D&D 5E BBEGs, the Book of Vile Darkness, and Good Acts
Voadam
Legend
In 2e here is the description from the DMG
Book of Vile Darkness: This is a work of ineffable evil—meat and
drink to priests of that alignment. To fully consume the contents
requires one week of study, but once this has been accomplished,
the evil priest gains one point of Wisdom and enough experience
points to place him halfway into the next level of experience.
Priests neither good nor evil who read the book either lose 30,000–
120,000 experience points or become evil without benefit from the
book; there is a 50% chance for either. Good priests perusing the
pages of the unspeakable book of vile darkness will have to successfully
save vs. poison or die; and if they do not die they must successfully
save vs. spell or become permanently insane. In the latter event, even
if the save is successful, the priest loses 250,000 experience points,
less 10,000 for each point of Wisdom he has.
Other characters of good alignment suffer 5d6 points of damage
from handling the tome, and if they look inside, there is an 80%
chance a night hag will attack the character that night. Nonevil neutral
characters suffer 5d4 points of damage from handling the book, and
reading its pages causes them to succeed on a save vs. poison or
become evil, immediately seeking out an evil priest to confirm their
new alignment (see Book of Exalted Deeds for other details).
Book of Vile Darkness: This is a work of ineffable evil—meat and
drink to priests of that alignment. To fully consume the contents
requires one week of study, but once this has been accomplished,
the evil priest gains one point of Wisdom and enough experience
points to place him halfway into the next level of experience.
Priests neither good nor evil who read the book either lose 30,000–
120,000 experience points or become evil without benefit from the
book; there is a 50% chance for either. Good priests perusing the
pages of the unspeakable book of vile darkness will have to successfully
save vs. poison or die; and if they do not die they must successfully
save vs. spell or become permanently insane. In the latter event, even
if the save is successful, the priest loses 250,000 experience points,
less 10,000 for each point of Wisdom he has.
Other characters of good alignment suffer 5d6 points of damage
from handling the tome, and if they look inside, there is an 80%
chance a night hag will attack the character that night. Nonevil neutral
characters suffer 5d4 points of damage from handling the book, and
reading its pages causes them to succeed on a save vs. poison or
become evil, immediately seeking out an evil priest to confirm their
new alignment (see Book of Exalted Deeds for other details).
Hexmage-EN
Legend
I'm looking at the 4E version now:
The most important detail, though, is that the Book inevitably moves on at some point, no matter whether its user pleased it or angered it. In either case "the Book of Vile Darkness devours its owner's soul, leaving behind a living and unresponsive husk...nothing short of divine intervention will restore the devoured soul." I could be missing something, but I don't think there is any way to avoid this fate. I assume this feature of the book isn't well known or perhaps only affects mortals.
So the 4E version will tolerate a limited amount of goodness (though it is explicitly opposed to healing even allies) but will eventually devour your soul no matter what you do, whereas the 5E version disappears after a single good act but otherwise leaves you alone.
- The Book is explicitly Chaotic Evil in nature.
- It has several powers that bestow "Corruption Points" when used, on both the user of the power and any single ally within 25 feet. Accumulation of Corruption Points can cause a character's alignment to slide closer to Chaotic Evil (LG to G to U to E to CE).
- Like all 4E artifacts, it has a "Concordance Score". The higher the score a PC has with the book, the more powers that are unlocked. The lower the score the more the Book will force you to attack your allies.
- The things specifically mentioned to lower a user's Concordance Score with the Book are "healing an ally" (-1), "performing a good act" (-2), and "removing Corruption Points with magic" (-4).
- The lore states that there is one, true Book of Vile Darkness whose essence transcends all worlds. All other copies are mere shades of the true Book's essence tailored to whichever world a given copy is on. Vecna is implied to merely be the creator of a specific copy of the Book.
- Further, each copy of the Book is aware of when it is being handled and examined and can alter the presentation of its contents depending on the reader (it is most explicit with Chaotic Evil readers).
- A copy of the Book can choose to communicate by rearranging the words on its pages to form messages.
The most important detail, though, is that the Book inevitably moves on at some point, no matter whether its user pleased it or angered it. In either case "the Book of Vile Darkness devours its owner's soul, leaving behind a living and unresponsive husk...nothing short of divine intervention will restore the devoured soul." I could be missing something, but I don't think there is any way to avoid this fate. I assume this feature of the book isn't well known or perhaps only affects mortals.
So the 4E version will tolerate a limited amount of goodness (though it is explicitly opposed to healing even allies) but will eventually devour your soul no matter what you do, whereas the 5E version disappears after a single good act but otherwise leaves you alone.
