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Fallen Machina
Nihilore CC BY 4.0

Vax'ildan

Vax’ildan — “The Black Feather”

Vax'ildan, the Black Feather, standing in rain-dark leather and a raven-feather cloak before a Shadowfell cathedral

“She doesn’t want me. She told me. I came anyway.” — Vax’ildan, fragment recovered from his journal, 813 P.D., dated days before his death

Public Memory

Half-elf rogue. Twin to Vex’ahlia. Self-proclaimed Champion of the Raven Queen — a title the goddess herself never bestowed. He led Vox Machina’s assassinations: the Whitestone council, half of Emon’s senate during the brief siege, and the attempted murder of Vecna at the Vault confrontation in 813 P.D.

The Raven Queen rejected the claim of championship. Vecna, defending the Vault, killed Vax’ildan with a spell that severed his soul from her domain. The Raven Queen herself reclaimed the soul — and then declined to keep it. Where Vax’ildan’s spirit currently resides is unknown.

Whispered Truth

The Raven Queen’s rejection of Vax’ildan was not because he was unworthy. It was because her actual Champion was someone he was hunting — a half-elf woman in Vasselheim, Kima of Vord, whom Vax’ildan had marked for assassination on the false belief that she was an obstacle. The Raven Queen took back her domain to save Kima, and Vax’ildan’s claim collapsed in the process. He died believing he was being persecuted by his own goddess.

Vax was the most-loved of Vox Machina by his companions and the least-aware of what they had become. He believed, until the end, that they were on a sacred mission. The Saviors largely pity him. Vecna, who killed him, attended his small private funeral — held by Lady Delilah, who does not believe anyone should be buried alone.

Stats & Build — if encountered as a Shadowfell ghost or revenant

  • Tier 3 (level 14).
  • Class: Rogue (Assassin) 8 / Paladin (Oathbreaker, never-officially-sworn) 6.
  • Signature gear: Whisper (dagger of returning, +2, intangible in his ghost-form), the Deathwalker’s Ward (plate armor of the Raven Queen, currently held in Vasselheim under Kima’s keeping — Vax’ildan can sense it from the Shadowfell and longs for it).
  • Suggested CR: 13.
  • Ghost variant: incorporeal movement, possess (DC 17 Cha save), detect within 60 ft. anyone bearing a token of his sister Vex’ahlia (he is drawn to them).

Roleplay Hooks

  • Voice: quiet, intense, earnest in a way that is difficult to dismiss. He genuinely believed.
  • Soft spots: Vex’ahlia. His mother. Birds. Children. Dancers. (He liked dancers in a quiet, private way.)
  • Hard spots: anything mocking the Raven Queen. Anything mocking his sister. Vecna’s name (he will not engage with reasonable conversation if Vecna is invoked).

Return Conditions

The default arc is the Shadowfell encounter described above. Most groups will find him pitiable rather than fightable.

For a hostile return: the cult that resurrects Percival or Vex’ahlia might attempt to anchor Vax’ildan to one of their corpses. The result would be a hybrid revenant — Vax’ildan’s persistent will animating the wrong body. This is grotesque and probably the campaign’s most disturbing combat. Use with care and with table buy-in.