Deck of Many Things in an 8th level party... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Deck of Many Things in an 8th level party... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Rashiko
02-14-05, 02:46 PM Okay, we got a deck of many things in a dungeon the other day. Our party is only 8th level at the moment.
Upon drawing from the deck, our wizard/cleric got 50,000gp.
Our bard/fighter got a major magic weapon, got his alignment changed, lost 10,000xp, then reversed the effects with the wishes on his new luckblade.
I myself got a 4th level knight servant and 50,000gp. The knight servant was then ordered to draw 5 cards by me. He got his alignment changed from neutral to neutral, got nonexistent friends mad at him, gained 10,000xp, got his alignment changed from neutral to neutral again, and got another nonexistent friend mad at him. Now I am an 8th level character with a 6th level fighter minion who will never disobey orders.
The party is now 100,000gp richer and has an extra fighter.

Is it just me or does this seems slightly overpowered for a simple 8th level party?
Sulaco
02-14-05, 03:03 PM I myself got a 4th level knight servant and 50,000gp. The knight servant was then ordered to draw 5 cards by me. He got his alignment changed from neutral to neutral, got nonexistent friends mad at him, gained 10,000xp, got his alignment changed from neutral to neutral again, and got another nonexistent friend mad at him. Now I am an 8th level character with a 6th level fighter minion who will never disobey orders.
The party is now 100,000gp richer and has an extra fighter.

Is it just me or does this seems slightly overpowered for a simple 8th level party?

Pardon me for saying it but it seems like you really don't get what the Knight card does and neither does your DM. The 4th level fighter it creates vows to serve you, he is not a brainless automaton slave who follows your every order and whim like a whipped dog. Any DM with half a brain would, IMO, have had him refuse to draw.
Ogre4Hire
02-14-05, 03:04 PM The Deck is an Artifact, and it says that the DM should take the time to consider the possible effects before using Artifacts in his game.

Apparently, yours didn't (or else his first name is Monte and his last name is Hall).

Now that I think about it, I did have a DM about a year ago who would have done something like that, but he was an Idiot. I stopped playing with him because getting powerful magical items was easier than using the cheat codes in Balder's Gate 2. And he was playing favorites. And he never actually thought about what various monsters could do before he though them at us (we almost got a TPK because he threw 3 trolls at us at 3rd level, then had 2 of them run away when he realised how powerful they were).
Rashiko
02-14-05, 03:06 PM Pardon me for saying it but it seems like you really don't get what the Knight card does and neither does your DM. The 4th level fighter it creates vows to serve you, he is not a brainless automaton slave who follows your every order and whim like a whipped dog. Any DM with half a brain would, IMO, have had him refuse to draw.

I wasn't told anything about the knight except that he was supposed to serve me. I just had him draw the cards and was laughing along with the rest of the group afterwards. Not considering him as brainless, but I was assuming it meant he was kinda like a servant magically compelled to obey or something.
Rashiko
02-14-05, 03:07 PM The Deck is an Artifact, and it says that the DM should take the time to consider the possible effects before using Artifacts in his game.

Apparently, yours didn't (or else his first name is Monte and his last name is Hall).

Well I think he thought it would be fun, but maybe he didn't read all the effects. lol
The problem is he will probably try and overcompensate for his mistake and end up killing us all.
Ogre4Hire
02-14-05, 03:08 PM Yeah, like I said above, I know how that is.
Sulaco
02-14-05, 03:10 PM I wasn't told anything about the knight except that he was supposed to serve me. I just had him draw the cards and was laughing along with the rest of the group afterwards. Not considering him as brainless, but I was assuming it meant he was kinda like a servant magically compelled to obey or something.

The card is called Knight for a reason. He is meant to represent a trusted ally who has sworn fealty to you as, for example, the Knights of Camelot to Arthur.

If I were DM I'd have had him say "My lord, I must decline for to gamble my life in this manner is folly. I have sworn to defend and serve you and so I shall, but such gainless sport does nothing to further that goal" or something along those lines anyway.

Having said that, if I were to allow him to act like a marionette and simply draw as commanded I would sure as hell not just have him to hand over the loot he pulled. The command to draw was bad enough but then commanding him to give you his booty would, IMO, be sufficient cause to sever the vow and either turn on you or to simply return from whence he came.
Rashiko
02-14-05, 03:12 PM The car dis called Knight for a reason. He is meant to represent a trusted ally who has sworn fealty to you as, for example, the Knights of Camelot to Arthur. If I were DM I'd have had him say "My lord, I must decline for to gamble my life in this manner is folly. I have sworn to defend and serve you and so I shall, but such gainless sport does nothing to further that goal" or something along those lines anyway.

Unfortunately, our GM isn't quite experienced enough to roleplay those things very effectively. He just put it as an npc under my control.
Sulaco
02-14-05, 03:15 PM Unfortunately, our GM isn't quite experienced enough to roleplay those things very effectively. He just put it as an npc under my control.

Understood, but if he is so inexpereinced he certainly shouldn't be handing out the DoMT. That item is a potential game-breaker.

My advice is to play the Knight as a trusted ally rather than a robot with a sword.
Rashiko
02-14-05, 03:16 PM Understood, but if he is so inexpereinced he certainly shouldn't be handing out the DoMT. That item is a potential game-breaker.

My advice is to play the Knight as a trusted ally rather than a robot with a sword.

I plan on doing that now. I made a character sheet for him and since my character is a half-dragon my GM is considering letting me make him a dragonkith.
CuttinCurt
02-14-05, 03:46 PM There is an alternate deck to use for this level of a party.

The deck of many things is can change the fortunes or ill luck of the party that finds it. It can instantly kill you, or make you rich and powerful.

There is alot of chance in it, and you take a great risk to draw.

With that said, changing alignment from neutral to neutral whould have been handled a little differently. That is not a change.

Use the beings from another plane of existance in your next adventures. Let them ally with the current villians or something to make what they will encounter much tougher than it would normally be.

I dont know, but dont let these guys get away with stuff that you think cant be used. Your statements about the pc's gaining an otherworldy enemy seemed frivilous. like the penalty was not worth the gains the recieved.

I dont know about you, but I would hate to have an unknown enemy trying to thwart my every move. That would be annoying...

But to the alternate deck... it is called the Deck of Destiny, and it is found in the Return to White Plume Mountain Module. It is not quite as giving, although it does give, and the penalties can be immediate and sustaining for an ad&D adventure....

Here it is.

The Deck of Destinies cards have the following individual
effects:

Black Sword: Character gains 1 level.

Crow: Character grows a pair of black, feathered,
wings that bestow the benefits of a cloak offlying. The
wings are permanent additions to the character’s body.
within 24 hours.

Gauntlet: Character’s off-hand and forearm grow a
layer of slimy fungus, which returns in 1d12 hours if
removed. The character’s touch upon the earth or any other fertile surface causes a 1-foot-diameter ring of
mushrooms to grow within 1 turn.

Djinni: Character gains one wish, which must be used within 24 hrs. time. (The pc does not know of the time limit)

Druid: Character gains the enmity of nature. At least once every two months, a natural disaster (DM's Choice) affects the character and all within a 10 mile radius.

Skull: Character’s forehead visibly swells as his or her
Intelligence increases by 5 points.

Giant Crab: Character permanently grows 60% larger.
The giant character gains an additional 20 hit points and
5 points of Strength, but loses 3
points of Dexterity.

Ogre: Character gains 7 points of strength (Max 23), but Intelligence drops by 7 (to a minimum of 5).

Sea: The character gains the enmity of the sea. Everytime the character journeys on a large body of water, roll ld4
to determine to determine which creatures of the deep
attack 2d10+6 sahuagin on a 1, 2d4+4 giant sharks on a 2, 1d4+2
sirines on a 3, or one Collosal giant squid on a 4.

Trident: Character gains the at-will abilities to breathe
water, swim at a movement rate of 15, and usefriends on
all natural marine creatures as a 12th-level caster.

Vampire: Character loses 2 levels as if drained by a
vampire’s touch.

Withered Hand: Character ages to a point only minutes
away from a natural death and must make a successful
System Shock roll each turn thereafter to avoid dying
of old age until anti-aging magic can be applied.

Hammer:Characters fists grow 3x normal size and inflict 5 points of damage over and above the normal damage for an unarmed attack

Ice Sword: Character can use chill touch as a spell like ability cast as a 12th-level sorcerer

Magma: Character sinks into the earth over the course of 4 rounds. The tunnel so created closes up 10 rounds
after descent begins, expelling any other being within it to
the surface and inflicting ld6 points of damage in the
process. The user reaches magma at the beginning of the
5th round unless a dispel magic is cast and overcomes a spell dc of 25. (Rate of descent and distance traveled vary with the depth of the
magma.) Immersion in magma inflicts 20d6 points of damage
per round and negates the victim’s ability to breathe.

Hand of Youth: Character’s natural lifespan increases by ldlO x 100 years.

Not quite as giving, but still generous. The chance of dying is not quite as bad, and there is only a few really bad ones.

Hope that helped. The Deck is located on page 43 of the module. Some things were edited to make good in ver. 3.5. (ex. was the minimums and maximums for some of the loss of ability points. Only one minimum was kept as it was just a few points below the starting intelligence of an ogre. The real effect of the card is to make you more like an ogre, that is why the max str is at 23, just a few points higher than a typical one.)

That is it, hope it helps and helps others wanting to use a deck...

If using a reeal deck, here are the corrasponding codes to use...

Playing
Card

Druid AC
Black Sword KC
Skull QC
Gauntlet JC
Hand of Youth AS
Ice Sword KS
Ogre QS
Sea JS
Magma AH
Hammer KH
Vampire QH
Giant Crab JH
Withered Hand AD
Trident KD
Crow QD
Qinni JD
Rashiko
02-14-05, 03:52 PM There is an alternate deck to use for this level of a party.

The deck of many things is can change the fortunes or ill luck of the party that finds it. It can instantly kill you, or make you rich and powerful.

There is alot of chance in it, and you take a great risk to draw.

With that said, changing alignment from neutral to neutral whould have been handled a little differently. That is not a change.

Use the beings from another plane of existance in your next adventures. Let them ally with the current villians or something to make what they will encounter much tougher than it would normally be.

I dont know, but dont let these guys get away with stuff that you think cant be used. Your statements about the pc's gaining an otherworldy enemy seemed frivilous. like the penalty was not worth the gains the recieved.

I dont know about you, but I would hate to have an unknown enemy trying to thwart my every move. That would be annoying...
CC

I think you misunderstood.
Nobody drew the enmity with an outsider card.
What was drawn was a friend betraying you card. Since the knight was summoned and basically created from squat or something, he had no friends for this card to effect.
As for the alingment change, it got reversed when he drew it a second time anyways. lol

Also, I'm not the GM so I couldn't change the deck if I wanted to. He would take very badly to any advice like this so it would be dangerous to suggest. ;)
CuttinCurt
02-14-05, 04:08 PM Not changing, just a different type of deck. But i did misunderstand as I thought it was your character that drew the enmit with an outsider card. I appologize for that.

Thanks, CC
Rashiko
02-14-05, 04:39 PM Not changing, just a different type of deck. But i did misunderstand as I thought it was your character that drew the enmit with an outsider card. I appologize for that.

Thanks, CC

No need to apologize, just thought I'd make sure you understood. lol :D

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Rashiko 02-14-05, 02:46 PM	Okay, we got a deck of many things in a dungeon the other day. Our party is only 8th level at the moment. Upon drawing from the deck, our wizard/cleric got 50,000gp. Our bard/fighter got a major magic weapon, got his alignment changed, lost 10,000xp, then reversed the effects with the wishes on his new luckblade. I myself got a 4th level knight servant and 50,000gp. The knight servant was then ordered to draw 5 cards by me. He got his alignment changed from neutral to neutral, got nonexistent friends mad at him, gained 10,000xp, got his alignment changed from neutral to neutral again, and got another nonexistent friend mad at him. Now I am an 8th level character with a 6th level fighter minion who will never disobey orders. The party is now 100,000gp richer and has an extra fighter. Is it just me or does this seems slightly overpowered for a simple 8th level party?
Sulaco 02-14-05, 03:03 PM	I myself got a 4th level knight servant and 50,000gp. The knight servant was then ordered to draw 5 cards by me. He got his alignment changed from neutral to neutral, got nonexistent friends mad at him, gained 10,000xp, got his alignment changed from neutral to neutral again, and got another nonexistent friend mad at him. Now I am an 8th level character with a 6th level fighter minion who will never disobey orders. The party is now 100,000gp richer and has an extra fighter. Is it just me or does this seems slightly overpowered for a simple 8th level party? Pardon me for saying it but it seems like you really don't get what the Knight card does and neither does your DM. The 4th level fighter it creates vows to serve you, he is not a brainless automaton slave who follows your every order and whim like a whipped dog. Any DM with half a brain would, IMO, have had him refuse to draw.
Ogre4Hire 02-14-05, 03:04 PM	The Deck is an Artifact, and it says that the DM should take the time to consider the possible effects before using Artifacts in his game. Apparently, yours didn't (or else his first name is Monte and his last name is Hall). Now that I think about it, I did have a DM about a year ago who would have done something like that, but he was an Idiot. I stopped playing with him because getting powerful magical items was easier than using the cheat codes in Balder's Gate 2. And he was playing favorites. And he never actually thought about what various monsters could do before he though them at us (we almost got a TPK because he threw 3 trolls at us at 3rd level, then had 2 of them run away when he realised how powerful they were).
Rashiko 02-14-05, 03:06 PM	Pardon me for saying it but it seems like you really don't get what the Knight card does and neither does your DM. The 4th level fighter it creates vows to serve you, he is not a brainless automaton slave who follows your every order and whim like a whipped dog. Any DM with half a brain would, IMO, have had him refuse to draw. I wasn't told anything about the knight except that he was supposed to serve me. I just had him draw the cards and was laughing along with the rest of the group afterwards. Not considering him as brainless, but I was assuming it meant he was kinda like a servant magically compelled to obey or something.
Rashiko 02-14-05, 03:07 PM	The Deck is an Artifact, and it says that the DM should take the time to consider the possible effects before using Artifacts in his game. Apparently, yours didn't (or else his first name is Monte and his last name is Hall). Well I think he thought it would be fun, but maybe he didn't read all the effects. lol The problem is he will probably try and overcompensate for his mistake and end up killing us all.
Ogre4Hire 02-14-05, 03:08 PM	Yeah, like I said above, I know how that is.
Sulaco 02-14-05, 03:10 PM	I wasn't told anything about the knight except that he was supposed to serve me. I just had him draw the cards and was laughing along with the rest of the group afterwards. Not considering him as brainless, but I was assuming it meant he was kinda like a servant magically compelled to obey or something. The card is called Knight for a reason. He is meant to represent a trusted ally who has sworn fealty to you as, for example, the Knights of Camelot to Arthur. If I were DM I'd have had him say "My lord, I must decline for to gamble my life in this manner is folly. I have sworn to defend and serve you and so I shall, but such gainless sport does nothing to further that goal" or something along those lines anyway. Having said that, if I were to allow him to act like a marionette and simply draw as commanded I would sure as hell not just have him to hand over the loot he pulled. The command to draw was bad enough but then commanding him to give you his booty would, IMO, be sufficient cause to sever the vow and either turn on you or to simply return from whence he came.
Rashiko 02-14-05, 03:12 PM	The car dis called Knight for a reason. He is meant to represent a trusted ally who has sworn fealty to you as, for example, the Knights of Camelot to Arthur. If I were DM I'd have had him say "My lord, I must decline for to gamble my life in this manner is folly. I have sworn to defend and serve you and so I shall, but such gainless sport does nothing to further that goal" or something along those lines anyway. Unfortunately, our GM isn't quite experienced enough to roleplay those things very effectively. He just put it as an npc under my control.
Sulaco 02-14-05, 03:15 PM	Unfortunately, our GM isn't quite experienced enough to roleplay those things very effectively. He just put it as an npc under my control. Understood, but if he is so inexpereinced he certainly shouldn't be handing out the DoMT. That item is a potential game-breaker. My advice is to play the Knight as a trusted ally rather than a robot with a sword.
Rashiko 02-14-05, 03:16 PM	Understood, but if he is so inexpereinced he certainly shouldn't be handing out the DoMT. That item is a potential game-breaker. My advice is to play the Knight as a trusted ally rather than a robot with a sword. I plan on doing that now. I made a character sheet for him and since my character is a half-dragon my GM is considering letting me make him a dragonkith.
CuttinCurt 02-14-05, 03:46 PM	There is an alternate deck to use for this level of a party. The deck of many things is can change the fortunes or ill luck of the party that finds it. It can instantly kill you, or make you rich and powerful. There is alot of chance in it, and you take a great risk to draw. With that said, changing alignment from neutral to neutral whould have been handled a little differently. That is not a change. Use the beings from another plane of existance in your next adventures. Let them ally with the current villians or something to make what they will encounter much tougher than it would normally be. I dont know, but dont let these guys get away with stuff that you think cant be used. Your statements about the pc's gaining an otherworldy enemy seemed frivilous. like the penalty was not worth the gains the recieved. I dont know about you, but I would hate to have an unknown enemy trying to thwart my every move. That would be annoying... But to the alternate deck... it is called the Deck of Destiny, and it is found in the Return to White Plume Mountain Module. It is not quite as giving, although it does give, and the penalties can be immediate and sustaining for an ad&D adventure.... Here it is. The Deck of Destinies cards have the following individual effects: Black Sword: Character gains 1 level. Crow: Character grows a pair of black, feathered, wings that bestow the benefits of a cloak offlying. The wings are permanent additions to the character’s body. within 24 hours. Gauntlet: Character’s off-hand and forearm grow a layer of slimy fungus, which returns in 1d12 hours if removed. The character’s touch upon the earth or any other fertile surface causes a 1-foot-diameter ring of mushrooms to grow within 1 turn. Djinni: Character gains one wish, which must be used within 24 hrs. time. (The pc does not know of the time limit) Druid: Character gains the enmity of nature. At least once every two months, a natural disaster (DM's Choice) affects the character and all within a 10 mile radius. Skull: Character’s forehead visibly swells as his or her Intelligence increases by 5 points. Giant Crab: Character permanently grows 60% larger. The giant character gains an additional 20 hit points and 5 points of Strength, but loses 3 points of Dexterity. Ogre: Character gains 7 points of strength (Max 23), but Intelligence drops by 7 (to a minimum of 5). Sea: The character gains the enmity of the sea. Everytime the character journeys on a large body of water, roll ld4 to determine to determine which creatures of the deep attack 2d10+6 sahuagin on a 1, 2d4+4 giant sharks on a 2, 1d4+2 sirines on a 3, or one Collosal giant squid on a 4. Trident: Character gains the at-will abilities to breathe water, swim at a movement rate of 15, and usefriends on all natural marine creatures as a 12th-level caster. Vampire: Character loses 2 levels as if drained by a vampire’s touch. Withered Hand: Character ages to a point only minutes away from a natural death and must make a successful System Shock roll each turn thereafter to avoid dying of old age until anti-aging magic can be applied. Hammer:Characters fists grow 3x normal size and inflict 5 points of damage over and above the normal damage for an unarmed attack Ice Sword: Character can use chill touch as a spell like ability cast as a 12th-level sorcerer Magma: Character sinks into the earth over the course of 4 rounds. The tunnel so created closes up 10 rounds after descent begins, expelling any other being within it to the surface and inflicting ld6 points of damage in the process. The user reaches magma at the beginning of the 5th round unless a dispel magic is cast and overcomes a spell dc of 25. (Rate of descent and distance traveled vary with the depth of the magma.) Immersion in magma inflicts 20d6 points of damage per round and negates the victim’s ability to breathe. Hand of Youth: Character’s natural lifespan increases by ldlO x 100 years. Not quite as giving, but still generous. The chance of dying is not quite as bad, and there is only a few really bad ones. Hope that helped. The Deck is located on page 43 of the module. Some things were edited to make good in ver. 3.5. (ex. was the minimums and maximums for some of the loss of ability points. Only one minimum was kept as it was just a few points below the starting intelligence of an ogre. The real effect of the card is to make you more like an ogre, that is why the max str is at 23, just a few points higher than a typical one.) That is it, hope it helps and helps others wanting to use a deck... If using a reeal deck, here are the corrasponding codes to use... Playing Card Druid AC Black Sword KC Skull QC Gauntlet JC Hand of Youth AS Ice Sword KS Ogre QS Sea JS Magma AH Hammer KH Vampire QH Giant Crab JH Withered Hand AD Trident KD Crow QD Qinni JD
Rashiko 02-14-05, 03:52 PM	There is an alternate deck to use for this level of a party. The deck of many things is can change the fortunes or ill luck of the party that finds it. It can instantly kill you, or make you rich and powerful. There is alot of chance in it, and you take a great risk to draw. With that said, changing alignment from neutral to neutral whould have been handled a little differently. That is not a change. Use the beings from another plane of existance in your next adventures. Let them ally with the current villians or something to make what they will encounter much tougher than it would normally be. I dont know, but dont let these guys get away with stuff that you think cant be used. Your statements about the pc's gaining an otherworldy enemy seemed frivilous. like the penalty was not worth the gains the recieved. I dont know about you, but I would hate to have an unknown enemy trying to thwart my every move. That would be annoying... CC I think you misunderstood. Nobody drew the enmity with an outsider card. What was drawn was a friend betraying you card. Since the knight was summoned and basically created from squat or something, he had no friends for this card to effect. As for the alingment change, it got reversed when he drew it a second time anyways. lol Also, I'm not the GM so I couldn't change the deck if I wanted to. He would take very badly to any advice like this so it would be dangerous to suggest. ;)
CuttinCurt 02-14-05, 04:08 PM	Not changing, just a different type of deck. But i did misunderstand as I thought it was your character that drew the enmit with an outsider card. I appologize for that. Thanks, CC
Rashiko 02-14-05, 04:39 PM	Not changing, just a different type of deck. But i did misunderstand as I thought it was your character that drew the enmit with an outsider card. I appologize for that. Thanks, CC No need to apologize, just thought I'd make sure you understood. lol :D