The Deck of Many Things is a legendary
magic item in Dungeons & Dragons, and it has a terrible reputation! “Be wary, DMs. This item can
single-handedly unravel a campaign.” “If you want to destroy the entire
campaign, accept no substitute.” “If you're going to DM with this item, change
how it works. Add your own cards. Remove certain cards. Don't just let it destroy your campaign.”
“Bruh.” These are some of the top comments on the
D&D Beyond page for the Deck of Many Things! Are there multiple cards with negative effects?
Yes! Most of them actually! But several of these cards have little to no effect based on
how people play the game today! Emphasis on “today” because this item was first published
in 1975! Almost 50 years ago in Gary Gygax’s first Greyhawk booklet as a supplement for
Original D&D, and then republished in the 1979 Advanced D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide!
And surprisingly, the mechanical changes are pretty subtle between this version and what
we have today in the 5e Dungeon Master’s Guide! But while the mechanics haven’t changed a lot, there are a few cards that have become
radically MORE or less powerful based on the way play styles have changed around those
mechanics over the last few decades! Still, I’m convinced that only two of these 22 cards could
potentially “ruin” a campaign, and even then, only depending on how the players choose to use
them! The main cards you’ll want to avoid-- for a very different reason however, are the last three
we’ll breakdown in this video! So go ahead, this is the perfect time to make some guesses in the
comments about which cards I think are the worst! But my goal with this video is to both expose
the history of this item and demystify the Deck of Many Things to prove that while some
of these cards have extreme consequences, the deck of many things is NOT a guaranteed
campaign-destroyer! I want to break that misconception, so you will actually use
it in your game and get to partake in this wondrous…and dangerous, but FUN experience that
transcends generations of D&D! Because I’m Bob, This is where we learn how to have more
fun playing D&D together, and first… When you use this item in your game, you can
represent it with a normal deck of cards, but since there are about 20 cards, you might as
well number them and roll using your very own set of official BOB WORLD BUILDER DICE! They have my
logo on the bag, they have a little world on the 20, and of course, a destroyed world on the 1 of
the d20! And I’m so happy with how they came out! This is my first physical merchandise ever, and
I partnered with Only Crits to make the highest quality dice for the best possible price--when
I made a poll about this months ago, price was the main concern, and I’m proud to say Only Crits
got it below that initial estimate! But here’s the thing, we only made 500 sets of these beautiful
little dice, and when they’re gone, they’re gone! So I hope you check ‘em out! Only Crits has
a big holiday sale going on right now, and as always, you can use code BOB to save 18%! Now here’s the deck according to 5e:
“Usually found in a box or pouch, this deck contains a number of cards made of
ivory or vellum. Most (75 percent) of these decks have only thirteen cards,
but the rest have twenty-two.” And it’s cool to see how some of this
language comes directly from AD&D: “...usually found contained within a
box or leather pouch.” “...sheets of ivory or vellum.” “The deck will contain
either 13 or 22 plaques, 75%/25% chance.” But we’ll continue with the 5e description because
it’s a lot less dense and wordy! “Before you draw a card, you must declare how many cards you
intend to draw and then draw them randomly (you can use an altered deck of playing cards
to simulate the deck). Any cards drawn in excess of this number have no effect. Otherwise,
as soon as you draw a card from the deck, its magic takes effect. You must draw each card
no more than 1 hour after the previous draw. If you fail to draw the chosen number, the remaining
number of cards fly from the deck on their own and take effect all at once. Once a card is drawn, it
fades from existence. Unless the card is the Fool or the Jester, the card reappears in the deck,
making it possible to draw the same card twice.” As far as I can tell, the only mechanical
difference of this overview for the item is the addition of a 1 hour limit to draw the card, I can only guess because some players long ago
declared the number of cards they would draw, and then said, “Well, it doesn’t
say WHENNN I have to draw it!” Also, 5e or maybe 3e depending on when
this changed, altered the physical details, describing this item as being
a straight up deck of cards, where the AD&D version uses the words
“sheets, plaques, and cards” interchangeably, but let’s get into the actual effects!
I’m going to read each card’s 5e version, followed by the 1e version, then we’ll compare
and contrast and make adjustments as needed! “Balance. Your mind suffers
a wrenching alteration, causing your alignment to change. Lawful
becomes chaotic, good becomes evil, and vice versa. If you are true neutral or
unaligned, this card has no effect on you.” “Balance: Change alignment or be judged :: As
”weighed in the balance and found wanting”, the character must change, and perform accordingly,
to a radically different alignment, i.e. lawful-chaotic, good-evil, neutral-non-neutral.
Failure brings judgment, and if there is substantial deviation from professed alignment,
the character will be destroyed permanently.” The first red flag is that Gygax recommended
killing characters who didn’t abide by this alignment shift, but the underlying problem of
this card today is that very few D&D groups use alignment in meaningful character-driving
ways! Last year 10 thousand people answered my poll about this, and only 24% said
alignment is important in their games, so changing this largely unused character
trait for only one member of the party will not “ruin” your campaign! If you really want to
make this card significant, have it reverse the alignment of a major NPC! Your BBEG becomes
a small good good guy? You know what I mean. “Comet. If you single-handedly defeat the next hostile monster or group
of monsters you encounter, you gain experience points enough to gain one
level. Otherwise, this card has no effect.” “Comet: Defeat the next monster you meet to gain
1 level :: The player must single-handedly defeat the next monster - singular or plural
- of hostile nature or the benefit is lost. If successful, the character moves to
the midpoint of the next experience level.” The first issue here is that 5e has come
to define “monster” and “hostile” much more broadly--see my video about the One D&D
Influence action, but in 5e terms a frustrated human commoner innkeeper is by definition a
“hostile monster” who must then be defeated single handedly to gain this benefit. The other
problem is the benefit being experience points, because according to a poll of 16 thousand
people I ran this year, 76% rely solely on milestone leveling, only 6% use strictly
combat XP and 15% use a combination of methods. But obviously the point of this card is to grant
a level if the character defeats the next bad guy they face, so it’s alright. However, most people,
and I don’t have a poll to back this up but I can confidently say that most D&D groups today level
up each character in the party at the same time, and everyone is always the same level because
the BALANCE of power has become incredibly important to a lot of players, and it’s fun when
everybody gets new abilities at the same time! Meanwhile Advanced D&D was designed with the
opposite intention! Each class leveled up at different rates so it was pretty common to
have a mix of levels within the same party and one character suddenly getting a
whole level would just be exciting, because it still meant that the party as a
whole became more powerful. So even though this would be weird to most players today, I
think this kind of weirdness, and especially with it being a positive weird thing, is
perfectly fine for the Deck of Many Things! “Jester. You gain 10,000 XP, or you can draw two
additional cards beyond your declared draws.” “Jester: Gain 10,000 experience points or
2 more draws from the deck :: This plaque actually makes either pack more beneficial
if the experience point award is taken. It is always discarded when drawn,
unlike all others except the Fool.” --Basically saying, 10k XP is
good and you should take it, because drawing two cards instead makes you
more likely to get negative results since the deck is skewed toward negative outcomes. On
the other side of the coin, we have the fool. “Fool. You lose 10,000 XP, discard this card,
and draw from the deck again, counting both draws as one of your declared draws. If losing
that much XP would cause you to lose a level, you instead lose an amount that leaves you
with just enough XP to keep your level.” “Fool: Lose 10,000 experience points; draw
again :: The payment and draw are mandatory!” The thing about these two cards is that
we’re focused on experience points which most groups don’t use, but if we look at
the level advancement charts from 5e and 1e, we can see that from levels 1-7, gaining or losing
10 thousand XP would be the equivalent of one or multiple level changes, while above level 7,
it’s not quite as extreme. So my change would be these cards make lower level characters
gain or lose one level, and higher level characters gain or lose a skill proficiency
of their choice, which also feels a little more thematic for the jester and the fool! Plus
I’d say for both cards, you draw another card. Really making them like opposites in the deck!
Now following this theme of XP being outdated… “Sun. You gain 50,000 XP, and
a wondrous item (which the GM determines randomly) appears in your hands.” “Sun: Gain beneficial miscellaneous magic
item and 50,000 experience points :: Roll on the MISCELLANEOUS MAGIC TABLE (III.E., 1.-5.)
until a useful item (other than artifacts or relics) is indicated. The player gets
experience points for this as well.” 50 thousand XP is pretty serious stuff! In 5e
that takes you from level 1 to 9! And in AD&D, from level 1 to 6 or 7 depending on your class,
but where 5e only gets to a few hundred thousand XP at level 20, AD&D went into millions of
experience points, so this card became far less valuable at higher levels in that older
edition of the game. Regardless, people today probably aren’t using XP, so we have to make
other adjustments based on the character’s tier. I’d say something like low level characters
gain 1 level and an ability score increase and the magic item, while mid level characters get
a level and the item, and high level characters just get an ability score increase and the magic
item. And even though it’s a random magic item, it’s specifically a wondrous item in 5e
and not an artifact or relic in AD&D, so the player character will never end up with a
game-breaking item! Like all the cards thus far, this one definitely will not ruin your
campaign! But speaking of ability scores… “Star. Increase one of your ability scores by
2. The score can exceed 20 but can't exceed 24.” “Star: Immediately gain 2 points on your major
ability :: If the 2 points would place the character's score at 19, use 1 or both in
any of the other abilities in this order: constitution, charisma, wisdom,
dexterity, intelligence, strength.” It’s an ASI with a cap, but surprisingly
still 2 points today, when 2 ability score points are worth way more in 5e, automatically
increasing your ability modifier and rolls by 1! Meanwhile in AD&D having anywhere from
an 8 to a 16 STR score gives you +0 to hit! Overall, this benefit is positive, and I like the
way it works in 5e, and it won’t ruin your game. “Idiot. Permanently reduce your Intelligence
by 1d4 + 1 (to a minimum score of 1). You can draw one additional card
beyond your declared draws.” “Idiot: Lose 1-4 points of intelligence, you
may draw again :: As indicated, the m******** countenance causes loss of 1-4 (d4) points of
intelligence immediately. They are lost and cannot be regained (although points can be restored by
other means). The additional draw is optional. Ignoring the very dated and offensive term
Gygax threw in here, this card is okay, but Intelligence in D&D 5e is widely
recognized as useless ability score unless your character is a wizard or artificer.
Then it’s so important that you may not want to draw from the deck at all! Because as
it says here, the loss is permanent, suggesting that nothing you try will
successfully restore those points. So my only change would be to maybe open that up
to possibly being restored by a wish or a god, and also possibly changing it from Intelligence
to Constitution, or adding a card that does the same thing for Constitution, which would most
likely affect everybody except wizards! Still, does one character losing a few points in one
ability score ruin your campaign? *shakes head no* Now here’s a few quick ones that
I don’t have much to say about! “Moon. You are granted the ability to cast the
wish spell 1d3 times.” In AD&D it was 1d4 wishes, and this is one of those two cards that I
think could truly ruin your campaign because a carefully worded wish could instantly
take out the bad guy with little to no effort! But high risk should come with high
reward, so I’d leave this card just as it is! “Eury-a-le. The card's medusa-like visage
curses you. You take a −2 penalty on saving throws while cursed in this way. Only a
god or the magic of The Fates card can end this curse.” In AD&D it was -3 on saving
throws specifically against being petrified, so 5e made a great adjustment of opening it to all
saving throws but reducing the penalty. Well done! “Flames. A powerful devil becomes your enemy.
The devil seeks your ruin and plagues your life, savoring your suffering before attempting
to slay you. This enmity lasts until either you or the devil dies.” In AD&D it doesn’t
state that the devil ever tries to slay you, but 5e made it easier to end the enmity
this way, by having the devil eventually come to you rather than forcing you to seek it
out. Personally I think this is a great card, and exactly the kind of thing I expect in
the deck, and no, I don’t think one player character having a personal though powerful
enemy would ruin your campaign. Similarly… “Rogue. A nonplayer character of the GM's choice
becomes hostile toward you. The identity of your new enemy isn't known until the NPC or someone
else reveals it. Nothing less than a wish spell or divine intervention can end the NPC's hostility
toward you.” So it’s like the Flames card, but only an NPC instead of a devil, and in
AD&D it was specifically supposed to be the player character’s henchman--or if they had
no henchmen--a powerful NPC. In either case keeping their hatred secret “until the
time is ripe for devastating effect.” “Gem. Twenty-five pieces of jewelry worth 2,000
gp each or fifty gems worth 1,000 gp each appear at your feet.” The value was similar in
AD&D, but that version also gave you an equivalent amount of experience points, up to
one level’s worth. This was obviously removed in the modern version, probably for the XP vs
milestone reasons we already talked about. Also, most D&D 5e parties have more money than they
know what to do with by like 5th or 6th level, so this card may not be super useful, though
it’s definitely a fun one to get, so it doesn’t need any changes, and it’s really REALLY unlikely
getting a bunch of money will ruin your campaign! “Key. A rare or rarer magic weapon with which
you are proficient appears in your hands. The GM chooses the weapon.” This card granted you a
RANDOM weapon in AD&D as well as a treasure map which just created a bunch of work for the GM,
so once again, Wizards of the Coast made good moves here by removing the map and letting the DM
choose the weapon, so it won’t break your game. “Talons. Every magic item you wear or carry
disintegrates. Artifacts in your possession aren't destroyed but do vanish.” In AD&D,
this also affects all the magic items you OWN, rather than only ones you’re currently wielding,
so pro tip for all the 5e players out there: drop all your magic items before you start drawing
cards! But this might be the silliest card of all, because technically the deck of many
things would vanish once you draw this card, and I don’t know if that’s
intentional or not! Now here we go… “RUIN. All forms of wealth that you
carry or own, other than magic items, are lost to you. Portable property vanishes.
Businesses, buildings, and land you own are lost in a way that alters reality the least. Any
documentation that proves you should own something lost to this card also disappears.” Same in AD&D
except Wizards added the part about documentation, which I find to be hilarious! Like at some
point a player argued that they still have a deed to their house and was able to get
it back, so the designers were like, “Oh, we gotta make sure that never works!” But
like I said earlier, wealth is usually not an issue in D&D 5e, so ironically the Ruin
card will definitely not ruin your game. Man, there’s a lot of cards in this
thing! Each of these next few have some interesting differences between
their original and modern versions. “Throne. You gain proficiency in the Persuasion
skill, and you double your proficiency bonus on checks made with that skill. In addition,
you gain rightful ownership of a small keep somewhere in the world. However, the
keep is currently in the hands of monsters, which you must clear out before
you can claim the keep as yours.” “Throne: Gain charisma of 18 and small
keep :: If charisma is 18 already, the individual still gains +25% on encounter
and loyalty reactions. He or she becomes a real leader in people’s eyes. The castle gained
will be near to any stronghold already possessed. Where AD&D gave you a great Charisma
stat, real leadership, and a free keep, 5e gives you proficiency and expertise in the
Persuasion skill and a keep that you have to clear out, so it’s basically still a dungeon
and not actually yours. I guess they tried to summarize the ASI and leadership qualities by
condensing them into the Persuasion increase, which is great by the way, but can we just
be honest that ANY keep in the game could be yours if you clear out the inhabitants,
so this doesn’t really give you a throne…and of course it will not ruin your game!
But here’s the other card that might! “The Fates. Reality's fabric
unravels and spins anew, allowing you to avoid or erase one event
as if it never happened. You can use the card's magic as soon as you draw the card
or at any other time before you die.” “Fates: Avoid any situation you choose...once ::
This plaque enables the character to avoid even an instantaneous occurrence if so desired, for
the fabric of reality is unraveled and respun, so to speak. Note that it does not allow something
TO happen, only not to take place. This reversal is for the individual character only, and the
party must still endure the confrontation.” So it seems to me like Wizards made this card
wayyy more powerful than it used to be! Gygax said this change in reality only occurs for the
one character, so in AD&D the potential of this card was far more limited. Today, it literally
grants the player a single stroke of DM fiat: the ability to retcon any one moment,
action, character, monster, item, anything, at any time they choose! This could prevent
the bad guy’s birth, or save a PC’s life. This could prevent the world from being created,
or prevent an apocalypse from destroying it, maybe depending on your interpretation of
a “single event.” However, a great player would hopefully use this card to save a loved
one or prevent some other personal trauma for themselves or a loved one rather than undo the
campaign. That’s another player tip for ya! “Vizier. At any time you choose within one year
of drawing this card, you can ask a question in meditation and mentally receive a truthful
answer to that question. Besides information, the answer helps you solve a puzzling
problem or other dilemma. In other words, the knowledge comes with
wisdom on how to apply it. “Vizier: Know the answer to your next
dilemma :: This plaque empowers the character drawing it with the ability to call upon
supernatural wisdom to solve any single problem, or answer fully any question whenever
he or she so requests. Whether the information gained can be successfully
acted upon is another question entireIy.” This is another card that Wizards made more
powerful, but in a nice way. Where Gygax gave the GM full license to provide a cryptic answer to
the player’s one special question, WotC specified that “the knowledge comes with wisdom on
how to apply it.” Which is far more useful, and yeah, maybe potentially campaign-ending
because depending on the nature of your world’s grand problem, a very cleverly worded
question, similar to a cleverly worded wish, could give the party exactly the information they
need to solve that grand problem, but information isn’t everything. They may know what to do,
and how to do it, but they still have to do it! And that necessity of action is your adventure!
Therefore the campaign probably remains intact. Now these last few cards also keep the campaign
intact, but each one hinges on the importance of playing an individual heroic fantasy
character. That’s what 5e is all about, but AD&D had a…different philosophy on the
significance of player character mortality. “Knight. You gain the service of a 4th-level
fighter who appears in a space you choose within 30 feet of you. The fighter is of the same
race as you and serves you loyally until death, believing the fates have drawn him or
her to you. You control this character.” “Knight: Gain the service of a 4th level fighter
:: The hero will join as the character’s henchman and loyally serve until death. The hero has +
1 per die (18 maximum) on each ability roll.” So in a weird twist, the needless specification
about the fighter’s race seems to have been added by Wizards of the Coast! Otherwise
it’s the same, and the only problem here is that one player getting to run two fully
fledged player characters means they always get more turns than everyone else, they
have more of a say in group decisions, and in general they get a bigger share of
the spotlight. This can be okay in a lot of campaigns where characters may already have
animal companions or familiars or sidekicks, and old school D&D is big on having henchmen
and retainers, so maybe it’s just me, but I think it would be weird to be playing
in a game where one player just gets to have two main characters. At least it’s a good
backup character if you pull this card… “Skull. You summon an avatar of death--a
ghostly humanoid skeleton clad in a tattered black robe and carrying a spectral scythe.
It appears in a space of the GM's choice within 10 feet of you and attacks you,
warning all others that you must win the battle alone. The avatar fights until
you die or it drops to 0 hit points, whereupon it disappears. If anyone tries to
help you, the helper summons its own avatar of death. A creature slain by an avatar
of death can't be restored to life.” “Skull: Defeat Death or be forever destroyed
:: A minor Death appears (AC -4; 33 hit points; strikes with a scythe for 2-16 hit points,
never missing, always striking first in a round) and the character must fight it alone--if
others help, they get minor Deaths to fight as well. If the character is slain he or she
is slain forever. Treat the Death as undead with respect to spells. Cold or fire do not
harm it, neither does electrical energy.” It should be obvious here, but permanent
character death is not very popular among D&D players. A while back I ran this poll
and learned that about half of D&D players, regardless of their years experience with
the game, think that character death is NOT necessary for the game to feel dangerous
and exciting. People generally don’t like it when their characters die. That’s why 5e
has way more hit points, healing spells, healing features, and ways to revive
characters than previous editions of the game. Now the 5e Avatar of Death is not very difficult
to fight, but it does automatically hit with its single attack. If your character has multiattack
and more than 20 hit points, you're probably fine, but you’re at the mercy of the dice, and
your opponent is not, so this would be a pretty unfair way to permanently kill a player
character. Worst case scenario though, that still doesn’t end your campaign, it just sucks for
that one player and the other players may rightly be pretty demoralized depending on how
much they had invested in that one character. These last two cards have a similar impact,
but they do provide a chance for redemption. “Donjon. You disappear and become entombed
in a state of suspended animation in an extradimensional sphere. Everything
you were wearing and carrying stays behind in the space you occupied when you
disappeared. You remain imprisoned until you are found and removed from the sphere. You
can't be located by any divination magic, but a wish spell can reveal the location
of your prison. You draw no more cards.” “Donjon: You are imprisoned :: This signifies
imprisonment - either by spell or by some creature/being at your option. All gear and spells
will be stripped from the victim in any case.” Campaign ending? No. Campaign derailing
for a while so the party can locate and retrieve this character? Yes. In this
case though, the affected player should definitely use a backup character
who can join in the rescue mission, or someone keeps drawing until they get a wish!
The 5e wording is odd, but as far as I can tell, you can use a wish to bring them back
with this card. Not this next card… “The Void. This black card spells disaster. Your
soul is drawn from your body and contained in an object in a place of the GM's choice. One or
more powerful beings guard the place. While your soul is trapped in this way, your body is
incapacitated. A wish spell can't restore your soul, but the spell reveals the location of the
object that holds it. You draw no more cards.” “The Void: Body functions, but soul is trapped
elsewhere :: This lightless black plaque spells instant disaster. The character’s body
functions, and he or she speaks like an automaton, but the psyche is trapped in a prison
somewhere--in an object on a far planet or plane, possibly in the possession of a demon. A
wish will not bring the character back, but the plane of entrapment might be revealed” Little spoiler for the epilogue
of Critical Role campaign 1: This is famously the last card that their
goliath barbarian Grog pulls from the deck, which led to the cast running a separate
one shot adventure to save his soul. Anyway, the character is technically still playable
in AD&D, where the body functions and the character “speaks like an automaton,” and
that could be fun to play for a while! But these few cards which essentially remove
a player character from the game are in my opinion the worst threats to the party. It could
be devastating for a player, and very tricky for the DM to decide where exactly the soul ends
up and what the party must do to get it back, but at the same time, these incredible,
unexpected CHALLENGES are exactly what the Deck of Many Things should be known for!
Not ruining or destroying the campaign: creating wild scenarios and spontaneous adventures
that you and your group will always remember! If you agree, please give this video
a like, share it with your game group, and check out this other video where we
learn about character creation in AD&D! All that stuff really helps! Thanks
for your support, and keep building! :)
