Witch Coven as a plot hook

[mardaddy]

Need some advise. A newish player (and 1st level) had a theme she wanted to play where she is a witch and bargained with a witch/hag/coven for eternal beauty. The player wanted to make the bargain for her fertility, but as GM, I told her that would not be desirable for a standard witch/hag/coven, as they do focus on stealing children and/or adding to their coven.

So I suggested that she bargained for the commitment of eventually joining their coven, since in game there would be no real "first born" to give up (nor would the player have agreed to that anyways - her PC concept was that the character was extremely vain, but has a heart of gold.)

So I got this plot hook to use much later on in the adventure. I envision this as her getting a psychic calling when she has reached a power level high enough that the coven feels it is to their benefit for her to join, and her beauty start fading if she does not immediately start seeking out the coven (not as drastic as a geas, but similar.)

Of course, it leaves open her and/or the party turning on and destroying the coven, but the advise I am looking for is suggestions on power level for the calling (around what character level would make sense?), and are coven's geographically stationary? Would they wander if it suited their needs?

[VoodistMonk]

If she is to party with something relatively benign, like a coven of your PC, a Green Hag, and a Fen Witch... it's like whatever, they like the forest, no big deal.

If she is making pacts with one of the immortal hags, like a Dreamthief, then you might want to be concerned.

[Mark Hoover 330]

Take a look at the power level of the coven. Then break out the power level of the hags/witches who make up the coven. Said members are not fools; they wouldn't send a calling to a "sister" they couldn't control or dominate in some way, so pick a power level that either the hags/witches individually still pose a threat to or that the coven as a whole can survive encountering.

For example, if the coven is 3 Green Hags (CR 7 monsters), they'd likely send the calling to the PC around level 4 since their SLA's individually might still work on the character or, if need be they can use the powers of the coven to control the PC.

There are rules for what powers the coven has, but otherwise a lot is left to your interpretation. The books suggest that "at least 3" hags or witches/changelings with the appropriate build can form a coven, but that doesn't mean there can't be more than that number. What would a coven of 4 hags be like? How about 9?

Also they could very much be a mobile coven. I'd imagine that in a world where the potential exists for a group of adventurers to reach the powers and abilities, not to mention the gear, of level 10 in a matter of weeks/months, a Black Annis hag wouldn't just hang out by the river snatching babies for centuries like in our world's folklore. If such a creature began it's life, after a couple of years chilling on the river bank rumor would reach a level 6 adventuring group, they'd show up and within about 12 seconds the hag would be toast.

For this reason I've always thought 2 things: 1, hags join covens as much for protection as for power and 2, hags, witches and changelings in said covens would likely be pretty smart. Even if the sisters of the coven aren't best friends, they'd do what it takes for them to survive and dominate; using Charm Person to make proxies of the locals, then using said locals to gather info about nearby threats like adventurers would allow the coven to identify when said threats are too big even for the coven's awesome power so it's time to find a new area to dominate.

This could take a lot of different forms. 3 crones flying on broomsticks or in cauldrons; a traveler's caravan with the hags disguised as fortune tellers or something; a merchant's ship piloted by 3 sirens of ill intent... the possibilities are endless.

The only requirements for a coven is some kind of agreement from the members involved and proximity to one another for their coven abilities to work. Heck, you could even work it like this:

The coven is actually a network of hags and witches spanning hundreds of miles of the countryside. Only the most powerful members actually know the full roster; most members know only a sponsor and a couple neighboring sisters. The coven's highest members meet all the time at midnight, sowing misery and discord everywhere but they use draughts of Overland Flight obtained from the fat of children they consume to move quickly from moot to moot.

As such one area might not realize they have a coven on their hands for some time. When they do, they hire brave adventurers to disrupt it. Said adventurers track down the local sisters, there's an epic battle, and those members are defeated. However several towns away, the very next night, a horde of undead rise from their graves thanks to the powers of the next coven down the line.