Alley Hag

Medium Monstrosity (Hag), Typically Neutral Evil

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Armor Class 15 (Natural Armor)

Hit Points 85 (10d8 + 40)

Speed 30 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
14 (+2)	12 (+1)	18 (+4)	16 (+3)	14 (+2)	13 (+1)

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Saving Throws Wis +5, Cha +4
Skills Deception +5, Insight +5, Stealth +4, Investigation +6, Persuasion +4
Damage Resistances Psychic; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 12
Languages Common, Thieves’ Cant, Infernal
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +3

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Urban Malice

While in an urban environment, the alley hag can cast message and thaumaturgy at will without material components. She can also cast detect thoughts once per short rest.

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Command Vermin (Recharge 5–6)

As a bonus action, the hag magically summons a swarm of rats or insects in an unoccupied space within 30 feet. The swarm is friendly to the hag and acts on her initiative. It remains for 1 minute, until the hag dies, or until she uses this ability again.

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Secrets of the City (1/Day)

While in a city, the hag can perform a 10-minute ritual using refuse, bones, or street debris to divine a secret. She learns one of the following:

• A secret about a named or described humanoid.
• The location of a hidden object or passage within 1 mile.
• The presence of any extraplanar beings in the surrounding district.

This ability functions similarly to the legend lore spell, flavored for urban environments.

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Spellcasting

The alley hag is a 3rd-level spellcaster. Her spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). She requires no material components. She has the following spells prepared:

At will: disguise self, thaumaturgy, message, prestidigitation
1/day each: detect thoughts, bane, hold person, darkness

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Actions

Multiattack. The hag makes two claw attacks.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the end of its next turn.

Distracting Rumors (Recharge 4–6).
The hag whispers a vile rumor, sowing doubt and confusion. Each creature of her choice within 30 feet that can hear her must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on Insight and Perception checks and cannot gain advantage on attack rolls until the start of the hag’s next turn.

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Tactics

The alley hag prefers subterfuge over direct confrontation. She uses disguise self to blend in with the urban poor, monitoring her targets through summoned vermin or whispered threats. In combat, she uses her surroundings—narrow alleys, sewer access, and gang-filled slums—to her advantage, retreating when pressed and returning later with reinforcements or better leverage.

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Lair Signs

• Unusual clusters of rats watching passersby in silence
• Alley walls covered in strange runes or symbols written in chalk, blood, or refuse
• Foul odors of mildew, rotting food, and stagnant water
• Local rumors about a “beggar woman who knows too much”

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Adventure Hooks

• A noble hires the party to find the source of a slanderous rumor spreading through the city’s lower quarters.
• A rash of disappearances leads to a crumbling tenement where an old woman has lived for decades.
• The thieves’ guild fears one of their oldest informants has turned on them—and seems to know every one of their secrets.

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Alley Hag

CR 3
XP 800
NE Medium monstrous humanoid
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7

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DEFENSE

AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 18 (+1 Dex, +8 natural)
hp 22 (4d8+4)
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +6
Defensive Abilities secrets of the city; DR 5/cold iron

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OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +5 (1d6+1)
Special Attacks command vermin, spell-like abilities

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STATISTICS

Str 14, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 14, Cha 13
Base Atk +4; CMB +5; CMD 16
Feats Investigator, Persuasive
Skills Bluff +7, Diplomacy +3, Disguise +6, Gather Information +10,
Intimidate +6, Knowledge (local) +7, Perception +7, Sense Motive +7,
Stealth +6
Languages Common, Infernal, Thieves’ Cant
SQ urban camouflage

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ECOLOGY

Environment any urban
Organization solitary
Treasure standard

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SPECIAL ABILITIES

Command Vermin (Su):
Once per day as a move action, an alley hag can summon a swarm of rats (as summon swarm, CL 4th) in an adjacent square. The swarm arrives in 1d6+1 rounds and obeys the hag for 5 rounds or until dismissed. She may also communicate telepathically with common vermin (rats, roaches, pigeons, etc.) within 60 feet.

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Secrets of the City (Su):
Once per week, an alley hag can perform a 10-minute ritual using refuse, bones, or other urban detritus. This functions as legend lore (CL 7th), but only reveals information about people, places, or events within the same city.

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Spell-Like Abilities (Sp):
Caster level 4th; concentration +6

• At will—disguise self, doom (DC 14), magic stone
• 1/day—detect thoughts, bane (DC 13), cause fear (DC 13)

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Urban Camouflage (Ex):
An alley hag gains a +4 racial bonus on Stealth checks made in urban environments. She gains a +10 bonus on Disguise checks to appear as a harmless elderly woman.

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DESCRIPTION

The alley hag is the lowest of the fell hag sisterhood—subtle, spiteful, and steeped in the filth of civilization. Shunned by her more powerful kin, she weaves webs of rumor, extortion, and petty cruelty in the winding alleys of sprawling cities. Though lacking the overt magical might of swamp or sea hags, the alley hag’s greatest weapon is her knowledge of the streets—and the secrets hidden there.

With clawed hands fashioned from broken tile and rusted scrap, and a too-wide grin of jagged teeth, her true form is rarely seen. Most mistake her for a decrepit beggar woman, unaware they’re speaking to a creature who can command rats to spy, speak with corpses in gutters, or divine the location of lost souls by reading the entrails of dead pigeons.

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TACTICS

Before Combat:
Uses disguise self to pose as a beggar or harmless old woman, often loitering in slums or near taverns to observe targets.

During Combat:
Avoids direct combat, preferring to curse opponents with doom or bane and summon rat swarms as distractions. She uses her knowledge of the area to flee through hidden passages or rally allies from the underworld.

Morale:
If reduced to 10 hp or fewer, the hag attempts to escape using urban terrain, summoning distractions or slipping into the sewers.

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Alley Hag

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.

Alley hag
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.