Forgotten Realms: Jungle Hag for D&D 5E

My Out of the Abyss game is headed to Chult.

We finished up the main arc for Out of the Abyss as my players hit 12 level and Shrike, an arakokra Elemental Monk has to restore his honor after a Yeenoghu-possessed former PC interrupted his duel with the Master of Dragons (Shrike had lost) AND recover the Gi of the Diamond Mind from a cave in the Peaks of Flame in Chult.  

Upon arriving in Port Castigliar, the group learned that this is a time known as the Season of the Witch, when a coven of jungle hags hold a sacred and deadly ritual to appease Uluu Thalongh.

Travel is extra dangerous and the coven's exaltations of Uluu Thalongh produce nefarious and nasty obstacles.

Did you hear that? Was it the wind blowing the grass of the savannah or Nika Noruu, Witch of the Stolen Breath? 

Did you see that? Was it merely sunshine shimmering along the River Olung or Sssar Lolok, Witch of the Dying Light? 

Tread carefully, for not knowing will be your doom!

In this jungle, the Coven is second only to Uluu Thalongh, and they honor and appease him every seven years.  Its that time, that season now. Danger lurks everywhere.

Especially in a mortal's heart.

JUNGLE HAG
Medium fiend, neutral evil
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Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 135 (18d8 + 72) 

Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft.
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   Str            Dex         Con           Int         Wis         Cha
18 (+4)        16 (+3)        18 (+4)        15 (+2)      17 (+3)      18 (+4)

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Skills Deception +8, Insight +7, Perception +7, Stealth +7, Survival +7
Damage Resistances cold; fire; necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagicalweapons that aren't silvered
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed; poisoned

Senses darkvision 120 ft.; passive Perception 17

Languages Abyssal, Common, Infernal, Primordial
Challenge 12 (8,400 XP)

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Heart of the Jungle. Any humanoid that starts its turn within 30 feet of the hag and can see the hag's true form must make
a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature enters a frenzy with little regard for its safety for 1 minute and creatures have advantage on attack rolls against it. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns , with disadvantage if the hag is within line of sight, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the hag's Horrific Appearance for the next 24 hours. 

   Unless the target is surprised or the revelation of the hag's true form is sudden, the target can avert its eyes and avoid making the initial saving throw. Until the start of its next turn, a creature that averts its eyes has disadvantage on attack rolls against the hag.

Magic Resistance. The jungle hag has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. 

Mimicry. The hag can mimic animal sounds and humanoid voices. Acreature that hears the sounds can tell they are imitations with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check.
Spellcasting. The jungle hag is a 16th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 16, +8 to hit with spell attacks). The jungle hag has the following sorcerer spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): dancing lights, eldritch blast, minor illusion,

   poison spray 
1st level (4 slots): charm person, detect magic, ray of sickness,
   shield

2nd level (3 slots): detect thoughts, mirror image, shatter,
   suggestion

3rd level (3 slots): counterspell, fireball

4th level (3 slots) : banishment, blight
5th level (2 slots) : dominate person, telekinesis 

6th level (1 slot): eyebite

7th level (1 slot): finger of death
8th level (1 slot): power word stun

 

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ACTIONS

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Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage. 

Hex. The hag targets one creature caught up in its frenzy that she can see within 30 feet of her. If the target can see the hag, it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw against this magic or have disadvantage on saving throws for 1 minute.
Illusory Appearance. The hag covers herself and anything she is wearing or carrying with a magical illusion that makes her look like another creature of her general size and humanoid shape. The illusion ends if the hag takes a bonus action to end it or if she dies.
   The changes wrought by this effect fail to hold up to physical inspection. For example, the hag could appear to have smooth skin, but someone touching her would feel her rough flesh. Otherwise, a creature must take an action to visually inspect the illusion and succeed on a DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check to discern that the hag is disguised.

Invisible Passage. The hag magically turns invisible until she attacks or casts a spell, or until her concentration ends (as ifconcentrating on a spell). While invisible, she leaves no physical evidence of her passage, so she can be tracked only by magic. Any equipment she wears or carries is invisible with her

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Back This: Worlds of the Cypher System Fourth Stretch Goal

The Worlds of the Cypher System Kickstarter just keeps rolling ahead.  They've smashed through $70k in over 24 hours. Which is amazing!

But the Fourth Stretch Goalis pretty sweet.  

When they hit that goal we get a novel by Bruce R. Cordell set in The Strange RPG setting.

So check it out and Back This.

No Thank You, Evil!: VolcanBro

I've been devouring No Thank You, Evil! since I received my Kickstarter copy.  By the way let me reiterate how awesome the people at Monte Cook Games are, they are fantastic at customer service (thanks Tammie, again). 

This wonderful game, if you didn't know, is designed by Shanna Germain and Monte Cook for all ages, and will be published by Monte Cook Games. The rules are a streamlined version of their Cypher System so that you and your youngsters can start playing their first RPG in a few minutes time.

No Thank You, Evil! is currently up for Preorder from Monte Cook Games.

I need to share that I'm thoroughly enjoying this game, I'm not sure I've ever smiled while reading through an entire RPG.  Its colorful, engaging, filled with puns (my 11 year old is a paragon of puns) and the artwork is fantastic.  What I love is that is finds the essence of the Cypher System and abstracts it to its must fundamental parts.

While my 11 year old and 14 year old are old pros at RPGs these days, we will be giving this game a test run this weekend, but last night my son (the 14 year old) "statted" up VolcanBro (he likes to make his own Bionicle characters).

We made VolcanBro in less than 10 ten minutes.  While entertaining my 2 year old.  And playing with our cat.  I really wanted to start playing, but the 2 year old was ready chill out.

This an amazing and exciting game and something that I think could easily be used to introduce gamers of any age to our hobby.

I can't recommend it enough.

VOLCANBRO
Fast Robot who Flies Through the Sky on His Pyroboard

TRAIT POOL          VALUE
     Tough                       3      
     Fast                           3      
     Smart                        3  
     Awesome                  2

Fun 3                      

Armor 1

Knack 
Solve (1 Smart)
Soar

Stuff A robot body, a ranged weapon, an I Gotchyer Back pack, Hero Stuff, and 1 coin. 

Companion
Char the Fire Imp
Treat Charcoal Chip Cookies
Starting Cypher Embiggen    

Back This: Worlds of the Cypher System Kickstarter is LIVE

I'm a HUGE fan of the Cypher System and Monte Cook Games.  The people at MCG are outstanding and they happen to make my favorite games.  Seriously, I buy everything they make, sight unseen.

Their games are awesome, and they are awesome people.

And today marks the launch of the Worlds of the Cypher System Kickstarter.

As of now, there are three setting books:

Gods of the Fall. Your world is nasty and brutish.  Life is hard and painful and short. But if you can achieve your Labors and fulfill the Prophecies, you can become the God of the Hunt or Fire or Winter and you can save your world from darkness. Written by Bruce R. Cordell.  

Predation. Your people travelled back to the Cretaceous period and are stuck there.  You have advanced science and can bioengineer the dinosaurs around you, but you know that an extinction level event is headed for you. Written by Shanna Germain

Unmasked. You've been lost your youth, but you found your Mask. It gives you powers beyond mortals, powers that you shouldn't have.  Powers that frighten your family and the authorities.
But the longer you use the Mask the more you see Magonia, which was lost to you and the more you see a terrible fate that awaits this world. Written by Dennis Detwiller.


BACK THIS.

I have.

Clerical Work: Specialty Priests of Nekrotus, Undead Lord of Death and Doom for the Otus Pantheon

Over the weekend Chris Kutalik did a post on the Otus Pantheon.  And recently Trey Causey expanded things for the Otus Pantheon.  I decided to do a series of posts setting up each deity's Specialty Priests, the deity's name is in yellow and the feat's name is bolded.  

NEKROTUS, UNDEAD LORD OF DEATH AND DOOM

Rot Minister

Prerequisite: Cleric with the Death Divine Domain

The Undead Lore awaits the dead and punishes the living who don't make offerings to him.

Thanks to your devotion, you gain the following benefits:

• When you Channel Divinity for touch of death, you gain a +2 to AC until the beginning of your next turn.

• You have resistance to necrotic damage.

• Your gain proficiency with heavy armor.

• You learn the shillelagh cantrip.  You may cast it on maces.

• You learn the animate dead spell.  You may cast it with a 2nd level spell slot or higher.

Character Crucible: The Celestial Otherworldly Patron is Now LIVE on the DMsguild.Com

Do you want more Otherworldly Patrons for the Warlock class?

Inside you will find full details on the Celestial, an angelic Otherworldly Patron, who wishes to give you the power to achieve it’s enigmatic and primeval goals.

The PDF is available here.

Get Ready to Back This: Worlds of the Cypher System Kickstarter Launching 2/29/16

While I backed the Numenera & The Strange Kickstarters, it was this past summer, as the Cypher System Rulebook (the game system that powers all three games) released that I fell for all the system pretty hard.

On top of that, I've had great experiences in all of my dealing with everyone I've worked with at Monte Cook Games (they are the only reason I want go to Gen Con this year).

On February 29th they will be launching their Worlds of the Cypher System Kickstarter that will present three worlds for purchase as individual books:

Gods of the Fall: Awaken your divine spark, claim a dominion, and become a god in a fantasy world in which the heavens smashed upon the Earth like a vengeful star.

Predation: First figure out how to survive the dark and dangerous world of the Cretaceous Period using the technology of the future—high-tech weapons, advanced science, and bioengineered dinosaurs—and then worry about the asteroid that history says wipes out all life on earth.

Masks: They say you’re insane. Dangerous. That you suffer from Dissociative Mask Disorder. Your parents and the doctors and the press and the military. They can’t believe what’s happening. They can’t believe what you can do.

If your a Cypher fan, mark your calendar. If your a Monte Cook fan, think about trying an intriguing system that hums at the table and is, in my opinion, the easies RPG I've ever GM'd. If you just like cool games, simply Back it.