A character who draws the Knight card from a Deck of Many Things gains the service of a loyal warrior. This chapter includes advice for DMs on how to introduce this helpful nonplayer character into the ongoing story of your campaign, as well as general advice about including helpful allies in a game without overshadowing the player characters. The chapter also introduces a new creature that can be the summoned knight: a Construct made of playing cards whose abilities scale with those of the characters.
In addition to DM advice, the chapter includes material for characters who live by their skill in combat: a collection of magic items and background elements inspired by the Deck of Many Things.
Magic Items
This section introduces new magic items a DM can include in a campaign.
Magic Item Descriptions
The following magic items are presented in alphabetical order.
- Antimagic Armor
- Armor of Fungal Spores
- Armor of the Fallen
- Armor of Weightlessness
- Bloodrage Greataxe
- Bloodseeker Ammunition
- Boomerang Shield
- Bow of Conflagration
- Bow of Melodies
- Clockwork Armor
- Dried Leech
- Feywrought Armor
- Forcebreaker Weapon
- Gloomwrought Armor
- Grasping Whip
- Hammer of Runic Focus
- Shield of the Tortoise
- Sling of Giant Felling
- Stonemaker War Pick
- Sword of the Planes
- Tidecaller Trident
- Winged Ammunition
- +1 Wraps of Unarmed Prowess
- +2 Wraps of Unarmed Prowess
- +3 Wraps of Unarmed Prowess
Heroes of Destiny
The following table provides narrative ideas inspired by the Deck of Many Things that players can use as prompts while developing their characters. The tables' entries are geared toward warriors—particularly fighters, barbarians, and monks—but any character's story can benefit from the ideas presented here. When using this table to shape your character's story, you can either choose the entries that speak to you or randomly pull cards from The Deck of Many Things card set.
One of the most important steps of a warrior's journey is discovering the reason why you fight. Glory and fame are good motives, but they're often hiding something deeper—perhaps a longing to be accepted, or a burning desire to prove your naysayers wrong.
Me? I fight to protect others and to kindle hope. (And maybe, a little bit, to prove my father wrong.)
| 1d22 | Heroic Tie |
|---|---|
| 1 | Someone—or something—wronged you in your past. You seek revenge. |
| 2 | You've been promised an inheritance if you can make a name for yourself as a hero. |
| 3 | You're stranded far from home and intend to fight your way back. |
| 4 | A year of solitude gave you clarity and led you down the path of the warrior. |
| 5 | A fortune teller foresaw that you would find your calling in a life of battle. |
| 6 | When the heat of battle takes over, you barely recognize yourself. This scares you. |
| 7 | Friendly (or not-so-friendly) competition with a rival has spurred you to adventure. |
| 8 | You seek a fabled magic weapon or magic suit of armor. You won't rest until you find it. |
| 9 | You feel like a laughingstock but believe you'll make something of yourself on the battlefield. |
| 10 | Someone close to you was kidnapped. You hope to find and rescue them. |
| 11 | You used to be a squire to a brave knight, but that knight died in combat. |
| 12 | Your dreams are haunted by the screams of those you couldn't save in battle. |
| 13 | Unpredictability is a hallmark of your fighting style. You keep enemies on their toes. |
| 14 | Tales of your past heroic deeds might be somewhat exaggerated. |
| 15 | When you lost everything, you realized the only thing you could rely on was your martial skill. |
| 16 | Descended from a family of sorcerers, you were the only one not to show magical aptitude. |
| 17 | You had a near-death experience, and you believe you saw yourself going to the Nine Hells. |
| 18 | You're chasing notoriety, hoping for folk to sing of your deeds for years to come. |
| 19 | You once belonged to a small but mighty militia. Sometimes, you miss the regimented structure of that life. |
| 20 | When monsters attacked your hamlet, you found you had a way with weapons. |
| 21 | You honed your martial skills as a bodyguard to an important political figure. |
| 22 | Slaying monsters is a welcome distraction to the growing emptiness inside you. |
Drawing the Knight Card
This section provides advice for DMs whose characters draw the Knight card from a Deck of Many Things, as well as general advice about including allies who fight alongside the characters. Finally, the knight summoned by the deck is reimagined as a loyal Construct: the deck defender.
The Knight as Narrative Device
The Dungeon Master's Guide details how the nonplayer character summoned by the Knight card of a Deck of Many Things appears. But as discussed in 1, the cards of the Deck of Many Things can instead be interpreted as narrative directions that point the way to a future event. In this case, the Knight card could portend a friendly warrior whom the character will soon meet—and who could become a loyal ally.
When the Knight card is used as a narrative device in this way, the ally it brings isn't magically summoned or compelled to obey the characters; the deck has merely foretold the ally's imminent arrival. Consider what motivates this ally to accompany the party. This ally could be new or familiar to the characters, and the ally might be repaying a favor or pursuing goals of their own.
Several kinds of allies are described below, each with a different reason for accompanying the party. Guidance on when the ally might depart is also provided. An ally who befriends the characters might linger in the story long after the ally's personal goals have been accomplished (especially if the players enjoy that NPC). If you're using The Deck of Many Things card set to foretell the future, boxed text for each ally provides dialogue a fortune teller might use to tell characters of the ally's imminent arrival.
Whatever type of ally you choose, the party should encounter this ally soon after drawing the card—within a few days or even sooner.
Grateful Ally
This ally is grateful to the characters; perhaps the characters saved the ally's life or helped the ally in a significant way. This is an especially good way to bring back an ally the characters liked but left behind in their adventures. The ally accompanies the characters until the ally considers their debt repaid, perhaps by saving a character's life.
If the ally is someone the characters already know, the fortune teller might hint at the ally's appearance or name.
Seeker Ally
This ally hopes to find someone or something in a place the characters are going to. The object of the ally's quest is of utmost importance—such as a family member, a lost heirloom, or an ingredient for an obscure ritual. The ally remains with the characters until the ally can emerge safely from danger with the person or item they're seeking. If the ally is seeking a magic item hidden deep in a dungeon, for example, the ally helps the adventurers complete their mission after finding the item.
The fortune teller might hint at the person or thing the ally is seeking.
Studious Ally
This ally wishes to study a particular dungeon, region, or creature. The ally might be a historian, planar explorer, botanist, or zoologist. Because the Knight card usually summons a warrior, a studious ally might be a bit of a surprise for the characters—someone they dismiss as unrelated to the Deck of Many Things until the scholar draws a weapon and ably defends themself in battle. The studious ally remains with the characters as long as there are more secrets to learn; when the characters leave the region the ally is interested in, the ally amiably parts ways with them.
A fortune teller might divine the region or topic the studious ally is interested in, giving the characters a direction when they want to seek the ally out.
Vengeful Ally
This ally shares a common enemy with the characters. The ally had someone or something taken from them by a terrible monster or villain—someone the characters also oppose or soon will. Now, the ally hopes to slay that villain or bring it to justice, accompanying the characters until this task is done.
The fortune teller might be able to divine who this common enemy is, even if the characters haven't yet encountered that foe.
Running Allies
Allies are an important part of any adventuring party's career. However, whenever an ally joins the party for a significant amount of time, it's important the ally doesn't overshadow the player characters. Here are some ways to keep the party feeling like heroes, even when the cast of characters grows.
Sometimes our paths cross with others' in the most fortuitous ways, bringing us allies and even friends. And though our lives may eventually diverge from theirs, that doesn't make the friendships any less meaningful.
Let Players Take Charge
Consider letting your players control the ally. This can be a great way to keep more players involved if the party splits; when any player's usual character isn't present in a scene, they play the ally instead. It's helpful to give the ally a couple of distinguishing personality traits or mannerisms—such as greed, a love of beer, or a favorite expression—to make it easier to roleplay the ally on a moment's notice.
If you don't want the players to have the ally's character sheet or stat block, you can ask them what they'd like the ally to do and fulfill their requests. The ally might be eager for instruction, dutifully carrying out orders in the heat of battle. This is especially useful for allies who serve as the bodyguard for a wizard character or who partner with a rogue character to help the rogue perform sneak attacks. In this case, you can explain the ally's capabilities to the players so that the party can best use the ally.
Keep Allies Less Powerful
Players can feel undervalued if an ally is outperforming their characters. While an overly powerful ally is fine on rare occasion, the players should still feel like their characters are the true heroes of the story.
If you're building the ally as if it were a character, keep the ally 1 or 2 levels below the characters. If you're using a monster stat block instead, make sure its hit points and damage output aren't outpacing the characters', and be wary of powerful monster abilities, skill proficiencies, and spellcasting.
Fill the Gaps
One way to avoid overshadowing the characters is to create an ally who has skills and abilities that complement the party's. Healing, tracking, and proficiency with thieves' tools (to disarm traps and unlock doors) are common examples of such skills. A group without magical healing isn't going to complain when an NPC cleric joins their party, so long as the cleric focuses on healing!
Similarly, you can give an ally abilities that bolster or otherwise support the characters without dealing damage on their own, such as the Bless spell or Bardic Inspiration. Perhaps the ally prefers to use the Help action, and if a character's ability check or attack succeeds with the ally's help, the ally grants an additional benefit. These tactics keep the spotlight on the characters, with the ally providing valuable support.
Limit an Ally's Presence
In larger parties, adding an ally can slow down combat. Consider having the ally tag along for only a session or two, or limit the encounters they appear in. Maybe the ally helps the characters in only a certain region or part of town and then leaves to attend to other duties. The important thing is that the ally is available when the characters want them and retreats into the background when the characters don't want or need the help.
Consider ways the ally could help the characters off-screen. The ally could defend the characters' base of operations from intruders while the characters are off adventuring. Or the ally might complete tedious side quests for the characters, gather valuable loot or information, or resolve old problems the characters have forgotten about or left behind.
Deck Defender
Deck defenders are Constructs made of large, intricately folded playing cards. You can use a deck defender when a character draws the Knight card, substituting the defender for the friendly ally the card usually summons.
Created from the multifaceted magic of a Deck of Many Things, a deck defender obeys the commands of the character who drew the Knight card. It can assume multiple shapes. When summoned, a deck defender first appears in its protective guardian form, bearing a folded sword and shield. The character who summoned the deck defender can fold it into the more threatening berserker form or the nimble acrobat form, as desired.
No matter what form a deck defender takes, its card-like nature makes it fragile. When a deck defender is defeated, it collapses into a pile of nonmagical cards.