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

 

[Shardstone]

And you can’t speak. How many spells does that cancel?

Dominate Monster on a player with the trap in the adventurer before they get there. Then Vecna has that player convince everyone, right before going into the sanctum, to say "Vecna" because the power of the curse is gone. This is a lie, this player can only say it because they are domianted by Vecna now. Every player says it, gets hit by the curse. The sanctum doors fly open, and Vecna comes in swiging with Afterthought and Rotten Fate.

Nuts.

 

[Mistwell]

Is it just me or is Vecna the spitting image of Chris Perkins? Is there something we should know?

I've never seen them in the same room together.

 

[Stalker0]

One other note is that with Animate Dead at-will (of which each casting can maintain control of 4 creatures), Vecna can effectively have as many skeleton minions as you need him to have, within some reason (40 skeletons would take 10 minutes a day to maintain, basically Vecna's personal hygiene regiment

Plane Shift is of course a big effect here as well. If Vecna's slapped around but isn't quite at 0, he'll just plane shift out of there, and then heal to full within a minute or so. If the party attempts to counterspell he will dread counter them back, so its pretty hard to stop. This is probably the most likely "victory" for a party....truly killing Vecna is unlikely (well....temporarily killing him), but having him plane shift away (and then he can't make it back for at least a day) while you ransack his lair is still a major victory.

 

[Mort]

Dominate Monster on a player with the trap in the adventurer before they get there. Then Vecna has that player convince everyone, right before going into the sanctum, to say "Vecna" because the power of the curse is gone. This is a lie, this player can only say it because they are domianted by Vecna now. Every player says it, gets hit by the curse. The sanctum doors fly open, and Vecna comes in swiging with Afterthought and Rotten Fate.

Nuts.

If Vecna played "fair" it wouldn't be very fun would it!

 

[Reynard]

It occurs to me: how many people are going to have a pretty unfun time with this because they decided to read the stat block before a DM in their group offers to run the adventure or just a battle with Vecna?

Also: what's the over-under on how man "revised Vecna" PDFs we will see on DMsGuild before the weekend is out?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Also: what's the over-under on how man "revised Vecna" PDFs we will see on DMsGuild before the weekend is out?

my money would be on 3 by end of weekend and 8 by end of month

 

[Shardstone]

It occurs to me: how many people are going to have a pretty unfun time with this because they decided to read the stat block before a DM in their group offers to run the adventure or just a battle with Vecna?

Also: what's the over-under on how man "revised Vecna" PDFs we will see on DMsGuild before the weekend is out?

An idea...

A book that contains 20 different Vecnas. These are the different ways he's set himself up across time and space in order to naughty word on players. Kill one Vecna, he comes back as the new one later on. Each Vecna has an adventure generator for them, one-shots and campaign-style generators I mean, as well as potential minions, NPCs, and unfathomable plans he's executing unique to that style.

 

[Tutara]

ENWorld: "Are you a god?"
Vecna: "... No?"
ENWorld: "Then.... DIIIIIE!"

I like this version of a pre-ascension Vecna. It is a fun statblock with some quirky powers to make an interesting fight. Sure, it isn't a behemoth with 30 in all stats, immunity to damage and at will Wish, but who wants to fight that? (Disclaimer: I am sure someone will think someone will want to fight that!).

It is substantially better in the context of the companion published adventure, with the requisite lair actions.

 

[dave2008]

This is something that coming from previous editions is important to understand. The days of a high level NPC being invincible against the masses is gone...that's not how 5e rolls. Whether you agree with that or not is of course your opinion but that is how 5e is designed. The high level wizard doesn't survive by bulldozing into everything, they do so by being utterly clever and commanding large forces (ie lairs or minions).

For someone like Vecna, I can work with that. They are an evil lich with numerous resources at their fingertips. It makes less sense for something like the Tarrasque, he's a big dumb brute whose effectively a force of nature.... something like the Tarrasque really NEEDS to be that insanely awesome to justify why they are still around.

As for this statblook, I think it does the job though in a very "screw the party kind of way", as a lot of Vecna's survivability requires shutting down the party. Your melee character is going to be frustrated, your spellcasters are likely going to be frustrated. Vecna's arsenal is definately more about survival than offense, the offensively effects are frankly nothing special for that high a CR, so this is likely going to be either a long drawn out fight where the party is barely doing anything to Vecna round after round and they get ground down....or its going to be rocket tag where the party whips him in like 1 round.


All of that said, if you really want an invincible Vecna, just stick him in an anti-magic field. He's immune to weapon damage, immune to most magics, and still get to technically teleport and heal if he wants to (one of the oddities of using abilities over spells). Slap that in his lair and I'm pretty sure he's completely unstoppable.

Have you looked at the adventure and the Lair Actions. I do have issues with throwing this Vecna statblock at a level 20 party, but the adventure does a nice job of setting it up so Vecna can threaten them. The Lair Actions are pretty good and the lair itself is favorable to Vecna without being a death trap.

 

[dave2008]

It occurs to me: how many people are going to have a pretty unfun time with this because they decided to read the stat block before a DM in their group offers to run the adventure or just a battle with Vecna?

Also: what's the over-under on how man "revised Vecna" PDFs we will see on DMsGuild before the weekend is out?

I've already thought of doing one, though I would offer it for free on my thread here. If I wasn't so busy with work this weekend I would do it ASAP. But it will probably have to wait to until next week. The Archlich version will be a very quick and easy adjustment, but the god version will take a bit more time I think.