D&D 5E Enhancing Vecna: Eve of Ruin *SPOILERS*

[Paul Farquhar]

On first read, I thought you meant that that was what Kas would tell the party when they discover who he is, since they have to believe any lie he tells them.

Spoiler

"OK I'm not Mordenkainen, but I'm really trying to help you- the villain was Tasha all along!" He laughs as the party heads off to kill Tasha.

That, apart from it would be a bigger twist if Kas is telling the truth. Vecna escaped from The Dark Powers. They sent Kas after him. If Kas can return Vecna to Ravenloft he gets his freedom. Mordenkainen is currently indisposed being mad on Mount Baratok, so Kas is filling in and really trying to help.

To make Tasha a more interesting fight, she gains a mythic ability - when her witch form is defeated, she returns with her Iggwilv the Witch Queen stat block. Justification: the time travel stuff was a lie. In order to pass as less malevolent, Iggwilv used her Wish to polymorph herself into the guise of her much younger self.

 

[vecna00]

If I put my tinfoil hat on, I almost think that Vecna wants to be defeated. Maybe he knows he doesn't have enough power to complete this ritual and that he can only amass enough by being "banished" (freed?) back to Oerth. I seem to recall something in the lore (from around the time of his imprisonment in the DoD) about him not being able to achieve full god-hood until he gets back to Oerth. He escaped the DoD to Sigil and has seemingly been stuck in the Outlands/Pandemonium ever since. Maybe he's been playing chess while everyone else has been playing checkers. Maybe he's been manipulating events (and Kas, or rather, Kas and his Sword since the Sword is the real player) behind the scenes all along and now only needs a willing party to oblige him...

If anyone is capable of going through all of the possibilities in order to find his good ending, it's Vecna.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

If the PCs have the rod, it'll make the Vecna fight even easier since it specifically does a lot of extra damage against him per hit. If they haven't used accumulated secrets for rerolls, they get powerful buffs for the fight.

Even if they do manage to get that stuff it won't be easy. They have to go through so much stuff.

 

[Distracted DM]

Even if they do manage to get that stuff it won't be easy. They have to go through so much stuff.

Not really. A couple death knights and some mirror monsters are not going to make a decent level 20 party sweat. Due to theme, the party also knows Necrotic damage is going to be at play, so it'll be even easier with the right spells or items.
Seriously- this is a level 20 party. They have class capstones at worst, or fully empowered multiclass builds at best.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Not really. A couple death knights and some mirror monsters are not going to make a decent level 20 party sweat. Due to theme, the party also knows Necrotic damage is going to be at play, so it'll be even easier with the right spells or items.
Seriously- this is a level 20 party. They have class capstones at worst, or fully empowered multiclass builds at best.

That depends. The party I intend to play this adventure with has no full casters. There is really nothing they can do to mitigate necrotic damage, even if they expect it.

 

[Shardstone]

I feel like people are underestimating the difficulty of these things. Particularly Vecna and Miska.

For one thing a full 20th level party with magic gear is supposed to be able to defeat a CR 26 like Archlich Vecna in a straight fight at full strength.

The PC's are not going to be at full strength for those fights. At minimum before fighting Vecna with no rest after they have to defeat two Death Knights and four CR 10 Mirror Shades (Honestly it's very likley that the mirror shades wait and are fought alongside Vecna. The Arena they are fighting him in is also very tricky in a way that does not affect Vecna.


You do know Miska was always more famous for his generalship than his induvial combat prowers even in his original depiction. (In 2e he was impressive but not that impressive) Here he's a CR 24 and matches that as he is. He averages 141 damage + incapacitation a round assuming he doesn't use a spell that turn (If he does he drops to 115), he's also a general and is expected to be backed up by powerful Spyder-Fiends.

I am pretty sure a Level 13 party will die to this guy unless they get very lucky.

I think your assessment is off. That theoretical damage is just that, theoretical; it doesn't take into account the many features and magic items a high level party has for mitigating damage, improving AC, providing temp HP, or locking down a monster. The absolute pitiful damage he's doing with his Legendary Action and the fact that on average his attack only does around 30 damage IF it hits just isn't that impressive for a CR 24, Spyder-Fiends or no.

Level 13 party can drop Forcecage on the Spyder-Fiends OR Miska if they wanted to. That's just one out of dozens of spells that can invalidate most of the challenge in this encounter. It isn't tough.

 

[Shardstone]

That depends. The party I intend to play this adventure with has no full casters. There is really nothing they can do to mitigate necrotic damage, even if they expect it.

Not much of an argument; you don't need to mitigate necrotic damage to trivialize a death knight encounter with a level 19 party.

 

[dave2008]

OK, here is my first draft of the Apostles of Ruin statblocks. These are works in progress and I would love your feedback to improve them. A few notes:

I included the ToC to show that I intend to make Lolth as well, but haven't included her yet (I know the credits are bit messed up and the Foreword needs to be updated). Also, I didn't include Kas because I thought his statblock was fine for how I see him. If you want a beefed up version, let me know!

EDIT: Because of @Paul Farquhar's excellent suggetion here, I will be adding Kas and Iggwilv to the Apostles of Ruin.

Lord Soth get a slight bump to CR 20:

Spoiler: Lord Soth

I have decided demon lords and princes should have "Abyssal Actions" instead of Mythic Actions. He also get a bump to CR 27. Also note that Miska can use his "Demon Prince" trait multiple times (if you desire)

Spoiler: Miska the Wolf-Spider

Starhd gets a 2 CR bump and a set of mythic options if you want them.

Spoiler: Strahd von Zarovich

The statblock her is for a full powered greater god version of Vecna. If you want to reduce his power (like in the adventure), simple reduce or eliminate his Greater God traits and Ascended Actions.

Spoiler: Vecna

 

[dave2008]

That, apart from it would be a bigger twist if Kas is telling the truth. Vecna escaped from The Dark Powers. They sent Kas after him. If Kas can return Vecna to Ravenloft he gets his freedom. Mordenkainen is currently indisposed being mad on Mount Baratok, so Kas is filling in and really trying to help.

To make Tasha a more interesting fight, she gains a mythic ability - when her witch form is defeated, she returns with her Iggwilv the Witch Queen stat block. Justification: the time travel stuff was a lie. In order to pass as less malevolent, Iggwilv used her Wish to polymorph herself into the guise of her much younger self.

I like this a lot. Now I have to add a Witch Queen to my Apostles of Ruin dossier!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I like this a lot. Now I have to add a Witch Queen to my Apostles of Ruin dossier!

The witch queen stat block from Witchlight is pretty powerful. She could maze one PC and polymorph two into tortoises before she even takes her turn.