Hexblood
Where wishing fails, ancient magic can offer a heart’s desire—at least, for a time. Hexbloods are individuals infused with eldritch magic, fey energy, or mysterious witchcraft. Some who enter into bargains with hags gain their deepest wishes but eventually find themselves transformed. These changes evidence a hag’s influence: ears that split in forked points, skin in lurid shades, long hair that regrows if cut, and an irremovable living crown. Along with these marks, hexbloods manifest hag-like traits, such as darkvision and a variety of magical methods to beguile the senses and avoid the same.
While many hexbloods gain their lineage after making a deal with a hag, others reveal their nature as they age—particularly if a hag influenced them early in life or even before their birth. Many hexbloods turn to lives of adventure, seeking to discover the mysteries of their magic, to forge a connection with their fey natures, or to avoid a hag that obsesses over them.
Heir of Hags
(Not the only type of hexblood, just the most common)
One way hags create more of their kind is through the creation of hexbloods. Every hexblood exhibits features suggestive of the hag whose magic inspires their powers. This includes an unusual crown, often called an eldercross or a witch’s turn. This living, garland-like part of a hexblood’s body extends from their temples and wraps behind the head, serving as a visible mark of the bargain between hag and hexblood, a debt owed, or a change to come.
Hexblood Origins
A bargain with a hag or other eerie forces transformed your character into a magical being. Roll on or choose an option from the Hexblood Origins table to determine how your character gained their lineage.
| d6 | Origin |
|---|---|
| 1 | Seeking a child, your parent made a bargain with a hag. You are the result of that arrangement. |
| 2 | Fey kidnappers swapped you and your parents’ child. |
| 3 | A coven of hags lost one of its members. You were created to replace the lost hag. |
| 4 | You were cursed as a child. A deal with the spirits of the forest transformed you into a hexblood, now free of the curse. |
| 5 | You began life as a fey creature, but an accident changed you and forced you from your home. |
| 6 | A slighted druid transformed you and bound you to live only so long as a sacred tree bears fruit. |
Becoming a Hag
Hags can undertake a ritual to irreversibly transform a hexblood they created into a new hag, either one of their own kind or one that embodies the hexblood’s nature. This requires that both the hag and hexblood be in the same place and consent to the lengthy ritual—circumstances most hexbloods shun but might come to accept over the course of centuries. Once a hexblood undergoes this irreversible ritual, they emerge as a hag NPC no longer under the control of the hexblood’s player, unless the DM rules otherwise.
Ancestral Legacy
If you replace a race with this lineage, you can keep the following elements of that race: any skill proficiencies you gained from it and any climbing, flying, or swimming speed you gained from it.
If you don’t keep any of those elements or you choose this lineage at character creation, you gain proficiency in two skills of your choice.
Eerie Token
As a Bonus Action, you can create a magical token by harmlessly removing a lock of hair, detaching a nail, or using some other method. While the token exists, you gain the following benefits:
- Distant Message. As a Magic action, you can send a telepathic message of 25 words or fewer to a creature holding or carrying the token, as long as you are within 10 miles of it.
- Remote Viewing. If you are within 10 miles of the token, you can take a Magic action to extend your senses through the token for 1 minute, until you have the Incapacitated condition, or until you end this state (no action required). During this state, you can see and hear from the token as if you were located where it is. When this state ends, the token is harmlessly destroyed.
Unless the token is destroyed early, it lasts until you finish a Long Rest. Once you create a token using this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a Long Rest.
Hex Magic
You always have the Disguise Self and Hex spells prepared. You can cast each spell once without a spell slot, and you regain the ability to cast it in that way when you finish a Long Rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for the spells you cast with this trait (choose the ability when you select this species).
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Darkvision
You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colours in that darkness as shades of grey.
Speed: 30 ft
Medium or Small: 2-7 ft
34-190 lbs
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