Eye of Vecna

The Eye of Vecna was a powerful and evil artifact that granted its wearer supernatural senses and access to powerful spells.

Description
The Eye was bloodshot and appeared to have been forcefully torn from its socket. In order to use its powers, the wielder needed to remove an eye and place the artifact into the empty socket. The item then magically grafted itself onto its wearer's head, assuming a golden coloration and a vertical pupil similar to a cat's. Removing the Eye of Vecna invariably killed its wearer.

Powers
Once attuned to the Eye of Vecna, a creature changed its worldview towards a neutral evil disposition. The artifact granted truesight to its wearer, as well as an ability to see through solid objects similar to that of a ring of X-ray vision, including the risk of exhaustion in case of repeated activations.

In addition, the Eye of Vecna allowed its wearer to cast the clairvoyance, crown of madness, disintegrate, dominate monster, and eyebite spells a limited number of times. It progressively regained its magic at every dawn. Using the artifact to cast any spells incurred a small risk of Vecna himself tearing the wearer's soul apart, devouring it, and taking control of the wearer's body, using it as a puppet.

If both the Eye and the Hand were to be attuned to the same creature, the wearer enjoyed numerous additional benefits, such as immunity to disease and poison, premonitions of imminent danger, the ability to use the Eye's X-ray vision without risking exhaustion, regeneration powers, and the ability to cast wish once every 30 days.

History
The Eye of Vecna and the Hand of Vecna were the only remnants of the powerful lich Vecna, after he was betrayed and killed by his lieutenant Kas. The two appendages were left with a fragment of the lich's will and attempted to work his deeds wherever they went.

Reputation
It was said that the only way to permanently destroy the Eye of Vecna was if both the Eye and the Hand of Vecna were attached to the same creature, and then that creature was slain by the artifact known as the Sword of Kas. Any other attempt to destroy either artifact merely transported it into a hidden vault in an unknown location.

Appearances

 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards
 * Board Games
 * Betrayal at Baldur's Gate