D&D 5E The Hags of 5E

[Norton]

There seems to be a strong tie to fables and folk tales with hags. They've always been, all the way up to the wicked witches of Disney. Some kind of crone-phobia, I reckon. I have a hag that appears in two of my groups: Auntie Mae. She's a night hag coven variety who keeps the heads of her sisters in jars in her basement because they keep scaring away company and she wants the coven spells. She fancies herself a debutante and wants company more than anything.

 

[GuyBoy]

I love using hags as major villains and always like to name them. They may not be mind-blowing in combat, but with a good plan and willing minions, much evil can be accomplished.
They have a resonance in European folklore particularly in Russia with the great one herself being a major figure. I remember driving from Moscow to St Petersburg a few years ago and passing a reconstructed hut with chicken legs on the wooded roadside. Great stuff.

Going further back into RPG history, Barry Minot did a game and set of miniatures called Thane Tostig back in the late 1970s and the key villain was a hag called Hangbeffor.

 

[GuyBoy]

The hag in Thane Tostig even had a giant earwig as a pet. Who needs a cauldron when you have an earwig!

 

[grimslade]

Three more hags in the Wild Beyond the Witchlight adventure, Bavlorna Brightshaw, Endelyn Moongrave, and Skabatha Nightshade.
I just love the names. Plus, where don't hags make a good threat?

Source

 

[Lyxen]

Three more hags in the Wild Beyond the Witchlight adventure, Bavlorna Brightshaw, Endelyn Moongrave, and Skabatha Nightshade.
I just love the names. Plus, where don't hags make a good threat?

Source

Bavlorna is so close to Bavmorda...

 

[GuyBoy]

I remember playing in @TheSword’s Ravenloft game and being terrified by the hag selling pies in the village. We had just arrived, through the mists, into this terrifying place, with everyone barring their doors and windows and there she was with her cart.
Spooky and atmospheric, my character was petrified and, as a Londoner, I was thinking Sweeney Todd!

 

[darjr]

I remember playing in @TheSword’s Ravenloft game and being terrified by the hag selling pies in the village. We had just arrived, through the mists, into this terrifying place, with everyone barring their doors and windows and there she was with her cart.
Spooky and atmospheric, my character was petrified and, as a Londoner, I was thinking Sweeney Todd!

My players bought and ate so very many of her pies…… they had no idea. When they found out, even the player who “knew” it was a hag, they started planning the hags demise.

 

[JustinCase]

Out Of The Abyss has Nanny Plunk, Maven Delve and Dame Spiderwort. They're admittedly in the random encounter table for the Darklake, but they are named.

 

[akr71]

Just three more and WotC can publish cheesecake calendar!

I have to admit, that is exactly what came to mind when I saw the thread title "The Hags of 5E"

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

The abundance of hags has become noticable. I submit that they are popular and Wizards of the Coast has noticed that, so they are giving us what they think we want.

It's a bit too many for me; but I'm just me, I'm not you or anybody else.

For a time relatively recent popular culture* was obsessed with vampires, then it was zombies, and werewolves made an appearance. I always wondered what the next creature would we obsess over. I think it might be hags.

* That's a lot of qualifiers, yet still not enough.