D&D: Vecna’s New Lease on Unlife Reveals Powerful New Abilities
There’s a new Vecna in town, and if you have a D&D Beyond account, you can take a look at the lich of liches for yourself. Check out what’s new!
Wizards of the Coast recently released a new version of one of their oldest villains: Vecna. There’s a new Vecna in town, complete with a new stat block and lair actions. We recently got a look at the new design for the archlich, courtesy of a WizKids statue:
But now the wait is over, and the official new Vecna has been revealed. And now until June 16th, any and all players with a D&D Beyond Account can claim a free copy of the Vecna Dossier, which includes a new statblock and a new adventure.
New Vecna Dossier – D&D Beyond
In the Vecna Dossier, you’ll find new lore for the archlich, as well as connections to magical artifacts, and of course, an all-new CR 26 statblock for the archlich himself. We won’t walk you through the entirety of his new story entry. But, the beats are still mostly the same.
Vecna’s mother was exiled for practicing necromancy, and the order of Wizards behind it made Vecna their scribe. Eventually, Vecna heard a voice in his head tempting him to give into the hatred brewing in his heart. Naturally he kills everyone and begins to write the Book of Vile Darkness.
From there he goes on to forge an empire on Oerth and eventually gets betrayed by his former lieutenant, Kas the Bloody-Handed, in an incident we all know by now.
New Statblock
But! We also get a look at the new stat block. Vecna gets a CR 26 form that appears as he did before Kas cut off his hand and eye. He’s got some fairly powerful new abilities, but there are a few in particular that are especially interesting. To start with, he has five different instances of Legendary Resistances, breaking from the norm.
He also can’t be permanently killed. If you slay his body, his soul lives on as a disembodied spirit for 1d100 years until a new body can be fashioned. But most importantly, Vecna doesn’t have legendary actions. That said, he does get to take three reactions per turn.
So it’s a sort of trade-off. He has two different reactions available:
- Dread Counterspell – Shut down a spell of 4th level or lower (no slot needed) or roll for 5th level or higher, deal 3d6 psychic damage to the caster no matter what
- Fell Rebuke – After being hit by an attack, deal 3d6 necrotic damage and teleport up to 30 feet
All of this supplements his main mode of attack, a multi attack that gives him up to three different actions to choose from plus two bonus attacks with his magical dagger. Rotten Fate in particular is mean:
On top of this, he has a ton of spells. Including at will animate dead, dispel magic, fly, lighting bolt, mage hand, and fly, and 2/day castings of dimension door, invisibility, and scrying. And once per day, Vecna can dominate monster, plane shift, or surround himself with a globe of invulnerability.
On top of all of that he can, as a bonus action, teleport 30 feet and damage creatures within 15 feet of his destination. And he regains 80 hit points if any creature is damaged by it.
But if that isn’t enough for you, he’s also got some lair actions, available in the free adventure, Don’t Say Vecna, linked below. He can summon shadows, drain life, and summon a swarm of spirits that works suspiciously like Spirit Guardians.
Claim Your Copy Of The Vecna Dossier
Check out Don’t Say Vecna
