The Hand of Vecna (EvilHack) - Revision history

Ion frigate: and here as well

2025-06-09T18:00:05Z

and here as well

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@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
    |cost=50000
    |weight=5
 }}
 {{for|the artifact in [[SLASH'EM]], [[SlashTHEM]] and [[Hack'EM]]|The Hand of Vecna (SLASH'EM)}}

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 ==Description==
-The Hand of Vecna must be [[worn]] in order for its abilities to activate, and occupies the [[gloves]] armor slot: once put on, the Hand irreversibly fuses itself to the hero's left arm and cannot be removed through any method - this applies even when [[polymorph]]ed into a monster without [[hands]]. Monsters fear the power of the artifact and will not attempt to use it themselves. It is possible to [[eat]] The Hand unless it is already bound to the hero, but doing so will inflict {{rn1|150|250}} damage if cursed, and {{rn1|50|150}} damage otherwise.
+The Hand of Vecna must be [[worn]] in order for its abilities to activate, and occupies the [[gloves]] armor slot: once put on, the Hand irreversibly fuses itself to the hero's left arm and cannot be removed through any method&mdash;this applies even when [[polymorph]]ed into a monster without [[hands]]. Monsters fear the power of the artifact and will not attempt to use it themselves. It is possible to [[eat]] The Hand unless it is already bound to the hero, but doing so will inflict {{rn1|150|250}} damage if cursed, and {{rn1|50|150}} damage otherwise.
 The way The Hand of Vecna functions while bound makes it immune to the [[scroll of destroy armor]], [[disintegration]], any type of item theft, or any source of [[erosion]], including the revamped [[Destroy armor (monster spell)|destroy armor]] [[monster spell]]. The Hand can be [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchanted]] safely from +5, and attempts to enchant it further will not ever evaporate it: the enchantment instead has the same chance of simply failing without further effect. As the Hand of Vecna replaces the hero's hand rather than being worn over it, they can [[put on]] and [[remove]] [[ring]]s freely even if the Hand is cursed. The Hand of Vecna also allows the safe handling of objects such as [[cockatrice]] [[corpse]]s that are ordinarily fatal to touch.
-While fused to the hero, the Hand of Vecna grants 1 base [[AC]] and confers hungerless [[regeneration]], [[half physical damage]], [[immunity to sickness]], and sets [[strength]] to 25. When a character with the Hand of Vecna fused attacks in melee, they deal a bonus of 1d5+7 [[cold]] damage to monsters without [[cold resistance]]. [[Invoking]] the Hand of Vecna while it is bound has different effects based on the hero's current [[luck]]: at -10 luck or lower, the Hand of Vecna turns its magic upon the hero, which is an [[instadeath]] regardless of [[magic resistance]] or [[death resistance]]. Otherwise, the Hand casts death magic upon all monsters in the hero's line of sight, significantly reducing the HP of monsters that do not resist it, and has a {{frac|3|20}} chance of killing affected monsters outright unless they have magic resistance. Regardless of the outcome of invoking the Hand, it reduces luck by 3, [[abuse]]s [[wisdom]], and inflicts a variable penalty to [[alignment record]]: -7 for lawful heroes, none for [[unaligned]] "heroes" (i.e. [[Infidel]]s) and -3 otherwise.
+While fused to the hero, the Hand of Vecna grants 1 base [[AC]] and confers hungerless [[regeneration]], [[half physical damage]], [[immunity to sickness]], and sets [[strength]] to 25. When a hero with the Hand of Vecna fused to them attacks in melee, they deal a bonus of 1d5+7 [[cold]] damage to monsters without [[cold resistance]], with a small chance of an additional 3x3 cold [[explosion]]. [[Invoking]] the Hand of Vecna while it is bound has different effects based on the hero's current [[luck]]: at -10 luck or lower, the Hand of Vecna turns its magic upon the hero, which is an [[instadeath]] regardless of [[magic resistance]] or [[death resistance]]. Otherwise, the Hand casts death magic upon all monsters in the hero's line of sight, significantly reducing the HP of monsters that do not resist it, and has a {{frac|3|20}} chance of killing affected monsters outright unless they have magic resistance. Regardless of the outcome of invoking the Hand, it reduces luck by 3, [[abuse]]s [[wisdom]], and inflicts a variable penalty to [[alignment record]]: -7 for lawful heroes, none for [[unaligned]] "heroes" (i.e. [[Infidel]]s) and -3 otherwise.
 The Hand of Vecna can be combined with [[Angelslayer]] at a [[Forge (dungeon feature)|forge]] to create [[The Sword of Annihilation]].

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 The Hand of Vecna must be [[worn]] in order for its abilities to activate, and occupies the [[gloves]] armor slot: once put on, the Hand irreversibly fuses itself to the hero's left arm and cannot be removed through any method - this applies even when [[polymorph]]ed into a monster without [[hands]]. Monsters fear the power of the artifact and will not attempt to use it themselves. It is possible to [[eat]] The Hand unless it is already bound to the hero, but doing so will inflict {{rn1|150|250}} damage if cursed, and {{rn1|50|150}} damage otherwise.
-The way The Hand of Vecna functions while bound makes it immune to the [[scroll of destroy armor]], [[disintegration]], any type of item theft, or any source of [[erosion]], including the revamped [[Destroy armor (monster spell)|destroy armor]] [[monster spell]]. The Hand can be [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchanted]] safely from +5, and attempts to enchant it further will not ever evaporate it: the enchantment instead has the same chance of simply failing without further effect. As the Hand of Vecna replaces the hero's hand rather than being worn over it, [[ring]]s can be [[put on]] and [[remove]]d freely even if the Hand is cursed. The Hand also allows safe handling of objects such as [[cockatrice]] [[corpse]]s that are ordinarily fatal to touch.
+The way The Hand of Vecna functions while bound makes it immune to the [[scroll of destroy armor]], [[disintegration]], any type of item theft, or any source of [[erosion]], including the revamped [[Destroy armor (monster spell)|destroy armor]] [[monster spell]]. The Hand can be [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchanted]] safely from +5, and attempts to enchant it further will not ever evaporate it: the enchantment instead has the same chance of simply failing without further effect. As the Hand of Vecna replaces the hero's hand rather than being worn over it, they can [[put on]] and [[remove]] [[ring]]s freely even if the Hand is cursed. The Hand of Vecna also allows the safe handling of objects such as [[cockatrice]] [[corpse]]s that are ordinarily fatal to touch.
-While fused to the hero, the Hand of Vecna grants 1 base [[AC]] and confers hungerless [[regeneration]], [[half physical damage]], [[immunity to sickness]], and sets [[strength]] to 25. When a character with the Hand of Vecna fused attacks in melee, they deal a bonus of 1d5+7 [[cold]] damage to monsters without [[cold resistance]]. [[Invoking]] the Hand of Vecna while it is bound has different effects based on your current [[luck]]: at -10 luck or lower, the Hand of Vecna turns its magic upon the hero, which is an [[instadeath]] regardless of [[magic resistance]] or [[death resistance]]. Otherwise, the Hand casts death magic upon all monsters in the character's line of sight, significantly reducing the HP of monsters that do not resist it, and has a {{frac|3|20}} chance of killing affected monsters outright unless they have magic resistance. Regardless of the outcome of invoking the Hand, it reduces [[luck]] by 3, [[abuse]]s [[wisdom]], and inflicts a variable penalty to [[alignment record]]: -7 for lawful characters, none for [[unaligned]] ones, and -3 otherwise.
+While fused to the hero, the Hand of Vecna grants 1 base [[AC]] and confers hungerless [[regeneration]], [[half physical damage]], [[immunity to sickness]], and sets [[strength]] to 25. When a character with the Hand of Vecna fused attacks in melee, they deal a bonus of 1d5+7 [[cold]] damage to monsters without [[cold resistance]]. [[Invoking]] the Hand of Vecna while it is bound has different effects based on the hero's current [[luck]]: at -10 luck or lower, the Hand of Vecna turns its magic upon the hero, which is an [[instadeath]] regardless of [[magic resistance]] or [[death resistance]]. Otherwise, the Hand casts death magic upon all monsters in the hero's line of sight, significantly reducing the HP of monsters that do not resist it, and has a {{frac|3|20}} chance of killing affected monsters outright unless they have magic resistance. Regardless of the outcome of invoking the Hand, it reduces luck by 3, [[abuse]]s [[wisdom]], and inflicts a variable penalty to [[alignment record]]: -7 for lawful heroes, none for [[unaligned]] "heroes" (i.e. [[Infidel]]s) and -3 otherwise.
 The Hand of Vecna can be combined with [[Angelslayer]] at a [[Forge (dungeon feature)|forge]] to create [[The Sword of Annihilation]].

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
    |used=worn
    |whencarried=none
-   |whenused=<ul><li>permanently bound to you</li><li>cannot be destroyed or stolen once bound</li><li>1 [[AC]]</li><li>bonus [[cold]] damage on melee attacks</li><li>hungerless [[regeneration]]</li><li>[[half physical damage]]</li><li>[[immunity to sickness]]</li><li>sets [[strength]] to 25</li></ul>
+   |whenused=<ul><li>permanently bound to you</li><li>cannot be destroyed or stolen once bound</li><li>1 [[AC]]</li><li>bonus [[cold]] damage on melee attacks</li><li>hungerless [[regeneration]]</li><li>[[half physical damage]]</li><li>[[immunity to sickness]]</li><li>sets [[strength]] to 25</li><li>can safely be enchanted from +5</li></ul>
    |wheninvoked=<ul><li>can only be invoked while worn</li><li>uses death magic on all monsters in sight</li><li>[[Instadeath|kills you]] if used at -10 [[luck]] or lower</li><li>-3 penalty to luck regardless of outcome<br>-7 [[alignment record]] penalty if lawful<br>-3 alignment record penalty if neutral or chaotic</li></ul>
    |cost=50000
@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 The Hand of Vecna must be [[worn]] in order for its abilities to activate, and occupies the [[gloves]] armor slot: once put on, the Hand irreversibly fuses itself to the hero's left arm and cannot be removed through any method - this applies even when [[polymorph]]ed into a monster without [[hands]]. Monsters fear the power of the artifact and will not attempt to use it themselves. It is possible to [[eat]] The Hand unless it is already bound to the hero, but doing so will inflict {{rn1|150|250}} damage if cursed, and {{rn1|50|150}} damage otherwise.
-The way The Hand of Vecna functions while bound makes it immune to the [[scroll of destroy armor]], [[disintegration]], any type of item theft, or any source of [[erosion]], including the revamped [[Destroy armor (monster spell)|destroy armor]] [[monster spell]]. The Hand can be [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchanted]] up to +7, and attempts to enchant it further will not ever evaporate it: the enchantment instead has the same chance of simply failing without further effect. As the Hand of Vecna replaces the hero's hand rather than being worn over it, [[ring]]s can be [[put on]] and [[remove]]d freely even if the Hand is cursed. The Hand also allows safe handling of objects such as [[cockatrice]] [[corpse]]s that are ordinarily fatal to touch.
+The way The Hand of Vecna functions while bound makes it immune to the [[scroll of destroy armor]], [[disintegration]], any type of item theft, or any source of [[erosion]], including the revamped [[Destroy armor (monster spell)|destroy armor]] [[monster spell]]. The Hand can be [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchanted]] safely from +5, and attempts to enchant it further will not ever evaporate it: the enchantment instead has the same chance of simply failing without further effect. As the Hand of Vecna replaces the hero's hand rather than being worn over it, [[ring]]s can be [[put on]] and [[remove]]d freely even if the Hand is cursed. The Hand also allows safe handling of objects such as [[cockatrice]] [[corpse]]s that are ordinarily fatal to touch.
 While fused to the hero, the Hand of Vecna grants 1 base [[AC]] and confers hungerless [[regeneration]], [[half physical damage]], [[immunity to sickness]], and sets [[strength]] to 25. When a character with the Hand of Vecna fused attacks in melee, they deal a bonus of 1d5+7 [[cold]] damage to monsters without [[cold resistance]]. [[Invoking]] the Hand of Vecna while it is bound has different effects based on your current [[luck]]: at -10 luck or lower, the Hand of Vecna turns its magic upon the hero, which is an [[instadeath]] regardless of [[magic resistance]] or [[death resistance]]. Otherwise, the Hand casts death magic upon all monsters in the character's line of sight, significantly reducing the HP of monsters that do not resist it, and has a {{frac|3|20}} chance of killing affected monsters outright unless they have magic resistance. Regardless of the outcome of invoking the Hand, it reduces [[luck]] by 3, [[abuse]]s [[wisdom]], and inflicts a variable penalty to [[alignment record]]: -7 for lawful characters, none for [[unaligned]] ones, and -3 otherwise.

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 ==Description==
-The Hand of Vecna must be [[worn]] in order for its abilities to activate, and occupies the [[gloves]] armor slot: once put on, the Hand irreversibly fuses itself to the character's left arm and cannot be removed through any method - this applies even when [[polymorph]]ed into a monster without [[hands]]. Monsters fear the power of the artifact and will not attempt to use it themselves. It is possible to [[eat]] The Hand unless it is already bound to the character, but doing so will inflict {{rn1|150|250}} damage if cursed, and {{rn1|50|150}} damage otherwise.
+The Hand of Vecna must be [[worn]] in order for its abilities to activate, and occupies the [[gloves]] armor slot: once put on, the Hand irreversibly fuses itself to the hero's left arm and cannot be removed through any method - this applies even when [[polymorph]]ed into a monster without [[hands]]. Monsters fear the power of the artifact and will not attempt to use it themselves. It is possible to [[eat]] The Hand unless it is already bound to the hero, but doing so will inflict {{rn1|150|250}} damage if cursed, and {{rn1|50|150}} damage otherwise.
-The way The Hand of Vecna functions while bound makes it immune to the [[scroll of destroy armor]], [[disintegration]], any type of item theft, or any source of [[erosion]], including the revamped [[Destroy armor (monster spell)|destroy armor]] [[monster spell]]. The Hand can be enchanted up to +7, and attempts to enchant it further will not ever evaporate it: the enchantment instead has the same chance of simply failing without further effect. As the Hand of Vecna replaces the character's hand rather than being worn over it, [[ring]]s can be [[put on]] and [[remove]]d freely even if the Hand is cursed. The Hand also allows safe handling of objects such as [[cockatrice]] [[corpse]]s that are ordinarily fatal to touch.
+The way The Hand of Vecna functions while bound makes it immune to the [[scroll of destroy armor]], [[disintegration]], any type of item theft, or any source of [[erosion]], including the revamped [[Destroy armor (monster spell)|destroy armor]] [[monster spell]]. The Hand can be [[Scroll of enchant armor|enchanted]] up to +7, and attempts to enchant it further will not ever evaporate it: the enchantment instead has the same chance of simply failing without further effect. As the Hand of Vecna replaces the hero's hand rather than being worn over it, [[ring]]s can be [[put on]] and [[remove]]d freely even if the Hand is cursed. The Hand also allows safe handling of objects such as [[cockatrice]] [[corpse]]s that are ordinarily fatal to touch.
-While fused to the character, the Hand of Vecna grants 1 base [[AC]] and confers hungerless [[regeneration]], [[half physical damage]], [[immunity to sickness]], and sets [[strength]] to 25. When a character with the Hand of Vecna fused attacks in melee, they deal a bonus of 1d5+7 [[cold]] damage to monsters without [[cold resistance]]. [[Invoking]] the Hand of Vecna while it is bound has different effects based on your current [[luck]]: at -10 luck or lower, the Hand of Vecna turns its magic upon you, which is an [[instadeath]] regardless of [[magic resistance]] or [[death resistance]]. Otherwise, the Hand casts death magic upon all monsters in the character's line of sight, significantly reducing the HP of monsters that do not resist it, and has a {{frac|3|20}} chance of killing affected monsters outright unless they have magic resistance. Regardless of the outcome of invoking the Hand, it reduces [[luck]] by 3, [[abuse]] [[wisdom]], and inflicts a variable penalty to [[alignment record]]: -7 for lawful characters, none for [[unaligned]] ones, and -3 otherwise.
+While fused to the hero, the Hand of Vecna grants 1 base [[AC]] and confers hungerless [[regeneration]], [[half physical damage]], [[immunity to sickness]], and sets [[strength]] to 25. When a character with the Hand of Vecna fused attacks in melee, they deal a bonus of 1d5+7 [[cold]] damage to monsters without [[cold resistance]]. [[Invoking]] the Hand of Vecna while it is bound has different effects based on your current [[luck]]: at -10 luck or lower, the Hand of Vecna turns its magic upon the hero, which is an [[instadeath]] regardless of [[magic resistance]] or [[death resistance]]. Otherwise, the Hand casts death magic upon all monsters in the character's line of sight, significantly reducing the HP of monsters that do not resist it, and has a {{frac|3|20}} chance of killing affected monsters outright unless they have magic resistance. Regardless of the outcome of invoking the Hand, it reduces [[luck]] by 3, [[abuse]]s [[wisdom]], and inflicts a variable penalty to [[alignment record]]: -7 for lawful characters, none for [[unaligned]] ones, and -3 otherwise.
 The Hand of Vecna can be combined with [[Angelslayer]] at a [[Forge (dungeon feature)|forge]] to create [[The Sword of Annihilation]].

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 ==Description==
-The Hand of Vecna must be [[worn]] in order for its abilities to activate, and occupy the [[gloves]] armor slot: once put on, the Hand irreversibly fuses itself to your character's left arm and cannot be removed through any method - this applies even when [[polymorph]]ed into a monster without [[hands]]. Monsters fear the power of the artifact and will not attempt to use it themselves. It is possible to [[eat]] The Hand unless it is already bound to you, but doing so will inflict {{rn1|150|250}} damage if cursed, and {{rn1|50|150}} otherwise.
+The Hand of Vecna must be [[worn]] in order for its abilities to activate, and occupies the [[gloves]] armor slot: once put on, the Hand irreversibly fuses itself to the character's left arm and cannot be removed through any method - this applies even when [[polymorph]]ed into a monster without [[hands]]. Monsters fear the power of the artifact and will not attempt to use it themselves. It is possible to [[eat]] The Hand unless it is already bound to the character, but doing so will inflict {{rn1|150|250}} damage if cursed, and {{rn1|50|150}} damage otherwise.
-The way in which The Hand of Vecna functions while bound makes it immune to the [[scroll of destroy armor]], any source of [[erosion]] including the revamped [[Destroy armor (monster spell)|destroy armor]] [[monster spell]], [[disintegration]], or any type of item theft. The Hand can be enchanted up to +7, and attempts to enchant it further will not ever evaporate it, instead having the same chance of simply failing without further effect. As the Hand of Vecna replaces the character's hand rather than being worn over it, [[ring]]s can be [[put on]] and [[remove]]d freely even if the Hand is cursed. The Hand also allows safe handling of objects such as [[cockatrice]] [[corpse]]s that are ordinarily fatal to touch.
+The way The Hand of Vecna functions while bound makes it immune to the [[scroll of destroy armor]], [[disintegration]], any type of item theft, or any source of [[erosion]], including the revamped [[Destroy armor (monster spell)|destroy armor]] [[monster spell]]. The Hand can be enchanted up to +7, and attempts to enchant it further will not ever evaporate it: the enchantment instead has the same chance of simply failing without further effect. As the Hand of Vecna replaces the character's hand rather than being worn over it, [[ring]]s can be [[put on]] and [[remove]]d freely even if the Hand is cursed. The Hand also allows safe handling of objects such as [[cockatrice]] [[corpse]]s that are ordinarily fatal to touch.
-While fused to your character, the Hand of Vecna grants 1 base [[AC]] and confers hungerless [[regeneration]], [[half physical damage]], [[immunity to sickness]], and sets [[strength]] to 25. When a character with the Hand of Vecna fused attacks in melee, they deal a bonus of 1d5+7 [[cold]] damage to monsters without [[cold resistance]]. [[Invoking]] the Hand of Vecna while it is bound to your character has different effects based on your current [[luck]]: If your luck is -10 or lower, the Hand of Vecna turns its magic upon you, which is an [[instadeath]] regardless of [[magic resistance]] or [[death resistance]]. Otherwise, the Hand casts death magic upon all monsters in your line of sight, significantly reducing the HP of monsters that do not resist it, and has a {{frac|3|20}} chance of killing affected monsters outright unless they have magic resistance. Regardless of the outcome of invoking the Hand, it will reduce your [[luck]] by 3, [[abuse]] [[wisdom]], and inflicts a variable penalty to [[alignment record]]: -7 if you are lawful, none if you are [[unaligned]], and -3 otherwise.
+While fused to the character, the Hand of Vecna grants 1 base [[AC]] and confers hungerless [[regeneration]], [[half physical damage]], [[immunity to sickness]], and sets [[strength]] to 25. When a character with the Hand of Vecna fused attacks in melee, they deal a bonus of 1d5+7 [[cold]] damage to monsters without [[cold resistance]]. [[Invoking]] the Hand of Vecna while it is bound has different effects based on your current [[luck]]: at -10 luck or lower, the Hand of Vecna turns its magic upon you, which is an [[instadeath]] regardless of [[magic resistance]] or [[death resistance]]. Otherwise, the Hand casts death magic upon all monsters in the character's line of sight, significantly reducing the HP of monsters that do not resist it, and has a {{frac|3|20}} chance of killing affected monsters outright unless they have magic resistance. Regardless of the outcome of invoking the Hand, it reduces [[luck]] by 3, [[abuse]] [[wisdom]], and inflicts a variable penalty to [[alignment record]]: -7 for lawful characters, none for [[unaligned]] ones, and -3 otherwise.
 The Hand of Vecna can be combined with [[Angelslayer]] at a [[Forge (dungeon feature)|forge]] to create [[The Sword of Annihilation]].
 ==Strategy==
-The Hand of Vecna is a very powerful item for most characters. Half physical damage and sickness resistance are stellar defensive properties, especially in EvilHack's hostile late game. Giant strength can also be very powerful, especially if a player wishes to dual-wield heavy weapons that they otherwise couldn't due to insufficient skill - at the very least, it is universally useful for the bonuses to melee damage and carrying capacity. Hungerless regeneration is a comparatively minor boon by the time a player can realistically acquire the Hand of Vecna, but the absence of a hunger penalty makes it a free benefit. The Hand's enchantment safely going to +7 can also be a bonus, though in practice a pair of dragonhide gloves will provide more protection.
+The Hand of Vecna is a very powerful item for most characters: Half physical damage and sickness resistance are stellar defensive properties, especially in EvilHack's hostile late game. Giant strength can also be very powerful, especially if a player wishes to dual-wield heavy weapons that they otherwise couldn't due to insufficient skill - at the very least, it is universally useful for the bonuses to melee damage and carrying capacity. Hungerless regeneration is a comparatively minor boon by the time a player can realistically acquire the Hand of Vecna, but one without cost that will be appreciated regardless. The Hand's enchantment safely going to +7 can also be a bonus, though in practice a pair of [[dragonhide]] gloves will provide more protection.
 The offensive benefits provided by the Hand are less impressive: the damage bonus is rather insignificant, and only applies versus non-cold-resistant monsters; the invoke, while powerful, has extremely limited use, as it carries a large luck penalty and does not work against death- or magic-resistant monsters, both of which are prevalent late in the game. Despite the drawbacks, it does have some utility in clearing out large groups of non-resistant monsters, such as [[insect]] swarms or [[Summon nasties|summoned nasties]].
-Overall, while extremely tempting to permanently give up the gloves slot for, the Hand of Vecna can be beaten out by other options depending on the character's role or race. For example, a character that already possesses sickness resistance and half physical damage through items and/or intrinsics may wish to use [[Dragonbane]] or the [[Gauntlets of Purity]] instead: both offer properties that are quite rare and typically hard to work into a given kit outside of self-polymorph, such as Dragonbane's [[acid resistance]] and the [[Death resistance|death magic resistance]] and [[energy]] regeneration from the Gauntlets of Purity. Melee-focused roles may also consider the [[Sword of Annihilation]]'s overwhelming offensive power worth sacrificing the Hand to forge.
+While extremely tempting to permanently give up the gloves slot for, the Hand of Vecna can still be beaten out by other options depending on the character's role or race. For example, a character that already possesses sickness resistance and half physical damage through other sources may wish to use [[Dragonbane]] or the [[Gauntlets of Purity]] instead: both offer properties that are quite rare and typically hard to work into a given kit outside of self-polymorph, such as Dragonbane's [[acid resistance]] or the [[Death resistance|death magic resistance]] and [[energy]] regeneration from the Gauntlets of Purity. Melee-focused roles may also consider the [[Sword of Annihilation]]'s overwhelming offensive power worth sacrificing the Hand to forge.
 ==Origin==
@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 While no details of the artifacts were ever revealed to Gygax, the descriptions of the artifacts in the 2nd Edition ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' of 1989 further expanded on Vecna's history; the release of the 1990 adventure ''Vecna Lives!'' would finally have him debut in person. Though the exact details vary, most versions of Vecna's history state that the fight between him and his most trusted lieutenant [[Kas]] left Kas flung across the planes of the multiverse, with Vecna himself seemingly destroyed in whole save for a disemboded left hand and eye - even after eventually resurrecting, Vecna is always depicted with these parts missing from his form.
-The left hand and eye of Vecna are high-valued and very dangerous magical artifacts that bestow incredible supernatural strength and spellcasting power upon their users, and provided even more benefits when used together. Such power naturally came at a terrible cost: using either one requires the removal of the corresponding body part to affix the artifact in its place, and the fragments of Vecna's will left within each one would turn its wearer towards evil while corrupting and decaying their body. Removing the affixed artifact(s) would invariably result in death, and both artifacts could only be destroyed permanently if a being that wore both artifacts was slain by [[the Sword of Kas]]. The Hand and Eye are considered classic ''Dungeons & Dragons'' artifacts that best exemplify the temptations of power and how they can easily tear apart an adventuring party.
+The left hand and eye of Vecna are high-valued and very dangerous magical artifacts that bestow incredible supernatural strength and spellcasting power upon their users, and provided even more benefits when used together. Such power naturally comes at a terrible cost: using either one requires the removal of the corresponding body part to affix the artifact in its place, and the fragments of Vecna's will left within each one will turn its wearer towards evil while corrupting and decaying their body. Removing the affixed artifact(s) invariably result in death, and both artifacts can only be destroyed permanently if a being that wore both artifacts was slain by [[the Sword of Kas]]. The Hand and Eye are considered classic ''Dungeons & Dragons'' artifacts that best exemplify the temptations of power and how they can easily tear apart an adventuring party.
 ==Messages==