I used it once, I retired the character after. I got the Keep, a Free Leve, and a major magical itm. Which my GM rolled for on a random generator online.
I sold the item, I can't recall what it was but I gained like 90-100K in gold and my guy was like.. you know what screw this adventuring crap I'm out and left.
I rolled up a new character because I honestly had no idea why the guy would still be in the group.
All of them... draw all the cards..
52 CARD PICK UP!!!!
As far as I know, there is no reason unless the effect kills you that you can't draw one and then immediately you declare you want to draw one more. So I keep drawing one by one until it kills me or I am so powerful the campaign is over.
The real scary (for the GM) or munchkiny combo is giving a Harrow Deck of Many Things to someone with access to wishes. The Classic Treasures Revisited book established that a Deck granted Wish will let you choose your next card, and there's no good reason to think a regular Wish can't do the same.
There's some great Harrow Deck cards that give much better effects than a Wish. You can get a free level, you can swap two of your ability scores and get an untyped +2 bonus on each (two wishes means you can swap them back and get +4 on both), etc.
You'd expect any level 20 sorcerer who knows wish to save up as many diamonds as he can and try to get one of these decks ASAP, pick 7-8 cards of your choosing.
and there's no good reason to think a regular Wish can't do the same.
Sure there is.
1) It's an artifact.2) Classic Treasures Revisited specified a deck-granted Wish, not just any ol' Wish.
3) It's not listed in things Wish can do safely.
4) The deck's Wish specifically calls out being able to do things the Wish spell can't.
0.
I throw it into the fires of Mordor.
Keeping it on hand will just encourage the less sensible players to give it a whirl.
and there's no good reason to think a regular Wish can't do the same.Sure there is.
1) It's an artifact.
2) Classic Treasures Revisited specified a deck-granted Wish, not just any ol' Wish.
3) It's not listed in things Wish can do safely.
4) The deck's Wish specifically calls out being able to do things the Wish spell can't.
Nah. The Harrow Deck calls out its Wish as being particularly powerful, but the example in Classic Treasures Revisited was a standard deck with the Moon card.
Moon: This card bears the image of a moonstone gem with the appropriate number of wishes shown as gleams therein; sometimes it depicts a moon with its phase indicating the number of wishes (full = four; gibbous = three; half = two; quarter = one). These wishes are the same as those granted by the 9th-level wizard spell and must be used within a number of minutes equal to the number received.
0.
I throw it into the fires of Mordor.
Keeping it on hand will just encourage the less sensible players to give it a whirl.
But decks of many things aren't forged in Mount Doom (Mordor is where Mount Doom is located and I'm fairly sure you mean the fires of Mount Doom). Mount Doom is good for destroying rings only.
But decks of many things aren't forged in Mount Doom. Mount Doom is good for destroying rings only.0.
I throw it into the fires of Mordor.
Keeping it on hand will just encourage the less sensible players to give it a whirl.
I don't really need to destroy it, just keep it away from the rest of the party. Who's going to go swimming lava to find a deck of many things?
You shut your mouth before you hurt yourself. Or someone else. Or the entire universe.All of them... draw all the cards..
52 CARD PICK UP!!!!
*throws deck into air*
But decks of many things aren't forged in Mount Doom. Mount Doom is good for destroying rings only.I don't really need to destroy it, just keep it away from the rest of the party. Who's going to go swimming lava to find a deck of many things?
Red Dragons, Efreeti (maybe - they're smart buggers), fire elementals, fire giants, salamanders, hell hounds ("fetch!")...
I have a question though? What happens if a familiar draws the sun card "Grants 50k xp and a wondrous item?"
My spouse suggests that the familiar is treated as if it's master had 50K more xp, for purposes of the familiar's abilities.
FYI - Harrower 10th level ability...
Their used to be a limit of four cards on the deck, didn't notice that was gone in Pathfinder. Also used to disappear after the drawing. But you do still have to say how many cards you will draw and cannot draw more than that, ever.
Decided to test my luck, used the wotc deck generator and I drew Key, Gem, and Knight. So now I have a major magic weapon, a 4th level fighter, and 50k worth of gems or jewelry. I remember we ran into the deck at like level 2 once for a campaign, and I got the knight then too, which made him the strongest member of the party.
How many depends on how much I feel like playing a new campaign.
Heh. Every now and then I'll throw a Deck into the party's path. In fact, in one recent adventure involving helping a temple to the God of Luck, I gave each character one free pass on a negative card, if they decided to draw. All of them drew, and the results were generally favourable.
Just now used the WotC generator, and got Gem (yay, loadsamoney!), Ruin (darnit), Gem (recovered!), Key (woot!), and Comet (ah, a use for my new weapon!).
Best draw I've seen in a while.
In thirty odd years of gaming I have encountered a deck of many things only twice, once in second edition AD&D and once in Pathfinder. The first time I wasn't game to draw any cards. The second time I drew one card and received the fates card.
None.
The Deck of Many Things is a campaign-ending gimmick, that largely only serves to divide the party, arbitrarily invalidate or supersede choices and achievements to date and hand out excessively powerful rewards or punishments on a whim.
And because it is completely random, unless a GM rigs the deck they have no clue how it is going to go. You can argue "just roll with the punches", but having half your party dead, a quarter destitute and on a demon's hit list, and the other quarter levels ahead of where they should be and decked out in finery due to shear dumb luck... usually sucks; not for the people who lucked out, but for the group as a whole.
Adventuring rewards a team for unity, coordination and good planning.
The Deck rewards (or punishes) individuals in equally excessive and arbitrary fashions.
I've seen it used three times. Each time; Someone died, someone became destitute and someone else lucked out and leaped ahead of the pack, rendering the rest of the PCs into their hapless and inferior minions. Each time, the campaign ended within 1-3 sessions of the Deck.
It looks fun, but is mostly just destructive.
I played around with an alternate (and largely nerfed) version of the Harrow Deck of Many Things where the positives and negatives were generally less ridiculous. That was generally a lot better received.
Deck of Many Things posts always remind me of the House of Cards adventure in Dungeon mag 18... basically a thief's guild/dungeon where all the doors are locked with cards you have to draw. Good times.