Who is Baba Yaga? | Slavic Folklore and D&D Tradition | Feywild Worldbuilding Part 5
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2024
- I'm turning the Feywild into a playable realm for our Dungeons and Dragons campaign, focusing in this video on Baba Yaga. I dive into her Slavic Folklore and how she has been adapted to D&D 5e!
Thank you as always, and comment below any Feywild or D&D topics you want to see me cover!
Links and Sources |
www.britannica.com/topic/Baba...
www.worldhistory.org/Baba_Yaga/
www.bbc.com/culture/article/2...
The Monster Manual from Wizards of the Coast
The Wild Beyond the Witchlight from Wizards of the Coast
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Music |
Chillpeach - Dreamy Mode : • [no copyright music] '...
Music by Remil - Evening Tea - thmatc.co/?l=26514877
Music by Gil Wanders - It's Midnight - thmatc.co/?l=190A2320
Chillpeach - In Dreamland : • [no copyright music] '... - เกม
Nice information in this post
How I've used Baba Yaga at my table is her tricking players into making deals for things they want or need, in exchange for something she will use as an ingredient for her concoctions. In her words, "strong potions require the finest of ingredients". One example is a player getting a potion of Revivify in exchange for their last breath. How this expresses mechanically is that now that every time that player is making death saving throws, (1) only that PC can see Baba Yaga looming around her, so I took that player outside and told her separately what was going on, and (2) her first death saving throw is rolled with disadvantage.
So spooky, and a deal with Baba Yaga needs to haunt the players somehow! I love it.
Nice work.
FYI, "baba" means "grandmother" and also generally refers to any old woman. In personal use, it's paired with a name; for example, in the Who song title "Baba O"Riley." I was first introduced to Baba Yaga in high school marching band, with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, the movement called "Hut on Hen's Legs" and later in college studying that piece in music classes. Around that time in college, I got into AD&D (1e), and the Hut was an Artifact (loved the artifact "system" in 1e). Never encountered it or used it tho. Folk don't need to be messing with artifacts if they know what's good for 'em. Many years later, I knew a Slavic girl from FYR Macedonia, who told me of a similar character in their folklore called Baba Roga. This myth is a great example of the "boogeyman" archetype, like Krampus or ... the boogeyman, someone who nabs kids that don't behave themselves. And considering how perilous life was/is, it's not an unreasonable fear to instill in your children if it keeps them alive. I like the idea of her eating a child then re-birthing it, but it made me think of a type of magic that requires you to eat something living, which then gives you some kind of power depending on what and how you eat it. The kandra from Mistborn comes to mind. It eats a corpse to take on the dead one's form, but can't kill them itself, for reasons. In "eating magic" you might have to eat something in order to be able to polymorph into it, or summon its kind, or fly/swim/burrow, or... you get it.
There’s another Hag Figure in Scottish folklore regarding Callieach which hold power over storms, there’s a lot of stories about them and it can also refer to the main Callieach Beira the winter Queen. Source and folk stories will differ of course and I’m no expert but it really is interesting and they can make for a great archfey patron idea.
"Beg, borrow and steal." I'm using your playlist to build a Feywild world to run all my campaigns in.
Thief!! I love it
Awesome video! Sometime down the line, would you consider doing a Fomorian themed episode? They have some pretty interesting lore regarding the archfey.
I was introduced to them during this series and would love to learn more! Thanks!
So hags are some of my favorite enemies. What I like about hags and what the stories that you brought up with Baba Yaga show is that they don't have to be the main antagonist, or even an antagonist at all, they could be more than willing to assist the heroes with their adventures in a creepy way
One thing I find neat is how Baba Yaga is used in pathfinder. In their setting of Golorian in the land of Irrisen, the ruling class known as Jadwiga, are made up of the decedents of Baba Yaga. Unsurprisingly the witch class is a common class among them, with the winter witch being an iconic part.
I would bring in a lot of the more different things like you mentioned with the Black Geese. This is a land where the daughters of Baba Yaga have ruled as queen for centuries. So having things like the Queen being known for black geese and other things that make her iconic, could help make it more fun.
Hags assisting in a creepy way adds so much more dynamism, too. Rather than making a clearly good party versus evil hag scenario, it allows for some interesting, complicated relationships and decision making.
Thanks for the video series on the Feywild! I’ve found it informative and helpful. I’d love to watch a video from you on how you might design a D&D adventure that incorporates the Feywild and a hag. What inspiration for characters or locations have you come across through your research, etc.
Whoah Whoah… I love geese. Don’t talk dirty on geese
I’m my game, following Wild Beyond the Witchlight, the party is going to spend more time in the Feywild. I plan to introduce another hag, Nanny Gnarl who is an old friend of Skabatha’s and who doesn’t have a coven. Her and Skabatha will try to dispose of one of Skabatha’s sisters to make room in the hourglass coven for Nanny Gnarl
That’s a really fun twist! I like that it adds an extra layer of conflict between the hags, too.
I'm all over it in my world Setting because of the mortar pestle she's a medical deity of hard medicine which from what I understand in my research isn't very far removed from the truth because of the silver birch being used to treat horrible things like kidney infections you got to love when actual paganism makes it easier to be creative
I love that take on her! Esp. with the reality of medicine being at times painful but for an ultimate good.
@@feywildfiend yeah that's the thing the Winter Fey court love playing the bad guys because they came about in the ice age when resources are scarce and infighting between tribes and races was huge so yes the winter Fey can be evil but they give everyone a common enemy to be afraid of Fey love their illusions and layers of reality
I'm half Russian and was told a lot of old stories in my childhood, but I don't remember the one where Baba Yaga gives a Demilich to a girl she found annoying, lol, that's funny.
Anyway thank you for covering the big characters of the setting, perhaps you could look over the environment of the feywild? I'm particularly interested in those mushroom people that live in mushroom cities, perhaps that could be something interesting to explore?
I hadn't though of the skull as a demilich! If that is what Baba Yaga gave her, that's peak feywild chaos right there.
That's also the second request I've gotten for more feywild environment content, I'll be looking into it for sure! Thanks!
In D&D does Baba Yaga have a Nemesis? A good witch, or at least a better witch?
Not that I know of! In D&D, witches = hags = evil. But you could certainly make one!
i have a PC in my game who is a fey step ranger and was "banned" as a child from using their magic, and it came back after a chance encounter with the fey wild. i'd love to hear your thoughts on interesting, unique natural landscapes that the fey wild presents, as well as ways that it bleeds over into the material plane. no pressure though!!!!
That’s a great idea! I’ll add it to the list!
Another great video.
I did not think before how stories of Cinderella and Vasilisa the Wise have so much in common. But it seems a "palace & ball" part are different, Vasilisa was "chosen" indirectly by her handcrafted piece of cloth to be married, as i believe.
And put a link to a video about Baba Yaga with more anthropological insights th-cam.com/video/mz-uLDrF3gI/w-d-xo.html
Oh nice! The link I looked at focused more on her experience with Baba Yaga than what came after, so it’s cool to know there’s even more similarities!
How did you get a cat sith to appear in your video, which archfey did you make a pact with? Anyways great video, I find that folklore and myths are a gold mine for homebrew campaigns, keep it up.
Thanks! And I’m sorry, but my pacts are sacred.