D&D 5E Does the Hand of Vecna in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus mean Vecna is now an FR God too?

[doctorbadwolf]

Yeah, but Elminster would kick his avatar's sorry ass.

Have they just gone ahead and made Elminster the Vhaotic Good god of Battle Magic, Trickery, and Liasons with Deities, yet?

 

[Seramus]

If Acererak can get to the Realms, so can Vecna, but probably only as an avatar or sneaky presence. But as others have noted, Avernus is not in Realmspace in the first place, so it’s not an issue.

 

[Zardnaar]

If Acererak can get to the Realms, so can Vecna, but probably only as an avatar or sneaky presence. But as others have noted, Avernus is not in Realmspace in the first place, so it’s not an issue.

Acerak isn't a deity and FR has an overpower who gets to decide who can be a god in the Realms.

 

[Seramus]

Acerak isn't a deity and FR has an overpower who gets to decide who can be a god in the Realms.

AO wouldn’t do anything unless Vecna was poised to succeed at some Die Vecna, Die level shenanigans. Heck, AO didn’t even step in to stop Acererak who would have massively imbalanced the Realms.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

AO wouldn’t do anything unless Vecna was poised to succeed at some Die Vecna, Die level shenanigans. Heck, AO didn’t even step in to stop Acererak who would have massively imbalanced the Realms.

I could have sworn somewhere that i saw content saying vecna actually has at least a thimble full so to speak of divine influence in/over faerun even though hes not directly there. Possibly but not necessarily in spite of ao. Hes the god of secrets. Shouldnt be too surprised to hear this. Or just simply because ao isnt stopping it. I dont think it was specific. And its probably because his influence is minor. I saw it many many years ago though and never touched it after seeing the vague mention so i dont know much about it. Perhaps there is someone here who remembers a little more about it? There is something injust dont remember the particulars. Furthermore, ao has contemporaries when you widen the scope of your viewing enough and one or more superiors. Vecna is just enough of a shake up figure that it could be conceivanle hes always been part if a bigger plan. Possibly one that is signed off on by someone as high as or higher than ao when you widen the viewing scope of the multiversal lens enough. Hes always been a deity that the normal rules didnt perfectly apply to. At this point when vecnas influemce spreads wider faster or further (even if suntly) than a normal god its not so much a mcguffen as it is part of who vecna is. Which is why although i dont remember where i read about his minor influemce there i was also entirely unsurprised when i saw a minor reference to it.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Hundreds of thousands of creatures can be and are immortal. Whether or not you are a "deity" of a particular realm just depends on whether anyone worships you or not. Vecna can be immortal and can be known in the Forgotten Realms by isolated people throughout history via planar connections... but if no one in Faerun worships him, then he's not a god there. Same thing with Asmodeus... he might be known as the Archduke of the Ninth, but if nobody workships him as a god there, his only divine status remains in Nerath where they do.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Hundreds of thousands of creatures can be and are immortal. Whether or not you are a "deity" of a particular realm just depends on whether anyone worships you or not. Vecna can be immortal and can be known in the Forgotten Realms by isolated people throughout history via planar connections... but if no one in Faerun worships him, then he's not a god there. Same thing with Asmodeus... he might be known as the Archduke of the Ninth, but if nobody workships him as a god there, his only divine status remains in Nerath where they do.

True. But the issue is he has a bit of divine influence. Albeit the reference escapes me. So the question is why and how much?

 

[DEFCON 1]

But what is "divine influence"? Having any worshippers at all? I mean demons and devils all have worshippers from every Tom, Dick and Harry cult, but that doesn't classify them as "gods" in those realms.

So either being a god is strictly a matter of the in-game religious people of a particular setting choosing within the fiction that "these are our gods"... or there's some sort of "out of game" number-of-worshippers level an immortal being has to have to be classified as one in a particular setting.

In either event... I think that tells us that Vecna isn't a god in the FR by either standard.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

But what is "divine influence"? Having any worshippers at all? I mean demons and devils all have worshippers from every Tom, Dick and Harry cult, but that doesn't classify them as "gods" in those realms.

So either being a god is strictly a matter of the in-game religious people of a particular setting choosing within the fiction that "these are our gods"... or there's some sort of "out of game" number-of-worshippers level an immortal being has to have to be classified as one in a particular setting.

In either event... I think that tells us that Vecna isn't a god in the FR by either standard.

Another clarification: divine influence is the placeholder im using for what i remember being said. Eg something godly. But minor. And maybe something about the far planes also being mentioned. Thats all i remember.

 

[Zardnaar]

AO wouldn’t do anything unless Vecna was poised to succeed at some Die Vecna, Die level shenanigans. Heck, AO didn’t even step in to stop Acererak who would have massively imbalanced the Realms.

Aceraks not a deity so Ao has no influence over him.

Velsharoon is kind of Vecnas equivalent on FR.

I suppose they can do whatever but that's how it used to work.