D&D 5E Get The Vecna Dossier Free At D&D Beyond

WotC is offering a free product which you can claim by signing into D&D Beyond, including Vecna’s 5E statistics.

The dossier includes the stat block plus a half page or so of lore. Vecna's stat block is a CR 26 undead wizard, prior to the fallen paladin (and former bodyguard to the lich) Kas's betrayal. That means he still has his hand and eye, although he is a time traveller and can appear in different worlds and eras.

The archlich Vecna is one of the most iconic villains of Dungeons & Dragons lore. And now you can bear witness to his necromantic magic with the Vecna Dossier! Available at no cost with your D&D Beyond account, this thrilling supplement details the legacy and statistics of the Undying King himself!

This claim unlocks the contents of this promotional supplement for use with D&D Beyond, including the supplement in digital format in the game compendium and in the searchable listings, character builder, encounters, and digital sheet.

Claim The Vecna Dossier now! - D&D Beyond

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[Micah Sweet]

It always has been that way and is noticable once you have a forced change of perspective.

I have hundreds of pdfs for a wide variety of games on my home machine right now. I certainly don't feel it has always been that way.

 

[Mort]

Well, though the adventure may make that oblique comment about what spells Vecna knows are being cast, the actual stat block does not. The stat block says "Vecna utters a dread word to interrupt a creature he can see that is casting a spell."

So Subtle spell works quite well.

And as for going easy on WOTC, the entire premise of the new book (this stat block is written in the new format) was to dumb down stat blocks so DM's did not have to spend time rebuilding them, or learning a ton of options. Now, as a DM, I think that is a ridiculous premise, but WOTC has marketed the book on that premise. I will either ignore the new book or modify heavily stat blocks. But if WOTC was supposed to be designing this book to fill the niche of harried DM's, they have done a terrible job.

How does subtle spell work quite well?

If he can see the caster - he can counterspell it.

Vecna utters a dread word to interrupt a creature he can see that is casting a spell. NOT can see casting a spell BUT he can see... THAT is casting a spell. So as long as he can see the caster - he can counterspell the caster. That is a significant upgrade from regular counterspell.

 

[Shardstone]

While a really like Legendary Actions (and think it is a great addition to the game) I am always interested in seeing a different approach. This one works fairly well too. I mean on than the action protection the reactions act very similar to LA. I mean he gets a reaction (up to 3 - sounds familiar) any time a creature attacks him or cast a spell, so that covers almost all situations.

I am less satisfied with Legendary Resistance. It does its intended job well, but is pretty punitive and I wish they came up with other methods to achieve the same goal. I like how A5e does it myself.

HOw does A5E do it?

 

[Thomas Rainsborough]

How does subtle spell work quite well?

If he can see the caster - he can counterspell it.

Vecna utters a dread word to interrupt a creature he can see that is casting a spell. NOT can see casting a spell BUT he can see... THAT is casting a spell. So as long as he can see the caster - he can counterspell the caster. That is a significant upgrade from regular counterspell.

He has to know the caster is casting a spell.

 

[Stoutstien]

I have hundreds of pdfs for a wide variety of games on my home machine right now. I certainly don't feel it has always been that way.

Look at this way. What are the actual limits for any game that uses a DM/GM as the final step as far as introducing content in a game goes?

NPC blocks are nothing more than fancy templated or quick n dirty options if you need something in a crunch.

 

[Shardstone]

Look at this way. What are the actual limits for any game that uses a DM/GM as the final step as far as introducing content in a game goes?

NPC blocks are nothing more than fancy templated or quick n dirty options if you need something in a crunch.

This is the thing that those on the "other side" keep ignoring. I was going to say they don't understand it, but in this thread they've proven they do. They just want to argue that monsters suck now and WotC Doesn't know what they're doing because the monsters don't flat out give them everything that they want, despite all sources first party and otherwise saying these do not capture everything a monster can do.

There is literally no argument that anyone can make anymore. Everything that is true gets ignored, because if you don't exactly list out every single spell that Vecna can use and give them at least 25, maybe 2500 spell slots to cast those spells with, you've made a terrible design choice.

 

[Mort]

He has to know the caster is casting a spell.

That's not what it says.

Clearly it is assumed he knows the caster is casting a spell (big time litch) - it's not regular counterspell.

You're the one arguing how horribly weak it is. When I point out it's worded to NOT be that weak, you're arguing with me.

 

[Dausuul]

It's very close, but I think Acererak has a better chance of winning? Just with their unalterded statblocks:

Mind Blank blocks Vecna's regen...

Vecna has dispel magic, though, and Dread Counterspell allows him to force it past Acererak's counterspells. He can strip off mind blank with a couple of tries. Acererak can recast, of course, but he only has four spell slots to use on mind blank (and he can expect to lose one or two to Dread Counterspell), while Vecna has unlimited dispel.

Of course, this assumes that Vecna knows Acererak is relying on mind blank to protect himself from psychic damage.

Acererak does have another option to shut off Vecna's healing: Invoke Curse. He's got seven charges of that, but Vecna has a 50% chance to make his save and 5 charges of LR as backup. On average, Vecna can outlast him.

He could try to take over the sphere, but with the Talisman of the Sphere, Ace has a much better chance of controling the sphere than Vecna, and with the extra range provided by the Talisman of the Sphere, Ace should be in a much better and safe position should the sphere momentarily escape his control.

Actually their chances of controlling the sphere are dead even. Acererak's Arcana check already has double proficiency bonus built in, so the talisman can't improve it further, and it's exactly equal to Vecna's at +22. However, as you point out, the talisman gives Acererak much greater range whenever he's the one in control--particularly since he can use a legendary action to double up on it.

I think if Vecna can figure out that he needs to dispel magic on Acererak's mind blank, he wins. Vile Teleport can heal him up faster than Acererak can deal damage. If he doesn't figure that out, or if he gets really unlucky and blows 6 saves against Invoke Curse, then I agree with you, Acererak comes out on top. Either way it's a long, slow, grinding battle, which concludes with one of the liches using teleport or plane shift to escape.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

What do you mean by hide?

it goes back to my page 1 or 2 comment about it being a trap

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I have no idea what means.

Lol. I saw that and immediately thought "This crowd might be a little old for that meme."

I was debating if it is a meme I don't know or a threat I should report.... what is it?