Who Is Vecna? | Dungeons & Dragons

Who is Vecna and why is he one of the most dangerous foes in D&D. Chris Perkins and Todd Kenreck talk about one of the most famous liches in D&D.

Vecna, the Whispered One
The lich lord Vecna presides over villainous mages, conspiring politicians, and envious servants as the dark god of necromancy, undeath, and secrets. Once a dangerously clever and powerful archmage-turned-lich, his hunger for dominion over all mysteries and obsession with conquering the pantheon led to his own dissolution, leaving behind only his left hand and eye.

Vecna calls no place among the planes his home, instead wandering in search of powerful artifacts and secrets to further his unknowable plots.

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #strangerthings

[newbeo]

I don’t remember where I heard this story, but I am reminded of the tale of “The Head of Vecna.”

The game was two different teams playing on two different days (team A on Wednesdays, Team B on Fridays) competing to take over the other’s lands and loot them for treasure. They would interact by leaving traps and setting up ambushes in places to jump the other team. Not sure on the details of the game, but it sounds very DM intensive.

Team A decided to take this trap thing to a whole new level. They had their subjects whisper of an unholy artifact, “The Head of Vecna” and how they were unsettled that it was recently rehomed in a nearby cave. Next, they took the head of a fallen wizard, mummified it, and magically enchanted it to glow slightly, calling it “The Head of Vecna” the whole time. They placed this at the back of a cave, slowly building traps and trials as they left (no such treasure should be unguarded). They then waited for Friday’s game report.

Friday comes around and Team B has been hearing of this “Head of Vecna” for a few sessions now. They finally found a map to the hidden cave and battled their way through. They see the glowing head at the end of the tunnel. The wizard casts Identify to find that this item is called “The Head of Vecna.” Knowing that the eye and the hand were not at all powerful unless you replaced the appropriate part of your body to attune to them, he did not question the lack of magical aura around the head. He then told the Barbarian to cut off his head so that he could become all powerful. Team A wouldn’t know what was coming! The Barbarian swung her axe and in one fell swoop, the wizard’s head was on the ground. The rest of the team looked around at each other, waiting for “The Head of Vecna” to do something. Nothing happened. The Sorcerer says something to the tune of “He must not have done it right. I’m going to cut my own head off, and then the head will attach to me!” The Sorcerer has the Barbarian hold his axe out right at neck level, runs as fast as he can directly at it, and fails to attune to “The Head of Vecna.” The Bard then comes to the idea that the Rogue could swap his head fast enough with “The Head of Vecna” like he does with coinpurses. One headless bard later, the two remaining members of Team B decide that the head is not worth it.

Morale of the story: Wisdom should never be your dump stat.

[johnhuffman]

Reminder: "Vecna" is an intentional anagram of "Vance", as in Jack Vance, whose magic system provided the basis for D&D's spell slots mechanic.

[nickr]

you can't just post a video of Todd and Chris talking seriously about Vecna and expect me to not lose my mind.

[agentsqueek]

Anything with Chris Perkins, is a total must watch! Chris is so knowledgeable about the lore and game of DND. I always enjoy watching his content as a DM.

[mach]

"Do we know where Vecna is from, "

Chris, u GOTTA talk about Fleeth and how Vecna was twisted to evil by the village executing his mother for practicing witchcraft. His mortal come-up is such a good origin story for a villain like Vecna, He's SUCH a good "started from the bottom" figure in D&D.

[bluesy]

Vecna is Chris Perkins. Think about it.

1) You never see them in the same room together.
2) Chris's hat bill keeps covering up his eye in this interview. His LEFT eye.
3) We've seen first hand how he feeds on the suffering and despair of the players he DMs.

Just like Vecna to pop out of the D&D multiverse, get a job at WotC, and seize the narrative. 🤪

Love you guys and that mini looks amazing!

[ErnestoOchoaII]

In stranger things the villains are named after a species/monster, now the villain is named after a specific character who is one of the most powerful characters in dnd. I can't wait to see vecna in stranger things

[mach]

Glad we're getting some raw lore discussions on the main channel. More of this please, us lore historians are a little parched right now with a lot of the current lore retconning and replacements going on.

Would LOVE to see some official D&D content discussing older stuff like the Obyriths, the Hepdomat, the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, the Folly of Karsus (Even though we get a bit of Netheril in RotFM), any lore that someone who has only known 5e might not know. There's a rich and storied history in the D&D multverse and what is published in 5e only scratches the surface!

[sanddry]

One of the things I love about Vecna is how he fought his way from the very bottom from being a witch’s son in Fleeth to having the balls to try to take over The City of Doors while the Lady of Pain was there to try to reshape the multiverse. Dude definitely has ambition

Another interesting thing is that even though he is very evil, he does do his job well. Like cursing mortals who poke to deep into things they shouldn’t to protect secrets. (Like looking too much into Tharizdun)

Will say I’m not too thrilled with Vecna’s new redesign but It’s not terrible but just felt surprisingly too… ornamental? Doesn’t feel like “god of secrets” but again meh

[WolfrinFenris]

Can we please have more lore discussion videos with Mr. Perkins? He's so knowledgeable I could listen to him discussing various lore topics for hours. And have.

[terryandjoe]

Please, more lore videos like this, that would be amazing. This was awesome, thank you so much.

[kmoustakas]

I love how Perkins goes 'Terrible terrible horrible bad' with such a smile and positive demeanor on his face. The true face of evil hides behind such a beautiful face

[Heeeynald]

"Vecna: Evil shouldn't be ugly and death doesn't need to be morbid darling"

BTW i LOVED the redesign! And totally will use it as his "nice and complete form" at my tables, but still gona use the classical horrorfying one as a "Second" more Combat focused one

[fxcmzry]

5:20 I think it was very brave of them to add a heart shaped metal tramp stamp to his design. Good to know he has a wild side.

[gregorygreenwood-nimmo]

As a Lord of the Rings, D&D and Warhammer fan, I like to imagine that, when they aren't trying to rule ruthlessly over their respective settings, Sauron, Vecna and Nagash regularly get together (in some bespoke demiplane created for the purpose) to play cards on a Friday night and bemoan how their various cunning plans are always being undone by meddling hero types...

[kalemjoe]

*new strangers things villian emerges* DND channels: "it's free real estate"

[ClosingBook]

I play a Warlock whose patron is Hyrsam, a trickster and fey lord. At one point during our adventures, in a dire situation, my Warlock appealed to Hyrsam for help or guidance. We survived the encounter but when my warlock woke up the next day, he had in his possession a box-like puzzle . Once a day I could roll a d20 and if I rolled 20, my Warlock would solve the puzzle revealing what was in the box. We adventured around for three years(real time as our group only met once a month). Had just finished the Dungeon of the Mad Mage and was chilling in Waterdeep, doing downtime things when I rolled that 20. In a DM masterstroke, it turns out that my trickster patron had my warlock carrying around the Hand of Vecna for those three years, totally unbeknownst to him or the party. That was some fun gaming.

[Awakeandalive]

Vecna WAS a god by 3E. He was one of the gods mentioned in the 3E PHB.

[LMVStudios]

Based on what's been happening in various published campaigns like descent into avernus I honetly think we're going to see a big campaign where Vecna has been setting things up to make another major play.

[loganswalk]

I like using Vecna even in settings he doesn't have a connection to like Ravnica because he does have knowledge of planes beyond Greyhawk and he's a definition of ambitious it's not enough he's a god he wants to be the only god not just in greyhawk but in all the realms so he tosses his hand and eye into the great beyond until they arrive in a new world and someone uses his eye so he can take over their body and begins to plan his take over of that plane.