Forgotten Realms Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Forgotten Realms Wiki

The Book of Vile Darkness was an artifact of ineffable wickedness, a reference work of evil authored, edited and compiled by some of the most powerful and maleficent entities across the multiverse.[5][2]

This book I leave as a testament to my service to evil and also as a guide to others who would follow my steps into the vile darkness. These contents exist to understand evil's myriad expressions, to learn from them, and to use them. And though I have embraced the darkness, I know my understanding of it is not yet complete. Therefore, I leave this book open to others to add to its lore with a goal of creating a more perfect understanding of what it means to serve evil and to wield its power.
— Vecna's introduction to the Book of Vile Darkness[6]

Description[]

There were a total of six copies and at least eighteen fakes and botched copies of it. The original from Vecna, a deity from Oerth, was a book with a cover made from flesh from a human face and bones from a demon. The latter was made into the book's metal binding via magic. It had—at least for normal people—unintelligible symbols on the cover.[5]

The book could be edited by the owner and the owners of a book did so without regard to uniformity of the material or the look of the book. Therefore, the books looked ugly, they had pages made from different materials, and they had different writing styles. A major reason why these books were so hard to read and navigate through was its non-uniformity. Therefore, it took a long time to read through the book.[7]

Contents[]

The grimoire touched on every evil in the cosmos, for recorded in its pages were the rotten ideas, unhinged thoughts, dark magical secrets, and heinous insights its collection of writers had ever devised or discovered. It was a gruesome catalog of all mortal wrongs, containing within its bindings knowledge no mortal was ever meant to know, and to glimpse its scrawled secrets, let alone read them, was a path to almost certain insanity, agony, corruption, disfigurement, destruction, damnation and death.[2]

Powers[]

Book of Vile Darkness MtG

A lich reading from the Book of Vile Darkness.

Reading the entire Book of Vile Darkness took about seven days[3] or, to be more precise, eighty hours.[2] Upon completion, an evil divine spellcaster, such as a cleric, gained enough insight that it allowed him or her to grow in power and become more insightful into matters in general.[3] Reading the book strengthened one aspect of the user at the cost of another aspect. It also disfigured the user so that he or she became more intimidating to non-evil people, while becoming more respected by evil people. In fact, the reader could use a dominate monster effect on a evil person.[8]

To neutral people, the book was dangerous. Reading it physically harmed them and their personality changing it to that of an evil person. If they also happened to be a divine spellcaster, the book sapped their essence away but conferred no benefits.[3]

To good people, even touching the book was dangerous. Looking into it brought them the hostile attention of a fiend, who attacked them on the night they looked into the book, though this happened only four in five times. If a good divine spellcaster tried to read the book, the person died or at the least went permanently insane, like under an insanity spell, and the book drained his or her essence without conferring any benefits.[3]

The book was so evil that it prevented plant life from growing.[2]

The owner of this book was given additional knowledge about arcane, historical, and religious matters.[9] They became generally more knowledgeable on evil matters. For example, the user learned the Dark Speech.[2]

The book could be used as a magical implement that was more effective against non-evil creatures than against evil ones.[9]

The book had an actual corrupting effect on the personality of the user and those within 5 feet (1.5 meters) from the user. The book actually modified their personality to become that of a chaotic evil person. This corrupting effect could be deliberately hastened if the user wanted to hinder his or her enemies from escaping their own effects or use the book's powers to make an otherwise botched attack into a successful one. Creatures called with summoning abilities became deadlier if the book was used but this also came at the cost of accelerated corruption.[9]

Should you falter, should you feel the treacherous pangs of guilt and shame, understand that this book will know. And when this book is roused, it will destroy you.
— Part of Vecna's warning on the Book of Vile Darkness.[6]

The book was intelligent. It could deliberately hide its more dangerous content to make it appear less dangerous or malicious. It could also make its intentions discernible for the reader by moving words on its pages around. If it was satisfied with the user, it conferred additional abilities like one usable for ranged attack or increased usefulness as an implement, granting additional knowledge, and the ability to induce fear into others. If the book was not satisfied with the wielder, it could not only downgrade its abilities but actually hinder the user. If it lost all hope in the user, it killed them and destroyed their soul and disappeared until the next person found a way to find it. If the book was pleased with the user, the book gave them full access to its contents.[9]

The books' most fearsome ability was that they were easy to edit. Every time a Book of Vile Darkness fell into the hands of someone, that someone took out old pages and added new pages, changing the content according to the current owner's priorities.[7]

History[]

Where's the chapter about me?! Demon lord who achieved godhood, hello! Who in the Nine Hells wrote this thing?
— Lolth complaining about the Book of Vile Darkness.[10]

The first content of the Book of Vile Darkness was penned on Oerth by a Vasharan spellcaster millennia before the 14th century DR. At that time, it was only one single scroll with that spellcaster's ideas in it. Later, the scroll fell into the hands of a priestess of Nerull, a god worshiped on Oerth, who tripled the content by adding her knowledge into it. This trend continued and various evil clerics of different faiths came into possession of the scroll, added their knowledge to it, and the scroll fell into the hands of a different owner. At some point in history, it fell into the hands of Vecna, who did not just add his knowledge but transcribed the scrolls into a bound book, the Book of Vile Darkness. The book fell into the hands of worshipers of Erythnul who made a number of copies of it. Only six perfect copies existed; the rest were in some way imperfect. Baalzebul was also rumored to have owned one and to have made his edits in that copy.[5]

At least one of these perfect copies existed on Toril. Among its contents was a description of Atropus and what needed to happen so that he would come and end the world.[11]

In Flamerule of the Year of Lightning Storms, 1374 DR[note 1], a Book of Vile Darkness, penned by the deity Bane, was recovered from baneliches in the Vast by a Zhentarim cell. Soon after, the evil artifact was stolen from the intoxicated Zhents by Tallon Jarvis, a Mystran collector of malicious magic item lore. The lockbox with the Banite Book of Vile Darkness was entrusted to a group of adventurers from Ravens Bluff to be delivered to Harris Redfire, a mage who created an extra-dimensional vault to keep evil items locked away safely. The Book of Vile Darkness became the target for the furious Zhentarim, but subsequently, the lockbox was safely transported to Redfire's magical prison.[1]

Reputation[]

The books enjoyed an excellent reputation as far as reference works for evil matters went.[5]

Notable Owners[]

I have but one warning before I leave you to your awakening. Resist not the truths I and perhaps others record here. Open your mind and heart to the knowledge contained on these pages. Only then will you understand and receive the wisdom darkness can provide. […] Embrace the lore and spurn the light, and you too shall ever after walk in darkness.
— Vecna's introduction to the Book of Vile Darkness concluded.[6]

Appendix[]

Notes[]

  1. The events of the Living City Ravens Bluff campaign took place on a timeline that advanced together with the real world's time. Even though all Living City adventures and issues of Ravens Bluff Trumpeter were dated with real-world dates, there were events that received a DR year. The Living City timeline can be derived from Myrkyssa Jelan's historic events of the late 14th century DR. Myrkyssa Jelan attacked Ravens Bluff in 1370 DR, according to The City of Ravens Bluff and Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition; these events are chronicled in an in-and-out of universe issues of Ravens Bluff Trumpeter. This places the real world year 1997 as 1370 DR, and in 1998 (1371 DR), Myrkyssa was at last arrested and tried and said to have been executed, only to reappear in 1372 DR in The City of Ravens novel. As the real world's months and the Calendar of Harptos are virtually identical, we can also date all events of the Living City Ravens Bluff as close as an in-universe month.

See Also[]

Appearances[]

Adventures
The Mines of BloodstoneThe Throne of Bloodstone
Video Games
Dungeon Hack
Board Games
Betrayal at Baldur's Gate
Card Games
AD&D Trading CardsMagic: The Gathering (AFR)
Licensed Adventures & Organized Play
Ineffable Tome

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Gregory A. Dreher (January 2001). Ineffable Tome. Living City (RPGA), pp. 5, 26.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins, James Wyatt (2014). Dungeon Master's Guide 5th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 222–223. ISBN 978-0786965622.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Skip Williams (July 2003). Dungeon Master's Guide v.3.5. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 277–278. ISBN 0-7869-2889-1.
  4. Robert J. Schwalb (December 2011). “Dungeon Master's Book”. In Tanis O'Connor, et al. eds. The Book of Vile Darkness (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-0-7869-5868-9.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Monte Cook (October 2002). Book of Vile Darkness. Edited by David Noonan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 14. ISBN 0-7869-3136-1.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Robert J. Schwalb (December 2011). “Dungeon Master's Book”. In Tanis O'Connor, et al. eds. The Book of Vile Darkness (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-0-7869-5868-9.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Robert J. Schwalb (December 2011). “Dungeon Master's Book”. In Tanis O'Connor, et al. eds. The Book of Vile Darkness (Wizards of the Coast), p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7869-5868-9.
  8. Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins, James Wyatt (2014). Dungeon Master's Guide 5th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 222. ISBN 978-0786965622.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Robert J. Schwalb (December 2011). “Dungeon Master's Book”. In Tanis O'Connor, et al. eds. The Book of Vile Darkness (Wizards of the Coast), p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7869-5868-9.
  10. Robert J. Schwalb (December 2011). “Player's Book”. In Tanis O'Connor, et al. eds. The Book of Vile Darkness (Wizards of the Coast), p. 29. ISBN 978-0-7869-5868-9.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Schwalb, Robert J. (December 2007). Elder Evils. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-0-7869-4733-1.
  12. Thomas M. Reid (1993). AD&D Trading Cards 1993 series, #466, "Thuba's Book of Vile Darkness". TSR, Inc..
  13. The Vecna Dossier. D&D Beyond. Wizards of the Coast. (2022-06-09).
Advertisement