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

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[JEB]

Looking at some of the horror bits in this adventure, I have to say that if folks were worried Wizards was going soft with stuff like Wild Beyond the Witchlight, this makes a compelling counterargument. (Brin, in particular.)

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Not design issues, but definitely design philosophy and assumptions by players. For some reason you assume a CR 26 should be invincible, but that is not what CR26 is in 5e. You need to adjust your perspective of what CR 26 is or you will always have an issue. I know because I used to be like you. I spent a lot of time changing CR calculations and trying to make them the "correct" challenge for the number. Then I realized it is just a number, it doesn't have greater meaning than that.

I do agree with you here and that is an issue since it doesn't have legendary actions. However, it is designed with quite a bit of methods to get around that. Of course Lair Actions help a lot.

They really need to use legendary actions and resistance more, not less. It’s one of the best new mechanics of the edition.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

LOL...most games at high level don't have +2 weapons...sure. I don't even let my players have magical items to level 5, but I know they will have +2 items at level 13.

That is an idiosyncratic assumption, not an axiomatic one.

The game assumes no magic items. Most groups I know don’t even use +X weapons.

You certainly can’t design monsters for publication to the general player base that assume every weapon user will have a +2 weapon.

 

[SkidAce]

Hmmm, Vecna verses Acererak! Fight!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Not exactly. It says the V & S components aren't needed. It doesn't say it can't be counterspelled. I realize that is how it is probably used, but I, as a DM, don't necessarily have to adjudicate it that way

I sure as heck wouldn't read it that way. I don't understand why anyone would think that Quickened Spell or Subtle Metamagic have anything to do with Counterspell.

The Monk's got a chance, though. A small chance.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

So this is the least interesting way?

This is the most open-ended way to allow for him to easily be used in practically any setting. Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Ravenloft, Greyhawk, Exandria, maybe even Dark Sun and the M:tG settings. The lore still works for all of them.

I'm sure if WotC were to publish a full-length adventure covering Vecna, they'd go more in-depth and give him more lore.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Would probably be a good idea to add "Vecna is immune from effects that prevent him from using Reactions" under the Reactions section. On the one hand, it's a great tactic to help try and turn the battle in the party's favor (if you have the one spell or the one sub-class that can do it), but on the other hand, he's way scarier if that tactic doesn't work.

I personally would still reward the players for having the tools to shut down his reactions, but not so much that they completely remove all of them. I'd do something more like "every effect that would take away Vecna's reactions instead just removes one of them for the duration of the effect". So if you cast Slow on him (and he failed his saving throw and for some reason didn't counterspell it) he'd still have Reactions while affected by the spell, but only two of them.

 

[Parmandur]

This is the most open-ended way to allow for him to easily be used in practically any setting. Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Ravenloft, Greyhawk, Exandria, maybe even Dark Sun and the M:tG settings. The lore still works for all of them.

I'm sure if WotC were to publish a full-length adventure covering Vecna, they'd go more in-depth and give him more lore.

I wonder if this is just merely taking advantage of the Stranger Things event, or if this is a preview of a future product, like the Sapphire Dragon was a couple years back? A "Fizban for the Undead" detailing a bunch of high level options would be cool, or a book full of generic plug and play NPCs like Vecna.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Sorcerer quickens Shocking Grasp or Subtle Spells it. The End.
Open Hand Monk shuts down Vecna's Reactions for TWO turns. The End.

"The end"? You know taking away his reactions doesn't mean that he dies instantly, right? And that he has 5 legendary resistance? And even if he does die because his reactions are taken away, are you ignoring the fact that he's literally immortal and will come back whether or not the PCs kill him?

And if the DM puts Vecna in their campaign like this, he's probably supposed to die. Sure, certain abilities let people kill him faster than usual. Whooptity doo. That's true for every single monster in the game. And it's entirely situational, because the things you're listing that can get rid of his reactions will have to be planned for super early in advance (because you choose your subclass at level 3 and barely get any new cantrips after character creation).

Good job. You just discovered a way that you can negate one of Vecna's most powerful abilities with a few niche abilities that you'd either have to luck into getting the right ones or knowing multiple levels in advance that you're going to be fighting Vecna. Good luck actually having that go your way if you plan on ever using that in a campaign.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

The fact that a CR 26 needs minions and lair actions speaks volumes on design issues, and design philosophy. And if he is low in the Initiative chain, he dies. No CR 26 should have to need to be win Initiative to survive.

I don't know about you, but literally every time I have a boss monster that I intend to have in a major battle where it's difficult for the PCs, I've always given them at least a few minions. Archfiends get smaller/weaker fiends that serve them and maybe a few cultists, Liches get undead servants, Warlords get soldiers and bodyguards, and so on.

This is consistent with how D&D 5e works. Action economy is important to consider when making encounters that you intend to be challenging. The fact that Vecna might need some servants to help him in combat to avoid being swarmed is consistent with other boss monsters in D&D 5e, not inherently bad game design because it's cool to fight a horde of minions led by a boss monster, and makes sense from Vecna's perspective because he's a lich that can cast Animate Dead at will and is known to have lead kingdoms/domains/religions in the past.