You may know Vecna as the Undying King, the Whispered One, or the Lord of the Rotted Tower. He is a being so evil and powerful that most dare not even whisper his true name in the fear that he will be summoned.
This vile being has lived for thousands of years and has amassed such great and terrible power that he has been able to not only transform himself into a lich but, in some settings, has achieved godhood. Many adventurers have tried and failed to stop the dastardly machinations of this dark creature.
This article will go over everything you need to know to make Vecna the biggest and baddest BBEG your party has ever faced.
Vecna Dossier
D&D Beyond users were previously able to claim a copy of the Vecna Dossier, which contained lore and statistics for the Undying King. If you own the Vecna Dossier, you can access its contents by navigating to the Sources page.
Who Is Vecna?
Vecna is one of Dungeons & Dragons' most infamous villains. His roots stretch all the way back to the first edition of the game. Since the '70s, Vecna's lore has been fleshed out in various editions of D&D, and, more recently, he appeared in a number of pop culture phenomenon like Critical Role and Stranger Things. If this lengthy resume can ascertain one thing, it's that Vecna is the Big Bad Evil Guy of D&D.
Vecna started off not as the tyrannical being of pure evil that we see today but as a pair of magic items, the Eye of Vecna and the Hand of Vecna. These items spoke of a legendary figure of evil, but the story behind Vecna wasn't fully fleshed out until the third edition. At this point, Vecna's backstory in the Greyhawk setting was revealed.
Vecna's story began on the world of Oerth when his mother, a lowly hedge witch, was exiled for practicing necromancy. Now orphaned, Vecna was bound into servitude as a scribe by the very order of wizards that cast his mother out. Little did they know, Vecna snuck into the order's libraries and began teaching himself the arcane arts. Eventually, with the help of a dark deity who fueled his cruel intentions, Vecna's power grew to a point where he was able to destroy the order of wizards that uprooted his life.
From there, Vecna's hatred and yearning for power never ceased. He forged a mighty empire in the world of Greyhawk that lasted for generations. Eventually, Vecna's mortal body began to fade, and he used dark magic to become immortal.
After achieving lichdom, Vecna grew bored of his kingdom on Greyhawk and sought powers beyond his world. He appointed Kas, an oathbreaker paladin, as his regent to oversee his kingdom. To aid Kas, Vecna granted him a fell blade, known as the Sword of Kas. This sword helped Kas smite the enemies of Vecna, but—unbeknownst to Vecna—a sentience contained within the blade conspired with Kas to overthrow his master. Eventually, Kas succumbed to the blade's will and attempted to destroy Vecna.
After the dust settled, all that could be found of the combatants were the Sword of Kas and the Hand and Eye of Vecna. Vecna, managing to escape the fray, now roams the multiverse, seeking to grow his power. Most recently, Vecna was able to ascend to godhood and is now beyond the reach of conventional adventurers. However, in your D&D campaign, Vecna may still be attempting to ascend—allowing your party to foil his schemes.
Setting Up Vecna as Your Big Bad
Using Vecna as a Big Bad works well for campaigns going all the way up to the 20th level, as parties below this level won't stand a chance against such a mighty foe. For campaigns that will be ending at a lower level but that still want to include Vecna, consider making the climax of the campaign a showdown with cultists who intend to summon Vecna.
Foreshadowing Vecna
Vecna is more than a being of evil power. He is a presence that invades the mind of every power-hungry creature with ill intentions. If you want to set Vecna up to be the Big Bad of your campaign, you have to be subtle and bide your time. Vecna isn't like Strahd; he won't invite the party to his castle as soon as they appear on his radar. Instead, Vecna works from the shadows. He corrupts those that also seek the power to subjugate others to their will.
You can roll on the table below for examples of events that foreshadow Vecna's arrival.
d6 |
Event |
1 |
Evil-aligned characters suddenly get access to powerful, dark magic |
2 |
Undead begin to plague the land |
3 |
The world's gods get cut off from the Material Plane |
4 |
An ancient artifact surfaces, and nobody knows what it does |
5 |
Two kingdoms that were previously allies go to war with one another |
6 |
The followers of a particular god suddenly feel the god's presence vanish |
Important Magic Items
Vecna's backstory features some extremely powerful magic items that can serve as crucial set pieces in a Vecna-centric campaign. It's essential to read up on the story behind these items and their effects before running a campaign with Vecna as your Big Bad.
Book of Vile Darkness
The Book of Vile Darkness is where Vecna has recorded all of his evil deeds, vile spells, and gruesome thoughts. While Vecna usually carries the book, it has been known to end up in the hands of different owners who add their own terrible entries to the book. No one knows whether this is at the will of Vecna or if the book has its own sentience and desires.
The Book of Vile Darkness is handy for sowing the seeds of Vecna's arrival. As pages can be removed from the book, a party of adventurers finding a yellowing sheet of parchment with abyssal scrawlings can be a great plot hook to go to an ancient library or a purveyor of magical items to decipher its contents and origins. Another plot hook could stem from one of the effects of the Book of Vile Darkness, in that nature cannot abide its presence. The ramifications of this effect could provide a hook in which the party has to investigate a dying tree that is sacred to a circle of druids.
The Vecna Dossier states that Vecna always carries the Book of Vile Darkness on his person. Were the book to go missing, a group of Vecna cultists could go on the hunt for it. With the various secrets it carries, the book might be the MacGuffin they need to summon Vecna onto the Material Plane or could perhaps contain the location of the Eye and Hand of Vecna.
Eye and Hand of Vecna
The Eye and Hand of Vecna are some of the most famous items in D&D history and are all but required to include in a campaign that uses Vecna as the Big Bad. These powerful artifacts are infused with great power but come at a cost—either your eye or your hand depending on which you wield. That said, an eye and a hand are ultimately a small cost for access to the wish spell, which is the main reason that unsavory folks seek out the artifacts in the first place. Beyond the power they provide, they are also a source of pain for Vecna. They represent his greatest failure at the hand of his subordinate.
An interesting way to introduce these items into your campaign would be to have the party have a run-in with a group of cultists who are all missing either their left hand, left eye, or both. This is an immediately distinguishing—and disturbing—trait that could be used to represent Vecna's minions throughout your campaign. Say, once the cultists have been established as no good, your party is at the banquet of a friendly noble when they realize that one of the noble's servants has a prosthesis on his left hand! And he's pouring the noble a drink!
A unique trait shared by the Eye and Hand of Vecna is that they need to be wielded by the same creature in order to be destroyed by the Sword of Kas. Maybe this will result in a sacrifice being made by a party member, who gouges out their own eye, chops off their own hand, and allows themselves to be smote by the Sword of Kas to allow evil to be destroyed once and for all. This could also serve as a terrifying learning opportunity for the party when they strike down a creature wielding either the Eye or Hand individually, only to realize that the artifact hasn't been destroyed.
Sword of Kas
While not initially well-intentioned, the Sword of Kas once served as a foil to Vecna. As it stands, the sword is the only known artifact that can destroy the Eye and Hand of Vecna. Unfortunately, it can just as easily be destroyed by a creature that wields both the Eye and the Hand. This can result in an interesting final encounter with the wielder of the artifacts—whether it's with Vecna himself or just one of his loyal followers—where the party can't reveal they have the sword until the last minute.
Once Vecna has been established as the main villain, the party will likely need to research his past to find his weaknesses. After a trip to the library, the party could discover that Kas is still rumored to be "alive." Unfortunately, he's pretty hard to talk to as he's currently serving time as the Darklord of Tovag—a Domain of Dread within the Plane of Shadow. Oh, he's also now a vampire. The process of finding a way to travel to Tovag, surviving the dangers of the Domain of Dread, convincing Kas to tell them the sword's location, and finally escaping the Plane of Shadows can be a mini-arch of a campaign all in itself.
Confronting Vecna
The Vecna Dossier provides Dungeon Masters with the stat block for Vecna before he ascended to godhood which, at no surprise to anyone, is a CR 26 powerhouse with a frightening amount of combat tricks. But, to use Vecna as your Big Bad, you'll need more than just a stat block. You need to get inside the head of this evil genius to entirely and utterly dismantle the puny band of adventurers that dare oppose you.
Vecna's Minions
Vecna's dark power draws many different creatures into servitude. Whether they intend to see Vecna rise again or to expand their own power, Vecna usually has good use for creatures that will not balk at the vile deeds he tasks them.
Due to the fear of death, mortals with short lifespans are easy targets for the seductive power the Undying King can provide. Once corrupted, expendable followers would become cultists, whereas those with a bit more promise could lead the ravel as a cult fanatic. For tasks that need to be handled quietly and effectively, assassins would be one of Vecna's first choices.
While his cultists and assassins manage the everyday preparations for his return, Vecna's archmage will lead their team of mages in more arcane matters. As followers of an undead lich, these magic users may be more inclined to prepare necromantic spells like toll the dead, cause fear, or animate dead over the spells suggested in their stat blocks.
When looking for supernatural forces, Vecna is more likely to use controllable undead minions rather than something with autonomy like a demon, devil, or aberration. For unimportant tasks, any corpse of a previous victim can become a zombie or skeleton to bolster his ranks. As some humanoids may be intimidated by the thought of leading an undead horde, wraiths are ideal commanders of these forces.
At the top of the pecking order, right below Vecna in terms of command, could sit a death knight. As a bizarre repetition of what happened with Kas, Vecna could seek another paladin who has fallen from grace and twist him into a monstrosity of malevolent magic. However, this time it would be different. Vecna's jaded pride would not get in the way of completely breaking the death knight's mind so that they have no doubt who is the master and who is the servant.
Vecna's Lair
As his title of Lord of the Rotted Tower suggests, Vecna once ruled from an obsidian tower that rose from the waters of a fathoms deep lake. Because beings of immeasurable power and immortal life aren't likely to try new things, it stands to reason that Vecna would once again look for a tower to use as his stronghold. This tower would likely be in a rarely traveled, desolate area where he is unlikely to be bothered as he puts his schemes into place.
Adventurers bold enough to attempt to invade Vecna's tower would do well to expect all kinds of traps, powerful magic, and deadly creatures. As a lair of one of the most paranoid, powerful magic users in the multiverse, the traps encountered in Vecna's stronghold will likely be elaborate and deadly. If you're struggling to think up traps dastardly enough for Vecna, the Complex Traps in Xanathar's Guide to Everything are a great place to start.
Those that survive the tower long enough to encounter Vecna will have to face the lich at his strongest, as he will be surrounded by sources of dark magic to draw from. If you're looking to increase the difficulty of the encounter with Vecna, consider adding the Lair Actions from the lich's stat block. We also offer homebrew lair actions in this level 20 adventure that ends in a showdown with Vecna.
Ideas for the Final Encounter
Even though Vecna is one of the most powerful liches ever to exist, it doesn't excuse him from the fact that he is still a lich. Because they are released from their mortal tether, liches become vain, cruel, and always search for more power. After achieving lichdom, Vecna soon set his eyes on an even loftier goal, godhood.
In some stories, Vecna has already ascended to godhood and will need divine intervention from another deity to face directly. In other stories, Vecna is still searching for the vile rituals required to become a god or perhaps was cast out of the Outer Planes by his fellow gods and seeks a way to return. Still more stories may deal with a Vecna in a catatonic state or imprisoned in a demiplane where he cannot touch the Material Plane. Whatever Vecna's intention, the tale will likely culminate with a mad dash to prevent Vecna from enacting whatever ritual he needs to achieve his goal.
Preventing the Ritual
Using a ritual as the climactic final battle is an excellent way to add suspense to the final fight. Instead of a straightforward initiative, an event with a timer could lead to multiple alternative goals to the scenario. When planning the final battle with Vecna, you can roll on the table below to help brainstorm ideas to make the combat multidimensional.
d4 |
Event |
1 |
A portal is opening and 2d6 magical obelisks are its power source. The obelisks need to be destroyed in 1 minute, or all will be lost! This scenario could be made even better if your player's previous successes and failures determine the number of obelisks Vecna was able to collect. |
2 |
The body of a powerful and friendly NPC is possessed by Vecna and is being used to achieve his goal. Will the party be able to save the NPC and still defeat Vecna? |
3 |
Vecna or one of Vecna's followers wields the Eye and Hand of Vecna and will use it to achieve their goals unless stopped. The party needs to strike them down with the Sword of Kas but can't get within 30 ft. of the Big Bad until they are incapacitated, lest they use the wish spell to destroy the sword. |
4 |
The party needs to destroy Vecna before his undead army overruns a magical site that contains an artifact preventing Vecna from achieving his goal. A magical barrier around the site will hold for 24 hours, so the party must rush to confront the lich but must first overcome his tower of terrors. |
The Time of Vecna is Nigh!
Vecna's evils and hunger for power know no bound. This, combined with his knowledge of the multiverse's inner workings, allows Vecna to be the villain in just about any campaign you can imagine. With the help of the Vecna Dossier, you too can unleash the terrifying power of Vecna on your table. Want to see Vecna in action? Check out our one-shot stream with Jasmine Bhullar as Dungeon Master!
Mike Bernier (@arcane_eye) is the founder of Arcane Eye, a site focused on providing useful tips and tricks to all those involved in the world of D&D. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his girlfriend, and tending the veritable jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house.
This is a nice accompanying article to the linked ones, thanks! Would Vecna be able to stand up to a level 20 party alone, or would minions still be necessary for the party to be threatened?
Depends on how optimized your party is! We ran a one-shot on Twitch yesterday with a warlock, rogue, barbarian, and paladin, and got wiped.
I believe there is a typo in the "Vecna's Lair" section. The text reads "rose from the waters of a fathoms deep lake. " Should that say fathomless?
Also, Third.
I believe this means that the lake is many fathoms deep. (A fathom is approximately 1.8 m)
This is already bringing so much inspiration for my next campaign!
Whatâs with the sudden flood of Vecna stuff?
Short answer: Stranger Things
Longer version: Season 4 came out, and as every season up to this point, the bad guy was named after a loosely fitting D&D villain, and this season they chose, you guessed it, Vecna! Cuz ST-fans love this villain/ season so much, it's basically all the rage the last couple of weeks. Now Wizards of the Coast is doing its best to ride the wave and get as much attention as they can (which i get, they're still a business and I'm glad that our favourite lich/god/meanie is getting some more attention).
Also, they mention in one of their recent posts that the show 'Critical Role' is also to thank for this, because the BBEG of their first campaign was also this necroboy, although that was like 4 years ago now.
They also have him as the hinted as the bbeg in vox machine animted series
I ran a campaign a while ago where it started off as a generic, open world explorationg where the players basically did odd jobs for a local noble. The only thing that tied the quests together was the noble's youngest son, a wizard apprentice who kept trying to tag along on every one of their missions. I made him as annoying as I could, with a high pitched voice, a tendency to throw tantrums, and spells that tended to hit the players, when they didn't blow up in his face. Every time, he was basicly brushed aside by the players, until when they reached level 5, when he stopped appearing. At this point, they were the local king's personal emissaries, and didn't really give his disapearance much thought, until at level 7, they go on a mission to investigate some unndead appearing in the same area they started. There, they discover the noble's son who has somehow gotten his hands (or now hand), on the Hand of Vecna, formed a cult, and is now well on his way to aquiring the Eye of Vecna. This led to a mad scramble as they tried to stop him, which ended with the party fighting him outside a vault that contianed the Eye. Said fight ended with the noble's son blowing himself up with fireball after I roled a one.
gotta get the party to 20 first x'D
is there a vod of it?
Hahaha
Yeah, the way I set it up was meant for the party to show up halfway through the summoning of Vecna, and the result being that a hole is essentally ripped in the fabric of the universe which led to Vecna's prison, but Vecna wouldn't be freed yet. My plan was to free him when they reached level 20, ending the campaign with that fight. However, the players got lucky and guessed there way through a puzzle, and oblitereated the 4 wriaths and 8 skelotons I had set as guards. (I expected them to go down relatively easily, I just didn't expect it to be 3 wraits and 7 skeletons down in turn one easy), and stormed into the summoning chamber roughly an hour early. And then, I had disadvantage on the spell, and rolled two ones.
The missing left hand and eye could also be an indicator that a person was a victim of Vecna's cult rather than a devoted participant. The cult could have a ritual where they sacrifice the left hands and left eyes of random people to bind them to Vecna before killing them and turning them into Vecna's undead, and seeing a living person without their left hand and left eye could hint that they had escaped from the cult.
The ideas for the campaign here are awesome, but there is one slight plot hole in the section about Kas. The text suggests the players will need to convince Kas to give them the Sword's location, but according to Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, Kas doesn't actually know where the Sword is. He spends most of his time raising armies to send out into the Mists to find his missing blade, only for none of them to ever return.
I'm making Vecna the big bad of my Strixhaven Campaign
I am so curious how many more of these Dossiers are planned. Would love to see one for Lolth.
I gotta say, I really like that 4th option. And may just incorporate it into a future campaign of mine.
YES!
Good âol VecnaâŠyou want utter horror & intellectual cruelty? Vecna is your pal.
I had a campaign where a group of evil adventurers led by a haggard Oathbreaker Paladin slaughtered an orphanage & the town that harbored it.
The entire party thought this Oathbreaker Paladin and his buddies were the grand villains of the campaign.
Turns out, the children in the orphanage were the REAL villains of the campaignâŠa cult of necromancers, who would conduct their secret meetings in the bodies of children, via the âCloneâ spell.
When the party witnessed the Oathbreaker Paladin and his fellow adventurers slay these children & burn their orphanage; they believed them to be the enemy.
They didnât realize that the necromancers had been responsible for countless atrocities, dedicated to their wicked god, Vecna.
So many innocents had suffered, it had driven the Paladin to denounce his Oath; and dedicate his life to purging the Cult of Vecna, no matter what place they chose to hide.
Iâm very pleased to have an official stat block for a pre-divinity VecnaâŠit will make for an enjoyable âfinal bossâ if I decide to dust-off this storylineâŠif not for the deity himself; for the cultists themselves.