I have heard many tales of the deck of many things, both of despair and delight. Something that bothers me though is that when someone encounters a deck of cards, the most common response is to open the package and take all the cards out simultaneously and inspect them. However, with the DoMT it seems like some meta-knowledge causes people to pull cards out of the box one-at-a-time, which I have never seen anyone do in real life. Ever.
My question is: if someone did the real-life normal thing of pulling all the cards out of the package at once, what would happen? Would they all take effect simultaneously? Would the DM flip the table and give up on the campaign?
"Before you draw a card, you must declare how many cards you intend to draw and then draw them randomly (you can use an altered deck of playing cards to simulate the deck). Any cards drawn in excess of this number have no effect. Otherwise, as soon as you draw a card from the deck, its magic takes effect. You must draw each card no more than 1 hour after the previous draw. If you fail to draw the chosen number, the remaining number of cards fly from the deck on their own and take effect all at once.Before you draw a card, you must declare how many cards you intend to draw and then draw them randomly (you can use an altered deck of playing cards to simulate the deck). Any cards drawn in excess of this number have no effect. Otherwise, as soon as you draw a card from the deck, its magic takes effect. You must draw each card no more than 1 hour after the previous draw. If you fail to draw the chosen number, the remaining number of cards fly from the deck on their own and take effect all at once."
So you literally tell the DM how many you want and draw them one at a time, if you don't draw them in the specified time then the number you stated are automatically drawn by the magic of the deck and the effects are applied simultaneously.
Traditionally, it is not a box you pull the cards out of but the deck itself, just as you would a normal deck of cards. The '52 card pickup' idea is not an option. Most DM's would treat that situation either as drawing the maximum four cards, or the deck remaining intact as if it is one solid object, drawing zero cards. It would be like literally throwing a dozen wands at an enemy. Sure you are technically attacking with a dozen wands, but that is not how you activate them, so you would just be throwing expensive sticks.
They meant when pulling the whole deck out of the box of cards. Nobody pulls cards out of a box one at a time, we pull the whole deck out of the box, and then draw cards from the deck.
I have heard many tales of the deck of many things, both of despair and delight. Something that bothers me though is that when someone encounters a deck of cards, the most common response is to open the package and take all the cards out simultaneously and inspect them. However, with the DoMT it seems like some meta-knowledge causes people to pull cards out of the box one-at-a-time, which I have never seen anyone do in real life. Ever.
My question is: if someone did the real-life normal thing of pulling all the cards out of the package at once, what would happen? Would they all take effect simultaneously? Would the DM flip the table and give up on the campaign?
Modern decks of cards come in a box, traditionally there was no box, just the cards maybe wrapped in a ribbon.
You may find something useful in this video however:
The deck of many things is a magical deck of cards. The restrictions on how it works in the DMG would be apparent to a character who picks up the deck. They might try to draw a card and fail simply because they haven't said how many they were going to take. It would be physically impossible to reveal all the cards at once because it is a magic item (not a plain deck of cards) and it doesn't work that way. After examining the deck for a while or casting identify the characters would determine that if they want to draw a card from the deck they have to speak saying how many cards they will draw and they have to draw the stated number ... it is enforced by magic :). They would also have no idea what the cards in the deck might do ... either good, bad or indifferent.
At least that is how I would run it, if I was even remotely tempted to see it again in any game I ever play or run :) ... I've played while the deck destroyed two campaigns ... it isn't worth introducing unless you are bored with the game and want to start something new.
I think I would play a Deck of Many Things as having blank cards if someone just pulls them all out of the box and flips htem over, and they only appear as-intended when drawn as individual, declared cards.
My question is: if someone did the real-life normal thing of pulling all the cards out of the package at once, what would happen? Would they all take effect simultaneously? Would the DM flip the table and give up on the campaign?
"Before you draw a card, you must declare how many cards you intend to draw and then draw them randomly (you can use an altered deck of playing cards to simulate the deck). Any cards drawn in excess of this number have no effect."
I read that as there being a requirement of intent to draw cards, though it may be unknowingly. So if a character just picks up the deck and casually flips through it or flips it over, it will look like a deck with many cards of various pictures. (Personally, I would require a successful check of some sort ot realize that counting the card fails to produce consistent numbers, and trying to sort the cards inevitably fails.) But if at any point the intentional act of drawing a card comes into play, the DM has to ask how many cards the player is drawing and then play it out accordingly.
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I have heard many tales of the deck of many things, both of despair and delight. Something that bothers me though is that when someone encounters a deck of cards, the most common response is to open the package and take all the cards out simultaneously and inspect them. However, with the DoMT it seems like some meta-knowledge causes people to pull cards out of the box one-at-a-time, which I have never seen anyone do in real life. Ever.
My question is: if someone did the real-life normal thing of pulling all the cards out of the package at once, what would happen? Would they all take effect simultaneously? Would the DM flip the table and give up on the campaign?
Copied from the item description for the Deck of Many Things
"Before you draw a card, you must declare how many cards you intend to draw and then draw them randomly (you can use an altered deck of playing cards to simulate the deck). Any cards drawn in excess of this number have no effect. Otherwise, as soon as you draw a card from the deck, its magic takes effect. You must draw each card no more than 1 hour after the previous draw. If you fail to draw the chosen number, the remaining number of cards fly from the deck on their own and take effect all at once.Before you draw a card, you must declare how many cards you intend to draw and then draw them randomly (you can use an altered deck of playing cards to simulate the deck). Any cards drawn in excess of this number have no effect. Otherwise, as soon as you draw a card from the deck, its magic takes effect. You must draw each card no more than 1 hour after the previous draw. If you fail to draw the chosen number, the remaining number of cards fly from the deck on their own and take effect all at once."
So you literally tell the DM how many you want and draw them one at a time, if you don't draw them in the specified time then the number you stated are automatically drawn by the magic of the deck and the effects are applied simultaneously.
They meant when pulling the whole deck out of the box of cards. Nobody pulls cards out of a box one at a time, we pull the whole deck out of the box, and then draw cards from the deck.
Modern decks of cards come in a box, traditionally there was no box, just the cards maybe wrapped in a ribbon.
You may find something useful in this video however:
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It is magic :)
The deck of many things is a magical deck of cards. The restrictions on how it works in the DMG would be apparent to a character who picks up the deck. They might try to draw a card and fail simply because they haven't said how many they were going to take. It would be physically impossible to reveal all the cards at once because it is a magic item (not a plain deck of cards) and it doesn't work that way. After examining the deck for a while or casting identify the characters would determine that if they want to draw a card from the deck they have to speak saying how many cards they will draw and they have to draw the stated number ... it is enforced by magic :). They would also have no idea what the cards in the deck might do ... either good, bad or indifferent.
At least that is how I would run it, if I was even remotely tempted to see it again in any game I ever play or run :) ... I've played while the deck destroyed two campaigns ... it isn't worth introducing unless you are bored with the game and want to start something new.
I think I would play a Deck of Many Things as having blank cards if someone just pulls them all out of the box and flips htem over, and they only appear as-intended when drawn as individual, declared cards.
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I read that as there being a requirement of intent to draw cards, though it may be unknowingly. So if a character just picks up the deck and casually flips through it or flips it over, it will look like a deck with many cards of various pictures. (Personally, I would require a successful check of some sort ot realize that counting the card fails to produce consistent numbers, and trying to sort the cards inevitably fails.) But if at any point the intentional act of drawing a card comes into play, the DM has to ask how many cards the player is drawing and then play it out accordingly.
I am one with the Force. The Force is with me.