Vecna (dNetHack)
L Vecna 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 43 |
| Attacks |
Touch 5d6 life drain, Touch 5d6 physical, Cast 0d0 mage spell, Single-target (active) gaze attack 1d4 deadly |
| Base level | 35 |
| Base experience | 1762 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -9 |
| Base MR | 99 |
| Alignment | -20 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1200 |
| Nutritional value | 100 |
| Size | medium |
| Resistances | fire, cold, sleep, shock, poison |
| Resistances conveyed | fire, cold |
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Vecna:
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- For the monster in other variants, see Vecna.
Vecna, L, is a deferred monster whose data appears in the code of dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack. He is a unique human lich that was originally slated to serve as the boss of The Lost Tomb, and though the plan was eventually scrapped, his data still remains in the game.
In addition to the traits of other liches, Vecna is covetous and capable of warping, and desires the invocation items, the quest artifact of the hero's role, and the Amulet of Yendor. All 19 points of Vecna's AC are in the natural category.
Vecna has a strong life draining touch attack, a strong physically-damaging touch attack, will attempt to cast one mage monster monster spell during each of his turns, and has an instant death-inducing targeted gaze attack. Vecna possesses fire resistance, cold resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, shock resistance, death resistance, and drain resistance.
Vecna is poisonous to consume, which primarily comes up if he is digested by another monster or subjected to Ahazu.
Generation
Vecna is not generated at all in a normal game: he is coded to always generate hostile, is not a valid form for polymorph, and does not leave a corpse upon death.
Origin
Vecna is an original creation of Dungeons & Dragons, where he originally was a background figure that became popular enough to feature as a major antagonist. He is named for fantasy author Jack Vance, who among other achievements developed the "fire-and-forget" magic system that would come to be used in D&D and many other fantasy works.
Vecna is first mentioned in Eldritch Wizardry, the third supplement to the original Dungeons & Dragons game co-developed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Brian Blume, who co-authored the supplement with Gygax, introduced the Hand and Eye of Vecna as the only remnants of a long-destroyed evil lich - no details of the artifacts were ever revealed to Gygax, and the only other fact known was that he had a bodyguard known as Kas. The descriptions of the artifacts in the 2nd edition's Dungeon Master's Guide released in 1989 further expanded on his history, before he finally appeared in person within the 1990 adventure Vecna Lives!; here, he was revealed to be a demigod and the chief antagonist of the adventure. Among the various details of his life, the Greyhawk setting reveals that Kas had ultimately turned traitor and brought about Vecna's (temporary) downfall.
At some point, Vecna had either created or procured The Sword of Kas for his most trusted lieutenant, depending on the edition; details of Kas's service to Vecna and subsequent betrayal likewise vary. What remains consistent across tellings is that Kas used the sword against his former master in a pitched battle that left neither standing: Vecna was destroyed save for his hand and left eye, and Kas had been flung into faraway planes, with the Sword, Hand and Eye as the only remaining objects in the area after the fight.
During the various editions of Dungeons & Dragons, Vecna has served as a lesser deity with dominion over the undead; he has also appeared as a god of secrets. It has been suggested that the Hand and Eye were inspired by similar items from the Eternal Champion series of works by Michael Moorcock (specifically, the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of Rhynn). Vecna also took the half-demon child known as Acererak under his tutelage, leading to Acererak becoming a powerful lich in his own right.
