Vecna
Vecna is a monster that first appears in NetHack Plus, and appears in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and EvilHack. He is a powerful spellcasting lich, typically found waiting at the end of an optional dungeon branch.
Contents
Common traits
In SLASH'EM and its variants, Vecna is the Chaotic Quest nemesis, guarding the Key of Chaos.
In all appearances, Vecna never leaves a corpse and will instead drop an artifact body part upon defeating him, unless he is destroyed in a way that would not leave a corpse (e.g., digestion or disintegration). In SLASH'EM and its variants, he drops the Hand of Vecna; in EvilHack, he drops the Eye of Vecna.
A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:
"In upcoming versions of EvilHack, Vecna will drop either the Hand or Eye of Vecna."
Description
L Vecna 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 56 |
| Attacks |
Touch cold 9d6, Spellcasting |
| Base level | 49 |
| Base experience | 3230 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -8 |
| Base MR | 90 |
| Alignment | -15 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1200 |
| Nutritional value | 100 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | fire, cold, sleep, poison, stoning |
| Resistances conveyed | |
|
Vecna:
| |
| Reference | SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line4600 |
Generation
Vecna is always found within the largest room in the Chaotic Quest's room-and-corridors map. He will drop the Hand of Vecna upon his defeat, unless he is destroyed in a way that would not leave a corpse.
Strategy
Although he is the second-highest level spellcaster in SLASH'EM, Vecna is less difficult than that status may imply - he is somewhat slow at 9 speed, and has only two attacks per turn of his: a powerful cold touch and a single spellcasting attack. However, he does require a +4 or better weapon in order for you to even deal damage, and his high base level lends some serious power to his spells, particularly his psi bolts.
His primary weakness is not any particular set of traits, but a constraint imposed by his location: the Chaotic Quest entrance is a portal rather than a staircase, and Vecna is covetous; as such, he will readily warp to you, but will not teleport away to heal. Vecna respects Elbereth, and a permanent engraving alongside a well-enchanted weapon can potentially trivialize matters - even more so if you have cold resistance, drain resistance and/or magic resistance. However, the branch and its denizens are still quite difficult, as is Vecna himself, and unless you take appropriate measures (including obtaining additional resistances) he is unlikely to face you by himself.
Vecna and other spellcasters within the level can and will summon nasties, such as Elbereth-ignoring minotaurs or couatl, to surround you with if given the opportunity - unlike Vecna, liches will also try to avoid you once you hit them, and Vecna can cast the spell at a higher base level than even an arch-lich. The random V that generate upon the level's creation necessitate drain resistance (which thankfully has more sources in SLASH'EM), and can also include vampire mages, who are vicious nasty-summoning spellcasters in their own right, or even fire vampires that can tear through a character lacking fire resistance with their alarming speed and abundant hit die. On top of it all, you may want a source of reflection to deal with other potential summons, as well as a means to survive or avoid a potential drowning attempt thanks to the create pool spell.
Additionally, Vecna may generate with a wand of teleportation; he will use it to try and evade you like any other intelligent monster, which allows him to act more in line with typical covetous behavior and heal himself. Wands in SLASH'EM and its variants also possess more charges on average compared to vanilla - it may be worth it to double back later, especially if you lack a means to destroy or steal the wand. He may also have a scroll of teleportation on hand - this makes for potentially disastrous corner cases where you can confuse him before he gets the chance to read it (e.g. with Magicbane), and you will then have to track him down throughout the main dungeon.
While the branch (and by extension Vecna) is entirely optional since you only need two of three alignment keys, the Hand of Vecna is quality artifact that may well be worth the trouble: it is a semi-guaranteed source of hungerless regeneration and half physical damage (both rare intrinsics on their own), and may even serve as a wielded source of drain resistance in a pinch.| L Vecna
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 50 |
| Attacks |
Touch 8d6 cold, Touch 6d6 withering damage, Gaze 3d4 Touch of death, Spell-casting 4d6, Spell-casting 4d6 (clerical) |
| Base level | 46 |
| Base experience | 3012 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | -10 |
| Base MR | 90 |
| Alignment | -20 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1200 |
| Nutritional value | 100 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | fire,cold,sleep,electricity,poison,level drain |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
Vecna:
| |
| Reference | EvilHack - monst.c, line 2132 |
To be written.
Encyclopedia entry
Vecna's early life was clouded in legend and contradiction.
Most accounts stated that he was originally a human wizard
from Oerth, although some reports claimed that he was a half-elf.
After having become an extremely powerful wizard and starting to
fear for his own mortality, Vecna was taught by Orcus how to
achieve undeath, later becoming one of the most powerful liches
ever in existence.
During his reign, Vecna trusted his lieutenant Kas with most
administrative tasks. He forged the powerful Sword of Kas as an
instrument of his lieutenant's authority. However, Vecna's evil,
manifested in the sword, seduced Kas into usurping and killing his
master.
History
In NetHack Plus, he is known as Master Vecna, and acted as the Undead Slayer quest nemesis. Master Vecna's base level was 25, and his melee attack did only 3d6 damage; he still had enchantment resistance to weapons below +4.
Vecna was made into a unique boss lich starting with SLASH 6, presiding over his own lich-populated special level similar to other monsters such as the Rat King and Grund the Orc King. In this game, killing Vecna could produce either the Hand of Vecna or the Eye of Vecna, an artifact eyeball, with a 50% chance of each.
Origin
An important Lich from Dungeons and Dragons. It's an original creation of D&D. The name is an anagram of Vance, from fantasy author Jack Vance, whose "fire-and-forget" magic system is used in D&D.
