Usually found in a box or pouch, this deck contains a number of cards made of ivory or vellum. Most (75 percent) of these decks have only thirteen cards, but the rest have twenty-two.
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.
Once a card is drawn, it fades from existence. Unless the card is the Fool or the Jester, the card reappears in the deck, making it possible to draw the same card twice.
Playing Card | Card |
---|---|
Ace of diamonds | Vizier* |
King of diamonds | Sun |
Queen of diamonds | Moon |
Jack of diamonds | Star |
Two of diamonds | Comet* |
Ace of hearts | The Fates* |
King of hearts | Throne |
Queen of hearts | Key |
Jack of hearts | Knight |
Two of hearts | Gem* |
Ace of clubs | Talons* |
King of clubs | The Void |
Queen of clubs | Flames |
Jack of clubs | Skull |
Two of clubs | Idiot* |
Ace of spades | Donjon* |
King of spades | Ruin |
Queen of spades | Euryale |
Jack of spades | Rogue |
Two of spades | Balance* |
Joker (with TM) | Fool* |
Joker (without TM) | Jester |
* Found only in a deck with twenty-two cards
Balance. Your mind suffers a wrenching alteration, causing your alignment to change. Lawful becomes chaotic, good becomes evil, and vice versa. If you are true neutral or unaligned, this card has no effect on you.
Comet. If you single-handedly defeat the next hostile monster or group of monsters you encounter, you gain experience points enough to gain one level. Otherwise, this card has no effect.
Donjon. You disappear and become entombed in a state of suspended animation in an extradimensional sphere. Everything you were wearing and carrying stays behind in the space you occupied when you disappeared. You remain imprisoned until you are found and removed from the sphere. You can't be located by any divination magic, but a wish spell can reveal the location of your prison. You draw no more cards.
Euryale. The card's medusa-like visage curses you. You take a −2 penalty on saving throws while cursed in this way. Only a god or the magic of The Fates card can end this curse.
The Fates. Reality's fabric unravels and spins anew, allowing you to avoid or erase one event as if it never happened. You can use the card's magic as soon as you draw the card or at any other time before you die.
Flames. A powerful devil becomes your enemy. The devil seeks your ruin and plagues your life, savoring your suffering before attempting to slay you. This enmity lasts until either you or the devil dies.
Fool. You lose 10,000 XP, discard this card, and draw from the deck again, counting both draws as one of your declared draws. If losing that much XP would cause you to lose a level, you instead lose an amount that leaves you with just enough XP to keep your level.
Gem. Twenty-five pieces of jewelry worth 2,000 gp each or fifty gems worth 1,000 gp each appear at your feet.
Idiot. Permanently reduce your Intelligence by 1d4 + 1 (to a minimum score of 1). You can draw one additional card beyond your declared draws.
Jester. You gain 10,000 XP, or you can draw two additional cards beyond your declared draws.
Key. A rare or rarer magic weapon with which you are proficient appears in your hands. The GM chooses the weapon.
Knight. You gain the service of a 4th-level fighter who appears in a space you choose within 30 feet of you. The fighter is of the same race as you and serves you loyally until death, believing the fates have drawn him or her to you. You control this character.
Moon. You are granted the ability to cast the wish spell 1d3 times.
Rogue. A nonplayer character of the GM's choice becomes hostile toward you. The identity of your new enemy isn't known until the NPC or someone else reveals it. Nothing less than a wish spell or divine intervention can end the NPC's hostility toward you.
Ruin. All forms of wealth that you carry or own, other than magic items, are lost to you. Portable property vanishes. Businesses, buildings, and land you own are lost in a way that alters reality the least. Any documentation that proves you should own something lost to this card also disappears.
Skull. You summon an avatar of death--a ghostly humanoid skeleton clad in a tattered black robe and carrying a spectral scythe. It appears in a space of the GM's choice within 10 feet of you and attacks you, warning all others that you must win the battle alone. The avatar fights until you die or it drops to 0 hit points, whereupon it disappears. If anyone tries to help you, the helper summons its own avatar of death. A creature slain by an avatar of death can't be restored to life.
Avatar of Death
Medium undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 20
Hit Points half the hit point maximum of its summoner
Speed 60 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover)
STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 (+3) | 16 (+3) | 16 (+3) | 16 (+3) | 16 (+3) | 16 (+3) |
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, unconscious
Senses darkvision 60 ft., truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages all languages known to its summoner
Challenge -- (0 XP)
Incorporeal Movement. The avatar can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Turning Immunity. The avatar is immune to features that turn undead.
Actions
Reaping Scythe. The avatar sweeps its spectral scythe through a creature within 5 feet of it, dealing 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage plus 4 (1d8) necrotic damage.
Star. Increase one of your ability scores by 2. The score can exceed 20 but can't exceed 24.
Sun. You gain 50,000 XP, and a wondrous item (which the GM determines randomly) appears in your hands.
Talons. Every magic item you wear or carry disintegrates. Artifacts in your possession aren't destroyed but do vanish.
Throne. You gain proficiency in the Persuasion skill, and you double your proficiency bonus on checks made with that skill. In addition, you gain rightful ownership of a small keep somewhere in the world. However, the keep is currently in the hands of monsters, which you must clear out before you can claim the keep as yours.
Vizier. At any time you choose within one year of drawing this card, you can ask a question in meditation and mentally receive a truthful answer to that question. Besides information, the answer helps you solve a puzzling problem or other dilemma. In other words, the knowledge comes with wisdom on how to apply it.
The Void. This black card spells disaster. Your soul is drawn from your body and contained in an object in a place of the GM's choice. One or more powerful beings guard the place. While your soul is trapped in this way, your body is incapacitated. A wish spell can't restore your soul, but the spell reveals the location of the object that holds it. You draw no more cards.
A QUESTION OF ENMITY
Two of the cards in a deck of many things can earn a character the enmity of another being. With the Flames card, the enmity is overt. The character should experience the devil’s malevolent efforts on multiple occasions. Seeking out the fiend shouldn’t be a simple task, and the adventurer should clash with the devil’s allies and followers a few times before being able to confront the devil itself.
Notes: Utility, Consumable
Be wary, DMs. This item can single-handedly unravel a campaign.
I hate this thing. Low level characters get a huge level up that throws everything out of whack, high level characters with long stories just disappear and you have no say in the matter.
For all the naysayers, I say relax!
This is a fun, but dangerous item to add to any campaign. It can be a challenge to apply the effects, but can really take your stories to new heights with a great DM.
I get the fear people have for the Deck of Many Things, but I have added it to my games to the delight and horror of me and my players. If done right, this is an awesome tool for fantastic storytelling. As for the unbalanced aspect due to leveling up or down, that is the risk you take! Deal with it and bring your "A game" to the table, and it can be an amazing experience.
If you want to destroy the entire campaign, accept no substitute.
Let's say I got this item in a campaign and decide that the potential risks don't outweigh the potential gains... is there any kind of reference that gives an approximate monetary value for such an item?
I realize it's "priceless" but I'd like to try to find a high level magic user or collector that might be willing to pay or trade other magic items for it, and I'd like to know that I'm not being "ripped off" if I do...
Any ideas?
I got this in a campaign once. I drew one card from it and got the Moon card. I was able to cast Wish three times.
If you're going to DM with this item, change how it works. Add your own cards. Remove certain cards. Don't just let it destroy your campaign.
Depends on your DM, the world (or, the instance of it your group is using), and your abilities to locate a buyer. As much of a frustration it is sometimes that they removed exact pricing for items (you only get an approximate range based on rarity, described in the DMG Magic Items section), it is actually a good way to move from "monster-loot-xp" towards a story based approach.
My advice for running this Magic Item in a game is to set the cards up as influencers of the future instead of "wooo, shiny thing appears next to you" or "welp, you die." For instance if you pull the Knights card then perhaps the characters here screams of help in the distance and they encounter a burning building or people being harassed by the local crime guild. After saving the day as heroes do or assisting the crime guild in an anti-hero campaign a fighter pays them a life debt in gratitude.
This things reputation can lead to trouble with metagaming. I introduced it into my game around level 10 (because I wanted to throw a little variety in), and my players have had it over a year of real-life time now. They've drawn 3 cards (1 of which was drawn by a former pc turned npc). They're too scared to touch the thing. I'm regretting introducing it at all, because it's just gathering dust.
I think if you have the time a homebrew to balance this out using the major Arcana from a tarot deck might work.
I wouldn't punish my players for being timid... but I also wouldn't let a gigantic Chekhov's gun go un-fired without some consequences.
If your players are too timid to use the deck, then make it a plot point. The Grand Vizier of Antioch has arrived in town and is searching for the 'Sacred Deck of Fates'. She announces that a reward of 1,000 platinum will be paid for information leading to the arrest and execution of the thieves who have stolen the deck from it's holy resting place! Or, have some high level rogue steal the deck from the PC's. ...possibly just before the Vizier comes to town! Apparently, she's received information that your party is the culprit, and when she's able to search your PC's, she finds the box and pouch they were contained in, but not the deck itself. Now the PC's are beholden to the Count of Antioch, to seek out and return the Deck of Many Things from the thief that stole it from them (or be doomed to evade his guards for the rest of their lives!)
Alternatively, if you really just want to see the deck used (especially if the holder of the deck isn't the most responsible PC in the pot), have the player holding the deck make a wisdom saving throw the next time they gamble or get drunk. Failure results in pulling out the DoMT by mistake and pulling a card. Failure by 7 or more results in pulling three cards. Natural one means five cards. Not all of which need be pulled by your PC! In this case, I'd caution against letting them pull any of the nastier cards though—since you're being sneaky about it, after all. :-)
If they're looking to sell a DoMT, that could be complicated; but also an interesting plot point. It's a legendary artifact, so the first hurdle would be finding someone trustworthy who could authenticate it. Next would be finding someone wealthy enough to afford it, and mad enough to want it! I'm thinking... magical auction. Lots of potential, there! Depending on the PC's level, you could have them host the auction at which only the deck is sold; or have them find an auction house or thieves guild (if selling stolen/illegal items) where their item is sold alongside other rare items; perhaps some of which the PC's want for themselves. In either case, the PC's will need to secure the deck during transport, and keep it secure before it's sold. After all, they can't just keep it on their person, since then it would need to be re-authenticated, to make sure it hadn't been swapped out.
There are lots of non-game-breaking ways you can use a Deck of Many Things to add some spice to your game; several of which don't even involve pulling a card. It's your game, have fun with it!
exactly what i did, reworked all the insta death and permanent penalty so they could be removed by a quest, changed it so the entire party get the XP, so one character doesnt get above the others and changed the balance card to balance your stats instead of your alignement, the void still traps your soul but you still live as normal you simply can't be resurrected or change plane, you have to find and destroy the phylactery to get your soul back, the donjon can be escaped by a DC19 intel or wisdom or by a ritual during 1d10 days done in conjunction with a powerful mage. ETC. the effects can still be massively negative, but mostly you can do something about it, wich was for me the worst for players.
Funny story, so in a campaign (session 2 and we were level 2) my DM gave us a deck of many things with none of the bad cards and the cards don't delete themselves. We drew comet and jester so many times (yes we were shuffling) we stopped when we got to level 10 and we had to reboot our characters, as they were thrown in the "BE GONE" pile.
One of my PCs has drawn the Euryale card. How do we add that debuff to his sheet?
Why would you ever give this to low level characters? And high level characters should know the risks, and also should be able to overcome the negative consequences. Also no one is forcing you to give it to your party :)
I randomly rolled this as treasure in a pretty high tiered dungeon with tough encounters. I thought I would be able to handle it and it would make the last 3rd of my campaign really fun and interesting... ONE player drew sun 5 times...... Does anyone know of any good rules that can restrict things like this from happening?
Well, as the description says: "once the card is used it fades from existence unless the card is the fool or the jester". So it shouldn't happen more than once.
My thoughts on the Void card: Just keeping the soul in an object makes no sense, at least from the point of view of whatever entity made the cards or acquires the soul. I'd play out a scenario where the powerful being in possession of the soul gives an ultimatum: Work for me, and you can have your soul back—on loan. Keep me happy, and you get to keep walking around. Disappoint me, and you end up another soul in my ever-growing collection. What the powerful being wants some powerful artifact, or access to the player's home dimension, or something similar.
So, when a character draws this card, a day or two later they're back in their body, with a new laundry list of things they have to do in order to remain walking around. Whether they enlist the party's help, try to trick them into it, or just leave (requiring the player to roll up a new character), the potential is there for a new big-bad that the party has to deal with.
"Unless the card is the Fool or the Jester, the card reappears in the deck, making it possible to draw the same card twice."