Hag
Withered old crones with an insatiable craving for still beating hearts, hags are some of the most wicked creatures among the living. Legends say that the first hags started off as human witches whose thirst for eternal beauty led them to make pacts with fiends bargaining their own hearts in exchange for never aging another day. This trade did not come without a catch - the hags soon found out that in order to preserve their beautiful bodies they had to consume the still-beating hearts of other creatures. The hags willing to kill others in order to live gave birth to new hags, also born with the same blessing (or curse) as their mothers, that only aged until they reached their desired level of beauty and then stopped aging. Those hags who were not willing to make the trade for eternal beauty eventually dried up and turned to ashes. Many claim some of the original hags still live on to this day.
A hag's offspring are usually female. They are able to breed with males of any race with a discernible anatomy. Any male offspring of a hag is born as an average member of the father's race and is not considered a hag himself. Being heartless creatures hags have no maternal senses and will often attempt to swap their own child for another baby of the father's race. Their hag child will then grow up with a normal family while their real baby has his heart eaten by the hag. Some hags simply abandon their children to fend for themselves since they gain nothing from killing them (they're born without a heart) and these children are found and raised by other creatures as one of their own. Hag children do not need to consume living hearts till they become ageless themselves, but they become aware of their hag nature at a young age when they begin committing evil acts and gain the ability to hear heartbeats at long distances.
Witchcraft is part of every hag's bloodline so each hag gains additional abilities according to their magical heritage. Some hags can use horrifying curses giving their victims boils or making their hair fall off, others can make their victims sick with just one look, and some may soar through the skies without the need of wings.
Strength:
Heart Seeking (passive)
All hags have the ability to hear a creature's heartbeat a mile away. This it impossible for their opponents to hide from them. Creatures without a heartbeat can hide from a hag normally.
Weakness:
Heart Craving (passive)
The price of a lifetime of eternal beauty is the hag's craving for still beating hearts. Each week a hag must consume the heart of an intelligent living being (no animals) while it is still beating. This meal calms the hag's cravings for one week, after which time a hag must find a new heart to calm her craving. A hag that does not consume a heart each week starts to wither and show signs of her true age at an accelerated rate. The longer a hag goes without consuming a heart the more she craves it and the faster she ages until she eventually turns to dust. Once a hag has started to show signs of aging the process is not reversed by consuming a single heart, it can only be reversed by consuming the same number of hearts she missed in a single day. Most hags try to get rid of the bodies they steal the hearts from because they fear being discovered and hunted down.
Appearance
Human Form: A hag's human form appears to be of a young beautiful woman with no strange features hinting at her true nature. While in this form a hag can use her claws as weapons and her sharp teeth can bite off flesh with ease.
Hag Form: A hag's true form is wretched, old and hideous. Their hair is white and unkempt, their arms and legs bony and sickly and their faces are full of warts and scabs. This is not apparent to any who gaze upon the hag or even to the hags themselves most of the time, but creatures with the ability to see the true forms of others will see the hag this way. A hag who has not consumed a heart in over a month can be seen this way by all.
Skills (Pick any two from the following list)
Amphibious (Passive): Hags with this skill are often called sea hags. They spend most of their time in or around water and try to pass themselves off as sea nymphs. They can breathe water and air equally well and see under water without difficulty. Sea hags often prefer merfolk and other sea creatures as the victims of their cravings.
Evil Eye (Active): Hags with this skill can make others sick just by looking at them. A creature targeted by the evil eye must be looking directly at the hag in order for the effect to work. The hag's eyes turn red and she must whisper the name of the disease her victim is getting in order for the effect to work. A hag's victim has a 50% chance (roll of 50 or more) to resist the evil eye. A victim who resists the evil eye's power suffers no effects from the evil eye. Whether the evil eye's effect works or not the victim has no recollection of the events that transpired and believes he simply dozed off for a moment. Onlookers retain the ability to remember what really happened if they were close enough to witness it.
Levitation (Active): Hags with this skill are able to levitate at will as if they had wings to fly. They require no special triggers to activate this ability, but many carry around a wand or broom to pretend their enchanted items are giving them the ability to fly instead.
Hexes (Active): Hags with this skill may curse a creature to suffer a terrible fate. In order to hex a creature a hag must be able to see the creature she's hexing or have access to a personal item that belongs to the creature (such as a strand of hair, a piece of jewelry or picture) and know the name of the creature she's cursing. The hag must then chant the words “I curse you (creature's name) to (type of curse)”. The creature being hexed has a 50% chance (roll of 50 or more) to resist the hex or otherwise suffer its effects for one week (or until he can find a way to get the hex removed). Typical hexes include growing warts, losing hair, attracting frogs, falling every third step and screaming at the mention of the person's name.
Cackle (Active): Hags with this skill are able to scare off creatures with the sound of their cackles. This ability works against any creature close enough to hear the hag's cackle. Each creature in close proximity to the hag has a 50% chance (roll of 50 or more) to resist the cackle's effects. Those affected are filled with fear and must run away from the hag. If a creature is unable to run from the hag he instead cowers in fear and may take no other actions till the hag stops cackling or he may no longer hear her. The effects of a hag's cackle take three turns to work.
Heart Seeking (passive)
All hags have the ability to hear a creature's heartbeat a mile away. This it impossible for their opponents to hide from them. Creatures without a heartbeat can hide from a hag normally.
Weakness:
Heart Craving (passive)
The price of a lifetime of eternal beauty is the hag's craving for still beating hearts. Each week a hag must consume the heart of an intelligent living being (no animals) while it is still beating. This meal calms the hag's cravings for one week, after which time a hag must find a new heart to calm her craving. A hag that does not consume a heart each week starts to wither and show signs of her true age at an accelerated rate. The longer a hag goes without consuming a heart the more she craves it and the faster she ages until she eventually turns to dust. Once a hag has started to show signs of aging the process is not reversed by consuming a single heart, it can only be reversed by consuming the same number of hearts she missed in a single day. Most hags try to get rid of the bodies they steal the hearts from because they fear being discovered and hunted down.
Appearance
Human Form: A hag's human form appears to be of a young beautiful woman with no strange features hinting at her true nature. While in this form a hag can use her claws as weapons and her sharp teeth can bite off flesh with ease.
Hag Form: A hag's true form is wretched, old and hideous. Their hair is white and unkempt, their arms and legs bony and sickly and their faces are full of warts and scabs. This is not apparent to any who gaze upon the hag or even to the hags themselves most of the time, but creatures with the ability to see the true forms of others will see the hag this way. A hag who has not consumed a heart in over a month can be seen this way by all.
Skills (Pick any two from the following list)
Amphibious (Passive): Hags with this skill are often called sea hags. They spend most of their time in or around water and try to pass themselves off as sea nymphs. They can breathe water and air equally well and see under water without difficulty. Sea hags often prefer merfolk and other sea creatures as the victims of their cravings.
Evil Eye (Active): Hags with this skill can make others sick just by looking at them. A creature targeted by the evil eye must be looking directly at the hag in order for the effect to work. The hag's eyes turn red and she must whisper the name of the disease her victim is getting in order for the effect to work. A hag's victim has a 50% chance (roll of 50 or more) to resist the evil eye. A victim who resists the evil eye's power suffers no effects from the evil eye. Whether the evil eye's effect works or not the victim has no recollection of the events that transpired and believes he simply dozed off for a moment. Onlookers retain the ability to remember what really happened if they were close enough to witness it.
Levitation (Active): Hags with this skill are able to levitate at will as if they had wings to fly. They require no special triggers to activate this ability, but many carry around a wand or broom to pretend their enchanted items are giving them the ability to fly instead.
Hexes (Active): Hags with this skill may curse a creature to suffer a terrible fate. In order to hex a creature a hag must be able to see the creature she's hexing or have access to a personal item that belongs to the creature (such as a strand of hair, a piece of jewelry or picture) and know the name of the creature she's cursing. The hag must then chant the words “I curse you (creature's name) to (type of curse)”. The creature being hexed has a 50% chance (roll of 50 or more) to resist the hex or otherwise suffer its effects for one week (or until he can find a way to get the hex removed). Typical hexes include growing warts, losing hair, attracting frogs, falling every third step and screaming at the mention of the person's name.
Cackle (Active): Hags with this skill are able to scare off creatures with the sound of their cackles. This ability works against any creature close enough to hear the hag's cackle. Each creature in close proximity to the hag has a 50% chance (roll of 50 or more) to resist the cackle's effects. Those affected are filled with fear and must run away from the hag. If a creature is unable to run from the hag he instead cowers in fear and may take no other actions till the hag stops cackling or he may no longer hear her. The effects of a hag's cackle take three turns to work.