My players found a deck of many more things (because the dice gods on the loot chart hate me), and now one of them is a solid 3 levels above everyone else with a VR item to boot. I'm struggling to balance the encounters due to the sudden power surge of the menace that has become the kobold shadow sorc (surprisingly not the winged tiefling ranger). Any ideas to help regain some semblance of control while keeping combat balanced for the lower-level players
If you were worried about the Deck unbalancing the game, you should have rerolled. The dice are not the DM, you are. Have an out-of-game conversation and see if the players are okay with you removing the deck and fixing the character's XP.
The magic of the deck, combined with the nature of the sorcerer’s innate magic cause a strange surge and now the rest of the party has also increased to the same level.
Maruntoryx has a point about the dice not being in charge, you can always choose to ignore them if you don’t like the item they generate. But that’s more of a lesson for the future. They are also right about maybe having a conversation about talking out of character and bringing the outlier PC back to earth — that’s an option.
But it’s probably more fun for the group if you give them things than if you take them away. It was your error, so why punish them.
I can tell you my group once had a deck. When a character drew the card about “defeat the next monster solo and gain a level,” we all gained the level. It just keeps things so much simpler.
1) As DM, you decide the treasure, not the random number generator. If something random comes up that could be a problem then just roll again. If you don't know what a random magic item does then don't put it in the game without at least glancing at the description.
2) Over the years, I've seen a deck of many things destroy more campaigns than any other single item or plot device used by a DM (including one of my own). The effects of these decks are so random AND so large that it will never (or almost never) leave a playable game. Not everyone gets the good cards. The lucky characters become far too powerful while the unlucky ones could end up unplayable. These things tend to not be fun for the DM or the players though there is a momentary "thrill" when drawing a card - it ends as soon as a bad card is drawn. If the players have any interest in an ongoing game or actually care about their characters then introducing any of these decks is highly not recommended.
3) Recovering a game from a deck usually requires retconning something or having some extraordinary event happen that negates or mitigates the effects. If you want to be upfront with the players then just tell them that the deck has really impacted enjoyment of the game and maybe ask for suggestions on how to fix it. Alternatively, you can rewrite the acquisition of the book and subsequent events as a dream sequence resulting from a trap on the actual magic item. Perhaps the actual magic item was warded against greedy characters - those who decide to use the deck fall into a fantasy state and eventually die of dehydration/starvation if the "dream" reaches its conclusion. If anyone did not use the deck then you could privately speak to those players and let them know that the other players have fallen into a coma and can't/won't eat or drink. These players then know that their actual characters are seeking aid for those affected by the deck while you have been playing the dreams of the characters who used the deck. It is a plot twist that will work only once though and you could add elements to the "dream" that could foreshadow what is going on before revealing it.
There are lot's of ways to deal with it but the best is likely to remove it from your game if you want to keep it going without the current issues.
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GM all,
My players found a deck of many more things (because the dice gods on the loot chart hate me), and now one of them is a solid 3 levels above everyone else with a VR item to boot. I'm struggling to balance the encounters due to the sudden power surge of the menace that has become the kobold shadow sorc (surprisingly not the winged tiefling ranger). Any ideas to help regain some semblance of control while keeping combat balanced for the lower-level players
If you were worried about the Deck unbalancing the game, you should have rerolled. The dice are not the DM, you are. Have an out-of-game conversation and see if the players are okay with you removing the deck and fixing the character's XP.
The magic of the deck, combined with the nature of the sorcerer’s innate magic cause a strange surge and now the rest of the party has also increased to the same level.
Maruntoryx has a point about the dice not being in charge, you can always choose to ignore them if you don’t like the item they generate. But that’s more of a lesson for the future. They are also right about maybe having a conversation about talking out of character and bringing the outlier PC back to earth — that’s an option.
But it’s probably more fun for the group if you give them things than if you take them away. It was your error, so why punish them.
I can tell you my group once had a deck. When a character drew the card about “defeat the next monster solo and gain a level,” we all gained the level. It just keeps things so much simpler.
Thanks for the input :)
Just a couple of tips that echo those above.
1) As DM, you decide the treasure, not the random number generator. If something random comes up that could be a problem then just roll again. If you don't know what a random magic item does then don't put it in the game without at least glancing at the description.
2) Over the years, I've seen a deck of many things destroy more campaigns than any other single item or plot device used by a DM (including one of my own). The effects of these decks are so random AND so large that it will never (or almost never) leave a playable game. Not everyone gets the good cards. The lucky characters become far too powerful while the unlucky ones could end up unplayable. These things tend to not be fun for the DM or the players though there is a momentary "thrill" when drawing a card - it ends as soon as a bad card is drawn. If the players have any interest in an ongoing game or actually care about their characters then introducing any of these decks is highly not recommended.
3) Recovering a game from a deck usually requires retconning something or having some extraordinary event happen that negates or mitigates the effects. If you want to be upfront with the players then just tell them that the deck has really impacted enjoyment of the game and maybe ask for suggestions on how to fix it. Alternatively, you can rewrite the acquisition of the book and subsequent events as a dream sequence resulting from a trap on the actual magic item. Perhaps the actual magic item was warded against greedy characters - those who decide to use the deck fall into a fantasy state and eventually die of dehydration/starvation if the "dream" reaches its conclusion. If anyone did not use the deck then you could privately speak to those players and let them know that the other players have fallen into a coma and can't/won't eat or drink. These players then know that their actual characters are seeking aid for those affected by the deck while you have been playing the dreams of the characters who used the deck. It is a plot twist that will work only once though and you could add elements to the "dream" that could foreshadow what is going on before revealing it.
There are lot's of ways to deal with it but the best is likely to remove it from your game if you want to keep it going without the current issues.