night Hag

Frequency: Very Rare
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 9
Move: 9”
Hit Dice: 8
% in Lair: Nil
Treasure Type: Nil
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 2-12
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: 65%
Intelligence: Exceptional
Alignment: Neutral (evil)
Size: M
Psionic Ability: Nil

**Monster Manual,** 1977 TSR Inc. / **Night Hag**

The first of the Hags are the Night Hags, introduced in the Monster Manual (1977) alongside the Sea Hag. At first glance at their abilities, you might think that these Hags are a bit of a pushover, especially compared to what we found in the previous edition, but it’s not true. They are mean, cruel, and pretty much hate every living creature.

The Night Hag is a purple-black creature with glowing red eyes and taloned hands. They rule the plane of Hades and spend most of their time gathering up larva, that is the souls of evil creatures whose afterlife has sent them to this plane. These Hags rarely stray far from home, but they do go on jaunts to the material plane in search of evil creatures to kill and bring their souls back to Hades, turning them into more larva.

They are in search of truly wicked individuals, and once they find them, they go all out to get their souls. The Hag will cast a powerful sleep spell on them and then strangle them as they sleep. Now if you manage to make your saving throw against the spell, you’re still screwed. When you go to sleep, as all people must do eventually, the Hag will visit you while ethereal, invade your dreams, and piggyback on you till dawn. You’ll have some really bad dreams which are nothing compared to the point of Constitution you’ll lose. This happens every night till your Constitution hits 0, at which point you’re dead and boom, you’re in hell being transformed into a larva with a Night Hag riding you back to the plane.

If you think that’s bad, just wait till you hear what they do to those of good alignment. You’ll immediately be attacked if they think you’re easy prey. That’s bad because the Hag will unleash unholy hell on you. A Night Hag can cast magic missile and ray of enfeeblement three times per day each, and polymorph once per day. When the fight is going really poorly, the Hag can summon a type I demon or a barbed devil, but they aren’t fans of doing that as they’ll have to pay the summoned creature a larva in return. On the defensive side, things aren’t any better. The Night Hag is immune to sleep, charm, fear, fire, and cold spells. Bring magic or silver weapons to the fight or all your sword swinging will be in vain. Night Hags also carry around a special periapt made in the foul forges of Hell. It allows them to project their bodies through the Astral Plane. If you can take this talisman away from the Hag it will cure you of diseases and give you a bonus to your saving throws. Unfortunately, if you happen to think that people are neat and you are good-aligned, it will start to decay every time it is used before it ultimately is reduced to ash.

**Monster Manual,** 1977 TSR Inc. / **Sea Hag**

The Sea Hag continues to make her way through the editions, though we aren’t sure if that is strictly a good thing since she continues to get told about how ugly she is, which can't be good for her self-esteem. They dwell in the ugliest areas of seaweed or warm ocean water they can find because they hate pretty things that much. Maybe it’s the fact they are so hideous themselves that they can cause even the stoutest warrior to go weak in the knees upon seeing them. If you run across a Sea Hag you have to make two savings throws. The first is to see if you lose half your strength due to their revolting appearance. The second is much more troublesome, as failure means you were unable to withstand their deadly glance and, you knew this was coming, you die. Once you’re a lifeless corpse, the Sea Hag will eat you quickly, so your cleric needs to work quickly.

In Dragon #68 (December 1982), the Fresh Water Sea Hag makes a splash. We’re not exactly sure how you can have fresh water in the sea, but just go with it. Other than the fact they live in freshwater, the Fresh Water Sea Hag is exactly the same as its seawater sister. They are both very, very ugly.

**Monster Manual 2,** 1983 TSR Inc. / **Annis Hag**

In the module The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (1982), and again in the Monster Manual II (1983), we are introduced to the Annis, a bigger and meaner cousin to the Night Hag. These muscular 8 feet tall Hags have green or yellow eyes and live on the Material Plane and are hungry all the time. The Annis loves the taste of soft human flesh, but really any flesh, even if it is rotting. Fighting as if they were a hill giant, they can attack 3 times with their razor-sharp claws and teeth, grappling you if all attacks hit you in the same round, which is a terrible place to be. Attacks against you when grappled are automatic hits. The Annis will continue to hack away in this fashion until you can break the grapple, you succumb to your wounds, or your friends save you.

Also found in the Monster Manual II (1983) is the Green Hag. They make the Night Hag and Annis look like weak kobolds. Stronger than their little cousins and a -2 Armor Class, they may only attack twice per round, but their claws hurt. They live on the Material Plane, in forests and swamps. They can mimic voices, allowing them to lure unsuspecting travelers to their doom. Once you realize you’ve been conned, it’s too late. The Green Hag has several ways to harm you other than their claws. They can cast audible glamour, dancing lights, invisibility, pass without trace, change self, speak with monsters, water breathing, and weakness; and they will use any or all of them to kill you.

**Monster Manual 2,** 1983 TSR Inc. / **Green Hag**

We get more about the Green Hag in the Dragon #125 (Sept 1987) article, Ecology of the Green Hag by Nigel D. Findley. There’s a lot to unpack in the article, so we’ll touch on just a few highlights. To make baby Green Hags, Night Hags will mate with humans and then retreat to Hades for the entire 13 months of their pregnancy. The moment the Green Hag is born, it can defend itself, though she only has a smattering of her power at first, it only takes 18 months before she is fully grown.

A Green Hag can have relations with ogres and hill giants, which is how we get the little bundles of joy known as Annis Hags. It takes 7 months for them to give birth to an Annis, and while it isn’t as powerful as the mother Green Hag, it gains the raw physical power of its father, that of a mighty giant. The Annis isn’t as big a scaredy-cat as Green Hags are, and can be found often dominating the tribe of ogres or giants they live with. Daddy ogre would be so proud.

2e - Green Hag

Climate/Terrain: Any land or river
Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Covey
Activity Cycle: Night
Diet: Carnivore
Intelligence: Very (11-12)
Treasure: X, F
Alignment: Neutral evil
No. Appearing: 1-3
Armor Class: -2
Movement: 12, Sw 12
Hit Dice: 9
THAC0: 9 (12)
No. of Attacks: 2
Damage/Attack: 7-8/7-8
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: 35%
Size: M (5’-6’ tall)
Morale: Fanatic (17)
XP Value: 6,000

**Monstrous Compendium Volume Two**, 1989 TSR Inc.

The Annis, Green, and Sea Hag first appear in the Monstrous Compendium Volume Two (1989) and are reprinted in Monstrous Manual (1993). They are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Hags in this edition, but we have to start somewhere. All Hags have traits in common, some new and some old. They are hideously ugly, and the description goes out of its way to describe the dirty fingernail, large warts, and disgusting breath. Hags can polymorph themselves into beautiful women to lure men to their deaths, or sometimes to mate with them, then kill them. Once you have died, a Hag will eat you…quickly. Hags can eat a fully grown human in 10 rounds, with or without ketchup. For the uneducated, 10 rounds is equal to 10 minutes.

Making the lives of adventurers everywhere more dangerous is the introduction of the Hag covey. A covey is made up of three Hags, and when this threesome gets together, they have spells they wouldn’t have when they are alone. Covey spells include curse, polymorph other, animate dead, dream, control weather, veil, forcecage, vision, and mind blank. On the plus side, the covey won’t use these spells against you in combat. In the negative column is that they use them as part of their evil plans to cause you and other humanoids to bring them more victims and spread chaos throughout the world. The Hags need to be within 10 feet of one another to use them, but there is no need to be standing over a bubbling cauldron as portrayed in the movies.

Another benefit of being in a covey is the Hags Eye. Coveys will have minions the same as any powerful evil being, and the Hag’s minions are usually ogres and evil giants. Hags Eyes are given to these minions after they have been polymorphed into less threatening creatures, allowing them to wander amongst nearby villages. It’s not a gift per se but allows them to see nearby dangers or individuals they want to keep an eye on. It looks like an inexpensive gem, but hidden inside it is an actual eye that can only be seen with true seeing. Oh, did we mention that the eye is from Hag’s previous victim? If you figure out the gem’s eye is an instrument used by the Hag, it can be destroyed, causing each member of the covey to take up to 10 points of damage, and one lucky Hag is blinded for a day. Hopefully, they didn’t see your face, because you have to think the Hags are going to be upset with you.

The Annis Hag still has iron-hard skin, the ability to use fog cloud to get in close, and sharp talons to tear you to shreds once they do. Green Hags get a little bit more description, but their abilities remain the same. They have even harder skin than the Annis, just as nasty claws, and a whole bunch of spells at their disposal. The Green Hag will trick you into finding them through the use of their mimic ability. Just like before, Green Hags are smaller than the Annis Hag but are much stronger. The Sea Hag still lives in the ocean, it’s uglier than you can imagine and has a deadly gaze. Their horrifying stare may only paralyze you, but can also scare you to death. We aren’t sure if this is better, as now you are fully alive when it comes to feed on you.

**Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix,** 1994 TSR Inc. / **Night Hag**

The Night Hag gets quite a bit of additional lore in Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix (1991) and Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994). They are the rulers of the Grey Wastes and are the only lower-planar creatures that hunt down humanoids for their spirits. Hags will even marry powerful lords of these planes. This is not done out of love, since the Night Hag is incapable of forming any sort of permanent bonds. It’s solely to have sex and breed. No judgment from us so long as they don’t eat us!

It’s still all about the larva for these Night Hags, looking for evil souls to bring back to hell and transform into the tiny, wiggly worms. To accomplish this, they have a plethora of spells and abilities at their disposal which are primarily the same as their 1st edition brethren. Sleeping remains dangerous to your health when a Night Hag is around, as it will attempt to strangle you in your sleep or piggyback on you for days until you succumb to it. The periapt they carry around is now called a charm of blackness, but other than the new name, it has the same abilities.

**Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix**, 1992 TSR Inc. / **Silats**

The Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix (1992) brings us the Silats, which is a shapeshifting hag that roams the wilderness, just looking for food. When not hiding their hideous form, they have two large curved ram horns with pale green or blue skin. Unlike every other Hag we’ve talked about, the Silats are capable of being good or just neutral, though plenty are evil. Luckily for you, Silats prefer being left alone, even the evil ones that eat human flesh. Though, if you do see an old crone wandering up the road, be careful to show the utmost respect to them, as even the good ones will curse you with a donkey tail if you are mean or cruel to them.

**Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix II**, 1993 TSR Inc. / **Styrix**

In Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix II: Children of the Night (1993) we get the Styrix, a new unique Night Hag. Styrix is a Hag that was summoned by the lich Azalin of Darkon and all she wants to do is go home to the lower planes. There’s a bit of irony here since Azalin summoned Styrix hoping she’d know to help it escape. Needless to say, Styrix was very angry at being summoned and trapped. To escape, Styrix created the rip spanner, an item she hopes will part the silvery mist of Ravenloft and allow her to escape and leave Azalin behind.

The book Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix III: Creatures of Darkness (1994) gives us four Hags to add to our collections; the Spectral Annis, Spectral Green Hag, and Spectral Sea Hag. The three Spectral Hags are all Hags that died during some sort of foul ceremony they were involved in. As a result, they are transformed into an undead Hag. These Hags retain some of the powers from when they were living, such as their resistances and immunities, and also gain the traits of the undead. Their touch now drains your life force, so you’ll still want to keep your distance. Most hang out by themselves, but a few keep in touch with their covey sisters. Now if a covey member did happen to become undead, and then went about slaughtering her sisters, then the first spectral Hag would rule over the other two.

**Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix**, 1994 TSR Inc. / **Crone of Chaos**

Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994) brings us a relative of the Hags, the Crone of Chaos. She is always wrapped up in illusion magic, though that does little for her smell as she never bathes, seeing as how she despises contact with any form of water. If you remove her illusions, that make her look like a beautiful maiden, you’ll find a wrinkled, leathery skin old woman with long crooked arms and clawlike fingers. They can mate with pretty much any humanoid, though they prefer humans. Once they are finished with the deed, she then eats them. If she wishes to eat you, she will first utilize her magical abilities to control up to six giant animals, sending them after you. If you defeat them, she’ll then try to chuck magically created daggers at you, these daggers follow you like animated weapons trying to kill you with a million jabs. Once you defeat the daggers, only then will she break out her claws and try to rip you apart herself. These Crones don’t stay with their mothers but are rather abandoned for others to find and raise the child themselves. The child first appears normal, but as they get older, they get meaner and crueler until they reach late adolescence where she transforms into a Crone of Chaos and devours her family if she hasn’t been run off by her family already.

**Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three**, 1996 TSR Inc. / **Bheur Hag**

Thankfully we reached the end of the 2nd edition hags with the Bheur Hag. She is a Forgotten Realms Hag who first appears in Spellbound (1995), and again in Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three (1996). This blue hag is the mistress of the winter, bringing the cold every season only to be defeated every year, ushering in spring. She carries a staff of frost and is immune to the cold. Interestingly, because no one has seen two Bheur Hags in one place, many believe that there is only a single Bheur Hag responsible for bringing about winter. Her first reaction when she finds a victim is to first freeze them, then terrifyingly devour them. If you happen to watch your friend get eaten by a Bheur Hag, you are going to go blind or permanently insane, it’s that terrifying.

3e/3.5e - Sea Hag

Medium Monstrous Humanoid (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: 3d8+6 (19 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 40 ft.
Armor Class: 14 (+1 Dex, +3 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+7
Attack: Claw +7 melee (1d4+4)
Full Attack: 2 claws +7 melee (1d4+4)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Horrific appearance, evil eye
Special Qualities: Amphibious, darkvision 60 ft., spell resistance 14
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +4
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 14
Skills: Craft or Knowledge (any one) +3, Hide +4, Listen +6, Spot +6, Swim +12
Feats: Alertness, Toughness
Environment: Temperate aquatic
Organization: Solitary or covey (3 hags of any kind plus 1–8 ogres and 1–4 evil giants)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: -

**Monster Manual**, 2003 WotC / **Green Hag**

The Annis, Green Hag, and Sea Hag appear in the Monster Manual (2000/2003) with little changing for such lovely women. They are incredibly strong, ugly, and constantly plotting and scheming, just like their predecessors. There isn’t much that changes other than their stats being adjusted to reflect the new edition. Hag coveys are still a thing too. Three Hags together are stronger than they are apart as their abilities are amplified when they are together. Ogres and giants serve as minions, and these creatures wield the Hag Eye talisman to give their masters a better view of the world around them.

Since we talked a lot about these Hags and will continue to do so in the future, let’s skip ahead to the new arrivals in this edition.

**Oriental Adventures**, 2001 WotC / **Bog Hag**

The Bog Hag is introduced in Oriental Adventures (2001) and, not surprisingly, they live in fetid swamps and marshes, and like their cousins are very ugly. What makes these Hags unique is that they steal the skin of their victims. A Bog Hag will flay its prey, using its tailoring skills to have the skin shape to its body, and wear it whenever they want to feel pretty.

How do they do this you ask? Like all hags, the Bog Hag attacks with its claws, but that’s just the beginning. Those sharp claws carry all sorts of diseases that will reduce your Constitution. If they get a hold of you, they’ll then drag you underwater and attempt to drown you, probably hoping not to damage your skin so much so they can still hear it like a comfortable pair of pajamas. If they do kill you, they’ll begin changing their form, slowly adjusting their size and shape so that they can fit in your skin and look just like you did, all the better to attract your friends and kill them off one-by-one. There is one thing working for you. The Bog Hag is susceptible to fire, so get out of the way when the wizard screams fireball!

If you’ve been reading all this and found the idea of being a gruesome old woman an attractive player idea, then you are all set for Savage Species (2003). We’ve talked about this book before, but basically, it provides instructions on how to play a variety of classic monsters as playable characters, including the Annis Hag, Green Hag, and the Sea Hag. You’ll have to get over your fear of a hideously ugly and extremely evil race or class, but sometimes you have to embrace your dark side. You don’t get every ability of a Hag when you select this race and class, but as you get more powerful, your Hag abilities will grow stronger, allowing you to be the foul monster we all know you to be.

Unapproachable East (2003) brings about the return of the Bheur Hag, the Shrieking Hag, and the Hagspawn. Like before, the Bheur Hag is a witch focused on the forces of ice and winter, ushering in powerful and terrible storms of cold. In this edition, the Bheur is an even faster eater, devouring your corpse in a single round, making anyone who view this feast to save or become permanently blind or confused for up to 12 days. Unlike traditional Hags, the Bheur Hag doesn’t disguise her hideous crone body, but she can still shift. She can cause herself to grow in size from a Medium old woman to a Large old woman who gets stronger, all the better to beat you down and devour you.

**Unapproachable East**, 2003 WotC / **Bheur Hag, Hagspawn, Shrieking Hag**

Shrieking Hags are, you guessed it, horrific spiteful monsters that scream a lot. They often wander desolate locales, preying on travelers and spreading mischief in their wake. They appear as tall old women with yellow-brown skin and long, white hair. They disguise themselves and try to lure individuals back into their lairs, where they then pull out their claws and rip you apart. If you fail to be charmed by their magic and appearance, they fly into a murderous rage and try to kill you all the same, but this time, any nearby friends are also in the danger zone as they can summon buffeting winds and shriek so loud that it not only hurts, but also causes you to be confused.

The final Hag in this book are the Hagspawn which are the male offspring of Hags and any human males they copulated with. Hagspawn are abandoned when they are born, and so they must survive a difficult childhood. They appear as brutish humans and powerfully built, but they have red eyes, and their skin color is similar to that of whatever Hag mother they had. They are often encountered as brigands or thieves, since they had to make their way in life, though a few Hags will keep their Hagspawn children around as dumb bodyguards.

**Eberron Campaign Setting**, 2004 WotC / **Dusk Hag**

Jumping over to Eberron, we are introduced to the Dusk Hag in the Eberron Campaign Setting (2004). These creatures are a rare Night Hag, but weaker than their mothers. They make up for their lack of physical strength with the power to see into the future. They do this via their dreams, interpreting them when they awake. Dusk Hags abhor fighting. To avoid all the sword-swinging and blood spilling, the Dusk Hag can also mess with your dreams, quickly turning them into nightmares.

In Dragon #317 (March 2004) the article Beasts of the Sun, by JC Alvarez, ushers the Xtabay into the world. A Hag from Mayan legend hunts at night killing and eating humans, especially children. Is it just us or did that get dark quick? The Xtabay has spells and can polymorph like other Hags, and has claws and talons that would make a Green Hag jealous. When you’re hit by a claw attack, the Xtabay will latch onto you and commence the draining of your blood. It will stay attached until you remove it or you bleed out, so get your friends to pull that ugly crone off of you as quickly as possible.

The Marzanna appears in Frostburn (2004), they are also known by their title Winter Hag and are the personification of winter and death. They are tall like other Hags but hide their stature by appearing as an old stooped over women. Be careful though as the “old woman” loves flesh and consorts with frost giants. They can latch onto you with their claws, tearing at your flesh, or use spells as all Hags do. What you’ll need to look out for is the Hag’s Dreadful Eye ability. If you cannot avoid its gaze and fail your check, you die of fright. Nothing like the chance of instadeath to warm you up in the bleak frozen tundra.

In the follow-up book in the Environment series, Sandstorm (2005) brings us the Dune Hag, an extraordinarily tall but decrepit old woman. Of course, appearances aren’t everything as those who are kissed by her can attest to. She disguises her form with illusion magic and then tries to kiss an unsuspecting traveler, if she can, she can force them to make a Will save or they can no longer see her true form, instead, they see a beautiful desert princess before them. They are unable to see her for anything else and are instantly smitten by her, that is until she takes you back to her lair and tries to eat you, like all good Hags. These Hags prowl deserts and wastelands and rarely interact with other creatures unless they are looking for a meal.

The Green Hag gets another Ecology of article in Dragon #331 (May 2005) by F. Wesley Schneider, though this one acts as the origin story for Green Hags. A druid named Green Mary did as druids do, living in the forest, protecting the trees and furry animals from bad people. Long story short, Green Mary was the Lorax. This all came to a crashing halt when she fell victim to a smooth-talking hunter who showed no respect for the forest. Instead of striking him down as the gods of the woods demanded, she slept with him under the moonlight. Well, the spirits of the woods didn’t like that too much and transformed her into the first Green Hag. She finally slaughtered the hunter, but the trees were not appeased, and she was cursed to always kill that which she lusts after.

**Dragon #331**, May 2005 WotC / **Green Hag**

**Dragon #345**, July 2006 WotC / **Annis Hag**

Dragon #345 (July 2006) shows the Annis Hag some respect by presenting us with an Ecology of the Annis Hag also by F. Wesley Schneider. There’s a bunch of information on the creature’s physical appearance, how it acts in the world, and all the evil things it can do, but let’s focus on the Annis Hag’s origin story because we love a good bit of lore. Cegilune, the beautiful goddess of the moon, was worshipped by many, but as the centuries passed, she failed to answer their prayers as she once did. This causes all but her most passionate followers to abandon her. Other gods swooped in and took her place since that’s what gods do. Her former followers thought it would be a good idea to show off all the new and shiny things their new gods did for them.

Boy, was that a mistake. The sisterhood that made up her last true followers, led by Ceguline waged a short but bloody war, killing many of her former worshipers. Her fury and rage were poured into this fight, leaving her drained once it was over. Welp, the new gods didn’t appreciate their followers being cut down like the late summer harvest. Since deities are the vengeful sort, they killed most of the sisterhood, with a few escaping and hiding far away as they could. Even Ceguline, reduced to an old crone by her weakened state, was driven from the lands. Those followers that survived were also cursed, forced to carry the weight of Ceguline’s rage and fury for eternity, and were transformed into the hideous creatures we now know as Annis Hags. But, Cegilune and her ilk won’t let this put an end to their plans, as the goddess begins finding new ways to bring ruin to all that the gods hold dear.

4e - Death Hag

Level 18 Soldier
Medium fey humanoid / XP 2,000
Initiative +15 / Senses Perception +12; low-light vision
HP 171; Bloodied 85; also see life drain
AC 34; Fortitude 34, Reflex 31, Will 32
Resist 10 necrotic
Speed 6
Claw (standard; at-will) Necrotic +24 vs. AC; 1d8 + 7 necrotic damage, and the target is marked and cannot spend healing surges or regain hit points until the end of the death hag’s next turn.
Life Drain (standard; recharge 4-6 ) Healing, Necrotic Close blast 3; +22 vs. Fortitude; 1d8 + 4 necrotic damage, and the death hag regains 5 hit points for each creature damaged by this attack.
Change Shape (minor; at-will) Polymorph A death hag can alter its physical form to appear as female of any Medium humanoid race (see Change Shape, page 280).
Alignment Evil / Languages Common, Elven
Skills Bluff +19, Insight +17, Intimidate +19, Nature +17
Str 25 (+16) Dex 18 (+13) Wis 17 (+12) Con 19 (+13) Int 16 (+12) Cha 20 (+14)

**Monster Manual**, 2008 WotC / **Bog Hag**

The classic Night Hag and Bog Hag return in Monster Manual (2008) along with the Howling Hag and the Death Hag. Not much lore is provided on these creatures, they are petty tyrants who like to use their power over others to inflict pain, they like to cause evil chaos, and may even work for powerful evil creatures as their advisors. Though this is the first edition where we stop using covey, but rather coven to describe a flock of Hags getting together to create some mischief.

Night Hags and Bog Hags retain the traits that make them dangerous. Night Hags like to interrupt your dreams, kill you while you are sleeping, and we assume bring your soul back to Hades where it can turn you into a larva and sell it to the devils so they can create more minions. The Bog Hag focuses on ripping and tearing and pretty much just ruining your day. Interestingly, the Bog Hag no longer needs your skin to assume your shape, as they can change their form to appear as a beautiful young female elf, half-elf, eldarin, or human - which while it can’t mimic you, it can become someone prettier than you to lead your friends astray and eat them.

**Monster Manual**, 2008 WotC / **Night Hag**

The Howling Hag is basically the Shrieking Hag from earlier, using its powerful voice to obliterate your ears. This edition does give her the ability to teleport, probably to escape you annoying adventurers trying to kill her for no reason. Luckily, she can transform her appearance to be like that of an old crone of any humanoid race. The last Hag is the Death Hag, a new Hag who just wants to hit you with her claws and drain the life out of her victims. You pry won’t realize you are being attacked, as they can take on the form of any female humanoid race, and likes to ambush its victims with a big burst of necrotic energy, healing the Hag and damaging you at the same time.

Not to be outdone by previous editions, this edition has several new Hags, though most are rather sparse on lore. The next Hag to appear is showcased in the module King of the Trollhaunt Warrens (2008) with the Briar Hag, a Hag seemingly made of thorns and vines. This Hag specializes in using nature against her enemies, causing briars and thorns to erupt, damaging and restraining her victims while she goes about ripping out their throats. She can make herself appear as a young human woman or an old crone, which just makes their goal of kidnapping children that much easier. They specifically hate good-aligned fey and do what they can to encourage others to kill those fey, even going so far as to offer their help or services to outsiders for the promise of a few more dead fey.

**Dragon #367**, Sept. 2008 WotC / **Winter Hag**

With Dragon #367 (Sept. 2008), we see a return of the Winter Hag who are now the handmaidens of Auril, a goddess of wind and ice. They utilize their power over ice, snow, and the winter to crush their enemies with the power of cold, but they aren’t afraid to wade into the melee if they find their enemies to be resistant or immune to their normal blasts of cold energy. They serve Auril by spreading snowstorms and bringing forth powerful storms that turn warm villages into cold and desolate ones, all so that the inhabitants are tortured by the neverending cold.

Monster Manual 3 (2010) brings us three new Hags to torture and torment your players with the Pact Hag, Dream Hag, and the Mist Hag. The Pact Hag wants to negotiate, not trade blows as she is interested in helping people, but only so that they’ll now owe her a favor and be forced to do her bidding for a time. If she is drawn into conflict, she has a variety of abilities that not only charm you but also links you to her fate, causing you to take damage whenever she does, which is quite a good way to get you to stop stabbing her and instead make a deal with her.

**Monster Manual 3**, 2010 WotC / **Pact Hag**

The Dream Hag focuses on putting enemies to sleep and then invading their dreams, trying to manipulate them into following out ‘grand quests’ that they think are omens, but are her machinations being put into motion. She is an expert at ripping apart the minds of creatures, forcing them to turn against their allies. The last Hag, the Mist Hag, is the most powerful of all Hags and lives within the deepest forests of the Feywild. The Mist Hag focuses on keeping her enemies at bay, relying on its servants to wade into the melee and kill its enemies. If you do get close enough, she can push you back with her spellcasting and then begin choking you with the very air you breathe. They are said to have great hoards of treasures, which gives them plenty of adventurers to practice their skills upon.

For a bit more lore, we get a bit of information in Monster Vault (2010), as well as the return of the Green Hag. While the information is not groundbreaking, it does talk a bit of what it is like to be in a coven of Hags, where constant squabbling and backstabbing are common. They are described as sisters who often help each other manipulate events towards chaos and evil, but also that if they don’t have a singular goal between all of them, they begin shifting their focus on destroying each other. These rivalries could last for decades before something interesting comes along to unite them once again, a horrid omen for the world at large.

**Book of Vile Darkness**, 2011 WotC / **Filth Hag**

The Green Hag has many abilities as before, though it is no longer the most powerful of all Hags, but is still plenty strong. She can cause tree roots and even the ground to work against her victims, and even let loose a horrible miasma that helps obscure her if her enemies get just a little too close.

Many minor Hags appear in this edition, like the Stygian Hag and River Hag in the Dungeon #178 (May 2010), the Filth Hag in The Book of Vile Darkness (2011), and the Annis Hag in Dungeon #196 (Nov. 2011). Little is written about each of these hags, but all of them are seeking ways of ripping off your flesh and devouring you. The Filth Hag at least has a son, known as a Filth Hag Son, which is an amalgamation of garbage, mud, and detritus shaped into a roughly humanoid creature that the Filth Hag uses as a big mud shield to stop adventurers from hitting her with their pointy weapons. It’s nice that mother and son can work so closely together.

5e - Sea Hag

**Monster Manual**, 2014 WotC / **Sea Hag**

Medium fey, chaotic evil
Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 52 (7d8 + 21)
Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.
STR 16 (+3) DEX 13 (+1) CON 16 (+3) INT 12 (+1) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 13 (+1)
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages Aquan, Common, Giant
Challenge 2 (450 XP)
Amphibious. The hag can breathe air and water.
Horrific Appearance. Any humanoid that starts its turn within 30 feet of the hag and can see the hag’s true form must make a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, with disadvantage if the hag is within line of sight, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the hag’s Horrific Appearance for the next 24 hours.
Unless the target is surprised or the revelation of the hag’s true form is sudden, the target can avert its eyes and avoid making the initial saving throw. Until the start of its next turn, a creature that averts its eyes has disadvantage on attack rolls against the hag.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage.
Death Glare. The hag targets one frightened creature she can see within 30 feet of her. If the target can see the hag, it must succeed on a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw against this magic or drop to 0 hit points.
Illusory Appearance. The hag covers herself and anything she is wearing or carrying with a magical illusion that makes her look like an ugly creature of her general size and humanoid shape. The effect ends if the hag takes a bonus action to end it or if she dies.
The changes wrought by this effect fail to hold up to physical inspection. For example, the hag could appear to have no claws, but someone touching her hand might feel the claws. Otherwise, a creature must take an action to visually inspect the illusion and succeed on a DC 16 Intelligence (Investigation) check to discern that the hag is disguised.

**Monster Manual**, 2014 WotC / **Green Hag**

The Hags return in the Monster Manual (2014) with the Green Hag, Night Hag, and the Sea Hag; unfortunately for them, they are all quite weaker than in previous editions. These Hags are given quite a bit of lore, with a bit of it echoing what we’ve already covered. Jumping to the new stuff, the way that Hags propagate is by devouring infants, a week later they give birth to a child that looks almost exactly like the baby they ate. They’ll either hang on to the child if they are feeling motherly, or drop the babe off with the old parents, giving them a nasty surprise when the girl turns 13 and becomes a Hag.

**Monster Manual**, 2014 WotC / **Night Hag**

In addition, every Hag likely knows every other Hag as they maintain contact with each other and share knowledge and goals. They all want the world to come to a chaotic and twisted end, the best way to do that is to crank up the old HagBook and chat about how they like to corrupt travelers and heroes. These Hags are also a lot less murdery, sort of. They still want to eat you, but they also really want to make some deals with you, for some reason, all of these deals will end up with you committing heinous acts and being scions of evil tidings. It’s just a coincidence we are sure.

The Hags are close to their previous incarnations, the Green Hag can mimic animal sounds and humanoid voices, the Night Hag straddles you while you sleep and captures your soul when she inevitably kills you, and the Sea Hag is the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen, sending you to 0 hit points if you fail to save against seeing her. These Hags all use their magic to hide their twisted forms behind illusions of beautiful women, tricking travelers into thinking they are harmless.

**Volo’s Guide to Monsters**, 2016 WotC / **Annis Hag**

The Annis Hag and Bheur Hag return in Volo’s Guide to Monsters (2016), each hoping to feast upon your broken and torn flesh. Annis Hags delight in corrupting children, handing them small tokens she can use to communicate with them, informing them that it is good to be bad. On the other hand, Bheur Hags seem to hibernate during the summer months, only being active when the winter months set in, where they then increase the power of snowstorms, making everyone around them miserable from all the ice and snow.

The final Hags are the Dusk Hags from Eberron: Rising From the Last War (2019), and it has been a while since we last saw them. They are gnarled crones with shriveled orange skin and burning hot eyes. They are said to be able to see the future and use that knowledge to influence the dreams of their victims, twisting their glorious future into one of pain and suffering. Their touch curses creatures, causing them to waste away every day until they eventually die. They can even devour your dreams if you happen to fall unconscious in front of them like if they hit you so hard you lost consciousness for a bit. If you do take a dirt nap, they’ll rip through your mind and regain health as they do so, so we recommend not doing that.

**Eberron: Rising From the Last War**, 2019 WotC / **Dusk Hag**

The Hag has had a long journey across the editions, with the Sea Hag being a constant, hideous companion. They are great deceivers of humankind, using their fake good looks to drag unwary travelers to their lairs where they consume them whole. Of course, they aren’t all bad, as they can also be valuable sources of lost and forbidden knowledge. If you can make a deal with them, not only can you gain access to that knowledge, but they may even change your destiny to one of ruin and torment.