"Duchess" © Dmitry Khuzin, accessed at his ArtStation here

[This is the first of what I'm calling the fairy tale hags. I was inspired by a conversation with @strawberry-crocodile, where she pointed out that the hags in PF2e's Monster Core were all inspired by evil women in children's media. The sea hag got even more like Ursula than previously, the sweet hag is clearly the witch from Hansel and Gretel, the iron hag is inspired by Mother Gothel in Tangled, and the cuckoo hag is Paizo's take on the Other Mother. My own take is the beldam, if you're interested. So I started spitballing with fairy tale archetypes and Disney villains, and came up with four hags to match (and @abominationimperatrix contributed an idea for a skelm, who's also going to appear in this project).

First off, the brood hag, who I really wish I could call a cuckoo hag. She's inspired by the various wicked stepmothers and stepdaughters in fairy tales, which literalize intergenerational conflict and the creeping realization in a young person's life that their family doesn't always want what's best for them. The Brothers Grimm took a lot of wicked parents and siblings and made them "step" as part of their nuclear family propaganda, which expanded that fear to fathers as well. Is this new woman you're marrying a suitable match? Will her child from a previous marriage be a suitable heir? Although there's plenty of wicked stepfamily in Disney between The Evil Queen in Snow White and Lady Tremaine and her daughters in Cinderella, my primary inspiration was from a non-Disney fairy tale movie. Jack Frost is a Russian film which appeared on Mystery Science Theater 3000, and is genuinely delightful. Malfushka is probably my favorite wicked stepsister on film. She wants precious stones, damnit! Stones!

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Brood Hag CR 3 NE Monstrous Humanoid This woman is subtly inhuman—her lips are an odd color, her eyes bulge, and her skin is the texture of parchment. She wears the finery of a noble.

Brood hags are social kleptoparasites. Unlike most hags, which lair far from human society, brood hags make themselves part of it. They intrude upon wealthy families through bluster and bullying, often claiming to be a long-lost cousin or imposing themselves as a marriage candidate. Once ensconced in a family, they live the high life, demanding an outsize share of resources to pamper themselves and forcing others to serve them. They are skilled at slander and psychological warfare, denigrating their possible rivals for an inheritance and gaslighting others into seeing their behavior as perfectly reasonable. And if all else fails, they kill their opposition and stage it as an accident, or frame another family member who asks too many questions. Like many other hags, brood hags have a taste for human flesh, but they disguise these anthropophagous feasts through cookery (although they would much rather order someone else to do the cooking).

The stare of a brood hag saps the will of whoever they gaze upon, allowing them to get away with audacious behavior with little protest. Brood hags prefer to have other people fight for them, but they can defend themselves with mind-altering magic. Their teeth are surprisingly sharp, but their bite is more dangerous for being able to transmit overwhelming negative emotions. Those killed by this lethal hate appear to have died of heart attack or stroke—which the brood hags can emphasize by smoothing out the wounds they inflict through magic.

Brood hags are somewhat unusual as far as hags go. Sages and hags alike speculate that they are a mutation of the normal process of hag reproduction; something between an ordinary changeling and a “true” hag. A brood hag can interbreed with humans and only have daughters, and her daughters are full brood hags themselves rather than changelings. Thus, a brood hag can marry into a family, raise her daughters as members of her coven, and then the wicked stepmother and her stepdaughters can siphon away all its resources, potentially for generations. Brood hags seek to marry up, and after a carefully positioned generation or two, a brood hag can even become royalty, with grim consequences for entire nations.

Brood hags look almost, but not quite, human. Most of them are able to pass themselves off as being merely ugly by human standards, but roughly one in ten of them have features of striking beauty. Brood hags are vain as a rule, and augment their appearances with makeup, fine clothes and jewelry.

Hello, everyone! Here I am with a new creature - the Bregostana, a cryptid from Italian folklore. This creature appeared in the third-party 5e monster manual "Brancalonia Spaghett Fantasy: Bestiary", and that's the source I am starting my convertion from. Definitely tried to keep this creature in the spirit of both the original legend and the 5e statistics... but as always, I'll let you judge how it went!

BREGOSTANA

Image taken from "Brancalonia Spaghetti Fantasy: Bestiary", author unknown

This foul ape-like creature is covered in thick fur, and its clothing consists of rags, filth and bark. A mouth filled with crooked fangs almost splits its head in half.

BREGOSTANA      CR 6

XP 2'400

CE Medium Monstrous Humanoid

Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +13

Aura frightful presence (30 ft., shaken, DC 16 negates) , gaze of madness (30 ft., DC 16)

DEFENSE

AC  18, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +5 natural)

hp  76 (8d10+32) 

Fort +6, Ref +9, Will +9;

Weaknesses cynophobia, light sensitivity

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft.

Melee 2 claws +13 (1d6+6 plus nightmare curse), bite +12 (1d8+6 plus poison)

Special Attacks poison

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th)

     Constant – spider climb

STATISTICS

Str 22, Dex 17, Con 18, Int 7, Wis 16, Cha 15

Base Atk +6; CMB +12; CMD 25

Feats Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (claws)

Skills Climb +14, Perception +13, Sleight of Hand +13, Stealth +10 (+14 in forests), Survival +8; Racial Modifiers +4 Sleight of Hand, +4 Stealth in forests  

Languages Sylvan

ECOLOGY

Environment temperate forests or mountains

Organization solitary or pair

Treasure standard

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Cynophobia (Ex): A bregostana is terribly afraid of dogs and wolves. A bregostana that becomes aware of a dog, a wolf or any creature whose appearence can be ascribed to that of such animals (i.e. an hell hound or a blink dog) in a 30 ft. radius must make a Will save (DC 20) or become shaken for as long as it can still perceive the creature. The bregostana must also make this saving throw when taking damage from a wolf, a dog or any creature that resembles them. A bregostana that is already shaken from this ability becomes frightened instead if it fails another saving throw.

Gaze of Madness (Su): A bregostana’s gaze attacks only affects creatures that are shaken because of the bregostana’s frightful presence ability. Such creatures must make a Will save (DC 16) when meeting the bregostana’s gaze or suffer a random lesser madness for the next 24 hours. Whether the saving throw succeeds or fails, that creature becomes immune to that bregostana’s gaze of madness for 24 hours. This is a fear and madness effect. The save DC is Charisma-based   

Nightmare Curse (Su): A creature critically hit by a bregostana’s claw attack must make a Will save (DC 16) or suffer horrific, viscerally realistic nightmares next time they sleep – the victim is affected as by a nightmare spell, taking 1d10 points of damage, becoming fatigues and unable to regain arcane spells for 24 hours. This effect ends after the first time the victim sleeps or after 24 hours, whichever happens first. This is a curse effect. The save DC is Charisma-based   

Poison (Ex): Bite – injury; save Fort DC 18; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d4 Str damage; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based.

The bregostana, also known as “beast-witch”, is a monstrous creature that haunts mountainous regions. They are usually found alone, in hard-to-reach caverns out of which they crawl  after sunset, to approach the closest village and find their favorite prey – human children. Encountering a bregostana during the day is rare in the estreme, as they loathe sunlight and are clumsy and weak in daylight. At night, on the other day, they become horribly fast, moving through the trees like primates, and grabbing small animals and unwary travelers from above.

Denizens of Tumblr! I call upon you to decide the fate of the Crokians.

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The Crokians are a tribal people pushed out of their native swamps by the ever-expanding "civilised world." In this float of fierce foes, you will find several different forms of crocodile-like humanoids ready to fight for their lands.

Dai Bakemono by Alex Konstad

Hagspawn

The sons of malicious, predatory hag mothers, hagspawn are an unfortunate people, despised by both parent of their kind. Hags continue their awful lineage by taking human males for mates,usually murdering and devouring the hapless captive later. The female children of a hag are changelings, and often quickly grow into hags like that of their mothers, but in rare circumstances, a son is born to the hag. These male children are hagspawn, half-human out-casts. Feared and hated by normal humans, and abused and neglected by their hag mothers, hagspawn must make their way in the world by dint of their strength, hardiness, and sheer determination.

     All too often, hagspawn are filled with the malice, violence, and resentment of their monstrous parent. They are quick to take offense and view even the most in-nocent remark as a hidden slight. People regard them as ill-tempered monsters, and many hagspawn perpetuate distrust of their kind by behaving exactly as expected. They look out for themselves first and regard companions as temporary allies that will abandon them when convenient. If they remain with their mothers, they are treated as bodyguards and minions rather than children, and those that leave often become mercenaries and thugs. Hagspawn are capable of working furiously to achieve a desired end and do not shy away from physical hardship or danger if the reward seems worth the risk.

     Bulky creatures, Hagspawn tend to be around 6’ and weighs around 200 lbs.

Spins a web, five by five; catches rogues, just like flies...

Artwork by Conor Burke on ArtStation.

The werespider is an entothrope - basically the term for a lycanthrope of any species that has an exoskeleton - introduced to Pathfinder in Bestiary 6. The default werespider is a rogue, but is only CR 2. This one is a couple levels higher and has some abilities that actually fit the idea of a werespider.

The official werespider art only has two arms and two legs, but holy shit that's lame. Give the poor man some extra limbs. They don't have to be mechanically useful (although this particular werespider has a climb speed).

This werespider would make a good assassin to attack the PCs in their sleep. I'm generally in favor of starting such encounters by having the death of an NPC wake the PCs up and force them to fight without their armor, rather than by telling a level 3 player to roll a DC 31 Fortitude save against a coup de grace or instantly die, but I mean, it's your game, so you do you. Definitely use its web ability to set traps for people to step into though.

This is an afflicted werespider. A natural-born werespider has DR 10 instead of DR 5.

Feel free to decide that lycanthropes and entothropes in hybrid form count as monstrous humanoids rather than humanoids in your game, because, like, dude. Why? Why does the monstrous humanoid creature type even exist if lycanthropes aren't included? Werewolves are the most "monstrous humanoid" of any monster ever conceived. I wouldn't recalculate hit points, BAB, or saves though. Just make it count as both humanoid and monstrous humanoid for the purposes of effects dependent on type.

Werespider Poisoner (Hybrid Form) - CR 4

The arachnid form of the person perched on the corner of the ceiling above you catches your eye just a little bit too late as he drops down from the shadows and attacks.

Human toxic talon rogue 4 NE Medium humanoid (human, shapechanger) Init +8 Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +8

DEFENSE

AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 17 (+3 armor, +4 Dex, +2 natural) hp 33 (4d8+12) Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +3; +4 vs. mind-affecting effects; +1 vs. poison Defensive Abilities evasion, insect mind DR 5/silver

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., Climb 20 ft. Melee mwk short sword +8 (1d6+4/19–20 plus medium spider venom (DC 15)), bite +3 (1d6+1 plus curse of entothropy and poison) Ranged mwk blowgun +8 (1d2 plus medium spider venom (DC 14)) Special Attacks catalyst (1/hour, already used) , sneak attack +2d6, web (+5 ranged, DC 13, 2 hp), vanish (2/day)

STATISTICS

Str 14, Dex 19, Con 17, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 8 Base Atk +3; CMB +5; CMD 19 Feats Improved Initiative, Extra Rogue Talent (Expert Leaper), Weapon Focus (bite) Skills Acrobatics +10, Bluff +6, Climb +16, Disable Device +11, Escape Artist +10, Knowledge (local) +6, Perception +8, Stealth +11 Languages Common SQ change shape (giant spider, human, and hybrid; vermin shape II), entothropic empathy, rogue talents (expert leaper, shadow duplicate, ninja trick [wall climber]) Gear mwk short sword, mwk blowgun, mwk studded leather armor, 3 doses of medium spider venom, 1 potion of delay poison, healer's kit

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 16; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d2 Strength damage; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.

Catalyst (Su) A werespider poisoner can use secret alchemical techniques to enhance a poison when applying it to a weapon, increasing the save DC of the poison by 1. This increase to the save DC lasts for 1 minute or until the poison is used up, whichever comes first. A werespider poisoner can use catalyst once per hour.

Expert Leaper (Ex) When using the Acrobatics skill to jump, a werespider poisoner is always considered to have a running start and adds +4 to the check result. Whenever it deliberately falls, a successful DC 15 Acrobatics check allows it to ignore the first 20 feet fallen. For every 5 by which it exceeds the DC of this check, it can ignore an additional 10 feet of distance fallen.

Debilitating Injury (Ex) Whenever a werespider poisoner deals sneak attack damage to a foe, it can also debilitate the target of its attack, causing the target to take a penalty for 1 round. The werespider poisoner can choose to apply any one of the following penalties when the damage is dealt.

Bewildered: The target becomes bewildered, taking a –2 penalty to AC. The target takes an additional –2 penalty to AC against all attacks made by the werespider poisoner. At 10th level and 16th level, the penalty to AC against attacks made by the werespider poisoner increases by –2 (to a total maximum of –8). Disoriented: The target takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls. In addition, the target takes an additional –2 penalty on all attack rolls it makes against the werespider poisoner. At 10th level and 16th level, the penalty on attack rolls made against the werespider poisoner increases by –2 (to a total maximum of –8). Hampered: All of the target’s speeds are reduced by half (to a minimum of 5 feet). In addition, the target cannot take a 5-foot step.

These penalties do not stack with themselves, but additional attacks that deal sneak attack damage extend the duration by 1 round. A creature cannot suffer from more than one penalty from this ability at a time. If a new penalty is applied, the old penalty immediately ends. Any form of healing applied to a target suffering from one of these penalties also removes the penalty.

Poison Adept (Ex) A werespider poisoner is trained in the use of poison and cannot accidentally poison itself when applying poison to a projectile weapon. It can apply poison to a projectile as a move action.

Shadow Duplicate (Sp) Once per day as an immediate action when the werespider poisoner is hit, the werespider poisoner can create a single shadow duplicate of itself, as per mirror image. The GM randomly determines whether the attack hit the werespider poisoner or the shadow duplicate. The shadow duplicate lasts for a number of rounds equal to the werespider poisoner's level, or until the shadow duplicate is dispelled or destroyed.

(Hey! This is the first time I’ve finished one of my homebrew drafts! Image Source: https://furbooru.org/images/233343)

Aardgnolls are smaller, insectivorous relatives of gnolls. Dwelling in small, close-knit family groups led by the eldest female, they hunt insects and other vermin, and some families have been known to domesticate and herd vermin. Aardgnolls are pacifists, and refuse to kill anything other than vermin. Dwelling in harsh climes, the typical punishment for breaking this taboo is exile, roughly equivalent to a death sentence. The majority of aardgnoll adventurers are such exiles, and typically grow to see their comrades as their new family. Aardgnolls are viewed by many larger races as adorable, like puppies or kittens, and use this to their advantage in trade and diplomacy with other desert races. Larger gnolls view aardgnolls as pests or embarrassments at best, and food sources at worst. Aardgnolls are often rangers or druids.