Is the Deck of Many Things worh the risk?

[MustacheManny]

We are a pretty low level party, no one is above 5th level. We just finished a quest for a guy and as a reward he's allowing each of us the chance to draw one card from the deck. I know that it's risky, and I'm considering politely declining his offer in spite of the opportunities for some pretty powerful boons, but is it worth it to give it a shot? I suppose at worst I roll up a new character.

[Potato_Priest]

Well, I'd encourage you to make this decision based on what your character would do, not whether it's worth the risk.


That said, the worth of drawing from the deck depends on 2 things: how invested you are in your current character and how hard it would be to get a reasonably leveled replacement.

If you were thinking of switching to another character anyway, you have nothing left to lose.

If your character is beginning to shine in RP and you're just beginning to enjoy their potential and storylines, don't draw a card, as it could bring all that to a sudden end.

If you're not very attached to your current character but would have to start over at level 1 on a death, I'd recommend not drawing. Not only would you be behind the party for a while, but you'd be more likely to die a second time, sending you into an uncomfortable spiral.

If you'd restart at your current level or your current level-1 then it's probably worth it from a pure minmax perspective. You might even be more powerful after rolling a new character, since you can tailor this new one to be well matched to the enemies you've faced so far/those you think you'll face in the future. If your DM likes fire elementals, draw up a fire genasi or tiefling, etc.

[Unoriginal]

We are a pretty low level party, no one is above 5th level. We just finished a quest for a guy and as a reward he's allowing each of us the chance to draw one card from the deck. I know that it's risky, and I'm considering politely declining his offer in spite of the opportunities for some pretty powerful boons, but is it worth it to give it a shot? I suppose at worst I roll up a new character.

Honestly it's not worth it, from a pragmatic standpoint. Now, if you want to have some fun with a random magic item, you can try it.

[Stan]

It depends on your alignment, which I suspect is heavily correlated with risk seeking/aversion. Lawful would hate the randomness, chaos would love the chance at change.
Neutral would probably rate the expected utility. If they know anything about the deck, they would likely conclude that the chance to be 1000% wealthier or more powerful doesn't stack up against the chance to be 100% less alive.

[Waterdeep Merch]

My relationship with the Deck is tenuous. I had a newbie DM think it was a cool idea to force everyone to begin the game by drawing a card. I was the most against it. So naturally, I had my intelligence reduced to animal levels to begin the game while other players got super powerful, game-breaking advantages. That game had all kinds of problems, and beginning out the gate with the Deck was the first warning sign.

I've used it in my own games, but it's always been at later levels and as a goofy choice in one of my comedic breather sessions. In a 3.5 game I had a pair of (unknown to the party) chaotic gods challenge them to 5-draw poker using the Deck. The players were horrified when they realized exactly what deck they were playing with, but one brave warblade accepted and had a rather eventful session. Much fun was had.

In summation, I'd never do it early and I'd never force a player to draw. But it can be a lot of fun when you're powerful enough to deal with the consequences.

[imanidiot]

It certainly is not. I dont have the exact math I did but the break down was a 50/50 chance of a "good" or "bad" result. And 4 or 5 of those "bad" results are actually "really bad" as in you may need to make a new character level of bad. And there are no corresponding "really good" results.

It's a slot machine with no jackpot.

[QuintonBeck]

While I would echo Potato Priest and Stan's opinion that this choice should come down to your character's outlook I will also say the Deck of Many Things is a D&D staple that you may never get the chance to mess with again. I hadn't intended for it to, and in retrospect I should have made it more difficult, but some clever ideas and good rolls allowed my players of Level 5 to gain access to a Deck. They couldn't identify it and the first two draws were each "The Key" granting both drawers a pretty nice magic weapon. Luckily only two party members know they have it and have agreed to put it away for now but the tension and fun the deck can add are awesome. Plus, if your DM is handing out the Deck at Level 5 I would hope he's made some adjustments to the worst stuff that can happen to you. If he's a Matt Colville fan it may even be stacked such that the top X cards have been pre-selected and thus the randomness will not come from the effect but rather who gets it.

[some guy]

If you were level 4 and not too attached to your character I'd certainly do it. Level 5 and with attachement, I'd think about it. A few points:

-going from level 1 to 4 goes fast enough, but playing a level 1 character with a team of powered up level 5's might be jarring
-if your character doesn't draw, but your party does, you're playing with a shifted balance; some might be powered down, but still playable, while some might be very powerful
-if your DM isn't planning for a weird unbalanced gonzo campaign (which can be very fun!), the campaign will be either short-lived or the DM will retcon the drawing of the deck (and in any of those cases, you might as well draw, how many opportunities are you going to get to mess around with the deck?)
-it might be smart to just talk it over with the group and what direction they want the campaign to go? If they want to shake everything up, draw as a team, if the campaign and the world is fun, don't draw as a team.

[Hrugner]

Yes, always. Draw three. You may ruin your character, but this opportunity is rare and should be seized.

[Temperjoke]

What would your character do? Do they like to gamble? Are they fully aware of the risks involved, have they had the Deck explained to them? Are they willing to put their life on the line with such a gamble?

Personally, I would draw a card. At that level, there's really only 1 or 2 cards that are unrecoverable from, the other bad cards are setbacks, but not unbearable in my opinion. Meanwhile, the rewards can be amazing at that level.

Edit: assuming it's something my character would be willing to do, of course...

[Laserlight]

That depends entirely on you. I wouldn't do it, but at least two of my players would, and one, maybe two, would try to finagle multiple draws.

[Pex]

The Deck offers nothing you can't get already.

Comet: You're always gaining XP and levels. No need to rush it.

Fates: Inspiration, Advantage, Portent, Lucky Feat, Halfling, nothing new here.

Gem: You already get treasure hoards.

Jester: You're always gaining XP and levels. No need to rush it.

Key: You already get treasure hoards.

Knight: Persuasion skill, friendly NPCs you can build relationships with.

Moon: If you can wait until level 17, but otherwise what 5E did with Wish it's not worth doing other than duplicating any other spell someone could cast anyway.

Star: Hello levels 4, 8, 12, 16, 19.

Sun: You're always gaining XP and levels. No need to rush it. You already get treasure hoards.

Throne: Background, Class skill, Skilled feat, you can spend you treasure hoards on getting your own keep

Vizier: Player ingenuity, DM using Rule of Three to plant clues for things.

The Deck of Many Things is a trap. Don't fall for it.

[Sariel Vailo]

Embrace lady luck take a chance id do it for teh lulz.

[MrWesson22]

Mathematically, it doesn't make sense. But we all know "That guy" that seems to always roll high (Vin Diesel) and his opposite (Will Wheaton) that seem to always defy the odds. If you are one of those two, you already know what to do. As others have said before, just RP it. Would your character draw based on the knowledge they have at the time?