Okay, so the Deck of Many Things is basically the worst right now. It's gamebreaking at best and gamebreaking at worst. It's rolling a die to see if the campaign ends. It's a cursed item you can't "accidentally" sell to an unknowing merchant as a useful magic item. It's the in-game equivalent of, "His door is locked, he threw away his phone, and his car is gone. Maybe Matt doesn't wanna GM anymore?"
I have never used the Deck of Many Things, and currently, I don't plan to. But I feel like it can be fixed, or at least tinkered with to be more interesting.
So this, here and now, is the DOMT Rescue Project. Our goal: To modify the existing card effects to make as many of them as possible encourage shifts in storytelling and gameplay rather than boring one-note nerfs, deaths and godmodes.
Not all the cards will be fixable, I'm sure. But let's get started and see what can't be done.
Tarot deck: XI. Justice
Playing cards: Two of spades
Current effect: The character must change to a radically different alignment. If the character fails to act according to the new alignment, she gains a negative level.
What do you guys think? Is this a fun element of the deck, or does it screw up too much of the roleplay? What are some alternatives?
What bugs me is that you have to "act according to the new alignment". How does that manifest if you become Lawful Evil? Do you have to start tying ladies to railroad tracks? It seems like a relic of more old-fashioned alignment interpretations.
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I'm actually a big fan of the Harrow Deck of Many Things. The effects are much less severe, more interesting, there's more cards, and the GM can secretly remove troublesome cards since there's enough cards for the GM to do so without the players knowing.
For balance, I'd suggest setting it as the character takes on the alignment opposed to their own, and that the change would be to a radical degree (a character that was Belkar levels of Chaotic Evil becomes a veritable Paladin, and the Chaotic Good guy who chafes under the rules, quietly hides the card after he draws it, and immediately starts plotting the downfall of the king.) The change only lasts 1 day, and the new personality is aware of this. The character isn't cosmically held responsible for anything they do during this time (oaths sworn aren't binding, and the Paladin doesn't fall) and at the end of the 24 hours, the Player (or the GM in the case of the NPC) may decide between the two alignments.
Personally? I've always used the DOMT as a plot device. It was never random, regardless of what the players thought. I also made up my own cards, after all, just because the cards are listed in the book does not mean those are the only cards, just the cards which have been recorded by those who lived long enough to do so after drawing from the deck.
For example: draw the card "Protection" -> used to upgrade any one value which the player is weak in. A poor Save, upgrade armor, etc.
Draw "Crusader" and maybe you get a weapon upgrade, or your offensive magical item now gets a limited daily recharge (thus not being destroyed with its last charge usage).
Maybe the "All Seeing Eye" will grant you a prophetic vision or dream that night about something in your next adventure, like prep spells like Feather Fall and bring rope...lots of rope!
Etc Etc...
Overall, KC, because it involves the hotbed that is alignment, the Balance card can be no problem in a group able to handle the sudden alignment change or deal with the negative level, or incredibly disruptive if not. Its power is therefore hard to quantify and thus adjust. I think we need to table this one for now and move on.
Good call. Some interesting ideas here, though.
Tarot deck: Two of swords
Playing cards: Two of diamonds
Current effect: The character must single-handedly defeat the next hostile monster or monsters encountered, or the benefit is lost. If successful, the character gains enough XP to attain the next experience level.
Just off-the-cuff, this one seems fine. One level isn't gamebreaking.
I agree, seems fine
I never used the DoMT as a GM, and never encountered it as a player. Sean K Reynolds built a variant, the deck of past and future possibilities for 3.x (before he joined Paizo). Maybe it might give you some ideas?
monsters
...
Just off-the-cuff, this one seems fine. One level isn't gamebreaking.
Perhaps define what a monster is exactly? I mean if your Wizard friend just summons up a Dire Badger, does that count?
Perhaps adding more "if ____, then ___" statements to the deck would allow an element of player choice. Rather then forcing something to happen, it dangles a semi high stakes gamble in front of the player.
Also, "do this thing SOLO" is bad design in a multi player game.
I think card 1 could be changed to altering one axis of the alignment scale. Card 2 could be the whole party defeating an APL + 2 monster (totally random outsider or dragon?) (perhaps with a time limit). The reward could be gaining a level, or something like a heroism spell that lasts for a long period of time.
I don't think it's dramatically bad design to push a single solo encounter. It's an artifact-level effect, after all.
Harrow deck = deck of new plot hooks!
Tarot deck: Four of swords
Playing cards: Ace of spades
Current effect: This card signifies imprisonment—either by the imprisonment spell or by some powerful being. All gear and spells are stripped from the victim in any case. Draw no more cards.
Now this is a card that might need adjustment. Any ideas?
I would say instead of just imprisonment that it gives the player some sort of handicap imprisoning their potential or something like that
I'm not sure if the ace of spades should be the 'worst' card to draw. It is my feeble understanding that most of these types of things have some sort of duality. Death might be the end, but it is also a blank slate to start from - that kind of thing.
How about changing it to a total shift in either time or space. The group is transported forward or backward 1,000 years. Or they are teleported so far into a distant universe that even spells are of no use in returning. Basically, the party is completely separated from the world as they know it. You could even make it the end of the world. For example, and asteroid destroys the 'Earth' while the party is left intact.
Just a quick note on group vs solo. I don't think something happening to 1 character is horrible design, but solo combat at high level is... problematic. It is essentially a test of a characters ability to nova an encounter. The caster can probably do OK, and the paladin can kick an evil opponents ass, but a fighter, or rogue? Do you really want to pit the monk against a dragon or marilith demon in solo combat?
A quick story about my personal experience with a Deck O Many Things. It was the tail end of the first campaign I was in when we first switched to 3.5. Seeing how bad-ass monks were compared to AD&D, I excitedly played a katana wielding monk... and discovered just how brutal CoDzilla and C/Md was in core 3.5. In the final sessions we all drew from The Deck, and I got the card that made you GAIN 4 LEVELS! I thought I would be like a god, but it turned out I still basically sucked compared to the rest of the party.
Just a quick note on group vs solo. I don't think something happening to 1 character is horrible design, but solo combat at high level is... problematic. It is essentially a test of a characters ability to nova an encounter. The caster can probably do OK, and the paladin can kick an evil opponents ass, but a fighter, or rogue? Do you really want to pit the monk against a dragon or marilith demon in solo combat?
Sure, but if you do run into a dragon or marilith in the next encounter, that would be grounds to say, "Y'know, I don't need the level-up that bad."
The difficulty I see, is that by the time the deck comes into play, the caster classes are going to be getting the level, while the martials are going to take a pass.
Perhaps if the opponent you had to face was a mirror of your own character, but with a beard or goatee of course.
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Isn't that just a symptom of casters being better at combat, though? ;P
I do like the "mirror battle" idea, though. It sort of makes it harder to game the system. Perhaps your duplicate appears elsewhere in the world, and hunts you down for single combat. If it wins, it gains a level, and vice versa.
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OK, I think this idea might be a little too far out for the context of this thread, and is really just a rip off of the Book of Lairs from 1986, but:
What if each card was just an APL+3 encounter tied to a sweet reward? They would all have open victory conditions (or as open as possible). For example, it could be "Convince the tribe of giants to stop raiding the human settlement." When the card is drawn the characters are immediately drawn into the thrown room of the giant chieftain, who is unfriendly to the group, as are his henchmen and other followers. The room of giants and pets would be an APL+3 encounter. It could be solved by combat, level appropriate skill checks, or creative means.
The locations are extra dimensional spaces, and the creatures are are just hardwired to act out their parts. Victory conditions are decided by magic, and events usually require prompt action. Cards would correspond to archetypal legends, fables, tales, etc. You could also tie aspects to the suits (Spades requires combat, while Hearts are focused on social skills). Rewards would be generally things not purchasable by gold. For example, success with the giants could give every character the ability to use enlarge/reduce person at will (CL 20).
This would require a lot of GM oversight, and has a kind of old school Star Trek feel. The party would just end up in some bizarre setting performing a difficult task set up by powers beyond their understanding. I think for the point in the game where the deck comes into play, this would be perfect.
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Sounds like the premise of a kids' TV show.
To get back to the Donjon card, perhaps it still does imprison the recipient: a pit opens, they fall in, get buried alive as it closes. Suffocation rules apply. Relatively straightforward, and the other PCs can on the spot help deal with the effects.
Perhaps add a side note: if the drawer is under the effects of the Enmity card, they are instead thrown into a prison under the control of whatever being they ticked off. That might get complicated however.
One of the cards of the new deck, the Harrow deck, seems relevant:
The Waxworks (chaotic evil, Constitution) is a place of helplessness and physical entropy. The mind might be willing, but the flesh is frozen in this place of horror. It is also the card of torture and imprisonment, signifying literal inability to move or a paralysis of a more prosaic kind. Misaligned, this card indicates an abundance of energy at a crucial moment that changes all.
I wish there were a possibility of misalignment for the DoMT. But in any case, I like the idea of prosaic paralysis. Maybe the character could be stripped of all class features & feats. Not equipment. This would be a special Hell for casters, but I'm betting it would hit all classes pretty hard. A mental torture.
The thing is, there has to be a release. Maybe when they level up? (Assuming the GM goes with Paizo's preferred "everyone gets the same XP" strategy, it will be do-able.)
In fact, that might be a good release for all the negative cards.