Night hag (Dungeons & Dragons)
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| Dungeons & Dragons creature | |
|---|---|
| Night hag | |
| Alignment | |
| Type | Outsider |
| Source books | |
| First appearance | |
| Image | Wizards.com image |
| Stats | OGL stats |
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the night hag is an outsider that comes from the Gray Waste of Hades. The night hag's relationship to other types of hags is unclear. Night hags are perhaps best known for being the harvesters of larvae, or the souls of the dead as they appear in Hades.
A night hag is always neutral evil. A night hag has an array of magical powers, and can transmit a disease called "demon fever" by biting a victim. Night hags are also able to torment chaotic or evil individuals by invading their dreams using a special item called a "heartstone." This process eventually transforms the victim into a larva unless some force capable of affecting ethereal beings puts a stop to it.
Night hags are believed to have created the altraloths, powerful unique yugoloths.
Night Hags, being exclusively female, can only reproduce by mating with a male member of another species, typically a member of a civilized race.[citation needed] The hag often slays her mate. The child born looks like a normal member of her species with black or blue hair and is often given into foster care by the hag disguised as a normal woman. When the young girl reaches puberty, the mother Night Hag might visit the child several times and, after several rituals, transforms her offspring into another hag. Interrupting one of the thirteen rituals that takes place ceases the process of transformation.
For reasons unknown, some night hags give birth to accursed offspring known as dusk hags. (see Eberron campaign setting)
Cegilune is the goddess of the night hags, or possibly just the most powerful one of their kind who has since gained a shred of divinity.
[edit] References
- Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual (TSR, 1977).
- Schneider, F Wesley. "The Ecology of Night Hags." Dragon #324 (Paizo Publishing, 2004).
- Varney, Allen, ed. Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix (TSR, 1994).
- Williams, Skip, Jonathan Tweet, and Monte Cook. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2000).
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