Unlike many other Hags, Dusk hags aren’t inherently chaotic evil, meaning they don’t murder children and destroy villages for fun. Instead, they are neutral evil where they prefer to do what helps them get what they want. If that’s the case then technically don’t we all have a little Dusk Hag in us?

They are basically the tarot-reading-psychic version of a Hag. They see visions of the future in their dreams, and can influence the dreams of others, sending messages or giving them nightmares. Many a desperate person has sought out the services of a Dusk Hag, only to be left with a glass half empty sort of prophecy; and these prophecies don’t come cheap to begin with. A Dusk Hag can find ways to twist and turn promises and bargains into their own advantage, whatever they may be. So be wary friend, although you may think seeing your future will be a boon, however you will soon find that a Dusk Hag will…just…I don’t know, fuck things up if it thinks it might be funny. Nailed it.

Dusk hags are gnarled old ladies with orange skin, gray hair, and black eyes. But I feel like you can flavor this in much different ways.

1. You can go straight to the tarot-reader-psychic route and dress them accordingly, gypsy and crystal ball.

2. Go with the wasteland Hag route and have them dress like they haven’t showered in years, with rotten clothing, mangled hair and the only colorful thing worth noting is their lava colored eyes.

3. By using disguise self, you can turn into whoever you want to be. With their intelligence and neutral evil outlook, it would make sense to believe in the “catch them with honey” approach and try to look as alluring as possible.

NUMBER ARE FOR NERDS

STR: 11 (+0): Is just as strong as you and me

DEX: 14 (+2): Can juggle for about 5 seconds

INT: 17 (+3): Can beat your ass at chess

CON: 12 (+1): Can eat Taco Bell without aftereffects

WIS: 16 (+3): Can sense that that hair cut ain’t working for you

CHA: 18 (+4): She’s sexy and you know it

Armor Class: 17 (natural armor)

Hit Points: 82 (15d8 + 15)

Speed: 30 ft.

HAG AINT NO BAG

The Dusk Hag doesn’t have any unique abilities, however they are loaded with the whole “dream eater” vibe.

With a charisma spell save if DC 15, they can be rather tough especially for a lower level character. So let’s look at them spells.

At will: Detect Magic, Disguise Self

3/day each: Dream, Hypnotic Pattern, Sleep (9d8)

1/day each: Legend Lore, Scrying see

Fascinating. Not a single spell does actual damage. They are all heavily flavored towards the whole I’m-a-tarot-reading-hag-fuck-you kinda thing. Which is cool. But why is it CR 6?

GIVE ME ACTIONS

Multiattack: The Hag makes TWO Nightmare Touch attacks.

Claws: melee weapon attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., on target. Hit: 5(1d6+2) slashing damage.

Nightmare Touch: melee spell attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 18(4d6+4)psychic damage. IF the target is UNCONSCIOUS, it take an EXTRA 10(3d6) psychic damage and is CURSED until the Hag dies or is removed. The cursed creatures hit point maximum decreased by 5(1d10) whenever it FINISHES a long rest.

Hot damn.

REACTIONS:

Dream Eater: when an unconscious creature the Hag can see within 30 feet of her regains consciousness, the Hag can force the creature to make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. On a fail, the creature takes 11(2d10) psychic damage, and the Hag regains HP from how much she fucked you over with.

So overall, holy fuck. What a crazy fight. So to get the very most from the Dusk Hags abilities, she needs to put your ass to sleep and then touch you inappropriately, for an average of 28 total damage and then, as a reaction for shits and giggles, when you wake up you tack on an additional 11 damage totaling an average of 39 damage!

Wait wait wait. I completely forgot about what unconsciousness actually means. Let’s take a quick look

• An unconscious creature is incapacitated (see the condition), can’t move or speak, and is unaware of its surroundings

• The creature drops whatever it’s holding and falls prone.

• The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws.

• Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.

• Any Attack that hits the creature is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature.

ATTACK ROLLS HAVE ADVANTAGE.

THE ATTACK IS A CRITICAL HIT.

Let’s rework those numbers shall we?

Assuming you are using the official ruling of “double the dice,” that would be 8d6+4 psychic damage with an additional 6d6 psychic damage when unconscious.

That’s an average of 49 PSYCHIC DAMAGE.

So okay. MAYBE you just don’t fuck around with a Dusk Hag when she’s having a bad day.

MY IDEAS ARE COOL I SWEAR

1. So I’ve always loved the idea of having a tarot-reading psychic in the dark corner of the bar doing her thing. It adds a cool extra something that you don’t usually see in a tavern. Now picture this my fine fellow, “The party, weary from traveling the long roads of adventure, stop at the local tavern; a small hole in the wall, appropriately named “Bottom of the Barrel.” The tavern is sparsely filled with undesirables, and smells of decades of alcohol that has been soaking into the creaking floorboards. Only one stands out from the rest; in the darkened corner of the room, a cloaked figure is slowly beckoning the party with her fingers in a “come hither” motion. With an old gnarled voice, she cackles “Fortune for thee?”

2. Sometimes you just want to have one of those world ending quests and a Dusk Hag is the perfect cave dwelling hermit with the world saving prophecy to kick it all off. Whether you want to start off a campaign with the group finding this hag for the king for a prophecy that turns out to be about them, or Grandma has something that they need, either way a Dusk Hag is great as a plot device and plays really well as a role play moment.

3. You know what? Let’s just go evil crazy here. Maybe we have a crazy old owner of the local orphanage who is dream eating all of the kids minds, making them emotionless husks. She feeds off the children and it fuels her visions of the future. Everyone knows about this but won’t do anything because of her ability to see the future and has several times helped out the higher class. What do?