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.

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[dave2008]

I flat out consider this the best monster ever designed for 5E. The lack of legendary actions but more reactions, the threat, the healing, the movement...this is it. This is better then any other high CR monster yet made, and IMO all CR 20+ monsters should look like this. STunning.

I wouldn't go that far, but it is definitely one of the more interesting monsters they have ever designed. I still like legendary and particularily mythic monsters, but the design of this is really top notch IMO.

 

[Parmandur]

I get the feeling that official 5E monsters are designed for unoptimized parties. In my last campaign I often ended up using the maximum possible HP total (based on HD) for creatures and bumped up damage.

They've said that explicitly: the core customer base doesn't optimize. Most D&D Beyond users actively playing Warlock don't even pick Eldritch Blast as a Cantrip.

 

[Dausuul]

That is some weak-ass lore.

The original Vecna lore involved his death in a massive inferno, leaving behind only the Hand and Eye. Now, apparently, Kas merely cut them off and Vecna just... went away for a while. Then he went to the outer planes and became a god. How? Dunno.

The whole thing is dry as dust, and half of it consists of "Then Vecna went to this weird place and hung out for a while." I feel like I'm being set up for a game of "Where In The Multiverse Is Vecna Sandiego?"

Say 13th level chars take on this stat block. Said char has a +10 to hit, BEFORE any magical weapon bonus. Let's give Mr Fighter a +2 Bow. (to bypass Fell Rebuke) That is a +12 before any other magical boosts, and there many potential boosts. That hits an AC 18 75% of the time (6 or better). In the first round, a player with any sense would Action Surge, for 6 attacks. Statistically, at least 4 are going to hit, maybe 5.

That's one character, for one round. Does the entire party consist of archery-specialized fighters with +2 bows? If not, the rest of them have to contend with their spells being routinely countered and their extra attacks never landing.

 

[Thomas Rainsborough]

I flat out consider this the best monster ever designed for 5E. The lack of legendary actions but more reactions, the threat, the healing, the movement...this is it. This is better then any other high CR monster yet made, and IMO all CR 20+ monsters should look like this. STunning.

Uh huh....Until Mr Sorcerer, Mr Wizard, Mr Artificer, and a host of specialized sub-classes attack and penetrate that AC 18 (like butter for even mid level chars), and administers Shocking Grasp, a cantrip....

Shocking Grasp:
Lightning springs from your hand to deliver a shock to a creature you try to touch. Make a melee spell attack against the target. You have advantage on the attack roll if the target is wearing armor made of metal. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 lightning damage, and it can't take reactions until the start of its next turn.

So tell me again about how removing LR's for Reactions is such a stunning move?

Yeah, the designers really put a lot of brainpower into this one.....How long did they playtest this?

 

[Parmandur]

That is some weak-ass lore.

The original Vecna lore involved his death in a massive inferno, leaving behind only the Hand and Eye. Now, apparently, Kas merely cut them off and Vecna just... went away for a while. Then he went to the outer planes and became a god. How? Dunno.

The whole thing is dry as dust, and half of it is just "Then Vecna went to this place and hung out for a while." I feel like I'm being set up for a game of "Where In The Multiverse Is Vecna Sandiego?"

I mean,albeit it happened different ways to different Vecna variants?

 

[Thomas Rainsborough]

That is some weak-ass lore.

The original Vecna lore involved his death in a massive inferno, leaving behind only the Hand and Eye. Now, apparently, Kas merely cut them off and Vecna just... went away for a while. Then he went to the outer planes and became a god. How? Dunno.

The whole thing is dry as dust, and half of it is just "Then Vecna went to this place and hung out for a while." I feel like I'm being set up for a game of "Where In The Multiverse Is Vecna Sandiego?"


That's one character, for one round. Does the entire party consist of archery-specialized fighters with +2 bows? If not, the rest of them have to contend with their spells being routinely countered and their extra attacks never landing.

See my post re: Shocking Grasp that totally shuts down the Reactions of Vecna. No save possible. So suddenly Vecna is not hopping around, and is toast. And that is one way I came up with in a few minutes. How many other features/spells/feats take away reactions, without a save?

 

[Parmandur]

See my post re: Shocking Grasp that totally shuts down the Reactions of Vecna. No save possible. So suddenly Vecna is not hopping around, and is toast. And that is one way I came up with in a few minutes. How many other features/spells/feats take away reactions, without a save?

So if a group figures this out, then they win. Mission Accomplished.

 

[Shardstone]

Uh huh....Until Mr Sorcerer, Mr Wizard, Mr Artificer, and a host of specialized sub-classes attack and penetrate that AC 18 (like butter for even mid level chars), and administers Shocking Grasp, a cantrip....

Shocking Grasp:
Lightning springs from your hand to deliver a shock to a creature you try to touch. Make a melee spell attack against the target. You have advantage on the attack roll if the target is wearing armor made of metal. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 lightning damage, and it can't take reactions until the start of its next turn.

So tell me again about how removing LR's for Reactions is such a stunning move?

Yeah, the designers really put a lot of brainpower into this one.....How long did they playtest this?

Vecna is not designed to be a one vs 4. He is designed to have at least 1-2 minions, 3 at the most, who are CR 14-24. Using Vecna by himself is very much tone deaf, because almost every monster in the game without mythic is not going to be able to stand up to 4 level 13 PCs solo.

If Vecna was meant to be a solo monster, he would have mythic and he would also have a free second turn in initiative, likely on 10, and he would have had lair actions or something comparable on initative 20. Since he doesn't, we can resumably assume he is meant to be fought with some friends.

From this perspective, Vecna is sublime. His globe of invulnerability allows him to teleport around and use his recharge and necro-fear-fireball without getting hurt, while his minions take up the party's attention. He rains down death from above, and sometimes going in to stab someone with his dagger and teleporting away and rainging down more of the above.

That's just one strategy of many with him. And the moment he or his minions drop a PC to 0, he can prevent resurrection by resurrecting them himself. He is a crazy strong Leader, and if I have him do some crazy plot where he gets a Ancient Shadow Fire Dragon, a Demon Lord, and a nightwalker, he will be giving high level players a run for their money.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

That is some weak-ass lore.

Most of it is copied over from previous editions.

The original Vecna lore involved his death in a massive inferno, leaving behind only the Hand and Eye. Now, apparently, Kas merely cut them off and Vecna just... went away for a while. Then he went to the outer planes and became a god. How? Dunno.

This version of Vecna is the one from before Kas cut out/off his eye and hand. And it purposefully leaves much of what happens after that vague because covering the entire story of what happened to Vecna after he was betrayed by Kas would be really long, convoluted, and not straight to the point like this version is.

The whole thing is dry as dust, and half of it consists of "Then Vecna went to this weird place and hung out for a while." I feel like I'm being set up for a game of "Where In The Multiverse Is Vecna Sandiego?"

I mean, that is what Vecna has been like for a while now. For a while, he was in the Elemental Planes, then in Ravenloft until he somehow broke the rules of that setting and escaped, and then he went to Sigil and tried to take over, but was smote by the Lady of Pain, which didn't permanently kill him somehow. Then he became a Lesser God and then a Greater God in 4e. And he also existed in some form on Eberron, Toril, and a bunch of other worlds.

It was my impression that this explanation of Vecna is mostly there for people that don't know his whole complicated backstory and mostly there for DMs that want to plop him into whatever campaign/setting they want.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Uh huh....Until Mr Sorcerer, Mr Wizard, Mr Artificer, and a host of specialized sub-classes attack and penetrate that AC 18 (like butter for even mid level chars), and administers Shocking Grasp, a cantrip....

Shocking Grasp:
Lightning springs from your hand to deliver a shock to a creature you try to touch. Make a melee spell attack against the target. You have advantage on the attack roll if the target is wearing armor made of metal. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 lightning damage, and it can't take reactions until the start of its next turn.

So tell me again about how removing LR's for Reactions is such a stunning move?

Yeah, the designers really put a lot of brainpower into this one.....How long did they playtest this?

That requires getting to melee with him, and Shocking Grasp can be counterspelled by him if he wants.