The 3 Hags of Tepest

[Zilfer]

Lol if they are getting in each other's way or don't want their other sisters so succeed perhaps the hag's would be both the PC's enemies, and Allies. If one wants to destory a village that insulted her another sister steps in the way and does something to allow the continued existence of the village just to spite the other sister.... xD I can see almost an infinite chain of spite here. xD

[brilliantlight]

Lol if they are getting in each other's way or don't want their other sisters so succeed perhaps the hag's would be both the PC's enemies, and Allies. If one wants to destory a village that insulted her another sister steps in the way and does something to allow the continued existence of the village just to spite the other sister.... xD I can see almost an infinite chain of spite here. xD

Yeah, that could be fun!

[The Lesser Evil]

What if we take the curse of the http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Bruja and apply it to them? Maybe all of their horrible schemes are somehow manifestations of the crazy schemes to avoid the final fates they themselves have foretold? Or, barring that, just creating as much to ruin as much of everybody else's reality as they can?

[High Priest Mikhal]

Compared to Soth that just sits on his throne, they're quite active.

No argument there.

That's the problem I always had with them. It just seems like "bad stuff happens, blame the witches." Which has a certain historical precedent, but doesn't give them much motivation.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. There's no real motivation to their actions, no matter how petty or pathetic. Why do they do what they do? It's almost like they were an afterthought.

[brilliantlight]

Compared to Soth that just sits on his throne, they're quite active.

No argument there.

That's the problem I always had with them. It just seems like "bad stuff happens, blame the witches." Which has a certain historical precedent, but doesn't give them much motivation.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. There's no real motivation to their actions, no matter how petty or pathetic. Why do they do what they do? It's almost like they were an afterthought.

I think we had some good ideas here. Basically they hate each other but can't kill each other without weakening themselves so they plan on how to screw each other over. Like Zifler said one could be an ally of the PCs and another an enemy who is trying to screw the first one over. Lots of backstabbing fun potential there.

[The Lesser Evil]

I think we had some good ideas here. Basically they hate each other but can't kill each other without weakening themselves so they plan on how to screw each other over. Like Zifler said one could be an ally of the PCs and another an enemy who is trying to screw the first one over. Lots of backstabbing fun potential there.

Perhaps we could throw in the reasoning for all the creations they've made: they unite the hags into a common activity and the hags recognize that's when there at their strongest (at least, intellectually, maybe not so much emotionally). A secondary (or primary!) benefit of getting the hags to squabble with each other is that it takes away from their focus to vent their spite on something they hate even more than each other: the rest of the world.

[brilliantlight]

I think we had some good ideas here. Basically they hate each other but can't kill each other without weakening themselves so they plan on how to screw each other over. Like Zifler said one could be an ally of the PCs and another an enemy who is trying to screw the first one over. Lots of backstabbing fun potential there.

Perhaps we could throw in the reasoning for all the creations they've made: they unite the hags into a common activity and the hags recognize that's when there at their strongest (at least, intellectually, maybe not so much emotionally). A secondary (or primary!) benefit of getting the hags to squabble with each other is that it takes away from their focus to vent their spite on something they hate even more than each other: the rest of the world.

I think they hate each other far more than they hate the rest of the world. They HATE being hags and they blame each other for it. To their way of thinking each thinks she would have been swept away by some handsome man into the city. That her backstabbing sisters prevented her from getting any happiness.

[alhoon]

Digging around I found a very interesting tidbit about the hags.
They can bear a childe once a decade, which is always a girl. Some of these girls are devoured by the hags. Others are abandoned\exchanged with other kids. The girls become cannibalistic horrors themselves if they survive.

The child of a hag and a Dukkar or any kind of spellcasting vistani man would be nice in my opinion.

[The Lesser Evil]

I think they hate each other far more than they hate the rest of the world. They HATE being hags and they blame each other for it. To their way of thinking each thinks she would have been swept away by some handsome man into the city. That her backstabbing sisters prevented her from getting any happiness.

I've done some reading, and they seem to be very good at working together. The only time there's been evidence of them turning on each other was that one man and their covetousness for him rather than actual hatred towards each other. I would say their malice towards each other would only pop up in times where they all sought the same object but for some reason couldn't share it (like a romantic partner.)

I see their curse more as wanting to escape from Tepest and the barren backwoods (this is mentioned in their origin story- they originally started killing people to get enough money to escape from their family farm to the city.) This may be the source for all their joy in corrupting the land and its people- destroying the things that they hate but others love.

Digging around I found a very interesting tidbit about the hags.
They can bear a childe once a decade, which is always a girl. Some of these girls are devoured by the hags. Others are abandoned\exchanged with other kids. The girls become cannibalistic horrors themselves if they survive.

The child of a hag and a Dukkar or any kind of spellcasting vistani man would be nice in my opinion.

Didn't they make a crystal for Azalin at some point? What if they heard about the dukkar and/or the Children of the Gentleman Caller sometime when eavesdropping on some of his agents? Their meddling in the events leading up to the Time of Unparalled Darkness could make them a vicious wild card.

[Isabella]

I've done some reading, and they seem to be very good at working together. The only time there's been evidence of them turning on each other was that one man and their covetousness for him rather than actual hatred towards each other. I would say their malice towards each other would only pop up in times where they all sought the same object but for some reason couldn't share it (like a romantic partner.)

If the hags' curse is based off their own covetousness instead of malice, perhaps each of the hag sisters has a power/ability that the other desperately wants? For the most bare bones off-the-top-of-my-head example, suppose each hag was impaired in some way, and was forced to rely on her sisters to make up for it? The one who loved beautiful things is now so nearsighted she'd be legally blind, the one who loved compliments now can't understand anyone but her own sisters, and the one who loved to talk is now barely able to speak above a whisper or a croak. Sure, the other sisters can fill in -- and they've gotten good at working together over the years -- but its just not the same. To make it exceptionally rankle, the sisters don't really give a fig about each other's interests, meaning that their assistance is always lackluster. They won't describe things to the first sister beyond the most bland of terms (he's got some blue clothes on, what more do you want from me), they won't bother to translate anything nice for the second sister, and they constantly screw up the elaborate speeches the third one writes for them to dictate. They all want their sisters to cater to their needs, without putting in any effort to help them with theirs.

[The Lesser Evil]

If the hags' curse is based off their own covetousness instead of malice, perhaps each of the hag sisters has a power/ability that the other desperately wants? For the most bare bones off-the-top-of-my-head example, suppose each hag was impaired in some way, and was forced to rely on her sisters to make up for it? The one who loved beautiful things is now so nearsighted she'd be legally blind, the one who loved compliments now can't understand anyone but her own sisters, and the one who loved to talk is now barely able to speak above a whisper or a croak. Sure, the other sisters can fill in -- and they've gotten good at working together over the years -- but its just not the same. To make it exceptionally rankle, the sisters don't really give a fig about each other's interests, meaning that their assistance is always lackluster. They won't describe things to the first sister beyond the most bland of terms (he's got some blue clothes on, what more do you want from me), they won't bother to translate anything nice for the second sister, and they constantly screw up the elaborate speeches the third one writes for them to dictate. They all want their sisters to cater to their needs, without putting in any effort to help them with theirs.

I'm sorry; I wasn't specific enough. I think malice is built in to covetousness because covetousness is jealousy/envy of what others have. I just don't see them flinging much malice at each other because the rest of the world has more things they envy than each other. (With the exception of when somebody or something coming along that puts them at odds with each other- then their usual cooperation falls apart. The dandy they murdered prior to coming into Ravenloft, for example, pitted them against each other to provide him with favors and such even though he loved none of them. If this sort of thing were to occur on a semi-frequent basis, then that could be a big curse in and of itself.)

I would be reluctant to make them unable to perceive what they coveted, as that could dull their senses to that what they desire or prevent them from pursuing it. I see the Dark Powers as enjoying dangling the objects of the darklord's affections in front of them only to take them away at the last moment.

More generally, the final idea I have of their curse and their modus operandi is as follows:
1) The Three Hags hate beauty because they know they cannot have or even enjoy it; hence they work to pervert, corrupt, or destroy it whenever possible out of jealous spite. More generally beyond their appearance, they are prevented from enjoying many things we take for granted. They can only bear children once a decade, and these always turn into hags eventually. The Three Hags also can't enjoy the beauties of daytime- the sun dispels their disguises and burns away at their flesh.

2) With the exception of the dandy, the Three Hags did not murder out of some twisted form of love or even jealousy, rather, they killed passing travelers in order to get money to escape their podunk farm and misogynist family. The Dark Powers granted their wish, whisking them away from their family farm but not depositing them into a major cosmopolitan city- instead they wound up in backwoods Tepest, perhaps an even worse place then they were before. In my version of them, they have seen a miserable future for themselves just like the bheur hag, but they still try to defy fate through various schemes to escape their predicament from time to time as an aside from their petty schemes of spite.

3) As others have mentioned in this thread, the Three Hags are notoriously inventive and productive in crafting their wicked creations. I would generalize the inability to have/enjoy beauty from #1 to include the inability to create truly beautiful things. They can fashion powerful items that are extremely functional, but anything they fashion with a truly beautiful form is somehow corrupted. Hence, they mostly only craft horrific things in order to spite the world for their curse.

[High Priest Mikhal]

Digging around I found a very interesting tidbit about the hags.
They can bear a childe once a decade, which is always a girl. Some of these girls are devoured by the hags. Others are abandoned\exchanged with other kids. The girls become cannibalistic horrors themselves if they survive.

Is this just the Three Sisters or something? Because other hags apparently can become pregnant as often as they like. With the cuckoo's egg spell from Gaz. V, it could become one of the most heinous tactics a hag can ever use.

[jamesfirecat]

There's something about the Hags that I've realized probably isn't that important to their characters on its own but might open a few interesting doors if examined in detail.

Despite the fact that the three Hags are supposed to be more or less the platonic ideal of the evil witch coven, with the only possible exception being that I don't recall them ever riding around on broomsticks, I don't think it has ever been mentioned if any or all of them have a cat.

How can you possibly be a proper evil witch group if you don't have a cat?

So the next question is that should they all have their own cats or should they just have one cat who they semi-share or only one of them likes and the other two hate?

If it's just one cat then it really should be the Ravenloft equivalent of Greebo from Discworld (he may look like a housecat but has a high enough CR that he kills wolves and chases bears up trees for fun).

If the three semi-share him then it could be whichever one he favors at the moment is considered the informal leader of the group.

What kind of familiar/animal pet might you guys give the hags or do you think they don't really need one?

[Ryan Naylor]

In 3e, their familiars are a centipede, an owl and a viper.

You're right though. No cat. Odd.

[alhoon]

I think Cat, snake and centipede should be it.