Hag Alley

This old woman is dressed in the dusty and stained garb of a beggar. Her aged face is lined with many marks, like a map of the city streets.

Monster Encyclopaedia I: Ravagers of the Realms
Author August Hahn, Gareth Hanrahan, Lizard
Series Monster Encyclopaedia
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2004

The fell sisterhood of the hags plot the downfall of all that is good and pure. Their agents are everywhere, in many different forms, all united by a hate that runs deep in blood and bone.

Alley hags are the least of the various types of hags, lacking both the terrible majesty and the frightful magic of their sisters. Perhaps as a consequence of this, they do not live in the swamps or the wilderness or in the depths of the ocean, but instead lurk in the alleyways and backstreets of humanity. They are physically almost indistinguishable from an old mortal grandmother, save for an alley hag’s claws of broken tile and scrap metal and her overlarge and snaggle-toothed maw.

Like all hags, they serve the cause of evil. Alley hags delight in petty malice, such as spreading nasty rumours or using blackmail to manipulate others. Left alone, an alley hag will cause thousands of acts of minor torment and malignity in the city she calls home. Alley hags are often recruited as spies and informants by evil powers; they sometimes make contact with dark entities through rituals scrawled in backstreets and read the future in the entrails of middens and cat-killed pigeons.

Hag Alley
Medium monstrous humanoid
Hit Dice	4d8+4 (22 hp)
Initiative	+1
Speed	30 ft. (6 squares)
Armour Class	19 (+1 Dexterity, +8 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple	+4/+5
Attack	Claw +5 melee (1d6+1)
Full Attack	Two claws +5 melee (1d6+1)
Space/Reach	5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks	Command vermin, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities	Secrets of the city
Saves	Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +6
Abilities	Strength 14, Dexterity 12, Constitution, Intelligence 15, Wisdom 14, Charisma 13
Skills	Diplomacy +3, Disguise +6, Gather Information +10, Intimidate +6, Knowledge +7, Move Silently +6, Search +4, Spot +7
Feats	Investigator, Persuasive
Environment	Any urban
Organisation	Solitary
Challenge Rating	3
Treasure	Standard
Alignment	Usually neutral evil
Advancement	By character class
Level Adjustment	–

Combat

Alley hags use their knowledge of the city to their advantage, choosing the best places to fight such as narrow alleys with easy access to the sewers or tenements inhabited by thieves who would not take kindly to adventurers rampaging around. They use their spell-like abilities to defend themselves, but they are not especially aggressive, preferring to trick or trap others instead of physically assaulting them.

Command vermin (Su): Alley hags have a special relationship with the vermin of the city, such as rats and insects. They may speak to such vermin or call swarms of rats to fight for them, or command a rat or pigeon to follow a target. It takes 1d6+1 rounds for a swarm to assemble; calling for the swarm is a move action.

Secrets of the City (Su): Once per week, an alley hag may gain an insight into her home city on a par with Legend Lore.

Spell-Like Abilities: At will – Disguise Self, doom (save DC 14), magic stone.