The Black Book Of Vecna
The Black Book of Vecna records the final secrets of a necromancer who intends to turn death itself into a servant and history into a mausoleum.
Spellbook · Wizard, School of Necromancy · Level 20
The Black Book Of Vecna
The Black Book of Vecna records the final secrets of a necromancer who intends to turn death itself into a servant and history into a mausoleum.
Ex librisMalthazar VeyArcane wizardry shaped by funerary rites and forbidden Vecnan lore
At a glance
Level
20
Wizard, School of Necromancy
Spells
10
1 cantrip, 4 signature
Spell slots
1st level
2nd level
3rd level
4th level
5th level
6th level
7th level
8th level
9th level
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
10 spellsCantrips
1- A spectral skeletal hand clings to a creature within range, dealing necrotic damage and preventing it from regaining hit points until your next turn. Against undead, the target also has disadvantage on attack rolls against you until your next turn.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Ranged spell attack
- Damage
- necrotic
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by at levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
1st level
2- You bolster yourself with a necromantic imitation of life and gain temporary hit points.
- Duration
- 1 hour
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S, M, a small amount of alcohol or distilled spirits
- Damage
- temporary hit points
- Higher levels
- Gain 5 additional temporary hit points for each slot level above 1st.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- You launch a poisonous ray. On a hit, the target takes poison damage and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the end of your next turn.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Ranged spell attack, followed by a Constitution saving throw on a hit
- Damage
- poison
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by for each slot level above 1st.
- Conditions
- Poisoned
- Source
- Player's Handbook
2nd level
1- You protect a corpse or other remains from decay and prevent them from becoming undead for the duration.
- Duration
- 10 days
- Target
- One corpse or other remains touched
- Components
- V, S, M, a pinch of grave dirt
- Higher levels
- The duration increases by 10 days for each slot level above 2nd.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
3rd level
2- You create a skeleton or zombie from bones or a corpse, or reassert control over undead created by this spell. The creature obeys your verbal commands.
- Duration
- Instantaneous, with control lasting 24 hours unless renewed
- Target
- One pile of bones or corpse within range, or undead created by this spell
- Components
- V, S, M, a drop of blood, a piece of flesh, and a pinch of bone dust
- Higher levels
- You animate or reassert control over additional undead for each slot level above 3rd.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- You curse a creature with one of several debilitating effects, including disadvantage on ability checks and saving throws using one ability, disadvantage on attacks and saving throws, or a chance to lose its action each turn.
- Duration
- Up to 1 minute, concentration
- Target
- One creature touched
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Wisdom saving throw
- Higher levels
- At 5th level, duration becomes 8 hours without concentration; at 7th level, 24 hours; at 9th level, permanent until dispelled or removed.
- Conditions
- Cursed
- Source
- Player's Handbook
4th level
1- Necromantic energy withers a creature, dealing heavy necrotic damage on a failed save or half damage on a successful one. Plant creatures have disadvantage on the save and take maximum damage.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Constitution saving throw
- Damage
- necrotic
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by for each slot level above 4th.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
6th level
1- Negative energy blossoms in a 60-foot-radius sphere, dealing necrotic damage to each creature in the area that fails a Constitution saving throw, or half damage on a success.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- Each creature in a 60-foot-radius sphere
- Components
- V, S, M, a small piece of flesh or a pinch of bone dust
- Save or attack
- Constitution saving throw
- Damage
- necrotic
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by for each slot level above 6th.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
7th level
1- You unleash negative energy at a creature, dealing necrotic damage on a failed Constitution save or half as much on a success. A humanoid killed by the spell rises as a zombie permanently under your command.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature you can see within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Constitution saving throw
- Damage
- necrotic
- Higher levels
- No additional effect when cast with a higher-level slot.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
9th level
1- You utter a word of power that kills one creature you can see within range if it has 100 hit points or fewer. Otherwise, the spell has no effect.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature you can see within range
- Components
- V
- Higher levels
- No additional effect when cast with a higher-level slot.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
In the margins
5 notes
Warningwarning
WarningNever read the names written in the margins aloud. The dead listen more carefully than the living.
DiaryThe first corpse rose before I finished the first syllable. I have not slept without a locked door since.
FormulaFormula: memory plus bone plus command equals obedience. Remove memory for a simpler servant, remove command for a more dangerous one.- DiaryA skull drawn in the corner of this page has been crossed out and redrawn seven times. Beside it: 'Not yet. He still knows my name.'
The book itself
The ink smells of grave soil, lamp oil, and extinguished candles.
Every ninth page is blank until blood is spilled nearby.
The book's clasp bears a tiny, lidless eye that appears to watch its reader.
The caster
Arcane wizardry shaped by funerary rites and forbidden Vecnan loreMalthazar Vey
Studies: Necromancy, undead creation, soul preservation, and the weaponization of mortal remainsManner: Soft-spoken, courtly, and unfailingly polite, even while discussing the most horrific acts as though describing household maintenanceFocus: A polished femur capped with an onyx eye, used as a wand and writing stylusQuirk: He pauses before answering any question, as though consulting an invisible corpse standing just behind the questioner.Wants: To create an immortal intelligence that retains every memory ever lost to death, then bind that intelligence into the Black Book as its living author.Malthazar Vey was once a royal mortician who secretly preserved the memories of condemned nobles. After discovering that death could be negotiated but never defeated, he abandoned the court and spent decades collecting forbidden funerary rites.
The book
A tall, iron-clasped codex bound in flayed black leather, its pages made from gray vellum that feels faintly warm. A silver sigil of a three-eyed skull is stamped into the cover, and the book's shadow sometimes moves a heartbeat before the book itself does.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
FormatIron-bound necromantic codex
ThemeNecromancy
Written by aWizard, School of Necromancy
Caster level20
SystemDungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
Plot hooks
1The Black Book has vanished from its sealed crypt, and every corpse buried within ten miles has begun walking toward the same abandoned cathedral.
2A dying necromancer offers the adventurers the book in exchange for destroying one page. Unfortunately, that page contains the true name of an ancient undead monarch.
3The book's wards recognize one party member as a former owner, though that character has no memory of ever seeing it.
4Several pages have been torn out and replaced with blank vellum. The missing spells are being reconstructed by a cult devoted to Vecna's severed eye.
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