The Deck of VERY Many Things

Category:

other

Description:

This standard deck of playing cards (54 cards, including 2 Jokers) looks perfectly normal, but radiates very powerful magic, and resists all attempts to identify it. When used in normal games, the deck behaves just as any non-magical deck of cards.

The enchantments on the deck can only be activated by one willing to activate them. To do this all 54 cards must be shuffled and then a single (1) card drawn from the top of the deck. If done under duress, this takes about as much time as casting a spell, incurring a +3 modifier to initiative. Drawing a card in this way is surprisingly taxing, causing the person drawing the card to immediately lose 1/4 of his maximum Fatigue points.

Other than the exhaustion drawing a card causes, there is no limit to how often a card can be drawn. Each time the deck is activated, all 54 cards must be returned to the deck and shuffled.

Draw a Card.

Each card in the Deck of Very Many Things can have one of four effects, depending on the time of day: Dawn to Noon, Noon to Dusk, Dusk to Midnight, or Midnight to Dawn. A Wild Mage controlling a Deck of Very Many Things can specify which card he draws, but cannot manipulate the time at which it is drawn.

If a card is drawn in a place which does not follow a standard solar time-scale, Draw a Card then roll 1d4 to randomly determine the time that the Deck thinks it is.

Known Cards	Time	Effects
King of Clubs	Evening	The character becomes closer to the ideal of Elf-kind. Elves become Eldren. Half-Elves become true elves. Non-Elves become Half-Elves.
Queen of Clubs	Evening	A random weapon on the character’s person becomes enchanted. Select a random weapon carried by the user and roll for a random magic item. If the result is a Wand, Staff, Rod, or Weapon, those powers are added to the weapon. If the result is any other type of magic item, the weapon gains a +1 enhancement bonus.
Jack of Clubs	Evening	Ignorance is Bliss. Permanently lose 1d4 to Reason, gain a bonus to Intuition equal to twice the roll. Permanently lose 1d4 to Knowledge, gain a bonus to Willpower equal to twice the roll.
7 of Clubs	Afternoon	The character must choose one weapon or armor in his possession to be reforged into another weapon or armor of equal or lesser gp value. Any magical abilities of that weapon or armor are unchanged in its new form.
7 of Clubs	Evening	A vision of the character’s patron Deity, or of a deity of their alignment and inclination appears to them. The character immediately Dual-Classes into a Cleric of that Religion (as per the rules for human Dual-Classing, but ignoring all race and ability limitations). Any current excess experience over and above their current class level are transferred to the Cleric class and they immediately progress to the appropriate level indicated by their XP total. Normal Dual-Class penalties for using the abilities of the character’s former class apply.
6 of Clubs	Evening	A voice says, “May a thing you behold be voiced, and echoed throughout this place.” The first person or object that the character looks at and names is duplicated. If used on a creature this acts as a Clone spell. If used on an object, an exact duplicate of the item appears (with all of the powers if the named item is a magic item; this can even duplicate otherwise unique Artifacts).
2 of Clubs	Evening	The character becomes the center of a permanent Zone of Truth. This functions as the spell, cast at his current character level, save that it is centered on him and moves with him, and is of unlimited duration. It can be dispelled or disjoined by the normal means.
Queen of Spades	Evening	Queue up some Styx and play it loud: “Day into night she’s with me. Turn of a card, she’s there…” Summons the card-bearer’s paramour (whatever/whomever that might be).
7 of Spades	Evening	The character gains the Hunting proficiency (or an extra slot in the Hunting proficiency if already possessed). They become obsessed with the hunt—they will relentlessly pursue any enemy that flees from them, will eat only fresh meat which they themselves have killed, and will focus all of their future training to improving their Hunting and/or Tracking skills.
5 of Spades	Morning	A henchman, hireling, familiar, animal companion, or other servitor of the drawer dies suddenly, tragically, and/or mysteriously.
3 of Spades	Evening	A demon appears and presents the card drawer with a magical weapon of evil and dubious purpose.
3 of Spades	Morning	The drawer and their party are assaulted by division, quarrelling, and strife. Everyone in the party must make a Madness save at a -3 penalty. Those that fail the save violently turn upon their comrades, making up some justification (religious, racial, philosophical, political, etc.) for their actions. The fight cannot be stopped until at least one affected person has been rendered unconscious or killed.
2 of Spades	Evening	Any area of natural darkness the character enters will become lit up as if by starlight, with tiny pin-prick motes of light at the edges of the gloom. Hereafter the character earns double the normal amount of experience for any combat that occurs entirely in light no greater than a moonless night.
Queen of Diamonds	Morning	The Queen resplendent and sparkling in red and black, blood drenching her hands, appears beside the one who drew her. She is greedy and violent on the drawer’s behalf, eviscerating his enemies and taking their wealth for her own. She remains at his side until slain, then vanishes taking all her possessions and acquired wealth with her. If any character demands a share of her “take”, or attempts to otherwise deprive her of the spoils of her kills, she will turn on them. The Queen of Diamonds card vanishes from the deck and cannot be drawn again until the Queen is slain.
7 of Diamonds	Evening	A wisp of purple light flies from the card into the character’s eye. The character immediately starts coughing up purple bile. The character can take no actions, and must roll a save vs. poison each round or lose ¼ of their maximum hit points each round. If they succeed on 2 consecutive saves, the coughing stops. If reduced to 0 hit points by this effect, the character falls into a coma for 24 hours, then dies. If the character survives, from this point on, the character behaves normally, but whenever another character falls asleep in their presence, their eyes will glow purple and they will attempt to murder said sleeping character. This effect can be ended by Neutralize Poison or by a Remove Curse (cast at 20th level).
5 of Diamonds	Afternoon	The character’s size doubles in all dimensions. This effect is permanent. The character’s clothing and equipment do not change size to match.
4 of Diamonds	Evening	The character becomes biologically female. If the character was already biologically female, they become more homely, losing 2 points of Appearance.
4 of Diamonds	Morning	Roughly 10% of all material wealth (including coins, gems, art objects, magic items, fancy clothes, etc.) carried by the drawer instantly evaporates, vanishing into mist and nothingness. The DM shall determine what items are lost by any means convenient. Items of no or negligible value are ignored and unaffected.
Ace of Diamonds	Morning	One item which the character has acquired since arriving in their current location (the same building or space, not a specific room) is revealed to have a gemstone either set into or concealed within it worth at least 10,000 gold pieces.
King of Hearts	Evening	A confused and disheveled old man appears from the card and offers to answer any questions the character may have. The old man has a 75% chance to know the correct answer to any given question, but will answer whether he knows or not. All answers will be tend to be long-winded, anecdotal, and full of unnecessary details. The man vanishes instantly if he is attacked, interrupted, or if anyone speaks not in the interrogative in his presence.
Queen of Hearts	Evening	The character’s body, mind, and soul spin like a roulette wheel for a few seconds. All twelve of the character’s ability scores are randomly reassigned by the DM (the existing numbers are moved to a different ability score).
9 of Hearts	Evening	The character is overwhelmed with remorse for their past violent acts and undertakes a vow of pacifism. Before attempting any act that would harm another creature, the character must FAIL a Willpower check to succumb to their violent urges; on a successful save, their desire for peace wins out and the character must choose some other course of action. “Creature” here is defined as anything able to move of its own volition, whether that be a humanoid, a tiny insect, an animated corpse, a colossal tentacled monstrosity, or anything else in between. The character’s outward calm and peaceful demeanor makes it harder for others to attack them as well, protecting the character as per a permanent Sanctuary spell.
4 of Hearts	Evening	A halo of mathematical symbols appears briefly about the card-drawers head. Roll 1d100. 01-33 = All ability scores evenly divisible by 3 gain a permanent +1 bonus. 34-66 = All ability scores evenly divisible by 4 gain a permanent +1 bonus. 67-99 = All ability scores evenly divisible by 5 gain a permanent +1 bonus. 100 = All ability scores gain a permanent +1 bonus.

Ruins of Adventure

It's like 2nd Edition with ascending ACs and Attack bonuses. What's not to love?