Liliana Vess is a human planeswalker and a master of necromancy, using black magic to reanimate the dead, corrupt the living, and unlock power from death. She is charismatic, witty, and attractive, but profoundly egocentric. Though she appears to be in her 30s, she is actually over a century old. After the Mending, she made a pact with four demons—Kothophed, Griselbrand, Razaketh, and Belzenlok—to secure her youth and power.

«When you find yourself teetering on the edge of oblivion, mine will be the hands taking pleasure in giving you the final push.»

Beautiful, cunning, and ambitious to a fault, Liliana has mastered the dark art of necromancy. Her spells reanimate the dead and corrupt the living. Ageless and charismatic, she’s sharp as the edge of a razor and lives for the pursuit of power.

Once a noble-born healer on the plane of Dominaria, Liliana Vess first encountered necromancy in an attempt to heal her sick brother—but she inadvertently doomed him to spend eternity as one of the undead. The terror of death and the pain of her guilt ignited her Planeswalker spark, and she found herself on the plane of Innistrad. More than a century later, Liliana tried to forever remain at the height of her power and conquer death by forging a pact with four of the Multiverse’s most powerful demons. The words of this pact remain written indelibly on her skin. But Liliana has never been one for servitude, and she’s taken up regaining her freedom by defeating the four who bound her. Her quest for freedom led her to the demonic Chain Veil, which she wrestled from Garruk after cursing him. The Chain Veil amplifies her powers, but at great cost to her health and sanity. With the power of the Chain Veil, she has conquered the first two of her demons, but she still has two others to hunt.

Liliana’s ambition has led her to interact with beings from all over the Multiverse, but ultimately, Liliana’s greatest love and first priority is herself. She’s convinced that everyone else is in it for themselves too, she’s just better at playing the game than they are… All she ever wanted was eternal life and control over death. She was never one for servitude. Yet she finds herself subject to those who have promised her power: the Chain Veil, the four demons of her pact, the dragon Planeswalker Nicol Bolas, and the enigmatic Raven Man.

In Dungeons & Dragons

Clearly a warlock, Liliana recovered an immensely powerful artifact from an Onakke Temple on behalf of one of her patrons. That is the element we’ll create for her.

The Chain Veil
Artifact

The Chain Veil is made of burnished gold and is exquisitely crafted, so fine it appears to have the texture of silk. When worn, it covers the face. It was created to turn someone into a vessel for the resurrection of the long-dead Onakke. It kills its users if they’re not strong enough. Others may be turned into a demon.

• Properties. When wearing the Chain Veil, you gain +1 bonus to AC.
• Master of Necromancy. When wearing the Chain Veil, every spell that you cast that deals damage will have it divided evenly between necrotic and its original damage, rounding up for the fist type. Additionally, you get a 12th-level spell slot that you can use to cast a spell you know at a higher level. Any saving throw against the effects of such spell is rolled with disadvantage. Once you have used this feature, you can’t use it again until you get a long rest.
• Onakke Spirits Within. Every time you try to remove the Chain Veil or after you’ve been wearing it for 24 hours, you make a Death saving throw. If you succeed, you can take it off. If you fail, you can’t for the next 24 hours. If you die because of this check, you turn into an Onakke demon.
• Other properties. The Chain Veil has the following random properties: 1 minor and 1 major beneficial properties and 1 minor and 1 major detrimental properties.
• Destroying the Chain Veil. This artifact can only be destroyed by an Onakke high priest dedicated to a good deity. For this, he needs to cast a miracle spell in hallowed ground.

Have you created any tainted artifacts for your campaign? Hit the comments below with your ideas!