Has someone used the eye or hand of Vecna?

[huank]

Hello everyone. I'm thinking of a plot where the hand or the eye of Vecna will be envolved, but after reading both artifacts on the DMG I started to doubt a little bit about using them, so, I would like to know if someone did it already and if so, see if you can share some advice with me.

Thanks!

 

[Dice4Hire]

I have never used them in a game, as I never have expected one of my players to actually do the self-mutilation needed to become a part of Venca. It is a cool idea for an adventure though.

If I put it in, I would make it unavoidable that someone would have to use the eye to succeed.

Plus the next adventure later to get rid of it would be cool, too.

 

[pemerton]

Not yet. One of the PCs in my game is an invoker of Vecna, Ioun and Erathis, however, so I'm hoping to get these into play. (The PCs are about to discover the Sword of Kas.)

 

[Aegeri]

I will be in one of my future campaigns.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

If I put it in, I would make it unavoidable that someone would have to use the eye to succeed.

If I was running a game with it, I'd let the players decide to use it or not. If they use it they would have an easier, more decisive victory. If they decided not to use it they could still win a victory but it would be much more costly one.

That lets the players keep their freedom of choice and would introduce an interesting temptation to the players.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

I'd love to use the Hand and Eye of Vecna, but I feel they are somewhat limited by being Paragon artifacts. I wish there was a way to upgrade them to Epic, or to downgrade to Heroic. That way, they could be usable across more tiers.

In addition, a big challenge I have with the Hand and Eye is thinking up scenarios where use of this artifact is vital enough that a player has their PC maim itself. I've never heard of it actually being used in a "serious" game.

Storywise, if I were to incorporate these artifacts into my campaign, I'd return Vecna to his roots as a powerful, wizardly demigod on the cusp of true divinity. He died long ago, but portions of his malevolent spirit linger on in his hand and eye. If Vecna's various body parts (I also like the idea of a Heart of Vecna - the Head, not so much ) were all reassembled, then Vecna has a chance of being reborn. That would be the plot of my Vecna-focused campaign.

 

[webrunner]

Situations where you would need eye or hand of vecna:

- You find a magical retinal/hand scanner keyed to Vecna

- player already is missing hand/eye. hey, free hand/eye! nobody's going to turn down that deal!

- Player wishes to be a thri-kreen and is therefore hording hands.

- player is currently fighting the power, and needs something in order to see the invisible and touch the untouchable.

- player already has one of them and are severely lacking in hand-of-vecna-eye-of-vecna-coordination-of-vecna

- player is secretly actually vecna and wants his stuff back

- bard player gives another player "a hand with that", and is so sick of the bard decides to just go with it to spite the bard.

- player is told "all the cool kids are doing it"

- player thinks "eye for an eye" is some sort of eye trading service and wants to trade up.

- player is getting bored with own hands during 'personal time', needs something to 'spice it up'.

 

[brehobit]

Hand...

I ran a "2-shot" and one character (a troll, they were playing mosters) started with the hand. I believe I nerfed it a little bit, but it's really handy (bada-bing!). It actually worked out quite well.

 

[huank]

At last! Someone that has actually used it! Anyone else?

 

[Ktulu]

Hello everyone. I'm thinking of a plot where the hand or the eye of Vecna will be envolved, but after reading both artifacts on the DMG I started to doubt a little bit about using them, so, I would like to know if someone did it already and if so, see if you can share some advice with me.

Thanks!

I used it in a campaign recently. Thematically, it was changed to be the eye of the first lich in my world, someone as powerful as Vecna, but in a world with a very small list of gods.

The party "found" it, though it would later be realized by the bard (who had a bit of precognition) that he had been drawn to its location. After a severe beating over the course of some sessions, the bard realized he wasn't as strong as his allies and needed the power granted by the eye to be a valuable ally in the battle against the Yuan-ti oppression (it's easier to just read the campaign guide -- link's at the end).

Anyway, it did grant him power and was corrupting him with the need for more knowledge and power (the lich's point of being was to continuously survive for more knowledge). In a brief spot in hell, where the party traded favors to a version of Asmodeus for their friend's life, the bard asked to have the eye removed. Asmodeus did so, killing the bard instantly. His life was spared, only because it amused him so.

Ultimately, now free of the eye's control, the party went in search of the first lich to gain the knowledge needed to defeat the Yuan-ti lord, Skather-sol. The lich offered the information provided the bard become the liche's new host. The bard reluctantly agreed, and realized that his original actions had always drawn him to this ultimate conclusion.


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