The Deck of Many Things is one of the most interesting magical items in the world. Dungeons and Dragonsbut it will also never appear in a large percentage of campaigns. Like a deck of cards that contain some truly wild effects, the Deck of Many Things has the potential to sow chaos in any story. This can be a lot of fun, and the risk of using the cards makes the rewards seem even better, but it’s not the right option for every campaign or table.
In my own long duration D&D campaign, Personally, I never took the leap of throwing the Deck of Many Things in the group’s path. I’m not particularly shy about giving them items with advantages and disadvantages or increasing the amount of random chance, but I’ve never been eager to use the Deck of Many Things in particular. D&DIt’s 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide It does make a few tweaks to the item, however, and they might be the perfect way to get me involved without ruining what made it cool to begin with.
The 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide Changes the Deck on Many Things
Problematic cards receive some adjustments
The Deck of Many Things certainly isn’t the only magic item getting some tweaks in 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guidebut it shows some of the most interesting changes. As a resource that aims to alleviate the structure and information problems that made 2014 Dungeon Master’s Guide fight, the new book attempts to position itself as a more definitive magic item resource. In the case of the Deck of Many Things, this effort is supported by making individual adjustments to cards that previously could cause problems in campaigns.
I’m a fan of the changes, as my hesitation in using Deck of Many Things in the past largely came down to specific issues. The fact that the Fool and Sun cards can radically change the character’s XPfor example, it wouldn’t be something my players would enjoy. The campaign takes a fairly slow and steady approach to leveling, and while we make no effort to equalize XP on each character, wild swings when drawing a card would go against the general method.
What cards have changed in the deck of many things
Most of the deck remains the same
Unsurprisingly, the Fool and the Sun are two of the cards that received revisions with the new rules. While removing the Fool from the deck previously cost a character 10,000 XP (or however much a character could lose without falling in level), the new version inflicts disadvantage on D20 rolls for the next 72 hours. The Sun changes from a gift of 50,000 XP and a wondrous item to 10 HP daily at dawn until the character dies and a magical item.
The Comet card could also provide a level boost in the past, although it would only trigger if the user managed to “solo defeat the next hostile monster or group of monsters“they found, adding a complicated layer that made it harder to trigger. The new version provides a clearer path to getting your benefits from defeating an enemy, and the resulting reward is an advantage on death saving throws for a year. Lastly , the Balance card no longer changes a character’s alignmentinstead allowing them to rebalance ability scores.
|
Card |
Effect 2014 |
Effect 2024 |
|---|---|---|
|
Balance |
Character alignment changes |
The character can increase one ability score by 2 and decrease another by 2 within specific parameters |
|
Comet |
Defeating the next encounter alone increases the character’s level |
Reducing a selected enemy to 0 HP in the next encounter provides advantage on Death Resistance checks for one year |
|
To deceive |
Character loses up to 10,000 XP without dropping in level |
Character is at a disadvantage on D20 tests for 72 hours and draws another card |
|
Sun |
Characters gain 50,000 XP and a wondrous item |
Character gains 10 HP daily until death and a magic item |
The new effects largely preserve the intensity of the original versions while altering the intent. In a life or death scenario, the new version of the Fool could be even more devastating than the old one, but it doesn’t directly undo progress in the same way.
The Many Things Deck Could Work for More Campaigns
Flexibility is almost always a good thing
While my hesitation to use Deck of Many Things in the past had to do with the particulars of my campaign and my group, it wasn’t exactly an unusual scenario. For campaigns that commit exclusively to leveling milestones and eliminating XP, the Fool and the Sun were even more unusable as written in 2014. The balance wasn’t that tight – even a group playing without strict alignment could probably figure out an ethical reversal without much trouble – but it’s the kind of top-down RPG change that would excite some players and make others miserable .
None of this has made the deck strictly unusable in the past, as It’s easy to throw away cards that don’t fit into the campaign or modify them to suit the needs of the table. Having a slightly more accessible set of effects to begin with makes the whole affair more appealing, however, and anyone who finds the older effects more fun can stick with them. It’s still an object that DMs should use carefully, especially when it comes to the Fool’s new effect, but I think it’s less likely to cause perplexity or division now.
I don’t know when I’ll be able to include a Deck of Many Things in my campaign. At the moment, we are finally confronting the story of one of the party members, so perhaps this is not the time to change the subject. If 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide One thing that has guaranteed, though, is that I’m thinking about the Deck of Many Things more seriously now than ever, and it may well end up appearing in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign where previously it was not particularly welcome.