I've never been interested in homebrewing because I'm not creative person. If I'm gonna homwbrew something, I'm going to be copying from some piece of media or culture and be very stubborn on specific details even though they're insignificant for the most part. With that being said, I think this item will make things very fun for me and my friends in our makeshift games.
Essentially, the item I'm going to be making is based on the Deck of Many Things, a deck of cards with bizzare effects. I'm going to assign a deck of 52 cards with effects based on their suits, with their effects not being as bizzare as the Deck of Many Things. The suits will dictate what type of effects they hold, like Spades having combat based effects or Diamonds having RP based effects. I'll try to not have the effects be game-breaking since it's all in good fun.
The players will have this deck from the beginning and they can invoke it whenever they want, once per several hours for each player, meaning that since I only have 2 players, they can call upon 2 cards at the same time.
I'm planning to have 2 decks, 1 split up into 4 suits and 1 with all of them in 1 pile. The players can choose to either summon a specific suit of cards or 1 from the entire deck. After a card is used, it can't be used again and it disappears from both decks. If a player chooses from a specific suit, the good effects will be nerfed while the bad ones and consequences will be beefed while the opposite will be true if they pick it at random from the entire deck. I'll also let them roll percentile dice to see how right or wrong it goes for them.
So, what do y'all think? I'm a big fan of probability and how things could go very wrong or very right in just one decision. Give me some thoughts on how I can improve this deck and what to do with the jokers because I feel like they can have a lot potential for fun scenes. Thank you!
I think a DOMT type magic item is always fun, so I'd balance it with about 20 or so bad cards and 32 good cards but it's up to you honestly. If they're spellcasters maybe have a card that makes every spell they cast for the next 1d4 hours wild magic? I'm sure there are videos around about cool homebrew magic ideas
Maybe fit some just weird cards (neither good nor bad) in there?
One could be 3 or so turns of the Midas touch. (Doesn't have to be gold--you could turn whatever objects you touch with an index finger to silver, or jello)
If they're spellcasters maybe have a card that makes every spell they cast for the next 1d4 hours wild magic? I'm sure there are videos around about cool homebrew magic ideas
Well, they played a bard and a sorceror in our last game, so there's a high chance they'll be spellcasters again. I'm planning on stuff like, you suddenly cast Lightning Bolt or something and roll a d8 to choose where they shoot, so that'll be fun.
Maybe fit some just weird cards (neither good nor bad) in there?
One could be 3 or so turns of the Midas touch. (Doesn't have to be gold--you could turn whatever objects you touch with an index finger to silver, or jello)
Way to stretch and try something new!
Thank you, and I'm definitely going to put in weird effects, like doing something quirky or the spell goes all wonky to have some laughs. The Midas Touch thing could be useful, but at the same time a bit game breaking even if I invoke a saving throw, because that's automatic petrification right there, but a good suggestion nonetheless.
I don’t fully get the mechanics of the multiple piles unless I am reading it wrong?
you said they had 2 decks on split into suits and one shuffled and whole but removing a card from one removes it from the other?
why would they choose to not know the suit if different ones do different things? There is no reason to choose from the shuffled deck.
i would drop the separate split deck entirely and just have one shuffled deck of cards
You make a good point, but if I were to choose which one to drop, it'll be the shuffled deck because knowing what suit you're gonna get is better for how I'm going to assign their effects as the effects are heavily dependant on the suit. The reason why I decided to have both is so that they can test their luck more with the shuffled deck compared to the split deck. But you do make a good point on the fact that they wouldn't choose the shuffled deck as it's too risky, and just a little boost in the good effects won't change their mind. So, I'll instead boost the good effects a lot more if they choose from the shuffled deck compared to the split one, and boost the bad effects a lot more for the split one. Remember, each suit represents a specific effect type which means that they might waste an RP effect card in a specific combat encounter where it's almost impossible to benefit from it, but I guess that's the fun in D&D in the fact that you can use your creativity to win fights as opposed to just being more powerful. So, I think the boost in effects will be enough to balance it out, but we'll see.
Overall, great feedback here, though I'd still like suggestions on what the jokers should be. Any should be helpful, and thanks to those who've replied.
Are you managing this digitally or with an actual deck? Dropping the shuffled deck defeats the purpose of it being a deck of cards for anything but flavour, at that point it is 4 magical items with 13 charges for a random magical effect.
I'm doing it with an actual deck. And that's why I'm not dropping either. The purpose for having the split deck is to let them have a better chance of getting a specific type of effect, just the good ones being nerfed while the bad ones being more dangerous. It's to test the waters of probability even more, just like D&D itself, except with pre-written effects. It is all in good fun after all, that's how we play.
one deck that they draw 3 cards from randomly - one gets played the other two get placed at the bottom of the deck, they make this choice after seeing the suits and knowing the type but before knowing what the card does.
If you do something like the Midas effect, you could just make it affect objects, and maybe plants. Or if you wanted living things, sure a CON saving throw.
The good news is, unless any effect is permanent, it can only break the game so much!
As for ideas...steal them! Steal spell effects, steal monster traits, steal ideas from mythology and books and movies, steal from the wild magic table, steal magic item effects. Then blend and modify, and make it your own.
Other weirdness possible (maybe this is all greek themed, but insert any pantheon):
-Your hair turns to snakes, which try to bite you
-A shower of 300 (or some number) of gold pieces rains down on a point of your choosing, doing 1d6 bludgeoning damage to the target (or maybe it just lands on the caster)
-Your arms turn to tentacles, allowing you to grapple like a giant octopus for 1 minute
-Aphrodite's blessing (cast charm person, with advantage, disadvantage negated if in combat)
-Zeus' power, some lightning or thunder spell
-Athena's wisdom: you gain an owl familiar which lasts until it dies
-Hades themed: necromancy or hunger of hadar spells
-Artemis' curse: you turn into a deer for 1 minute (or some other polymorph)
-Artemis blessing: a hail of magic arrows (magic missile spell) directed at a target
-Summon cyclops/giant to the battlefield, who is chaotic neutral
-Wind spirit rescue: a ring of feather falling appears on your hand. It's permanent.
Those are some really good suggestions, I haven't read all of them yet, but these look solid. However, as you said, I can just steal them from anywhere and I said in my original post that I'm going to be basing the item off of some form of media. The show I'm copying from is Kamen Rider Blade where the 52 (technically 53 and 54 by the end of the show) monsters are sealed up into cards where they give the characters different powers. I'm gonna use that as a reference on what effects each card has based on the powers said cards have in the show. It's lazy, yes, but I like copying. XD But yeah, those are really great suggestions, I might actually use some of them. Thanks!
Why cater it specifically to them as casters? Seems like someone making this wouldn’t know, or maybe even care, who picked it up. Throw in a couple cards that boost or nerf their melee attacks. If they get a boost, maybe they come up with a creative way to use it. If they get a nerf, they get to say, hah, that doesn’t matter to me, and now I’ve “used up” a bad card.
I've never been interested in homebrewing because I'm not creative person. If I'm gonna homwbrew something, I'm going to be copying from some piece of media or culture and be very stubborn on specific details even though they're insignificant for the most part. With that being said, I think this item will make things very fun for me and my friends in our makeshift games.
Essentially, the item I'm going to be making is based on the Deck of Many Things, a deck of cards with bizzare effects. I'm going to assign a deck of 52 cards with effects based on their suits, with their effects not being as bizzare as the Deck of Many Things. The suits will dictate what type of effects they hold, like Spades having combat based effects or Diamonds having RP based effects. I'll try to not have the effects be game-breaking since it's all in good fun.
The players will have this deck from the beginning and they can invoke it whenever they want, once per several hours for each player, meaning that since I only have 2 players, they can call upon 2 cards at the same time.
I'm planning to have 2 decks, 1 split up into 4 suits and 1 with all of them in 1 pile. The players can choose to either summon a specific suit of cards or 1 from the entire deck. After a card is used, it can't be used again and it disappears from both decks. If a player chooses from a specific suit, the good effects will be nerfed while the bad ones and consequences will be beefed while the opposite will be true if they pick it at random from the entire deck. I'll also let them roll percentile dice to see how right or wrong it goes for them.
So, what do y'all think? I'm a big fan of probability and how things could go very wrong or very right in just one decision. Give me some thoughts on how I can improve this deck and what to do with the jokers because I feel like they can have a lot potential for fun scenes. Thank you!
I think a DOMT type magic item is always fun, so I'd balance it with about 20 or so bad cards and 32 good cards but it's up to you honestly. If they're spellcasters maybe have a card that makes every spell they cast for the next 1d4 hours wild magic? I'm sure there are videos around about cool homebrew magic ideas
I accidentally exploded a PC's heart one time...
... 20 or so bad cards and 32 good cards
Maybe fit some just weird cards (neither good nor bad) in there?
One could be 3 or so turns of the Midas touch. (Doesn't have to be gold--you could turn whatever objects you touch with an index finger to silver, or jello)
Way to stretch and try something new!
I don’t fully get the mechanics of the multiple piles unless I am reading it wrong?
you said they had 2 decks on split into suits and one shuffled and whole but removing a card from one removes it from the other?
why would they choose to not know the suit if different ones do different things? There is no reason to choose from the shuffled deck.
i would drop the separate split deck entirely and just have one shuffled deck of cards
Well, they played a bard and a sorceror in our last game, so there's a high chance they'll be spellcasters again. I'm planning on stuff like, you suddenly cast Lightning Bolt or something and roll a d8 to choose where they shoot, so that'll be fun.
Thank you, and I'm definitely going to put in weird effects, like doing something quirky or the spell goes all wonky to have some laughs. The Midas Touch thing could be useful, but at the same time a bit game breaking even if I invoke a saving throw, because that's automatic petrification right there, but a good suggestion nonetheless.
You make a good point, but if I were to choose which one to drop, it'll be the shuffled deck because knowing what suit you're gonna get is better for how I'm going to assign their effects as the effects are heavily dependant on the suit. The reason why I decided to have both is so that they can test their luck more with the shuffled deck compared to the split deck. But you do make a good point on the fact that they wouldn't choose the shuffled deck as it's too risky, and just a little boost in the good effects won't change their mind. So, I'll instead boost the good effects a lot more if they choose from the shuffled deck compared to the split one, and boost the bad effects a lot more for the split one. Remember, each suit represents a specific effect type which means that they might waste an RP effect card in a specific combat encounter where it's almost impossible to benefit from it, but I guess that's the fun in D&D in the fact that you can use your creativity to win fights as opposed to just being more powerful. So, I think the boost in effects will be enough to balance it out, but we'll see.
Overall, great feedback here, though I'd still like suggestions on what the jokers should be. Any should be helpful, and thanks to those who've replied.
Are you managing this digitally or with an actual deck? Dropping the shuffled deck defeats the purpose of it being a deck of cards for anything but flavour, at that point it is 4 magical items with 13 charges for a random magical effect.
I'm doing it with an actual deck. And that's why I'm not dropping either. The purpose for having the split deck is to let them have a better chance of getting a specific type of effect, just the good ones being nerfed while the bad ones being more dangerous. It's to test the waters of probability even more, just like D&D itself, except with pre-written effects. It is all in good fun after all, that's how we play.
What about this instead
one deck that they draw 3 cards from randomly - one gets played the other two get placed at the bottom of the deck, they make this choice after seeing the suits and knowing the type but before knowing what the card does.
If you do something like the Midas effect, you could just make it affect objects, and maybe plants. Or if you wanted living things, sure a CON saving throw.
The good news is, unless any effect is permanent, it can only break the game so much!
As for ideas...steal them! Steal spell effects, steal monster traits, steal ideas from mythology and books and movies, steal from the wild magic table, steal magic item effects. Then blend and modify, and make it your own.
Other weirdness possible (maybe this is all greek themed, but insert any pantheon):
-Your hair turns to snakes, which try to bite you
-A shower of 300 (or some number) of gold pieces rains down on a point of your choosing, doing 1d6 bludgeoning damage to the target (or maybe it just lands on the caster)
-Your arms turn to tentacles, allowing you to grapple like a giant octopus for 1 minute
-Aphrodite's blessing (cast charm person, with advantage, disadvantage negated if in combat)
-Zeus' power, some lightning or thunder spell
-Athena's wisdom: you gain an owl familiar which lasts until it dies
-Hades themed: necromancy or hunger of hadar spells
-Artemis' curse: you turn into a deer for 1 minute (or some other polymorph)
-Artemis blessing: a hail of magic arrows (magic missile spell) directed at a target
-Summon cyclops/giant to the battlefield, who is chaotic neutral
-Wind spirit rescue: a ring of feather falling appears on your hand. It's permanent.
Those are some really good suggestions, I haven't read all of them yet, but these look solid. However, as you said, I can just steal them from anywhere and I said in my original post that I'm going to be basing the item off of some form of media. The show I'm copying from is Kamen Rider Blade where the 52 (technically 53 and 54 by the end of the show) monsters are sealed up into cards where they give the characters different powers. I'm gonna use that as a reference on what effects each card has based on the powers said cards have in the show. It's lazy, yes, but I like copying. XD But yeah, those are really great suggestions, I might actually use some of them. Thanks!
Why cater it specifically to them as casters? Seems like someone making this wouldn’t know, or maybe even care, who picked it up. Throw in a couple cards that boost or nerf their melee attacks. If they get a boost, maybe they come up with a creative way to use it. If they get a nerf, they get to say, hah, that doesn’t matter to me, and now I’ve “used up” a bad card.
Well, I'm obviously gonna do that. I'm going to cater to the spellcasting but I will balance it with other role benefits.