Night Hag
Medium Fiend · · CR 5
- Fiend
- Medium
- Tier 2
Night Hag at CR 5 is logged as a medium fiend; alignment neutral evil. Habitat: planar. Sourced from Monster Manual (5e 2014) and Monster Manual (5.5e 2024).
Stat Block
- Challenge Rating
- 5
- Type
- Fiend
- Size
- Medium
- Alignment
- —
- Speed
- —
- Habitats
- Planar
- Sources
- Monster Manual (5e 2014), Monster Manual (5.5e 2024), Flee, Mortals!
Ecology
Night Hags are fiends of the Lower Planes, particularly Hades and the gloomy borderworlds. They feed on mortal despair, dreams, and souls, harvesting nightmare-energy to sustain immortality. Each carries a heartstone (a magical anchor) and a soul bag for capturing dying souls. They reproduce rarely, daughters born from cursed unions with mortals or other fiends. They form covens of three for shared spellcasting power.
Behaviour
Cunning, patient, and utterly malevolent, Night Hags travel the Ethereal Plane to invade mortal dreams. They feed slowly, stretching despair-harvest over weeks or months per victim. They speak Common, Infernal, and Abyssal, often impersonating kindly grandmothers or healers in disguise. They trade in souls with devils and demons, brokering deals between the planes. Their malice is calculated; they delight in driving good people to evil acts before harvesting their corrupted souls.
Origin
Some sages claim Night Hags are descendants of an exiled archfey corrupted by Lower Planes contact, others that they sprung from the union of fiends and primordial nightmares. They are mentioned in mortal myth as bogeywomen, sleep paralysis demons, and child-stealers. Each Night Hag is unique and ancient, with detailed knowledge of fiendish politics across multiple planes. They occasionally intervene in mortal affairs to maintain their food supply.
Related Monsters
Frequently Asked Questions about Night Hag
- What is the challenge rating of Night Hag?
- On the bestiary CR scale, Night Hag sits at 5. It works against tier-2 parties.
- What type of creature is Night Hag?
- Night Hag is classified as a fiend in D&D 5e, medium size.
- Where does Night Hag live?
- Habitats for Night Hag: Planar.