WotC Vecna Eve of Ruin: Everything You Need To Know

WotC has posted a 19-minute video telling you 'everything you need to know' about Vecna: Eve Of Ruin.

• Starts at 10th level, goes to 20th.
• Classic villains and setting, famous characters, D&D's legacy.
• Vecna wants to become the supreme being of the multiverse.
• Vecna is a god of secrets and secrets and the power of secrets are a theme throughout the book.
• A mechanical subsystem for using the power of secrets during combat.
• Going back to Ravenloft, the Nine Hells, places where 5th Edition has been in the last 10 years.
• It would be a fun 'meta experience' for players to visit locations they remember lore about.
• Finding pieces of the Rod of Seven Parts, pieces throughout the multiverse.
• Each piece in one of seven distinct planes or settings.
• Allustriel Silverhand has noticed something is wrong, puts call out to Tasha and Mordenkainen, who come to her sanctum in Sigil.
• The (10th level) PCs are fated to confront Vecna.
• Lord Soth and Strahd show up. Tiamat is mentioned but doesn't appear 'on screen'.
• Twists, turns, spoilers.
• It's a 'love letter to D&D'.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I think the Planescape part will be primarily Hell. So maybe Zariel will be the Planescape big bad.

There will be seven pieces of the Rod in seven settings. But, the adventure goes from 10 - 20, which is 10 or 11 levels (assuming that there will be play at 20th level). I would guess the structure would likely go: one or two levels of set up, seven levels of gathering the pieces, and then the remaining levels thwarting Vecna. That basically means 3 - 4 levels/chapters outside the visits to the various settings, which, given the high-levels we're talking about here, will likely be on the planes. So, there's plenty of room for both the Hells and the Abyss - and potential other planar locations as well! And given that Planescape will be one of the settings, that's another planar visit on the cards.

(The seven settings are, presumably, FR, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Eberron, Ravenloft (which being in the Shadowfell is a planar location itself), Spelljammer, and Planescape).

 

[Parmandur]

(The seven settings are, presumably, FR, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Eberron, Ravenloft (which being in the Shadowfell is a planar location itself), Spelljammer, and Planescape).

Yes, they specified that in some PR stuff: all 7 older D&D Settigs that have gotten 5E visits are featuring in this book, with one piece of the Rod each. They say in the video that each piece of the Rod gets a whole Chapter in the relevant Setting that could be popped out and run by itself as a module, which is always appreciated.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Yes, they specified that in some PR stuff: all 7 older D&D Settigs that have gotten 5E visits are featuring in this book, with one piece of the Rod each. They say in the video that each piece of the Rod gets a whole Chapter in the relevant Setting that could be popped out and run by itself as a module, which is always appreciated.

Ok, I thought that had been confirmed, but wasn't sure.

So, basically, beyond those there are still several chapters available for all sorts extraplanar shenanigans.

 

[Distracted DM]

I'm wondering how they'll handle the level 10+ XP curve as discussed in other threads where the experience required to level goes from ~4-5 adventuring days worth of encounters to 1.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Nah, I would bet more on Bane, Bhaal, and/or Myrkul. They've been setting them up to be foes since Avernus, stating they aren't "full" gods (in other words, they're killable by characters). Bhaal would seem to be the most likely, given his symbol appearing on the alt cover (which doubles for Avernus being in the book as well), but any or all of the Dead Three could work.

This was the setup for (and resolved in) Baldur's Gate 3. Larian and WotC worked together in the planning stages of BG3 and Decent to Avernus. Obviously, computer games take a lot longer to make.

The outcome was that the dead three are dead and Jergal is back (just in time to make a cameo in Planescape).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm wondering how they'll handle the level 10+ XP curve as discussed in other threads where the experience required to level goes from ~4-5 adventuring days worth of encounters to 1.

They will use milestone levelling, just like all the other recent WotC adventures.

WotC adventures have never bothered with XP budgets and adventuring days.

 

[dead]

Anyone else notice that they used time travel as a way to have a none Archfey Tasha for this?

Has Tasha's time traveling ability been mentioned in any other sources or is this the first time?

Also, does this mean Mordenkainen also used time travel to be in this adventure? Is Mordenkainen still a mortal human in 5E? If so, he would be a very old human at this point unless he's used magic to stay young.

 

[dead]

They kind of danced around spoiling Vecna's exact plan, but...this is goojg to be the culmination of all those freaking obelisk plot hooks. And those obelisks are time manipulation devices.

I don’t own any of the adventures featuring the obelisks. Can you please give some details on how they alter time in the adventures? Just trying to prep myself for a broader understanding of the time travel theme in Eve of Ruin.

 

[Older Beholder]

Fair enough, but travel through time and travel to an alternate reality are still different things.

Going back in time creates an alternate timeline / reality. The two things are linked.

 

[Zehnseiter]

They will use milestone levelling, just like all the other recent WotC adventures.

WotC adventures have never bothered with XP budgets and adventuring days.

Imho the correct way of doing it. I probably haven't even looked d at XP budgets since the 3E days. And there only because of XP costs for creating magic items.

I have no problems with the authors just using milestone levelling instead of torturing themselves with XP budgets. Its difficult enough to make high level adventure working in 5E even without that extra layer of bureaucracy on top of it.