Night Hag

As discussed previously when we went over the Green Hag, the Night Hag is brimming with narrative possibilities. What sets this sagacious sister from her counterparts is the very straightforward night-themed abilities. Between the hag's very powerful set of occult spells, and the added strangeness that is Dream Haunting, there are quite a few ways you can use a night hag in your game. 

I don't think the opportunity will often be presented, but I think any reason you can conceive of that allows the use of Dream Haunting is a good one—particularly if your players are somewhere where they aren't supposed to be. A hag haunting your dreams as you attempt to get to the heart of an ancient and malevolent forest is both pulpy and fun to play though—lean into these themes as much or as little as needed.

Presenting an opportunity to potentially steal a night hag's heartstone could be a very interesting narrative option as well. Instead of needing to outright kill a night hag, bargaining with the hag from a place of power because you stole her heartstone could provide compelling narrative options as well.

This does bring us to the final narrative theme for the night hag—soul bargaining. Being both thieves and merchants of mortal souls can be a very compelling reason to interact with a night hag without killing her. In the event that you cannot bring back a friend from the other side, a visit to a night hag could yield interesting results and provide vitally useful information...

- Reece

Hook 1 (Max) - Congregation of Dreams

The wife of the late baron now rules his fief with an iron fist. Rumor has it he met her on the road and was immediately enamored with her, marrying her just a few days after their first encounter. Those who've seen her weave great tales of her beauty, unable to forget the sight of her fair countenance.

Unfortunately, it is not just the baroness' tyrannical rule that ails the people—many in the demesne are plagued by nightmares that grow worse and worse by the day, yet the lady refuses to acknowledge anything strange happening—at least until recently. A week or so back, a group of women arrived in the keep, apparently old acquaintances of the lady. They now all sit at the top of the castle's tower performing what they claim is a "sacred ritual to purge the evil from the land."

They no doubt speak the truth.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - The Dreaming Dragon

Caragyoz the Cruel is an ancient dragon that has made a name for himself over several realms of existence—he is widely considered to be the finest procurer and merchant of souls in the multiverse. It just so happens that, shortly before going for his bimillennial hundred-year nap, the dragon procured the soul of a Paladin's father, unjustly taken.

The Paladin finds herself with an unlikely ally when a night hag approaches her, proposing a temporary alliance to take down Caragyoz. While the dragon is protected on all sides by legions of wyvern-riding acolytes in the material plane, his sleep makes him accessible through the Dreaming—a realm that the hag has intimate knowledge of and power over. The hag, whose kind once ruled the soul-trading market, claims to simply wish to end Caragyoz's monopoly—though she refuses to make guarantees for any soul other than the Paladin's father's...

Hook 3 (Reece) - Rider of the Night

Rider on the midnight wind

would thee show me how thee sinned?

Rider of the darkest way

bring thy shadows here to stay

Tread the market, walk the path

doth thou know the sin of wrath

Trader on the corner still

dost thou have the need to kill?

Hast thee seen the milky eye?

Hast thou found the need to lie?

Come thee crone and draw mine sigh

and draw upon thine evil eye

Know thy want and know thy need

for when thou tastes the sin of greed

thou plow the dirt and plant the seed

and call the grave with mighty speed

Shadows dance and shadows sing

Among the nobles and the king

Pride upon thy bloody ring

draws thy soul upon a string

Rider in the market square

find the barter, prices fair

for the lost, say a prayer

and for the rider, gift a glare

- Collected from a children's rhyme ten leagues outside of the city. Were it not for other factors we would find this insignificant, though given present circumstances it is particularly alarming.

Green Hag

I have never properly deployed hags as they are written in any game I've run, as I haven't had the story I wanted to tell with them properly centered. It is important to bear in mind that hags of all types play into the trope of the duplicitous, deceptive, or evil (sometimes old) woman, which is not often an arc or story I have an interest in telling. We've all heard the stories of the various witch hunts of colonial America and the old United kingdom from which the hags are inspired. The folklore from which these hunts were derived in many cases predates that of the hunts themselves. The archetype of the wizened woman of magic even ties to some of the old druidic traditions of modern-day Ireland, Scotland, and the old Gaelic tribes

With all this in mind, there is a great burden with which the Pathfinder 2e hags can be deployed. They occupy a unique place within the game mechanically and narratively as creatures that can be a threat to a party throughout their adventures, ranging in level from 3 through 10 as of the date of my writing. When theorizing how you might place a hag within your setting, I do recommend that you consider creating an entire coven within the area of influence for use. This serves two functions:

- The Coven ability grants spells to the entire coven that the individual hag may not have access to
- The Coven itself can be a primary or tertiary antagonistic force that can help or hinder your players whilst harassing the countryside

To these ends, I recommend the hag and accompanying coven as a way to inject a further level of mystery or fantasy horror into your chosen setting. The hag becomes far more interesting when their grievance and hatred with humanity is not entirely unwarranted. It is with this in mind that I will make recommendations for future hags.

The Green hag in question is a creature covetous of perceived beauty and purity. Given the previous recommendation, you may consider that a hag is a lover scorned long ago by a cruel and unloving partnership or that she was once a woman of good standing betrayed and attacked by someone close to her or her chosen community.

Exacting revenge against those who offend her or her sisters' sensibilities can be a great way for an antagonistic or evil presence to also seem justified, in a twisted sense, in that the curses they place are upon family lines or against villages who were the origin of their suffering and status as outcasts. The hag coven may even be a necessary evil to be leveraged for your players gain in knowledge or aid against some greater malevolence which could create a somewhat conflicted allyship ample with roleplay opportunities.

I neglected to mention the myth of changelings and stolen children, though perhaps there is a place for such conversation another day. Should combat be thrust upon the green hag, it is best served as a creature that acts in tandem with minions of some type such as twisted creatures of nature or evil adherents. Her spellcasting and abilities are all complimentary to debuffing and making otherwise strong parties vulnerable to her lesser more martial allies.

Between the above and the fact that the green hag has quite the set of spells for creating an unearthly and unsettling environment, such as ghost sound, pass without trace, and message. Don't hesitate to lean into this to foreshadow whatever doom is to befall your players, should they enrage the entire coven.

Hook 1 (Max) - I Chopped the Sheriff

Anna, the sheriff of a small town by the name of Marsh Hill, has changed, and not for the better. Ever since her expedition into the swamplands, where she defeated a hag and got an impressive scar for the effort, she has become more erratic and cruel in her behavior. Some say that the loss of her right eye is to blame, though it does seem unlike her even given the circumstances.

Not long after her return, the chief was mysteriously and brutally murdered along with his family, a matter which the sheriff had been intensely looking into. At least that's what she claims, for she is far more occupied with ruling the Hill with an iron fist, as she demands tithes to be paid to her for the "protection" she provides.

Anna can be only seen in the company of her four guards, her four most trusted men that joined her in her quest to slay the hag who, for some inexplicable reason, don't speak anymore. Alongside her imposing presence and a new tendency for violent outbursts of anger, this process has been enough to keep the townsfolk "In Line".

Most attribute the change to the trauma sustained by the sheriff and her men during their fight with the hag. Some question if the monster was truly slain, given her magics can still be seen and sensed in the area. The Sheriff dismisses those claims and forbids anyone from going into the marshland.

While that could stem from concern for the well-being of her people, the reason is far simpler. Should anyone go into the swamps and find the hag's cove, they would quickly find the ghastly remains of the actual sheriff whose face has long since been clawed into a barely recognizable mess.

Hook 2 (Reece) - The Hagsong

Beauty fond and beauty fair
Doth thou flaunt without care?
Purity, rightness, thought and grace
Thou can't flaunt without a face

Heart of iron, heart of gold
Heart of thistle, turned to mold
Strong of will and keen of mind
Flask of acid makes thee blind

Thoughts of courage and warmth in touch,
Thou cant stand without thine crutch
Bound by thorns and bound by hair
Thou wilt sate me, and bring thine heir

-From "The Hagsong" - Source unreliable. Found dead approximately 36 hours after recording. Cause of death: Strangulation. Think the brambles grew into the eye sockets post mortem.

Hook 3 (Nemanja) - Lover's Scorn

In a rare twist of fate, a gancanagh has decided to settle in one place for a few years, finding the overall energy present in the artist's colony of Vibrance exactly to his taste.

Of course, they haven't given up the passionate outlook of their kind, and under many disguises and names have reveled across town. This, unfortunately, caught the eye of a local green hag who is reusing the azata's disguises to revisit their lovers and inflict misery upon them - purely out of spite.

The townspeople, although used to occasional fey meddling, are starting to realize something is off and are looking for paranormal and occultic experts who can look into it.

Annis hag

A single night hag is a problem.
A night hag with a coven though, is a problem you run away from.


I'm not going to go into much detail about what you can do with unlimited 5th level spells and 3 casters - you'll probably be able to come up with several ideas yourself. If you want to be pedantic, though, do note that unlike other hags, the night or iron hags tend to like getting up close and personal, and their cold iron claws can shred most characters into pieces fairly quickly.

The city of Freda is ruled by the Immortal Triumvirate, a coven consisting of two green hags and a mighty night hag. While the High Order of Shimmerstone had previously excommunicated the entire population of the city, the odd glory-seeking paladin was never a match for the Triumvirate. Unfortunately, the Order of the Shimmerstone somehow secured an alliance with the Dark Inquisition - a coven of three Iron Hags who specialize in hunting other hags as well as fae-folk.
When the inquisitors arrive to Freda, they demand that the Triumvirate surrender themselves before nightfall, or the population of the town will be cut down one by one. As the sun sets with the Immortal Triumvirate apparently in hiding, the town once looks to a retired group of adventurers, now running a tavern, and asks for their help one last time.

A mysterious entity known only as "The Corpse Bride" has haunted the Saviours of Gwinshire for months - sending grizzly trophies from many of the locales they visit. The first such trophy was a fresh-cut dwarven hand, bearing the distinct tattoos of the Bearbeard clan, whom the heroes helped only recently. None of the "presents" that arrived afterwards were any less disturbing.
When the group arrives at the Unibrow Unicorn tavern, a letter is waiting for them, and in it, only the addresses of their families and the all-too-familiar signature of the Corpse Bride. Disturbingly, the bartender can't seem to remember the identity of whomever delivered the letter.

The Beaux twins, Simone and Lauren have known that they're changelings for a few years. Despite that, they remain adamant in their duties as Paladins of the Order of the Everblooming Erigeron. They know their call is coming, and as it looms ever closer, they call in an old favour owed to them by a trusted druid associate. The druid and her merry band of outcasts must use any means short of outright lethal force on the Paladins to stop them from falling, and in the worst-case scenario, this might even mean slaying the twins' Annis Hag mother.