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Zovc
2009-11-05, 05:46 PM
The original Deck of Many things has 22 cards in it, I want more. I also would like for cards themselves to have more varied effects. I'm considering having more decks, as well.

So, I'd like for each card to have a specific effect that is also subject to dice. I suppose there could be a critical failure card and a critical success card in each deck, one having a negative effect and forcing you to draw another card, and the other having a positive effect and forces you to draw another card.

How do you guys feel about announcing the number of cards you're going to draw? How final should it be? Should you never be able to draw again, or should you have to wait a certain amount of time?

Deck of Many, Many Things: A spruced up Deck of Many things that features more cards.
1: Fool; (bad effect), draw another card.
L: Jester; (great effect), draw another card, you may discard it?.
('L' being the last number.)

Deck of [Bad Dreams/Nightmares]: A deck with many psychological effects, curses, demons, and devils. The good effects usually involve you 'cursing' others with effects you could've endured. You may gain evil-associated templates.

Zovc
2009-11-05, 05:55 PM
"Balance" (from the original DoMT); your alignment changes.
Roll a d10, then reference the chart below. If you roll the number for your corresponding alignment, roll again.
Table 1-1: Random Different Alignment
Roll|Alignment
1|Lawful Good
2|Neutral Good
3|Chaotic Good
4|Lawful Neutral
5|True Neutral
6|Chaotic Neutral
7|Lawful Evil
8|Neutral Evil
9|Chaotic Evil
10|Different alignment of your choice.

Zovc
2009-11-05, 10:14 PM
Comet; is fine as-is.

Donjon; imprisonment is no longer permanent.
Roll a d20. The subject is imprisoned (as the spell imprisonment) for [100 times the result] years. If you roll a 1, you are imprisoned permanently, or until a freedom spell is cast upon your imprisonment. You still draw no more cards.

Euryale; to be split into three different ones...
"Fortitude Curse"; roll a d4. You permanently suffer an untyped penalty to fortitude saves equal to the result. This may only be removed by a deity or dodged by The Fates card.
"Reflex Curse"; roll a d4. You permanently suffer an untyped penalty to reflex saves equal to the result. This may only be removed by a deity or dodged by The Fates card.
"Will Curse"; roll a d4. You permanently suffer an untyped penalty to will saves equal to the result. This may only be removed by a deity or dodged by The Fates card.
(This change yields more cards and more bad cards... some being more dangerous to some characters than others, but all have more potential to ruin a character, I think.)

The Fates; fine as-is.

Flames ("Judgment"/"Punishment?"); Enmity between you and an outsider.
Roll 2d6, ignore 1's, if you roll a six, roll another die and add it to the result (rolling another if you roll six, until you don't roll a six). Add the result to the character's ECL to determine the ECL of the outsider. (Revision suggested by Temet Nosce)
Compute your ECL + 1d12 - 1d12. Use Table 1-1 to determine a random alignment for an outsider, then choose an outsider at that ECL and that alignment. If there is no outsider with a comparable ECL, choose the outsider with the nearest, higher ECL.

Fool; revised.
Flip a coin and call the result before it hits the ground. If you guessed right, draw another card. If you guessed wrong, you lose a level and draw another card.

Gem; seems ridiculous to me, perhaps it should give a piece of magical(/cursed/mundane) jewelry?

(Idiot becomes) Victim; Was dangerous to wizards, I want to split it up, actually, one for each attribute.
Roll 1d6, then consult the table 1-2 (below). The designated attribute suffers 1d4+1 points of permanent damage.
Table 1-2: Random Ability Score
{table]Roll|Ability
1|Strength
2|Dexterity
3|Constitution
4|Intelligence
5|Wisdom
6|Charisma[/table]

Jester, making situationally better (but worse, too).
Flip a coin and call the result before it hits the ground. If you guessed right, you gain a level and may draw another card, draw your next card, or stop drawing cards from the deck. If you guessed wrong, may stop drawing cards from the deck.

Key, making more random--separated into "Sword" and "Shield."
Sword; A weapon appears in your hands.
Generate random wondrous magic weapons until you generate one the drawing character can use. The character is suddenly holding the generated weapon.

"Shield"; Armor is suddenly protecting you.
Flip a coin, then consult the appropriate entry below.
Heads; generate a random wondrous magical shield, the character suddenly is wearing the shield.
Tails; generate a random wondrous magical suit of armor, the character is suddenly wearing the armor.

Knight (Guardian?); revised, more random.
Roll a dY and consult table 1-X. You gain the service of a character of the determined class. The character's alignment is determined by Table 1-1 (previous post), although (s)he is as faithful to you and your cause(s) as possible. The character's level is equal to [your level - 1d6; minimum 1].

Moon (Genie/The Lamp?); fine as-is.

Rogue; fine as-is, use a random method to determine who turns against 'you.'

Ruin; Your carried possessions immediately shatter, dealing damage to you and all of those around you.
(Rules to be determined...)

Skull (Death/Challenger); to be revised.

Star; as-is.

Sun; revised.
You advance 1d6 levels. You also gain a new wondrous item appropriate for your new ECL.

Talons; fine... possibly hurting the character as Ruin would.

Throne; fine... may drop the diplomacy bonus.

Vizer (Diviner); fine.

The Void; seems fine, although not particularly fun.

The Bookworm
2009-11-05, 10:26 PM
I love the Deck of Nightmares idea. I'll start some work on it tomorrow.

Averagedog
2009-11-05, 10:28 PM
dude, I totally support what your doing here. I myself used the deck of many things before in one of my campaigns to good and bad effects. If this thing is completed soon I will most assuredly find a way to weasel it in again :D

Temet Nosce
2009-11-05, 10:30 PM
I like the concept of a larger deck, but so far you've just turned my general tendency not to have my characters draw from such decks, into a dead certainty none of them would touch yours. Seriously, you've actually managed to weaken most of the good cards and strengthen the bad ones (also, now there are more bad cards in the deck). Any character foolish enough to draw from your deck well, they deserve what they get.

I do like the idea of additional decks, but you might want to ease off the "DM screw player real good!" feeling in the main deck.

Pika...
2009-11-05, 10:35 PM
Personally I run it as you can draw as many times as you like. However, you have to announce each time how many cards you will pull that time.

And as the DM I can just say "No, no. You can not just keep declaring one card at a time", that or I can have a force/outsider(s) of law pop in to "stop the abuse and spread of Chaos!!!" (Modrons anyone? :smallbiggrin:).

Zovc
2009-11-05, 10:53 PM
I like the concept of a larger deck, but so far you've just turned my general tendency not to have my characters draw from such decks, into a dead certainty none of them would touch yours. Seriously, you've actually managed to weaken most of the good cards and strengthen the bad ones (also, now there are more bad cards in the deck). Any character foolish enough to draw from your deck well, they deserve what they get.

I do like the idea of additional decks, but you might want to ease off the "DM screw player real good!" feeling in the main deck.

I'm not trying to make the deck 'worse.' While I might be making the 'bad' cards 'worse' (in different respects), I'm trying to make them more random. There's no reason I can't make the cards less detrimental, and it's not like I can't add more good cards, which is another aim of this objective.

As a matter of fact, why don't I split Key into two separate cards, and let the armor card have you flip to see if you get armor or a shield.

I can even separate sun's effects. It's not like this is final by any means, I'm just trying to get some input to help direct any ideas I have and also provide a focus for anyone else's ideas.

For the deck of nightmares, I was considering shifting it towards evil in particular, or perhaps chaos and evil. That way I could have a card like this:

The Villan; You become evil, and begin plotting selfishly.
Roll 1d3 (or 1d6) and consult table 2(Deck of )-X (below). Your alignment becomes the result of your roll, then roll 1d3 (or 1d6) and consult table 2-Y (below). If the resulting alignment was already your alignment, roll twice. You receive a +2 bonus to the resulting ability score(s).
[B]Table 2-X: Random Evil Alignment
{table]Roll|Result
1(4)|Lawful Evil
2(5)|Neutral Evil
3(6)|Chaotic Evil[/table]
Table 2-Y: Random Mental Ability Bonus
{table]Roll|Result
1(4)|Intelligence
2(5)|Wisdom
3(6)|Charisma[/table]

Also, there are probably better ways to organize and represent the information I'm presenting, feel free to suggest any of those.

Temet Nosce
2009-11-06, 06:35 AM
I'm not trying to make the deck 'worse.' While I might be making the 'bad' cards 'worse' (in different respects), I'm trying to make them more random. There's no reason I can't make the cards less detrimental, and it's not like I can't add more good cards, which is another aim of this objective.

As a matter of fact, why don't I split Key into two separate cards, and let the armor card have you flip to see if you get armor or a shield.

I can even separate sun's effects. It's not like this is final by any means, I'm just trying to get some input to help direct any ideas I have and also provide a focus for anyone else's ideas.


Not saying you're trying to, just pointing out the results so far.

Anyways, I'd suggest considering either making the cards have two sides or creating a "mirror" deck. Essentially I'm suggesting that whatever the effect of the card is, flip a coin to decide whether it's positive or negative (I.E., the stat cards would either give that much bonus or take it away).

As far as the Key - I like the idea of splitting it into two cards but I'd suggest keeping the major part instead of replacing it with a 1d6 to decide the bonus.

Also, the bit about Flames is kind of... overkill. Why should the enemy be guaranteed to be higher ECL than you (in fact, given the method of rolling for it the odds are good anything you roll would be completely unbeatable except for a optimized character). I'd suggest rolling 1d6 twice, with one being negative ECL and one positive instead (so it could either way, maybe you just have an Imp trying to off you or maybe you've got a Solar).

AgentPaper
2009-11-06, 07:58 AM
I'd suggest:

Fool: Draw five cards

...

Sage: Draw five cards, pick one.

Zovc
2009-11-06, 09:24 AM
Not saying you're trying to, just pointing out the results so far.

Anyways, I'd suggest considering either making the cards have two sides or creating a "mirror" deck. Essentially I'm suggesting that whatever the effect of the card is, flip a coin to decide whether it's positive or negative (I.E., the stat cards would either give that much bonus or take it away).

As far as the Key - I like the idea of splitting it into two cards but I'd suggest keeping the major part instead of replacing it with a 1d6 to decide the bonus.

Also, the bit about Flames is kind of... overkill. Why should the enemy be guaranteed to be higher ECL than you (in fact, given the method of rolling for it the odds are good anything you roll would be completely unbeatable except for a optimized character). I'd suggest rolling 1d6 twice, with one being negative ECL and one positive instead (so it could either way, maybe you just have an Imp trying to off you or maybe you've got a Solar).

Alright, then, thanks for pointing that out.

I'll consider the opposite system. It does balance the deck out, how does everyone else feel about it?

Okay, I'll keep the major part with Key.

I will change Flames in line with what you're suggesting, but use a larger dice. I'm thinking d10, but considering d12. So, the outsider would be yourECL + 1d12 - 1d12.


I'd suggest:

Fool: Draw five cards

...

Sage: Draw five cards, pick one.

I like both of those ideas, AgentPaper, but I might reduce them to three or four. What does the playground think?

In case you overlooked it, Temet Nosce suggested that every card (that it was applicable to) be mirrored on itself. In other words, you draw a card, then flip a coin to see if it's good or bad.

Temet Nosce
2009-11-06, 09:38 AM
I will change Flames in line with what you're suggesting, but use a larger dice. I'm thinking d10, but considering d12. So, the outsider would be yourECL + 1d12 - 1d12.

Good idea, makes more sense that way. I may post some more ideas when I wake up, but for now a bit tired. Glad you came up with the idea of this though.

Anyways, I've got a campaign concept percolating in my head based on this now. After this develops a bit more I may run a campaign where groups of individuals participate in a "game" run by beings from beyond their plane for rewards, but to participate each member of the PC party must draw from the DoMT (revised edition), and all results all applicable to the entire party. Afterwards they have to complete a quest while competing with the other groups (who also had to draw from the DoMT (revised edition)).

Zovc
2009-11-06, 10:04 AM
Good idea, makes more sense that way. I may post some more ideas when I wake up, but for now a bit tired. Glad you came up with the idea of this though.

Anyways, I've got a campaign concept percolating in my head based on this now. After this develops a bit more I may run a campaign where groups of individuals participate in a "game" run by beings from beyond their plane for rewards, but to participate each member of the PC party must draw from the DoMT (revised edition), and all results all applicable to the entire party. Afterwards they have to complete a quest while competing with the other groups (who also had to draw from the DoMT (revised edition)).

Yeah, I started thinking of a campaign based around this, too, although it was much more abstracted and convoluted (for better or worse). I'm just going to use d12s for Flames in the meantime.

I'm trying to decide what table 1-X (random class) is, and what dY (rolled to see what you get from it) is.

Right now, I'm thinking of a big dice (d20 being the biggest one in the system before d%), and putting less optimal classes on the list. As I was designing it, I decided to use a tiered d6 system, tell me what you think.

1-X: Random Class Tables
Roll a d6 and reference this table, then reference the appropriate next table.
{table]Roll|Result
1|Martial Class
2|Skilful Class
3|Arcane Class
4|Divine Class
5|Psionic Class
6|Hybrid Class[/table]
1-X.1: Random Martial Class
{table]Roll|Result
1|Barbarian
2|Fighter
3|Hexblade
4|Monk
5|Swashbuckler
6|Warblade[/table]
1-X.2: Random Skilful Class
{table]Roll|Result
1|Bard*
2|Factotum
3|Lurk*
4|Rogue
5|Spellthief
6|Swordsage[/table]
1-X.3: Random Arcane Class
{table]Roll|Result
1|Beguiler*
2|Duskblade*
3|Sorceror
4|Warmage
5|Wizard
6|Wu Jen[/table]
1-X.4: Random Divine Class
{table]Roll|Result
1|Cleric
2|Druid
3|Favored Soul
4|Healer
5|Paladin*
6|???[/table]
1-X.5: Random Psionic Class
{table]Roll|Result
1|Ardent
2|Lurk*
3|Psion
4|Psychic Warrior*
5|Soulknife
6|Wilder[/table]
1-X.6: Random Hybrid Class
{table]Roll|Result
1|Bard*
1|Beguiler*
2|Duskblade*
3|Lurk*
4|Paladin*
5|Psychic Warrior*
[/table]
*Classes that have been recycled, feel free to suggest replacements to make each outcome unique.

Lapak
2009-11-06, 11:49 AM
I like the concept of a larger deck, but so far you've just turned my general tendency not to have my characters draw from such decks, into a dead certainty none of them would touch yours. Seriously, you've actually managed to weaken most of the good cards and strengthen the bad ones (also, now there are more bad cards in the deck). Any character foolish enough to draw from your deck well, they deserve what they get.

I do like the idea of additional decks, but you might want to ease off the "DM screw player real good!" feeling in the main deck.Right now no one draws from the deck because there is a roughly even chance of getting something really good or getting completely screwed, and none of the benefits are SO good that they outweigh the risks. I think the ideal deck - one people would actually draw from - would be tuned in one of two ways:

- All but one or two cards provide a minor benefit. Nothing like the best of the current cards, no gaining many thousands of experience or wishes, but things like the Vizier or just the magic-item part of the Sun. One card (or MAYBE two) provides negative effects in line with the Donjon. Your chances of getting it is very small, but it's there, while you are very likely to get a significant-but-not-overwhelming benefit.

OR

- All but one or two cards give you a minor penalty or hassle. A penalty to your reputation in the region, or several points of temporary ability damage that will heal in a week or so, or losing all ready cash without losing the rest of your property. One or two cards provide a massive benefit, like three wishes.

I can see players being tempted by either of those configurations.

peacenlove
2009-11-06, 12:01 PM
For your (big) random table.
Hybrid classes: Binder, Shadowcaster (can be put on arcane too)
Divine Classes: Crusader
Skillfull Classes: swordsage

urkthegurk
2009-11-12, 02:16 AM
I've been considering a campaign arc where the PCs have to deal with two rival wizards involved in a protracted month-long mage duel over the settlement of a bet. They have been teleporting all over the continent and causing all sorts of chaos at various casinos and the cliffs of dover and the great bazaar in the city of brass.

In the course of their battles, they have both delcared a large number of draws each from a particularly unbalanced an chaotic deck of many things. That deck is called the Uskglass.

These wizards are not of epic tier, but they are close, and few other wizards want to step in against them directly. That, plus the insane nature of the deck, have separated the wizards from confrontations with others in the course of their battle. But as the effects of the chaos spread, the PCs are dragged into the vortex.

I'm thinking of shooting it a bit like a crime/heist film, with elements of films like pulp fiction or Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. In this case, the subject of their original heist was the deck of many things itself. Which, being a incredibly unbalanced artifact, is a very valuable thing indeed.

lesser_minion
2009-11-12, 07:00 AM
It would probably be unbalanced, but AD&D had a "Deck of Wondrous Power" as well. It used a normal pack of 52 cards, with the rank of the card determining what it affected and the suit of the card determining whether it had a good or a bad effect (spades or hearts win, diamonds or clubs lose, or something like that).

urkthegurk
2009-11-13, 04:03 PM
Its an artifact. Hell, its the Deck of Many Things. Its supposed to be unbalanced.
Sometimes you want things to be unbalanced for the good of the game. If the stats for gods, for instance, weren't unbalanced, well, you better change the stats for gods.

rampaging-poet
2009-11-13, 11:10 PM
I've got a version where every card has both a positive and a negative effect (not balanced with each other!) kicking around somewhere.

I can post the whole thing later if anyone's interested, but I'll start with a couple of sample cards:

Queen of Spades: Rampaging Dragon. You immediately gain the half-dragon template. Choose a chromatic dragon with the same alignment on the law/chaos axis as you and become that kind of half-dragon. However, you aslo become a berserker. After striking someone or being struck in melee combat, you may not stop attacking until nothing lives within 60 feet of you.

Six of Clubs: Darkness. You become blind. You are also immune to negative energy damage. If you are undead, you instead become immune to positive energy damage.

Jack of Hearts: Inferno. You may cast fireball at caster level 10 as a spell-like ability at will, but only centred on yourself. You have no particular protection against this ability, though existing fire resistance or immunity still functions.

Ace of Diamonds: Beast. You gain a 2 claws and 1 bite attack which deal damage as a creature one size larger than yourself. However, you cannot speak or read, though you retain the ability to understand the speech of others.

Jokasti
2009-11-14, 02:12 PM
HHH + any deck, homebrew or otherwise, anyone?
That combo makes decks obselete, because most DM's will ban you from drawing any card you want to.

DracoDei
2009-11-14, 11:33 PM
Long ago I wrote an expanded deck on playing cards (more than one 54 card deck's worth), and made a listing in a notebook for the ones too complex to fit on the cards... Still have the cards, but the notebook went missing very soon afterwards. A FEW of the cards seem to be missing too... a major theme was that EVERY card was BOTH good and bad depending on the circumstance or character drawing it. None of the penalties or bonuses to levels or ability scores are removable by anything without divine rank 1 or higher.

Anyway here is the text from the cards (I will be filling in missing or untexted cards as well as I can remember or guess):
{Table]Num|Name|Effect|Card
1| Dancing Flame|+6 untyped permanent bonus to Intelligence, -6 untyped permanent penalty to Wisdom (Min. 1)
2| River|+6 untyped permanent bonus to Wisdom, -6 untyped permanent penalty to Intelligence (Min. 3)|7H
3| Mountain|+6 untyped permanent bonus to Constitution, -6 untyped permanent penalty to Dexterity(Min. 1)|10C
4| Zephyr|+6 untyped permanent bonus to Dexterity, -6 untyped permanent penalty to Constitution(Min. 1)|10H
5| Brute|+6 untyped permanent bonus to Strength, -6 untyped permanent penalty to Charisma(Min. 1)|9C
6| Nymph|+6 untyped permanent bonus to Charisma, -6 untyped permanent penalty to Strength(Min. 1)|9H
7|Ebenezeer Scrooge| Lose 1 level & 2 points randomly distributed among abilities. Gain 3 diamonds, each worth 5,000 GP and a number of GP, SP, and CP each (all in mixed sacks) equal to number of XPs lost.|3D
8| The Serf|Lose all material possessions, but gain a +1 untyped perminant bonus to each ability score and gain 1 level|2C
9| The Dream|Elemental Effect whenever you fall asleep. (will try to remember to type this up later.|8D
10|The Romantic|You are pursued by a construct suitor. He or she is indistinguishable from a warrior of your level (and gains or loses levels to keep this true), and has appropriate equipment for such an NPC. If any of the equipment is removed from him it vanishes. All equipment vanishes if (and most likely when) he dies. S/He serenades in a horrid voice, writes atrocious love letters, and challenges to death duals or outright attacks anyone who has or tries to win your affections. He will not go away and the GM should have them act in the most inconvenient way possible at any given moment. If you return his/her affections or even attempt to have a civil conversation with them, they protest that you are so high above them they could never think of doing whatever it is you are granting them. If killed or trapped away from you they reappear, fully healed and re-equipped within 10' of you 3d20 hours later... The GM should award experience for creative and/or catharthatic means of disposing of them each time.|BJo
10|Amadeus|+2 untyped permanent bonus to all ability scores, move to the midpoint of the next level, and permanently Hasted, but age at 50 times normal rate.|10D
11|????|????|???
12|The Sacrifice|Die. This is not a death effect. Only Wish or Miracle(costing 5000 xp) can make it possible for you to turn to life and even then separate spell needed to actually do so. One ally per level receives benefits of Heal, Feast of Champions (Ebberon Campaign Book), 1 gem worth 1,000 gp per drawers level, and 100 xp per drawer level.
13|The Mouse|Gain the services of a large number of rodents (Lost the table for this, but you got multiple rolls on the table and everything it gave you... went from mice through guinea pigs and squirrels, all the way up to dire-rats and a were-rat... will recreate later if people ask me to... or maybe even if they don't|3C
14|The Iron Warrior|currently worn armor gains a total of +5 worth of enchantment bonuses and/or enchantments, but can never be removed. Hatches allow eating, drinking, elimination, and (technically) sex.|4S
15|The Wanderer|Gain granted power of Travel domain, and may use the 1st-3rd level spells of that domain as Spell-like abilities 1/week each, the 4th and 5th level spells 1/month each, the 6th and 7trh level spells 1/year each, and the 8th and 9th level spells of that domain 1/decade each. Caster level is equal to ECL for these purposes.|6S
16| Mid-Life Crisis|Lose 1 point from your highest ability score. Gain Magic Item worth up to 5,000 gp and one level in a specific class. ((Another complicated one... will type up when I have more time))|KiC
17| The Iceberg|Gain the [Cold] subtype|5D
18| The Volcano| Gain the [Fire] subtype|10D
19| The Rock| -4 on Reflex Saves, +4 on Fortitude Saves|AceC
20| The Fly|-4 Will Saves, +4 Reflex saves|5S
21| Raistline(sp?)|-4 Reflex Saves, +4 Will Saves|4D
22| Lightning|Electricity damage now heals you at 1 point of healing per 2 points of damage it would normally deal. Do not roll saves vs electricity damage. Damage from Fire, Cold, Acid, and Sonic all doubled.|2D
23|The Puppy|Gain Scent special quality but -4 to all diplomacy checks (because people don't take you as seriously), and -2 to saves versus charm because you are now more trusting of people.|4C
24|The Chicken|Permanent Feather Fall (you may surpress for a round with a free action), but -4 to saves versus Fear (if you have immunity to fear from a race, class feature, or template, such immunity instead changes to a +4 bonus, and you don't take the -4 penalty).|2H
25|The Rhino|ALL senses completely unable to detect anything more than 60' away from you, but gain extra +2 to hit and your ECL to damage when charging.|2S
26|The Fated Blade|At start of of each combat roll 1d20, if 1 or 2 then your first single attack (including the first attack of a full attack action, the first arrow fired with Multi-shot, etc) in that combat gains the effect of True Strike. After the 10th such time you get a 1 or a 2 this ability goes away(still granting the effect for that time).|7S
27|????|????|???
28|The Rose|Heavenly pheromones give +6 to diplomacy checks, but even HUMANS can easily detect and track you as if they had the scent feat, and a minimum number of ranks in Survival equal to half their ECL.|3H
29|The Troglodyte|Anyone who has not spent at least 1 hour within 30 feet of you within the last 24 and is within that radius must make a fortitude save with a DC equal to (10 + 1/2 your ECL + your constitution modifier) or be sickened whenever they are within that radius for the next 24 hours, or until they have spent the aforementioned 1 hour in that radius, also even HUMANS can easily detect and track you as if they had the scent feat, and a minimum number of ranks in Survival equal to half their ECL.|3S
30|Eye of the Bird|Viewpoint permanently shifted to a point 2 to 100 feet above your head and always looking straight down. At will you may chose to make everything above your own eye level invisible for these purposes. (Insert extensive suggestions to GMs for mechanical effects of this here...)|7D
31| The Tutor|Immediately gain 8 skill points (all skills count as class skills for this purpose, but you must still observe the 3+Level limit on ranks in any one skill.) OR 1 Feat that you qualify for.
32|Fires of Heaven/Hell|30' radius Fireball centered with caster level equal to your ECL and DC (13 + 1/2 your ECL). You and your allies gain a +2 bonus on their saves for each alignment component they share with you, enemies gain a -2 penalty on their saves for each alignment component they DON'T share with you. Half this damage results directly from (Un)Holy energy and is not subject to resistance nor immunity to fire.|10H
33|Heroic Hour|((Gain just about every buff in the PHB and then some, duration 1 hour.))|KiS
34| Insight| ((Gain just about every divination effect in the PHB and then some, duration 1 hour.))|AceD
35|The Lawyer|Gain the services of an Expert class lawyer of your own race (technically a construct). Alignment on Law/Chaos axis matches your own, but always Evil. Skill Focus and maxed ranks in Profession(Lawyer). Class levels equal to your ECL and gains or loses Expert levels to keep this true.|JakC
36|????|????|???
37|????|????|???
38|Trouble|Every time you take hitpoint damage, each ally within 60 feet of you takes half that much damage which can not be prevented or resisted, or regenerated.
39|????|????|???
40|The Canary|Gain the services of a large number of birds ((Yeah, need to recreate the table for this from sparrow all the way up to were-eagle))|QuH
41|????|????|???
42|The Steed|Gain services orf construct horse sized for you to ride (so one size class larger than you) w/ abilities equal to those of a Mount or Phantasmal Steed(if sufficiently high caster level) cast by a Sorcerer 2 levels higher than your ECL. As you gain or lose levels the horse's abilities are adjusted to match.
43|The Eye|60' Blindsight, +5 untyped bonus to spot checks. Immune to Blindness, Power Word, Blind, and all spells and spell-like abilities that emulate such effects. -10 to saves against gaze attacks.
44|Obleck|Tangle-Foot bag substance covers all creatures and floor to a radius of 300 feet in all directions regardless of line of sight or effect.|10C
45|The Nerd|+6 untyped permanent bonus to Intelligence, -6 untyped permanent penalty to Charisma(Min. 1)|4S
46|The Ditz|+6 untyped permanent bonus to Charisma, -6 untyped permanent penalty to Intelligence(Min. 3)|QuH
47|The Guru|+6 untyped permanent bonus to both Intelligence and Wisdom, but completely unable to detect any creature that does not have Intelligence+Wisdom = 20 or greater by any means (so effectively deaf and blind to them etc).|5C
48|?????|????|???
49|?????|????|???
50|Valhalla|ALL creatures with 600 foot radius of drawer(including drawer themselves), ignoring line of sight and line of effect, gain the effects of Feast of Champions (Ebberron Campaign Book) and a first level level barbarians rage for the next 12 hours. No mortal means may end either of these effect early.|8C
51|The Fluffy Bunny|ALL creatures with 600 foot radius of drawer (including drawer themselves), ignoring line of sight and line of effect, gain damage reduction 4/- that stacks with all other sources of damage reduction, an +4 untyped bonus to all saves, and SR equal to 10 + the drawer's ECL against effects that do not allow a save. All these effects last for 12 hours.|4H
52|?????|????|???
53|The Runner|Permanent +10 feet to base land speed.|6S
54| Rebirth|Receive Benefits of Restoration, Greater, Regeneration, and Attonement. Lose 3 levels (min. Character Level 1), Gain 2 ability score points to distribute as you choose and may reduce your physical age as low as you like at that moment (this DOES allow a greater lifespan and DOES remove the bonuses and penalties of age catagories if it crosses the cut-off for such). Gain a gem (and other benefits that aren't listed on the card) for each such level lost.|8H
55|Magic Repeller|Gain Spell Resistance equal to 10 +(1/2 CURRENT ECL). This amount does NOT change with level. You may NOT lower this SR even when unconscious, asleep, dead, etc. Whenever you attempt to cast a spell you must roll against your own SR or the spell fizzles and is wasted.|3D
56|Hourglass|????|9D
57|Growth|You and all your gear permanently increase one size category. Apply the effects listed in the Monster Manual to your physical ability scores (so NOT the ones for Enlarge Person). Effects on reach, hide checks, grapple checks, etc, etc are as normal for a size increase.|6C
58|Distillation|You and all your gear permanently decrease one size category. Apply the effects listed in the Monster Manual to your physical ability scores (so NOT the ones for Reduce Person). Effects on reach, hide checks, grapple checks, etc, etc are as normal for a size decrease.|5C
59|The Turtle|Your land speed is halved, but you gain a +2 untyped bonus (so it stacks with racial and magically granted increases) to your natural armor.|4C
60|????|????|???
61|????|????|???
62|????|????|???
63|The Knight|All movement speeds and bonuses, including those granted by magic currently or at a later time halved, but you never provoke attacks of opportunity for moving. Since half of infinity is still infinite, this has no effect on Teleport, Teleport, Greater, Plane Shift or similar magics, but it does halve the maximum range of any Dimension Door or similar spell or effect that includes you.|KiC
[/Table]

One I accidently came up with because I forgot what "The Dream" did:
The Vision:Your companions vanish and you are compelled to adventure forth alone for 1 hour. If you die, or the hour ends, you "wake up" to discover that it is only 10 minutes since you drew the card... it was all a dream... however everything is as you remember. This insight is not precise enough to grant bonuses to die rolls, but does allow you to remember the locations of traps and hidden doors, the types and equipment of enemies, etc etc. (Might be better to make this the whole party... the playing care just has the number and the name.)

DracoDei
2009-11-15, 12:11 AM
HHH + any deck, homebrew or otherwise, anyone?
That combo makes decks obselete, because most DM's will ban you from drawing any card you want to.

Any GM who has to resort to such measures is a moron... you just say that the deck counts as a single item for the purposes of the Haversack, and that while you could draw a card from it by sticking your hand in you don't gain any more control over WHICH card than you normally would.

Jokasti
2009-11-15, 12:48 AM
Handy Haversack
A backpack of this sort appears to be well made, well used, and quite ordinary. It is constructed of finely tanned leather, and the straps have brass hardware and buckles. It has two side pouches, each of which appears large enough to hold about a quart of material. In fact, each is like a bag of holding and can actually hold material of as much as 2 cubic feet in volume or 20 pounds in weight. The large central portion of the pack can contain up to 8 cubic feet or 80 pounds of material. Even when so filled, the backpack always weighs only 5 pounds.

While such storage is useful enough, the pack has an even greater power in addition. When the wearer reaches into it for a specific item, that item is always on top. Thus, no digging around and fumbling is ever necessary to find what a haversack contains. Retrieving any specific item from a haversack is a move action, but it does not provoke the attacks of opportunity that retrieving a stored item usually does.

Moderate conjuration; CL 9th; Craft Wondrous Item, secret chest; Price 2,000 gp; Weight 5 lb.
I guess.
So you would draw the entire deck from the HH, if that was the rule.

DracoDei
2009-11-16, 03:14 AM
you will have to excuse me, my shift keys stop working every time i start trillian.

anyway, new pair of cards

timidity
lose one point from each of your ability scores, but, in future, each one is impossible to reduce below 1/2 of its normal maximum by any means.


boldness
each of your ability scores increases by one but all penalties, damage, and drain to ability scores you sustain at any point in the future is now tripled.

lesser_minion
2009-11-16, 06:06 AM
I'm pretty sure enchanted packs of cards are supposed to have a rule that no spell or effect whatsoever can be used to influence their outcome. Otherwise there probably are quite a few ways to break enchanted packs of cards.

I'd rule that the deck as a whole is one item for the purposes of HHH - you can't use it to draw whichever card you want, just to get the deck so that you can draw.

Owrtho
2009-11-16, 06:49 PM
I was reading this and had an idea for another type of deck of many ___ you could have. The Deck of Many Laws.
Each card would have a benefit, a law, and a penalty. A being can draw a single card a day. For the remainder of the day they gain the benefit for as long as they obey the law on the card. If they break the law the instead suffer the penalty for the remainder of the day and loose the benefit.

The laws could vary from things like The Healer's Law:
Benefit: You may cast cure light wounds as a standard action once every 10 minutes.
Law: You may not cause harm to another being.
Penalty: You take damage equal to twice what you dealt.

to The Killer's Law:
Benefit: You gain 2d6 sneak attack.
Law: You must attempt to kill anyone you are alone with.
Penalty: Anyone you are alone with feels compelled to kill you.

to The Thief's Law:
Benefit: You gain a +10 bonus to pickpocket.
Law: You must attempt to pick the pocket to anyone you engage in conversation with.
Penalty: At the end of any conversation a random item in your possession will be teleported into the possession of the one you spoke with (if you spoke to multiple people they each get an item).

Haven't thought of that many cards, but it could be interesting.

Owrtho

DracoDei
2009-11-16, 09:13 PM
the deck of many laws has possibilities.

as i hear it the main problem with the deck of many things is that it creates imbalances in the party almost without fail. then again it should be much worse than having one character is a level behind from getting rez'ed.

again, my shift key doesn't work right now.

Jokasti
2009-11-16, 09:58 PM
The Deck of Many Laws sounds like it was straight out of FFTA.

Owrtho
2009-11-17, 02:29 AM
Now that you mention it, it does... Wasn't thinknig bout that at the time though.

Owrtho