Editing Deck of Many Things (section)

==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 [[The Henderson Scale of Plot Derailment|complete and utter chaos]] with the draw of a card, the likes of which can be generously described as [[TPK|a hazard to the adventuring party]], the setting, and [[RAGE|the players and DM alike]].

So how exactly does it work? Well, assuming your DM is foolish (or, alternately, [[Tzeentch|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.