Lesser Hag (Template)

By Timothy S. Brannan and The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks Team

The true origins of Hags are an ancient mystery, but the utter hatred that most Hag’s have towards good witches tends to indicate that some sort of division once occurred between the two.

Some believe that hags are the descendants of ancient malefic witches whose souls were so dark, their bodies became twisted and wretched. A ritual exists that somewhat supports this theory. The ritual is utterly evil in itself, and therefore nearly all of it’s casters are evil too. It transforms the caster into something that is a bit of a monster, but gives the recipient some powers.

The Lesser Hag template does not necessarily make the caster a true Hag, but it does give them certain abilities that are very similar to most types Hag’s own abilities.

Creating a Lesser Hag

A Lesser Hag is a template that can be added to any humanoid (referred to hereafter as the “base creature”). The creatures type changes to monstrous humanoid. All lesser hags have the following characteristics.

Bonus Ability Scores: Lesser hags receive a +2 to their strength, a +6 to their Wisdom, and a +2 to their Charisma.

Deformation: A lesser hag’s skeleton turns outward, creating a sort of exoskeleton. While her skin may be tough, her bones are more spread out and therefore more brittle. She gains damage reduction 2 versus piercing and slashing weapons, but bludgeoning weapons deal an extra 2 points of damage.

Long Body: A lesser hag’s body becomes long and wiry. The base creatures size is increased one category, incurring all penalties that this normally brings (-1 to attacks, -1 to AC, -4 to Hide, etc.).

Ugliness: A lesser hag’s appearance is fearsome. Her skin appears withered and scrunched, like that of a very old woman. Her hair becomes ratted and tangled.

Spell Like Abilities:

• At Will – ghost sound, Touch of Hideousness,
• 3 Times per Day – Darkness, Doom, Charm Person,
• 1 per day – Contagion, scare

Challenge Rating: Base Creature +2

Becoming a Lesser Hag

The ritual requires that the caster know the following spells: permanency, Touch of Hideousness, and Contagion. All three spells are cast into a cauldron of boiling water, creating pitch black, boiling water. Then, the caster needs the proper material components, some of the most gruesome of spellcasters. First, a sacrifice of a woman who has not yet given birth is needed.

She must be killed within 4 hours of the ritual, with an athame by the witches hand. First, her skin is put into the cauldron of water, while her bones are ground into a powder. A small amount of water is added to the bone dust to give them a glue-like texture. The bone-goo is smeared over the her skin, and she then drinks from the boiling black water. The ritual causes the caster to sleep for 24 hours. In this period, the caster metamorphoses into the hag.