Deck of Many Things

Ohhhhh, holy shit.

Where do we even begin with this?

Well, let's start with the basics.

Overview

The infamous Deck of Many Things is a magical item that made its debut in the Greyhawk setting of Dungeons & Dragons.

The exact size of the deck (and thus its contents and effects) varies with the edition, but throughout its existence, one thing has remained consistent: its potential for inciting complete and utter chaos with the draw of a card, the likes of which can be generously described as a hazard to the adventuring party, the setting, and the players and DM alike.

So how exactly does it work? Well, assuming your DM is foolish (or, alternately, cunning) enough to allow you to obtain one, the deck is basically just an ordinary deck of cards, with each card corresponding to a specific effect.

Some of the cards have good effects (gain a level, obtain wealth, etc) and some effects are bad (idiocy, getting your soul sucked out, etc). You can choose to draw however many cards you want, but players with at least some sense in them will opt for a small number, as basic probability means drawing a card that will completely buttfuck you increases with each pull. And if you happen to survive your ordeal, you may find that your character's life circumstances are so drastically different that it completely derails the campaign if it hasn't already.

Whether it's your character losing every save throw, or turning into a greedy bag of dicks, the wisest option may simply be to just say no. Unless you're definitely going to die, you're much better off avoiding the deck as typically at least two of the cards will effectively take your character out of the game forever, and many more will set you back tremendously. In short, this is for use by Chaotic Neutral and Chaotic Evil DMs only.

The very first appearance was in literally the first D&D supplement; Greyhawk (1975). It then went on to reappear in the first Dungeon Master's Guide (1979), the 2nd edition DMG (1989), the Encyclopedia Magica Vol.1 (1994), the 3rd and 3.5 DMGs, Dungeon Magazine #177 for 4th edition, and the 5e DMG.

Cards of the Deck

Of course, you can't have a magical deck of cards without each of those cards meaning something, so here's the drill on just what the Deck of Many Things features. Names in brackets list the "equivalent cards", so you can emulate drawing from the deck with any standard playing card. (This particular set of descriptions applies to the 5e version, for what it's worth.)

• Balance (2 of Spades): Your alignment flips to its opposite (e.g Lawful Good becomes Chaotic Evil). No effect if you're True Neutral (although you could flavor it as switching between the "actively maintaining a balance" and "ambivalence" varieties").
• Comet (2 of Diamonds): If you beat the next monster or group of monsters by yourself, you get a free level up.
• Donjon (Ace of Spades): You disappear into an extradimensional sphere, leaving your stuff behind. Divination magic can't find the sphere, but Wish can. You are stuck in suspended animation within the sphere until someone pulls you out of it. Lose any further draws.
• Euryale (Queen of Spades): You're cursed with -2 to all saves. Only a god or the effect of The Fates can lift the curse.
• The Fates (Ace of Hearts): You can avoid or erase an event as if it never happened. You can trigger this at any point before your death.
• Flames (Queen of Clubs): A powerful devil becomes your enemy and will seek to ruin your life before it kills you. This enmity will last until either you die or the devil dies.
• Fool (Black Joker): Lose 10,000 XP (if that would cause you to lose a level, you keep the exact amount needed to retain it) and draw again, counting both as the same draw.
• Gem (2 of Hearts): 50,000 gp worth of jewelry materializes at your feet.
• Idiot (2 of Clubs): Permanently reduce Int by 1d4 + 1 (to a minimum of 1), but you get another draw.
• Jester (Red Joker): Either gain 10,000 XP or draw two more times.
• Key (Queen of Hearts): A magic weapon you're proficient with of at least Rare rarity appears in your hands. The GM chooses what the weapon will be.
• Knight (Jack of Hearts): You gain the service of a 4th level fighter of your race, who appears in a space within 30 feet of you. The fighter will serve you for life and is controlled by you.
• Moon (Queen of Diamonds): You can cast Wish 1d3 times.
• Rogue (Jack of Spades): A random NPC becomes hostile to you and will remain so unless Wish or Divine Intervention is used. You won't know which NPC is affected until they or someone else reveals it.
• Ruin (King of Spades): All forms of wealth you have other than magic items vanish. Property, businesses, lands- it all disappears.
• Skull (Jack of Clubs): A Grim Reaper-esque skeleton appears and attacks, warning your party that you must fight it alone. It will fight you until either it reaches 0 HP (causing it to vanish) or you die. If it kills you, nothing can revive you. If your party ignores its warning, more Grim Reapers show up.
• Star (Jack of Diamonds): One of your ability scores goes up by 2. This can exceed 20, but can't raise a stat beyond 24.
• Sun (King of Diamonds): Gain 50,000 XP and a wondrous item of the GM's choice.
• Talons (Ace of Clubs): All your magic items disintegrate. Artifacts Vanish (as per the Ranger ability) instead.
• Throne (King of Hearts): 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...if you can clear out the monsters infesting it.
• Vizier (Ace of Diamonds): 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. It can also provide a solution to a difficult problem.
• The Void (King of Clubs): Your soul is removed and imprisoned in an object of the GM's choice, which will be guarded by at least one powerful being. You're incapacitated until you get your soul back, and while Wish can't return your soul it can reveal where it's being kept. Lose any further draws.

Apart from the very first version of the Deck, which had 18 cards, the Deck of Many Things have been traditionally divided into two formats - Imperfect (13 cards) and Perfect (22). An Imperfect Deck lacks the following cards:

• Vizier
• Comet
• The Fates
• Gem
• Talons
• Idiot
• Donjon
• Balance
• Fool

Variant Decks

The Deck of Many Things has been in D&D since the very beginning of the game, so of course there have been some more unique versions of it pop up throghout the editions.

4e's Deck of Many Things

The 4e version of the Deck of Many Things is a very different beast to its kin in other editions. At its basis, it functions as an artifact-grade Tome - a special implement unique to Wizards - in two differing tiers; a Paragon tier version in Dungeon Magazine #177, and a Heroic tier version in the adventure "Madness at Gardmore Abbey".

Aside from the ability to draw cards and trigger their effects as normal, the Paragon Deck is a +5 tome that can also be used by Chaos Sorcerers as an implement. It renders the bearer immune to domination effects, can force an enemy within 10 squares to reroll an attack roll/skill check/saving throw and take your choice of the two results once per encounter, and once per day, allows you to roll a D20 and swap it in for the roll of an ally or enemy - depending on whether you want them to roll high or low.

This version cleverly makes use of 4e's Artifact Concordance mechanic, making the bearer more likely to draw good cards if the Deck likes them and more likely to get the bad cards if it doesn't.

There is one particular difference in this version of the Deck compared to any others. You only ever get to draw ONE card from it; once that card's magic has blessed or cursed you, the Deck vanishes from your possesion and is gone forever, never to appear before you again.

Tarot Deck of Many Things

Featured in Dragon Magazine #77, the Tarot Deck of Many Things is a tarot deck that grants magical effects when you pull a card from it.

Released for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition, this version of the Deck of Many Things has seventy eight different cards, each of which has at least two different effects, depending on whether you draw it in the upright position or the inverted position.

This version was made official when it was reposted in the Encyclopedia Magica, Vol. 1.

Tarokka Deck of Many Things

When Ravenloft was upgraded from an adventure module to a campaign setting in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, part of the background flavor was the creation of a themed Tarot-esque deck, the Tarokka.

In 1997, the Kargatane, a fan group supporting Raveloft and its fandom via an online website, released the first of their semi-official netbooks, The Book of Souls. On page 107, fueled by the argument that the standard Deck of Many Things didn't fit the Ravenloft atmosphere, we were introduced to a Tarokka-base replacement: the Tarokka of Many Things.

Of course, as this was both the time of Old School Roleplaying and the Ravenloft campaign setting, where DMs were encouraged to railroad and pick on their players, the Tarokka is essentially one giant Fuck You to any player who picks it up, and it should go without saying that if you spring this item on your players, you likely deserve whatever they do to you.

With a backstory of being created by the dying curse of a Vistani seer who was murdered by one customer after she confessed he was doomed, the Tarokka of Many Things carries far less power - and far more pain - than its standard cousin.

The Tarokka of Many Things has a 5% chance that it will disappear when a card is drawn. It is immune to the normal "chaos controlling" abilities of some kits, such as jesters and Wild Mages, but a pureblooded Vistani has a 50% chance of being able to control what card is drawn whenever anybody draws a card from the deck in their presence. Half-Vistani can do the same, but their muddied blood means they only have a 10% chance of succeeding at controlling the drawn card.

This Deck only activates when a card is drawn from it to test the future, and the effect of the drawn cards targets whoever is getting their future told. This means you can actually use this Tarokka to curse your enemies, but you've got to trick them into agreeing to let you tell their future first.

On top of this, the Tarokka of Many Things carries a curse; any character who carries the cards for a day or more must save vs Wisdom/Willpower to keep from drawing a card to tell somebody's future - theirs, or otherwise. Each failed save causes a -1 penalty on the next save, and also encourages them to draw more cards. Voluntary draws don't inflict this save penalty, and transferring ownership of the deck negates the curse. They have to transfer the whole deck.

As for the cards themselves...

• The Wizard: Gain +2 Intelligence, suffer -1 Strength.
• The Rogue: Gain +2 Dexterity, suffer -1 Wisdom.
• The Priest: Gain +2 Wisdom, suffer -1 Charisma.
• The Warrior: Gain +2 Strength, suffer -1 Intelligence.
• The Horseman: Feet mutate to look like hooves, but 2/day you can run at triple your normal speed for Constitution score minutes without suffering any penalty.
• The Broken One: You are Feebleminded, and even if cured by Heal, Restoration, or Wish, you permanently lose 1d4 Int and 1d4 Wis.
• The Hangman: At the next settlement you enter, you will be accused of murder, with evidence that points to you and a compulsion that will cause you to believe you are guilty within 2d4 days. You're not guilty, but your party will have to prove your innocence.
• The Beast: You develop physical traits reminiscent of those classically associated with being a werewolf, such as increased hairiness and elongated canines. These changes are purely cosmetic, but will cause problems.
• The Ghost: You immediately age 5d4 years.
• The Marionette: You are immediately possessed by an Odem.
• The Raven: You gain eerie jet black eyes and unnaturally pale skin, which inflicts a -2 Charisma penalty. You can fortell if any stranger you meet is going to die within the next 48 hours, which is indicated by a spectral raven (which only you can see) sitting on the doomed individual's shoulder. You lose this foresight if you somehow prevent a destined death, but the transformation is permanent.
• The Esper: You gain a Wild Talent from the Telepathy school (or an ESP spell-like ability, if you don't want to muck around with psionics). You must use this at least 1/day, or it starts switching on randomly and at inconvenient times.
• The Innocent: You will automatically pass your next Powers Check.
• The Donjon: You vanish into an unknown prison, leaving behind all your stuff, exactly as per the Deck of Many Things card of the same name.
• The Mists: You are swallowed by the Mists and carried off to some random spot in the Demiplane of Dread.
• The Darklord: You immediately suffer a failed Powers Check, and the Darklord of your current domain becomes aware of your present location.
• The Temptress: You are automatically Charmed by the next sexually attractive person you see.
• The Artifact: You immediately gain a powerful, but probably cursed, magic item.

See Also

The death of Hydronos. A game session where The Deck, homebrew, and good old fashioned stupidity combine to produce the single most bizarre death in the history of sequential storytelling.