A Deck of Many Things typically appears not as individual cards, but as a collection of cards characters can draw from. But this doesn't have to be true; you can give each card a property as a standalone item, so characters who find only one card can still enjoy this famed item and use the card on adventures.
This approach is particularly useful if you make a Deck of Many Things the object of a quest; as the characters explore, each card they find grants them a magical ability they can use in subsequent adventures to find the cards that remain. Eventually the heroes assemble the entire deck, which they can then use in the traditional manner, drawing transformative cards from it in a fitting climax to the campaign.
This deck item comprises the following individual cards:
Usually found in a box or pouch, this deck contains a number of cards made of ivory or vellum. Most (75%) of these decks have only thirteen cards, but the rest have twenty-two.
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.
Two of the cards in a deck of many things can earn a character the enmity of another being. With the Flames card, the enmity is overt. The character should experience the devil's malevolent efforts on multiple occasions. Seeking out the fiend shouldn't be a simple task, and the adventurer should clash with the devil's allies and followers a few times before being able to confront the devil itself.
In the case of the Rogue card, the enmity is secret and should come from someone thought to be a friend or an ally. As Dungeon Master, you should wait for a dramatically appropriate moment to reveal this enmity, leaving the adventurer guessing who is likely to become a betrayer.
| 1d22 | Card |
|---|---|
Ace of diamonds |
Vizier* |
King of diamonds |
Sun |
Queen of diamonds |
Moon |
Jack of diamonds |
Star |
Two of diamonds |
Comet* |
Ace of hearts |
The Fates* |
King of hearts |
Throne |
Queen of hearts |
Key |
Jack of hearts |
Knight |
Two of hearts |
Gem* |
Ace of clubs |
Talons* |
King of clubs |
The Void |
Queen of clubs |
Flames |
Jack of clubs |
Skull |
Two of clubs |
Idiot* |
Ace of spades |
Donjon* |
King of spades |
Ruin |
Queen of spades |
Euryale |
Jack of spades |
Rogue |
Two of spades |
Balance* |
Joker (with TM) |
Fool* |
Joker (without TM) |
Jester |
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.
You gain 50,000 XP, and a wondrous item (which the DM determines randomly) appears in your hands.
You are granted the ability to cast the wish spell 1d3 times.
Increase one of your ability scores by 2. The score can exceed 20 but can't exceed 24.
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.
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.
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.
A rare or rarer magic weapon with which you are proficient appears in your hands. The DM chooses the weapon.
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.
Twenty-five pieces of jewelry worth 2,000 gp each or fifty gems worth 1,000 gp each appear at your feet.
Every magic item you wear or carry disintegrates. Artifacts in your possession aren't destroyed but do vanish.
This black card spells disaster. Your soul is drawn from your body and contained in an object in a place of the DM'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.
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.
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 DM'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.
Permanently reduce your Intelligence by 1d4 + 1 (to a minimum score of 1). You can draw one additional card beyond your declared draws.
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.
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.
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.
A nonplayer character of the DM'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.
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.
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.
You gain 10,000 XP, or you can draw two additional cards beyond your declared draws.
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 thirteen cards, but some have twenty-two. Use the appropriate column of the Deck of Many Things table when randomly determining cards drawn from the deck.
Before you draw a card, you must declare how many cards you intend to draw and then draw them randomly. 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 disappears. Unless the card is the Fool or Jester, the card reappears in the deck, making it possible to draw the same card twice. (Once the Fool or Jester has left the deck, reroll on the table if that card comes up again.)
| 1d100 (13-Card Deck) | 1d100 (22-Card Deck) | Card |
|---|---|---|
| — | 01-05 | Balance |
| — | 06-10 | Comet |
| — | 11-14 | Donjon |
| 01-08 | 15-18 | Euryale |
| — | 19-23 | Fates |
| 09-16 | 24-27 | Flames |
| — | 28-31 | Fool |
| — | 32-36 | Gem |
| 17-24 | 37-41 | Jester |
| 25-32 | 42-46 | Key |
| 33-40 | 47-51 | Knight |
| 41-48 | 52-56 | Moon |
| — | 57-60 | Puzzle |
| 49-56 | 61-64 | Rogue |
| 57-64 | 65-68 | Ruin |
| — | 69-73 | Sage |
| 65-72 | 74-77 | Skull |
| 73-80 | 78-82 | Star |
| 81-88 | 83-87 | Sun |
| — | 88-91 | Talons |
| 89-96 | 92-96 | Throne |
| 97-00 | 97-00 | Void |
Each card's effect is described below.
You can increase one of your ability scores by 2, to a maximum of 22, provided you also decrease another one of your ability scores by 2. You can't decrease an ability that has a score of 5 or lower. Alternatively, you can choose not to adjust your ability scores, in which case this card has no effect.
The next time you enter combat against one or more Hostile [Attitude] creatures, you can select one of them as your foe when you roll Initiative. If you reduce your foe to 0 Hit Points during that combat, you have Advantage on Death Saving Throw for 1 year. If someone else reduces your chosen foe to 0 Hit Points or you don't choose a foe, this card has no effect.
You disappear and become entombed in a state of suspended animation in an extradimensional sphere. Everything you're wearing and carrying disappears with you except for Artifacts, which stay 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.
The card's medusa-like visage curses you. You take a -2 penalty to saving throws while cursed in this way. Only a god or the magic of the Fates card can end this curse.
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.
A powerful devil becomes your enemy. The devil seeks your ruin and torments you, savoring your suffering before attempting to slay you. This enmity lasts until either you or the devil dies.
Two of the cards in the Deck of Many Things can earn a character the enmity of another being. With the Flames card, the enmity is overt. The character should experience the devil's malevolent efforts on multiple occasions. Seeking out the fiend shouldn't be a simple task, and the adventurer should clash with the devil's allies and followers a few times before being able to confront the devil.
In the case of the Rogue card, the enmity is secret and should come from someone thought to be a friend or an ally. As Dungeon Master, you should wait for a dramatically appropriate moment to reveal this enmity, leaving the adventurer guessing who is likely to become a betrayer.
You have Disadvantage on D20 Test for the next 72 hours. Draw another card; this draw doesn't count as one of your declared draws.
Twenty-five pieces of jewelry worth 2,000 GP each or fifty gems worth 1,000 GP each appear at your feet.
You have Advantage on D20 Test for the next 72 hours, or you can draw two additional cards beyond your declared draws.
A Rare or rarer magic weapon with which you are proficient appears on your person. The DM chooses the weapon.
You gain the service of a Knight, who magically appears in an unoccupied space you choose within 30 feet of yourself. The knight has the same alignment as you and serves you loyally until death, believing the two of you have been drawn together by fate. Work with your DM to create a name and backstory for this NPC. The DM can use a different stat block to represent the knight, as desired.
You gain the ability to cast Wish 1d3 times.
Permanently reduce your Intelligence or Wisdom by 1d4 + 1 (to a minimum score of 1). You can draw one additional card beyond your declared draws.
An NPC of the DM's choice becomes Hostile [Attitude] toward you. You don't know the identity of this NPC until they or someone else reveals it. Nothing less than a Wish spell or divine intervention can end the NPC's hostility toward you.
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. If you have a Bastion (see the Dungeon Master's Guide), it is destroyed by some calamity beyond your control. Any documentation that proves you should own something lost to this card also disappears.
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.
An Avatar of Death appears in an unoccupied space as close to you as possible. The avatar targets only you with its attacks, appearing as a ghostly skeleton clad in a tattered black robe and carrying a spectral scythe. The avatar disappears when it drops to 0 Hit Points or you die. If an ally of yours deals damage to the avatar, that ally summons another Avatar of Death. The new avatar appears in an unoccupied space as close to that ally as possible and targets only that ally with its attacks. You and your allies can each summon only one avatar as a consequence of this draw. A creature slain by an avatar can't be restored to life.
Increase one of your ability scores by 2, to a maximum of 24.
A magic item (chosen by the DM) appears on your person. In addition, you gain 10 Temporary Hit Points daily at dawn until you die.
Every magic item you wear or carry disintegrates. Artifacts in your possession vanish instead.
You gain proficiency and Expertise in your choice of History, Insight, Intimidation, or Persuasion. In addition, you gain rightful ownership of a small keep somewhere in the world. However, the keep is currently home to one or more monsters, which must be cleared out before you can claim the keep as yours.
Your soul is drawn from your body and contained in an object in a place of the DM's choice. One or more powerful beings guard the place. While your soul is trapped in this way, your body is inert, ceases aging, and requires no food, air, or water. A Wish spell can't return your soul to your body, but the spell reveals the location of the object that holds your soul. You draw no more cards.