Vecna

The Whispered One, God of Undeath

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For more information on all Betrayer Deities, see: Betrayer Deities

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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. His enduring spirit reformed through the ages and managed to reconstruct Illid's Rites of Ascension to become the newest of gods to walk Iolcus.

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Physical Description

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Those who claim to have looked on Vecna's form speak of a tall, skeletal lich swathed in tattered robes and enchanted jewels, missing both his left hand and left eye.

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Divine Realm

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Vecna maintains a citadel of black stone housing demented secrets in the Shadowfell. However, Vecna is not known to reside here for long, as he often chooses instead to wander in search of powerful artifacts and secrets to further his unknowable plots.

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Tenets of Faith

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• Learn all you can, and keep hidden that which you know. Reveal what pieces you must, but never the whole.


• Express and cultivate the evil within yourself, and in doing so, recognize it in others to exploit them for your own benefit.


• Seed the ruin of all who worship other deities, until only those who kneel before Vecna remain.

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Personal History

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Vecna's early life is clouded in legend and contradiction. Most accounts state that he was originally a human wizard, although some reports claim that he was a half-elf. After having become an extremely powerful wizard, Vecna began to fear for his own mortality, an obsession some say was triggered by the death of his mother.
One theory states Vecna was taught by Orcus how to achieve undeath, eventually leading to his becoming one of the most powerful liches in existence. Another spoke of Vecna experimenting upon hundreds of innocent mortals to formulate a ritual to absorb power from the various planes of existence and channel it into his own decrepit body, while a third put forth the idea that the mortal Vecna learned the secrets of lichdom from an eldritch being believed to have been a personification of magic itself. Vecna's path to becoming a lich is said to be the first instance of a mortal possessing the willpower to sacrifice their own body for such a feat.
Regardless of how it began, the archmage Vecna achieved lichdom, amassed followers and undead forces, and with them disappeared into the planar realms about a century before the War of Repellence.
According to scattered accounts, his mortal mother was a wholly evil woman who sacrificed animals and consorted with monstrous beings. It was likely her cruelty that helped shape the man he was in life and is now in undeath.

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Divine Goals & Aspirations

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Vecna seeks to destroy other gods in order to garner more power for himself. In addition to his prerogatives as a deity, Vecna also sponsors pacts with warlocks and witches as an undying patron, owing to his perspective as a once mortal being who has become knowledgeable of the secrets of life and death over many lifetimes.
Some sages also claim that Vecna has laid out traps for wizards seeking forbidden secrets in their quest for power. Those wizards that stumble upon those traps are transformed into monsters ever hungry for knowledge. It is common to find these creatures in cults to Vecna serving as guardians or jesters, as well as spies to Vecna himself, who can always see through their eyes.

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Worshipers

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The cult of Vecna has acted in secret for much of the Arch-Lich's existence and were emboldened upon his ascension to godhood. They are a wholly evil group, that brings in new members via blackmail and coercion. Like their god, these malevolent clerics seek to uncover lost arcana—especially in the Dreamlands and the Shadowfell— and exploit secret information to accumulate power and gain control over others.
Among Vecna's worshipers is a secret society referred to as the Halls of Secrets. They believe that knowledge is the most pure form of power, and only those that make the effort to fully understand the nature of that knowledge are worthy of the power that accompanies it. They maintain anonymity while parsing through all the accumulated knowledge in their possessions, in order to fully assess and judge its value. It only attracts members that are unconcerned with morality or ethics. The Eyes of Vecna is an order of Vecna's followers that strives to keep knowledge and secrets from those considered unworthy to possess them. It operates in small cells of a handful of individuals.

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Contacts & Relations

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Prime Deities

While Vecna loathes all other gods and wishes to destroy them and become the sole divine power in the planes, he has a particular hatred for Ioun. Ioun seeks to share with the world the same secrets Vecna guards for himself, and his followers work diligently to undermine and destroy any who follow her path. Illid also despises Vecna, and sees his presence as a mighty affront to his purpose. Vecna naturally vies with Sehanine, whose alternative approach to secrets competes with his own for followers.
The Whispered One is a sworn enemy of Illid, whom he envies for his unique abilities to tap into the flow of souls and to harvest knowledge. One of his goals is to overthrow the Grave Watcher and rule Pharasma from his spire. His servants constantly battle with the Grave Watcher's followers.

Betrayer Deities

Vecna has something of a working relationship with Asmodeus, the powerful Archdevil having offered the Arch-Lich use of his devil minions.
Urgathoa and Vecna often clash in the domain of the undead, each being a pivotal figure of undeath in their own right. She believes that the secrets he hoards are potentially withholding pleasure and delight from the rest of the realms.

Divine Traits

General Information

Alternative Name(s)
The Arch-Lich
God of Undeath
The Lich Lord
The Lord of the Hand and the Eye
The Undying King
The Whispered One

Alignment
Neutral Evil

Pantheon
Betrayer Deity

Areas of Concern
Lichdom, necromancy, secrets

Favored Weapon
Dagger

Sacred Animal(s)
Vulture

Sacred Color(s)
Black, gold

Symbol
Desiccated hand with an eye in the palm

Worshipers
Mages, malicious politicians, necromancers

Worshipers' Adjective(s)
Vecnite

Plane
The Shadowfell - Vecna's Citadel

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D&D 5e

Domains
Arcana, Death, Grave, Knowledge

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Pathfinder 1e

Domains
Death, Evil, Healing, Knowledge, Magic, Void

Subdomains
Arcane, Espionage, Isolation, Memory, Plague, Resurrection, Rites, Thought, Undead

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Pathfinder 2e

Domains
Knowledge, Magic, Secrecy, Undeath

Alternative Domain(s)
Healing, Void

Divine Ability
Intelligence or Wisdom

Divine Font
Harm or Heal

Divine Skill
Arcana

Cleric Spells
1st: Pocket Library
2nd: Boneshaker
3rd: Mind Reading
4th: Private Sanctum
5th: Rip the Spirit
6th: Necrotize
7th: Finger of Death
8th: Mind Blank
9th: Divinity Leech

Divine Boons

• Minor Boon
  Vecna protects your secrets and lies. Once, when you roll a failure at a Deception check to tell a Lie, you get a critical success instead. Vecna typically chooses to grant this boon to protect an extremely consequential lie.
• Moderate Boon
  ???
• Major Boon
  ???

Divine Curses

• Minor Curse
  ???
• Moderate Curse
  ???
• Major Curse
  ???