Skabatha Nightshade
Skabatha is the oldest member of the Hourglass Coven. Better known as Granny Nightshade, she offers her assistance to those who are haunted by regret. Her deals often result in cruel twists; for example, a petitioner who asks to be reunited with a lost love might be transformed into one of their loved one's cherished items, such as a favorite bonnet.
Skabatha assumes the guise of an old toymaker. Part toy herself, she has a windup key between her hunched shoulders that rotates quickly when she's in a good mood and slows down as her mood sours. When she is furious, the key comes to a dead stop.
Alignment . Neutral evil.
Personality Trait. "When dealing with outsiders, I present myself as a kindly old grandmother."
Ideal. "Children are better off working for me than picking up lots of bad habits."
Bond. "I hate my sisters, but together we are strong."
Flaw. "I forget the first creature I see each day when I awaken."
Skabatha's Appearance
Skabatha appears as a short, thin, gnarled woman swathed in a tattered dress with petticoats. Cracked white face paint plasters her features, with crimson splotches on her cheeks and thick mascara coating her sparse eyelashes. Underneath her makeup, her flesh is textured like rotten bark and infested with wood lice and fungus. The windup key sticking out of her back is a part of her body and no easier to remove than one of her limbs. Skabatha roams Thither on her flying rocking horse, which creaks horribly as it moves.
Skabatha is considerd an Auntie Hag
According to Volo's Guide to Monsters (Chapter 1), the powers of auntie and grandmother hags include lair actions and regional effects.
Lair Actions. Grandmother hags always have access to lair actions, while powerful aunties or covens with aunties in their membership may also utilize lair actions.
*Aunties usually have access to one Lair Action, but if they are in a coven, they may have access to 3-5 Lair Actions, but only during certain times of the year, or after performing incredibly powerful, difficult rituals.
*A grandmother hag has access to 3-5 Lair Actions, and her coven may also access these abilities, but the grandmother's will always prevails in the case of conflicting actions.
Regional Effects. Not all hags' lairs affect the surrounding area in any measurable way, but most of them do; this is not unique to aunties and grandmothers. That said, a normal hag's influence creates 3-5 regional effects, while covens, aunties, and grandmothers usually create more.
*An auntie or a grandmother usually has an additional, more powerful regional effect or two that can cause more direct harm to intruders. Aunties might have one or two of these, while grandmothers could have as many four.
*A coven that shares territory usually has the upper range of regional effects (4 or 5). If at least one of them is an auntie or grandmother, then they may be able to access additional, more dangerous ones, but remember that these effects will tend to only exist closer to the territory specifically claimed by the most powerful hag in the coven.
Additional Abilities
Aunties and grandmothers are more than just a way to add lair actions and regional effects, although using them for that purpose is fine. Instead, you should feel emboldened to really make these creatures stand out in terms of power level and abilities. Here are several ideas.
Aunties. An auntie hag might have the maximum number of hit points for their hit dice. They may also have at least one major magic item or an equivalent item that can perform the same function; see Magic Item Tables F through I in the Dungeon Master's Guide. It may be a version of the item that is useless in the hands of anyone but the hag, or it may have a very limited number of uses, so that it doesn't fall into the hands of the adventurers (although they may appreciate the item as a reward for such a beefed up enemy!).
Aunties may also be able to cast coven spells without having the other members close by; the distance could be line of sight or 1 mile instead of 30 feet. Finally, you might give an auntie access to an additional ability beyond the lair actions and regional effects, often in the form of a more utilitarian power. Examples include many of the monster features you can find in the section on building new monsters (DMG Chapter 9), though many of these (marked with an asterisk) would increase the hag's challenge by at least 1.
*Amphibious (see kuo-toa)
*Avoidance* (see demilich)
*Breath weapon* (see dragon)
*Etherealness (already an ability of night hags)
*Frightful presence (see dragon)
*Incorporeal movement (see ghost)
*Legendary resistance* 3/day (see ancient black dragon)
*Life drain (see wight)
*Parry (see hobgoblin warlord)
*Reactive* (see marilith)
*Regeneration* (see troll)
*Spider climb (see ettercap)
*Swallow* (see behir; the creature must be medium or smaller, and is actually in a pocket dimension within the hag)
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