D&D: The Rod of Seven Parts – Overpowered or Underrated?
Adventurers are sent running after the legendary Rod of Seven parts in Vecna: Eve of Ruin, but is it worth the hype?
Vecna: Eve of Ruin features two artifacts from D&D’s past, one iconic and the other a deep-cut Baldur’s Gate reference. Both play heavily in the unfolding plot of the adventure. Today, we’re here to talk about the Rod of Seven Parts in Vecna: Eve of Ruin.
First of all, fair warning: We’re talking about stuff in the adventure, so you better believe there are spoilers ahead. But WotC has already featured the Rod of Seven Parts as a big part of the adventure promo. It’s already been spoiled that it’s in there. We’re going to talk about what it does and how you get it. So, if you’re worried, stop here.
Otherwise, buckle up, and let’s check out the Rod of Seven Parts.
Vecna: Eve of Ruin – One Rod, Seven Parts
The Rod of Seven Parts plays a major role in Vecna: Eve of Ruin. According to the archwizard Mordenkainen, it’s the key to stopping Vecna and his plans. But it wasn’t always a Rod of Seven different parts, it was once a singular artifact known as the Rod of Law. Crafted by the Wind Dukes of Aaqa to stop an incursion of chaos by the demon lord, Miska the Wolf-Spider, the Rod of Law was used to imprison him.
But the power of the endeavor shattered the rod into seven parts scattered throughout the multiverse. Reassembling the scattered pieces will grant the wielder powerful abilities. Now, how they’ll help you stop Vecna is anyone’s guess, but here’s a look at what the Rod of Seven Parts does.
Each piece of the broken rod has two major abilities. For one, holding any piece will let you know the general location of the next consecutive piece. There’s an order in which the rod is assembled, which conveniently lends itself well to the on-rails nature of Vecna: Eve of Ruin. But aside from just pointing to where the next piece of the rod is, each of the rod’s seven parts grants whoever wields it the ability to cast a number of spells, ranging from helpful to just kind of okay.
The pieces let you cast in order:
- Commune
- Arcane Gate
- Reverse Gravity
- Regenerate
- Find the Path
- Mirage Arcane
- Simulacrum
The rod’s parts let you cast these spells once per day as an action, which is great because some of these spells have a fairly long windup. The Simulacrum piece alone will be a game-changer for folks. Assemble the rod, though, and you unlock a bit more power.
Vecna: Eve of Ruin – One Rod, Assembled
The reassembled Rod of Seven Parts is in a bit of a strange place for an “artifact.” Nominally, these are some of the most powerful items in the game. And while the reassembled Rod is certainly strong, it may not compare to something like the Axe of Dwarvish Lords or the Hand and Eye of Vecna.
It’s a +3 magic quarterstaff, though you’re probably not going to use it to hit most things. But hey, you never know. It also contains 7 charges, each of which can be spent to cast one of the spells the rod’s parts are capable of casting. This means you could potentially cast a Simulacrum, have your magical duplicate blow all its spell slots as quickly as possible, and then do it all again. Even if you don’t do it multiple times in a fight, that’s still potentially doubling or tripling, depending on your DM, your firepower in a single fight.
The other spells can be pretty handy, especially Mirage Arcane when it’s deployed as an action. But you have to be prepared to use it at the right time. Aside from letting you cast these spells, the Rod of Seven Parts doesn’t have a lot of that showstopper artifact power that others do. It’s not as directly offensive or even as versatile as other magic items that aren’t even artifacts. Look at the Staff of Power or Staff of the Magi, which are absolute game changers when you get them. More spells and a wider variety of combat options.
But the Rod of Seven Parts has that “you can use this cleverly” kind of feel to it. And you can ruin someone’s day with the Rod. Nothing like suddenly having 2 extra 20th-level spellcasters in a fight to really rain on someone’s parade.
Love it or unimpressed by it, you’ll be finding the Rod of Seven Parts in Vecna: Eve of Ruin!
