Why do D&D Players FEAR the Deck of Many Things?

Let's read the classic and modern versions of the Deck of Many Things in D&D to see how it will NOT ruin your campaign! ▶️ More below! ⏬

Best ways to support

RPG resources (affiliate links)
*use discount code "BOB" !

Thank you for all your support, and keep building :D

00:00 people need to chill about the deck of many things
02:15 sponsored by my own cool new dice!!
03:01 how the deck of many things actually works
04:40 using this alignment-based card
06:01 fixing every XP/level-based card
10:58 ability score cards in 5e vs. 1e
12:56 okay this card might ruin your dnd game
13:18 fun cards that won't ruin your campaign
17:00 cards that 5e fixed or broke
20:50 the best card, but I don't like it
22:03 the three worst cards in the deck of many things
26:15 why you should use the deck of many things!!

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #deckofmanythings

[ryangentry]

"I draw 2 cards. First card is Talons, and all your possessions become dust and disappear, including the deck. An hour later the donjon card is drawn and the character disappears without warning." The idea of the deck continuing to draw after it disappears is hilarious to me.

[ShawnMihalek]

This does encapsulate a lot of why players fear it. I think DMs fear it more due to their belief that the players might get upset if they don't get lucky or have drastic random consequences for their fun.

[Flitter]

What I always tell people is to make their own decks that suit the campaign they are running. Customizability in all senses for the perfect wacky, random, helpful, hurtful, all around fun magic item.

[Erocktastic]

The idea to change the XP based cards into skill based cards is a really nice idea.

[bryansmith]

I used a homebrew twist that the card takes effect when you look at it. This allows me to spread single cards out as loot that a “tarot” themed warlock faction can be found with and the players can kind of build their own deck card by card.

[StretchPig]

Thanks for all you do Bob
You’re a real asset to the D&D community.
Much love.

[shadomain]

I introduced an item called the Deck of Fate into my homebrew 5e campaign. It was introduced as a plot device, most of the cards would introduce a new quest, or give the players a story point to follow, so it basically generated interest, hoping they'd use it when they were bored.
The PCs learned little about it, just putting it away and never using it. I think that they were scared simply because it was a "deck", even though it had no relation to the Deck of Many Things.

[Snoil]

A truly wonderous magic item that I ran into for the first time back in middle school. I'll never forget my character's first encounter with a mysterious gypsy fortune teller!

[DailyArvelTV]

Story time here: I've been DM'ing for over two years now a campaign that initially started off as a mixture of Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak that eventually turns into a condensed version of Tyranny of Dragons. In between my players wanted to run for the position of mayor of Phandalin and dive into one of the dungeons of the Undermountain of Waterdeep when I gave them a Deck of many things. The main plan was to try to stop the arising thread of Dragon Cultists to rise Tiamat from Avernus... however one of my players decided to draw four cards from the Deck... of course the first one was... The Void. At that point, the only point in the multiverse that would make story-wise was to send the soul to Avernus (also added bonus that the player once tried to steal an amulet that used to belong to Asmodeus, so this also made sense for the character to some degree). At that point the campaign shifted from a Tyranny of Dragons campaign to Baldur's Gate - Descend into Avernus. It took probably around 8-9 months of playsessions for my players to get Elturel back to the original place and the players soul back into the original character... However, they brought Tiamat with them... and now we're back to the original intended campaign but immensely higher stakes than before...

[chriswhittington]

I'm running a deck of many things in my campaign, but I'm using the book of many things, in a section about single effects for cards. It's kinda interesting so far, each card can be used once per day, for example

knight if the player throws it the card starts folding itself but getting bigger before it becomes a deck defender lasting for 1 minute following the orders of the player who summoned it.

Sage, cast contact other plane contacting a mysterious figure that the players can question once per day.

Comet. As an action, you can hold this card aloft and call down a fiery meteor to a point you can see within 120 feet of yourself. Each creature within a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on that point must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 6d6 bludgeoning damage and 6d6 fire damage, or half as much damage on a successful save.

[SlayerOfWorlds]

The Deck is the only real world cursed magical item in existence. It's a real world cursed item as It plays on the greed of the player (not the character) drawing the cards. Even with the knowledge that it can cause ruin, it still pulls a real life persons innate greed and desires. It is effecting a real person in the real world, not necessarily a character in the game. So it is more real then any other part of dnd.

[tehwt]

Backstory idea: you are the fighter made by the deck. After drawing your card, your old master drew another card and disappeared. Your bond is to find them

[shortround]

I've been playing since AD&D and used the deck in most of my campaigns. I love it and so have most of my players

[katesedivy-haley]

In a campaign I played in university, the DM introduced a mid-level quest where the reward was one draw from a Deck of Many Things that had been modified to remove perma-debuffs and give every card at least one benefit. I think that the flame card did a bunch of fire damage, but then the PC got fire resistance. Everyone liked how it had a lot of randomness without, for example, giving one PC a level boost while another lost all their magic items. (Note: this was Pathfinder, AKA D&D 3.75 so some of the cards, like Talons, had more bite.) Now, one of the players in that campaign was new to the game and didn't realize that the Deck had been modified. Shortly after, he ran a campaign and put the Deck in front of our level 3 characters. We were a bit hesitant, but eventually decided to each take one card... I pulled the Skull. Which in that system meant that I had to fight a CR 13 grim reaper. The DM looked at me and said "how about we swap that for a different card?"

[clarechaddon]

I fear the balance card the most. Even though alignment isn't really used that much in 5e, I still use it as a guide for role playing, and this card will completely destroy my characters.

[ZyroShadowPony]

I dont fear it because the one time it was brought in a campaign our dragonborn barbarian kept pulling out the good cards. We got a loyal companion, a bunch of treasure and wishes

[natekane]

I like the video for the most part. I know it's likely a play style thing but my groups aren't usually grossly wealthy by lvl 5. That's comes a it later.

I also do not understand the issue with Knight. The way I see it, this is a follower/henchman with character levels that the DM runs and follows the PCs lead.

[kickbackkid]

I'm running a campaign with my brothers and gave them the deck, and my brother drew Vizier. He asked what ten magic items would help them defeat the bbeg. Now the whole campaign is a race to find all the items before the bbeg gets to strong. It didn't derail the campaign, but it did change the tracks! Take it in stride and go for it.

I have wanted to make an extreme 1d20 deck which is a fate die and by rolling it, an effect happens and it can't be rolled again till dawn. Effects from you get treasure and items and experience on a 20 to the roller dies and their soul is destroyed (no resurrection) on a 1, and everything in between

[nateshandy]

I'm gearing up to run a game of Pathfinder for Savage Worlds. The Companion includes the Deck of Many Things, but... I kinda decided I didn't like some of these 'make a new character, lol' cards, so...

I made my own (okay, I stole some ideas to do it). And since Savage Worlds uses a deck of playing cards for LOTS of stuff and I don't want to slow the game down to find 24-ish specific cards, my Deck has effects for all 54 cards (yeah, we use the Jokers, too). Couple other things: there are limits on how the Deck can be used--like NPCs can't draw, unless they're "significant", only PCs can. "In the fiction" it's not clear where these limits come from, but the point is for the PLAYERS to be clear on how it works. Basically, if a group of PCs are going to open the Deck and draw, they ALL have to chose from zero to four cards to draw. ALL draws are then resolved, and then the Deck vanishes. (There's also a rhyme on the case they find it in that explains this.) Also if the Deck thinks you're trying to 'game the system', it vanishes.

I'm really pleased with it. There's some fun new cards like "Hood" which lets you obscure your identity, "Crossroads" where you just swap out your ancestral template, and "Bridge" where you can just walk across water if you feel like it. And nothing that makes a character unplayable. Your character might have a bad day, or even year, but you'll get over it. Probably.

[TheWolficorn]

My DM out the deck in our game. We found it by clearing out the shed of an old adventurer. There were warnings written in every language on the box saying “DO NOT DRAW FROM DECK”. My himbo half orc bard can’t read tho, all he saw was a deck of cards and he loves games. Thankfully, he drew the throne card.