Cardcasting

You are one of the few remaining who study the deep and ancient magic of casting spells through cards. Since the formidable, Atem, ancient pharaoh and master of Cardcasting, to Yugi, a powerful wizard who had achieved the title of "King of Games", fewer and fewer Cardcasters have learned its secrets. Many Cardcasters in the past have obtained this knowledge to be able to stride on top of the harrowing path that is life. With the power of a Gods, luck, and your favorite few cards, you will find a way through hardship and find a way out of even the most difficult predicaments.

It's Time to Duel!

Starting at 1st level, you gain the ability to wield cards as part of your magic.

You gain expertise with playing cards, and a deck of playing cards is now your spellcasting focus as well as your spellbook.

Soul of a Duelist

At 1st level, you gain abilities allowing you to utilize the tenants of Cardcasting. In exchange for these overwhelming magical abilities, you have disadvantage on all attacks not cast with Spell Counters, whether that be spell, unarmed, or with a weapon. Furthermore on damaging spells involving saving throws, a success results in no damage, not half damage.

• Trap Cards: Whenever you cast a leveled spell as a reaction, you can upcast it to expend a spell slot 1 higher for free. You cannot use this feature on 9th level spells. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence Modifier. 
• Spell Counters: Whenever you cast a leveled spell, you gain Spell Counters equal to the spell's original level. When you cast a spell, you can apply one of the following effects to it for the amount of Spell Counters listed. You lose all of your Spell Counters on a long or short rest. 
  • Continuous Spell: For 3 Spell Counters, a spell with a duration doubles its duration.
  • Equip Spells: For 4 Spell Counters, a spell affecting a creature can grant a +2 or -2 to the base game stats (not modifiers). This feature can only be applied to one creature at any given time, and cannot be used multiple times on the same creature. This effect is reset when you lose all of your Spell Counters. 
  • Quick-Play Spells: At 6th level, for 7 Spell Counters, you can cast a spell that would normally require an action or bonus action or reaction as a spell with the casting time of an action, bonus action, or reaction. 
  • Field Spells: At 9th level, for 8 Spell Counters, when you can cast a spell that affects a number of creatures or affects an area, you can double all dimensions of the area, or double the amount of creatures the spell would ordinarily affect.
  • Ritual Spell: At 14th level, for 20 Counters, when you cast a spell, as a bonus action you can summon a monster card that you own of any CR, however after 1 minute the summoned monster disappears. 
• Monster Cards: The most important mechanic to the magic of a Cardcaster.  
  • As a bonus action, when a creature is killed within 120 feet of you within the last hour, you can make it into a monster card if its Challenge Rating was equal to or below your own. If it is higher than your own, make an ability check with your spell attack bonus. The DC is 10 + the creature's Challenge Rating. You can expend a spell slot to add twice its level to this ability check.
    
    • When you reach 9th level, you can make these ability checks at advantage outside of combat.
  • As an action, you can expend a spell slot and summon a monster card up to the Challenge Rating of the level of the expended spell slot. This works in conjunction with Trap Cards. You can sacrifice monster cards to summon a monster card with a Challenge Rating equal to or lower than the sacrificed monsters combined Challenge Ratings instead. You cannot have more than 5 monster cards of any kind.
    • When you reach 14th level, you can summon a monster card this way as a bonus action.

 

Improved Summoning Methods

Starting at 6th level, you can gain one of these summoning methods. You can use these features individually a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, you recharge all uses when you take a long rest, or when you successfully use Mind Crush on an enemy the DM deems worthy of a close duel. The secondary effect of each summoning method is only available if it was taken as your first summoning method, or unless you have a magical deck of cards. A magical deck of uncommon rarity can use 2, and a magical deck of rare rarity can use 3, a magical deck of very rare can use 4, and magical decks of legendary or artifact rarity can use all of them. You can only use these free action summonings during your turn in the round. A monster card cannot possess traits from multiple summoning types at once.

• Fusion Summoning: As a free action, you can add the Challenge Ratings of two of your summoned monster cards and sacrifice them in order to summon a monster card of that combined Challenge Rating plus half your proficiency bonus (round down). When you first gain this summoning method or when you level up, you can change the Challenge Rating of four of your monster cards by one. You cannot have more than four monster cards under this effect at any time. 
• Synchro Summoning: As a free action, you can add the Challenge Rating of a regular monster card and a tuner monster card and sacrifice them in order to summon a monster card with a Challenge Rating equal to the monster card's Challenge Rating plus twice the Challenge Rating of the tuner monster card. When you first gain this summoning method or when you level up, you can designate up to two of your monster cards as tuner monster cards. You cannot have more than two monster cards under this effect at any time. 
• XYZ Summoning: As a bonus action, you can summon a monster card of equal Challenge Rating to an existing monster card you have on the field, then immediately summon a monster card with the combined Challenge Ratings of those two monsters. When you first gain this summoning method or when you level up, you can grant one monster card an additional spell that it can cast by using your spell slots for that spell. This monster card does not inherit the negative effects of damaging spells that you have. You cannot have more than one monster cards under this effect at any time. 
• Pendulum Summoning: When you have exactly two Pendulum monster cards on the field, you can summon one monster card as a free action of a Challenge Rating between and not including the Challenge Rating of the Pendulum monster cards. You can only use this feature once per round. When you first gain this summoning method or when you level up, you can designate up to four monster cards as Pendulum monster cards. You cannot have more than four monster cards under this effect at any time.
• Link Summoning: As a free action, you can expend a spell slot of a level equal to the number of Summoning Methods used thus far this turn (Normal, Ritual, Fusion, Synchro, XYZ, Pendulum) and summon a monster card of that Challenge Rating. You can only use this feature once per turn. 

Heart of the Cards

Beginning at 10th level, you've gained the ability to magically get the best outcomes during the most crucial situations. When a die is rolled, you can replace that die roll with a number of your choice that is possible to roll on that die. You can only use this feature once per long rest.

Mind Crush

Starting at 14th level, when you deal damage through your monster cards equal to your maximum hit points to a singular creature in a single combat encounter, the creature must make a Constitution saving throw equal to the total CR of monsters it was attacked by divided by half, or suffer 12d12 psychic damage and have its Intelligence and Charisma scores become 1. The creature can't cast spells, activate magic items, understand language, or communicate in any intelligible way. The creature can, however, identify its friends, follow them, and even protect them. On a success, the creature takes no damage and does not suffer the effects. The creature must remake this saving throw at the start of its next turn if it succeeds and has not regained enough hitpoints or dealt enough damage to the Cardcaster to mitigate this effect.