Deck of Many Things is a complex magic item, and introducing one to your game can be challenging. This chapter addresses numerous topics especially important to the Dungeon Master:
- The origin and nature of the deck
- Using a deck without disrupting your campaign (more than you want to)
- Building a deck that contains only specific cards
- Integrating a deck's effects into your campaign
- How characters handle and use a deck in play
- New magical effects associated with each card
- Adventure seeds for characters who want to create their own cards
A Deck of Many Stories
The story of the Deck of Many Things began when a human woman named Asteria bargained with Istus, a god of fate, to save the life of Euryale, her dearest friend. As part of this bargain, Istus created a deck of twenty-two magical cards drawn from constellations in the night sky, and she used thirteen of these cards to change the destinies of Asteria and Euryale. These cards formed the first Deck of Many Things, an artifact with vast and unpredictable powers (the deck's origin is explored further in 21).
Thanks to the deck's divine origin and unusual nature, it soon manifested in myriad lesser forms throughout the multiverse. Some of these wondrous items had fewer cards—typically only the thirteen cards used in Istus's reading for Asteria. Occasionally a deck manifested as something else entirely: a circle of twenty-two doorways, or a die with twenty-two sides, each roll of which had the power to change an individual's destiny.
Soon those inspired by the deck sought to create their own magical cards. Most of these efforts resulted in entirely new magic items, such as the Deck of Miscellany (see 5) or the Deck of Wonder (see 6). But occasionally, a legendary mage or a priest dedicated to the gods of fate and destiny succeeded in creating a new card that appeared alongside the Deck of Many Things, and that card replicated throughout the multiverse; these new cards make up the Deck of Many More Things, detailed in 6.
Decks of Many Things have claimed many lives. Those who draw the Skull must fight an avatar of death, and those slain by this avatar rise again as Undead, doomed to exist as long as the decks do. Over the centuries, these Undead gathered to form the Grim Harrow, a horde of merciless hunters traveling the multiverse on a quest to find and destroy every manifestation of the deck so they can end their doomed existence (see 18 for more on these beings). To combat these dangers, an angel founded the Solar Bastion (see 9), a benevolent organization dedicated to protecting innocent people from the decks and the many dangers they pose.
The Grim Harrow and the Solar Bastion have learned much about the original deck over the centuries, but no one knows more about it than Asteria herself, who still travels the multiverse living out the destiny foretold for her by Istus long ago.
But in your campaign, the deck might have a different story. Perhaps the Deck of Many Things already existed when Istus used it to read Asteria's future, and it has another origin entirely. Perhaps it was the creation of a powerful faerie trickster or made by gods of chance as a test for greedy mortals. Use the story that best suits your campaign.
Preparing to Use the Deck
The power and unpredictability of a Deck of Many Things gives it the potential to wildly alter the course of campaigns. In an instant, characters could inherit a keep, shifting the campaign's focus to its defense and maintenance; a character could become separated from the rest of the party, trapped in an undetectable and unreachable prison; or characters could instantly perish. While some groups embrace such surprising twists, others prefer to avoid major campaign upsets.
This book provides tools to help you use the deck on your own terms. The following sections detail two ways to head off potential complications before the characters draw their first card. "1" suggests strategies for stacking the deck with only cards that will be fun for your group. Meanwhile, "1" discusses having cards foreshadow future events, rather than triggering instantaneous effects, so you can incorporate the effects into your campaign when the time is right.
The rest of this book also contains a wealth of advice and tools that address the challenges posed by specific cards. For example, the keep described in 14 is perfect for any character who draws the Throne card. The three powerful fiends found in 19 make ideal enemies for those who draw the Flames card. 17 includes a full map of the Void's prison, as well as suggestions for working with players whose characters are imprisoned there. With these resources in hand, you'll be free to enjoy where the cards lead your characters.
Customizing Your Deck
The easiest way to ensure the Deck of Many Things doesn't radically alter your campaign is to limit the cards you include, selecting cards appropriate for the characters' level or that support the campaign's theme. The number and effects of the cards provided in the Dungeon Master's Guide are suggestions you can change as necessary. The deck has had many variations over D&D's history, so when you change it, you're in good company!
Here are examples of customized decks that reinforce a campaign's tone, appeal to particular kinds of players, or avoid specific dangers:
You can supplement these decks with cards from the Deck of Many More Things, detailed in 6.
The Deck as Narrative
Traditionally, the effects created by the Deck of Many Things are immediate. When a character draws the Knight card, a fighter immediately appears and offers their service, and a character who draws the Gem card might be literally showered with riches. While this suits some campaigns, you can take a more narrative approach to the deck by having cards foreshadow future events that occur at a time of your choosing. When you use the deck in this way, drawing from it is less like pulling the lever on a cosmic slot machine and more like allowing a character to select a new story for themself without being allowed to know that story ahead of time.
With this narrative approach to the Deck of Many Things, you decide how to weave the events triggered by cards into your campaign. For example, a character who draws the Knight card might meet a warrior along the side of the road, in a tavern, or even trapped in a dangerous dungeon; by freeing the warrior, the character earns the warrior's loyalty. A character who draws the Gem card might find a rich store of jewels in their next treasure hoard, or they might inherit great wealth when a relative dies. Many of the chapters in this book include advice to help you work the effects of their cards into your campaign story.
Using the deck's effects as events in your campaign poses an interesting question: is the deck predicting those events or causing them? If a character draws the Flames card, and soon after, minions of Aurnozci (see 19) try to capture them, is this a direct result of drawing the card, or would the demons have attacked them anyway? The Book of Many Things doesn't answer this question; the answer is up to you and your players.
When you take a narrative approach to the Deck of Many Things, don't put off card effects for too long. It's okay for players to wonder for a session or two exactly when and how the effects will manifest, and you can use that time to devise clever and memorable ways to interpret the effects and keep the players in suspense. For example, a beloved ally might come to hate a character who draws the Rogue card, and that ally might conceal their hatred for several sessions before revealing it in a moment of sudden treachery. But new stories soon crowd out the old, and players might not be impressed if a card takes too long to manifest.
Introducing the Deck
This book provides several ways to introduce the Deck of Many Things to your campaign, depending on the interests of your players and the kind of story you want to tell.
The mysterious faerie market described in 13 is home to a nilbog fortune teller named Oddlewin who uses a Deck of Many Things to read the future of his customers. This might be the first time that characters see the deck, and if they're willing to perform a service for Oddlewin, he might let them draw from it. This is a good way to introduce the deck to low-level characters.
Heroes of a more adventurous bent might explore the ruins of Gardmore Abbey presented in 15. The abbey has long been associated with the deck, since an ill-fated draw caused a massacre of both the knights who defended the site and the army that besieged them. Now the ruins are home to Mekkalath, a red dragon, and a Deck of Many Things lies in his hoard. Few adventurers are powerful enough to challenge Mekkalath directly, but where might is insufficient, guile and cunning can prevail.
Finally, the characters might simply be given a deck by someone who wants them to have it. Rifflers, mischievous fey presented in 20, are obsessed with the decks and constantly move them through the multiverse in a vain effort to manipulate destiny and complete a master plan only they understand. Alternatively, Asteria or Euryale, detailed in 21, might give a deck to characters desperate to change their destiny.
Hello there! I've snuck some notes throughout this book—it felt appropriate, given my experience with this wondrous deck. May my words provide you with insight and inspiration!
The Deck in Play
This section clarifies many things about how individuals can use and handle a Deck of Many Things without triggering its fantastic powers. New magical abilities for each card are also provided, allowing characters who find only a few cards to engage with this magic item in their adventures.
You'll also find guidelines for characters who want to create new cards for the deck's complement, the Deck of Many More Things.
Handling the Cards
The Deck of Many Things has the power to transform anyone who draws from it, but to trigger its effects, the individual handling the cards must state their desire to draw from it, as well as the number of cards they intend to draw. Otherwise, the deck's magical powers lie dormant. Anyone who identifies a deck learns this about the deck in the process, per the rules for 7.
This means that under normal circumstances, characters can handle a Deck of Many Things safely. A character who finds a deck can look at it, spread the cards out, and otherwise manipulate the cards without triggering their effects. This is why folk are able to use decks as divinatory tools, placing cards before themselves to gain insight into the future or personal dilemmas without triggering the cards' effects.
But accidents do happen. A curious stranger who spots a deck, face down, might reach out to draw the topmost card without realizing the import of their actions, spurring an adventure that draws the characters' attention. While the decks aren't sapient and have no thoughts or goals of their own, many people report feeling a compulsion to draw from decks whenever they are near.
Effects for Single Cards
A Deck of Many Things typically appears not as individual cards, but as a collection of cards characters can draw from. But this doesn't have to be true; you can give each card a property as a standalone item, so characters who find only one card can still enjoy this famed item and use the card on adventures.
This approach is particularly useful if you make a Deck of Many Things the object of a quest; as the characters explore, each card they find grants them a magical ability they can use in subsequent adventures to find the cards that remain. Eventually the heroes assemble the entire deck, which they can then use in the traditional manner, drawing transformative cards from it in a fitting climax to the campaign.
You can grant the following additional magical properties to the cards of the Deck of Many Things:
Adding to the Deck
Over many centuries, a few dozen individuals have managed to create their own unique cards, expanding the deck. These cards, known as the Deck of Many More Things, can manifest throughout the multiverse alongside the twenty-two original cards, and the magical powers of the Deck of Many More Things are detailed in 6. Characters can't craft a Deck of Many More Things, but in your game, they might be able to craft a new card for the Deck of Many More Things.
Anyone trying to make a card for the Deck of Many More Things must be at least 17th level. No formula for these cards exists, so the character must invent their own. While inventing the formula for such a potent magic item should take a long time, even years, a character can work on this project between or even on adventures. Characters might research their new formula by traveling to lost sites of ancient lore or locating others who have created cards of their own to learn how they accomplished this.
Once a character has invented the formula, they must acquire the magical ingredients—typically found only at great personal risk. Potential ingredients include magical inks made from crushed gemstones or the blood of legendary creatures, magical brushes or quills, and magical paper or other materials onto which the card must be painted (such as a dragon scale or a piece of the tarrasque's carapace). Great artistic skill is also required, so the creator might need to find a qualified artist or master the needed techniques themself. Furthermore, the magical ritual that creates the card must be performed at a specific time, perhaps when a particular constellation is in the sky. Divine intervention from a god of fate or destiny might be required.
While a character might be driven to create a new card as a matter of personal pride or a testament to the individual's magical prowess, consider rewarding a character who achieves this mighty goal with a benefit like one or more of the following: