Vecna's Phylactery

[Socksy]

My campaign involves the Vorrs raising up their own demigod by having him steal the concept of the number 8 itself from Boccob's library. Go 'way, players.

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Other than sounding like a pretty good curse ("Vecna's Phylactery, you almost dropped that on my foot!"), does anyone have any ideas as to what and where it might be? Whether a god-lich can have more than one, Horcrux style? Defences on it? It may become relevant in my campaign shortly.

Spoiler: On A related Note (Three Bosses, Two And A Half Phylacteries).

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My party have met Acererak and while the Archivist is friends with him, the Paladin and Ranger are considering killing him as soon as they're Epic and he's no longer useful to them. He needs a phylactery statted.

My party are aware of a Great and Ancient Evil under Menzoberranzan. Surprise, the Drow dug too deep, and Menzoberran's corpse, usually inert and buried as her mind travels the Abyss, is not too happy with them. She needs a phylactery statted.

Finally, my party have clashed with a Orc Psion Uncarnate named Navaan, who they know is currently in the Hells raising up an army. She has taken advantage of the time differentials between planes to snuggle down in a small pocket plane usually used for breeding monsters at alarming rates, and has done decades of research (in six months in-game time) into binding her soul to a specific item in a similar manner to some ghosts... She needs a pseudo-phylactery statted.

[JNAProductions]

For the big V himself, I'd link it to a concept.

[Socksy]

So you'd have to eradicate, say, the concept of death (or undeath) itself to permakill Vecna?

[JNAProductions]

Yis. That is accurate.

[Waker]

Vecna is the god of secrets, amongst other things. Maybe make his phylactery something that intangible such as an event or circumstance? Such as him not being able to die unless some paradoxical situation is occurring.
You could hide it somewhere really weird, such as having it float freely within the Timestream! Or the 5th Dimension. Basically just throw a copy of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure into a blender with a painting by Escher.
I do also recall reading a funny thread wherein a lich polymorphed his phylactery into a living person, making the bloodline his anchor in the world.

[enderlord99]

Gods (including ones that are also liches) do not have phylacteries, with the only possible exception being Melifleur.

I guess you can change that for your game, but I felt like pointing it out.

[Anonymouswizard]

So you need 2-3 Phylactery ideas? Or you just need one for Vecna? I'm not sure how to interpret your post.

For Vecna, we've got a god of secrets? Assuming you want him to have a Phylactery like a physical lich does rather than in uber concept based one, it has to be something that nobody else in the song could create. For a fun idea, it's a small sphere made out of buckyballs and carbon nanotubes. How did he make that? It's a secret He hides it on the moon of a discontinued setting/material plane, in a locked vault that can't be scried on or teleported into (plus other arcane and divine protections, including stuff like 'the door can't be opened by magic' and 'the door is made out of reinforced adamantine'). On the occasions that he needs to get in he teleports next to it and creates a key via a spell, because none exists. The idea here is that while there's a possibility of getting it you have to jump through so many hoops to get out (at the very least know it exists [that knowledge is definitely divinely suppressed], know where it is, know how to get to that plane, find a way to get to and survive on the moon, actually find the correct cave, survive any breasts living there, and be able to pick a lock made by the good of secrets) and more to destroy it that by the time you've reached 'get to the moon' Vecna's probably find out and moved it.

[VonMuller]

Vecna's phylactery should be a Secret in itself. It exists as long as Vecna doesn't speak of what it is. The moment Vecna mentions what his phylactery is, it is destroyed.

Thus, the heroes have to con the conman. A truly gargantuan feat.

[Kane0]

I do also recall reading a funny thread wherein a lich polymorphed his phylactery into a living person, making the bloodline his anchor in the world.

Spoiler

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I must do this.

[Kami2awa]

Well, before he was a god, Vecna was a lich (arch-lich if you prefer) so he must have had a phylactery of a more normal kind (a hidden object somewhere in the world). So why not have this still be the case? Fantasy world gods are not necessarily all-powerful, so the phylactery is a logical weakness for Vecna to possess.

The only artefacts we know associated with Vecna are the Hand and Eye, and the Sword of Kas. It would be very evocative for an evil wizard to have severed his own hand or plucked out his own eye (or both) in order to enchant it as a phylactery and gain immortality. The Hand and Eye survive firstly because they are artifacts (and so indestructible except under specific circumstances) and also because people want them due to the power they can provide. Much more interesting for Vecna than a boring old amulet hidden in a vault somewhere.

PS: The Head of Vecna is a really tired old joke, so no.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Hm.

Gonna throw this out there. To quote:

Himself is the King of Devils, and his seat of power and prison is a black iron coffin lashed with forty chains. There is a council of 13 Ebon devils that watch him to make sure he does not get out of his prison. They take their role very seriously. All major criminal activity through Devil syndicates in Throne requires his approval though, so they still let him hold court. Himself has the important distinction of being named 'Himself', in a True Name kind of sense, which sort of exempts him from playing the normal game we are all playing, that being reality.

Emphasis mine. Vecna doesn't operate on the same rules as we mortals. He's a GOD. There is a level of power against which there can be no defense, and Vecna is it's poster-boy. Vecna is his own Phylactery, and his Phylactery is Him. The distinction would be arbitrary, and useless for anyone hoping to actually harm him. Even if his phylactery were a real, actual thing that can be destroyed, it probably wouldn't work. Or, at least, no self-respecting DM should ever allow it to work. Vecna would simply shrug and cast "Nope" as a Free Action.

[Socksy]

So you need 2-3 Phylactery ideas? Or you just need one for Vecna? I'm not sure how to interpret your post.

I need one for Vecna, and a few others if you have ideas which won't fit on him but are great anyway.

survive any breasts living there

*giggle*

Or, at least, no self-respecting DM should ever allow it to work. Vecna would simply shrug and cast "Nope" as a Free Action.

Gods are explicitly killable in this game, it's 3.0/3.5 where they have stats and, in fact, the campaign was started by a wannabe God with a stupid amount of rogue levels breaking into Boccob's library to steal from him to try to gain power. I'd rather kill the players in a legitimate way than have an entity go "Nope".

Anyway, if they do decide they want to kill him, he's gonna be a lot more optimised than he is in Deities & Demigods.