# The Hand of Vecna

Wikipedia has an article about:
Hand of Vecna

%   The Hand of Vecna   

Base item

severed hand

Affiliation

chaotic

When carried

cold resistancehalf physical damagehungerless regeneration

When wielded

drain resistance

When invoked

see text

Base price

700 zm

Weight

1

The Hand of Vecna  is one of the most powerful artifacts in SLASH'EM. It can be obtained by killing Vecna in the Chaotic Quest, provided you don't digest or disintegrate him. Although it is guarded by an army of L, Z, V and Vecna himself, most players go through the trouble of killing them to acquire it. Like the other two alignment quest artifacts, you can't wish for it ("For a moment, you feel something in your hands, but it disappears!"), and in a bones file, it will revert to a severed hand.
If you eat the hand, you will take 150–199 damage, so this is a Bad Idea. The game will have the courtesy to ask if you're sure you want to eat a severed hand, though ("Are you sure you want to eat that? [ynq] (n)"). If you survive the Hand scrabbling around inside you, you gain all of 40 nutrition points ("This Hand of Vecna is delicious!  You feel the hand scrabbling around inside of you!") You can sacrifice the Hand ("You offer this evil thing to 

<your god="">..."); this gets rid of it permanently, and thus is also a (somewhat less, admittedly) Bad Idea.

Contents

1 Effects

1.1 Carrying
1.2 Wielding
1.3 Invoking

2 EvilHack
3 Hack'EM
4 Origin
5 History
6 See also

Effects
Carrying
When carried, the Hand provides cold resistance, half physical damage, and hungerless regeneration. Given that for many characters it will be the only possible source of the latter two properties, it is extremely desirable simply to have in one's inventory. Be sure not to eat or sacrifice it—a good idea is to set it to an inventory letter you are unlikely to accidentally press.

Wielding
While the Hand is certainly no weapon, for those who lack a source of drain resistance, it provides a handy way to gain it at the snap of a finger. It is quicker, in fact, than carrying an amulet of drain resistance, since you don't lose a turn (and thus possibly a level) taking anything off. While wielding it, you can then select an appropriate wand or other means to dispatch whatever monster is zapping a wand of draining at you.

Invoking
If your Luck is lower than −9, you get the following message:

"The Hand claws you with its icy nails!"
and receive 5–24 damage.
Otherwise, 

"Creatures from the grave surround you!"
and you summon 4–7 tame graveyard creatures. You also take a −3 penalty to both Luck and alignment record.

EvilHack
In EvilHack, the Hand of Vecna is a mummified hand, which is treated as armor worn in the gloves slot. When "worn", it permanently attaches itself to your left arm and can never be removed, preventing you from wearing other gloves. It is immune to erosion and can't be destroyed by any means. It can be easily enchanted to +7, but failed attempts to enchant it further will simply have no effect.
When the Hand is attached to your arm, it provides hungerless regeneration, half physical damage, and immunity to sickness. Your strength is set to 25, just like gauntlets of power. Your melee attacks, with and without weapons, deal 7 + 1d5 additional cold damage to non-resistant targets. You can put on or remove rings without issue, even if the Hand is cursed, and you can handle cockatrice corpses as if you were wearing ordinary gloves.
When invoked, if your Luck is −10 or lower, the Hand turns on you and causes instadeath. Otherwise, if the Hand is attached to you, it evokes death magic upon all monsters you can see. Unless resistant, each one has a 15% chance of being killed instantly and a 75% chance of losing 2⁄3 of its current hit points. Regardless of what happens, your Luck is reduced by 3, your wisdom is abused, and you take an alignment penalty (−7 if lawful, −3 if neutral or chaotic).

Hack'EM
In Hack'EM up until version 1.1.4, the Hand worked as it did in EvilHack. After 1.1.4 however, the Hand of Vecna was reverted to being a severed hand again and behaving as in SLASH'EM, granting hungerless regeneration, cold resistance, and half physical damage while carried and drain resistance when wielded.

Origin
The hand is an important artifact from Dungeons &amp; Dragons. There too, is the severed hand of defeated Vecna. It's an original creation of D&amp;D.

History
In SLASH 6, a precursor to SLASH'EM, killing Vecna could produce either the Hand of Vecna or the Eye of Vecna, with an equal chance of each.  As in SLASH'EM, the Hand conferred regeneration, cold resistance, and half physical damage, and could summon the undead when invoked.  
The Eye of Vecna was an artifact eyeball that conferred ESP, cold resistance, and half spell damage when carried.  Invoking it would turn its icy gaze on all monsters within the player's line of sight, reducing their health to a fraction of its current amount.  Just like the Hand, the Eye's invocation effect came with a −3 penalty to both Luck and alignment record.  Attempting to invoke it with a Luck of −9 or less would kill the player instantly.
The Eye of Vecna was not carried over into SLASH'EM; however, its icy gaze was retained as the invocation effect of the Eye of the Beholder, the prize for completing the Neutral Quest.

See also
The Eye of the Beholder
Nighthorn
severed hand

</your>