Bog Hag of the Drowned Fen

Medium fey (hag), neutral evil · CR 5

by Mabel Thornwick

Bog Hag of the Drowned Fen
Armor Class
15
natural armor
Hit Points
102
12d8 + 48
Speed
30 ft., swim 30 ft.
  • STR +3
  • DEX +2
  • CON +4
  • INT +1
  • WIS +2
  • CHA +3
Saving Throws
Wis +5, Cha +6
Skills
Deception +6, Nature +4, Perception +5, Stealth +5
Damage Resistances
Cold, Poison
Condition Immunities
Charmed
Senses
passive Perception 15
Languages
Common, Sylvan, Aquan, Fen-Cant
Gear
A hooked reed-cutter’s knife and a necklace of river-stones drilled through the middle
Challenge 5 1,800 XP

Traits

  • Amphibious. The hag can breathe air and water equally well, and she leaves no trail in mud or silt.
  • Mimicry. The hag can mimic any voice she has heard within the last year, including the sound of a child crying or a companion calling for help. A creature that hears the sounds can tell they are imitations with a successful DC 16 Wisdom (Insight) check.
  • Toll of the Fen. The hag never attacks a creature that has willingly given her a keepsake of genuine sentimental value within the last hour, unless that creature attacks her first. She keeps every token she is given.

Actions

  • Multiattack. The hag makes two Claw attacks. It uses Fen Rot if it is available.
  • Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d8 + 3) slashing damage. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d8 + 3) slashing damage. Her nails are black with fen-rot and split the skin raggedly.
  • Fen Rot (Recharge 5-6). The hag exhales a gout of marsh gas in a 20-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Each creature in the area must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails also cannot regain hit points until the end of its next turn as its wounds soften and weep.
  • Drowned Lullaby (Recharges after a Long Rest). The hag sings in the voice of someone the target has lost. One creature within 60 feet that can hear her must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or take 10 (3d6) psychic damage and be charmed until the end of its next turn, moving toward the water by the shortest route on its turn. Each creature in the area must make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) psychic damage on a failed save, or no damage on a successful one. On a failed save, a creature is also charmed for 1 round.

Bonus Actions

  • Bogstep. The hag sinks into standing water or soft mud and rises from another such space she can see within 30 feet. She cannot use Bogstep on dry ground.

Reactions

  • Reed Snare. Trigger: A creature within 10 feet of the hag stands up from prone or tries to leave the water. Reeds lash around the target’s ankles. It must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be restrained until the end of its next turn.

Lair Actions

  • Grasping Silt. The fen floor turns to sucking silt in a 20-foot radius centred on a point the hag can see. Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or sink to its waist, becoming restrained until it uses an action to pull free. Each creature within 20 must make a DC 14 Strength saving throw.

Origin Story

The Bog Hag of the Drowned Fen is a swamp hag who claimed a flooded village after the river changed course and drowned it in a single spring. She was old before the water came. Villagers had paid her in trinkets for cures and safe passage for generations, and when the fen swallowed their homes she simply stayed, wading the rooftops and collecting her toll from anyone who crosses. She is not a devil and makes no infernal pacts. She trades, and she always keeps her side of a bargain, which is precisely what makes her dangerous.

Habitat and Ecosystem

She haunts a drowned fen of black water, reed islands, and the submerged remains of a village whose chimney tops still break the surface. The water is waist-deep for most of its span and warm with rot. Frogs, leeches, and blackfish thrive there, and herons nest on the rooftops. The hag keeps the fen deliberately rich: she culls anything that would strip it bare and drives off poachers, because a starving swamp brings no travellers and no tolls.

Behavior Patterns

She negotiates before she fights, and she fights only when the bargain is refused or broken. Her opening move is almost never violence: it is a voice from the reeds in the shape of someone the party has lost, testing who will step off the path. She takes payment in keepsakes rather than coin because sentiment is the only currency she cannot counterfeit. Break a deal with her and she does not ambush you that night; she waits until you are mid-crossing, in deep water, and calls in the debt.

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