Deck of Many Things

Source: Dungeon Master's Guide

Wondrous item, legendary

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 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.

Playing Card | 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

*Found only in a deck with twenty-two cards

Balance. Your mind suffers a wrenching alteration, causing your alignment to change. Lawful become chaotic, good becomes evil, and vice versa. If you are true neutral or unaligned, this card has no effect on you.

Comet. 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.

Donjon. 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.

Euryale. 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.

The Fates. 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.

Flames. 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.

Fool. 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.

Gem. Twenty-five pieces of jewelry worth 2,000 gp each or fifty gems worth 1,000 gp each appear at your feet.

Idiot. Permanently reduce your Intelligence by 1d4 + 1 (to a minimum score of 1). You can draw one additional card beyond your declared draws.

Jester. You gain 10,000 XP, or you can draw two additional cards beyond your declared draws.

Key. A rare or rarer magic weapon with which you are proficient appears in your hands. The DM chooses the weapon.

Knight. 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.

Moon. You are granted the ability to cast the Wish spell 1d3 times.

Rogue. 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.

Ruin. 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.

Skull. 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.

Star. Increase one of your ability scores by 2. The score can exceed 20 but can't exceed 24.

Sun. You gain 50,000 XP, and a wondrous item (which the DM determines randomly) appears in your hands.

Talons. Every magic item you wear or carry disintegrates. Artifacts in your possession aren't destroyed but do vanish.

Throne. 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.

Vizier. 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.

The Void. 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.

### Effects for Single Cards (Book of Many Things)

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.

You can grant the following additional magical properties to the cards of the Deck of Many Things:

Balance. As an action, you can brandish this card at one creature you can see within 30 feet of yourself and drain its life force. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or take 4d8 necrotic damage. You then regain a number of hit points equal to the necrotic damage the target takes. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Comet. As an action, you can hold this card aloft and call down a fiery meteor to a point you can see within 120 feet of yourself. Each creature within a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on that point must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 6d6 bludgeoning damage and 6d6 fire damage, or half as much damage on a successful save. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Donjon. As an action, you can brandish this card at one creature you can see within 30 feet of yourself. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Charisma saving throw, or it vanishes, transported to a prison on another plane of existence. After 1 minute, the target reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Euryale. As an action, you can brandish this card at one creature you can see within 30 feet of yourself and attempt to turn it to stone. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, or it begins to turn to stone and has the restrained condition. The affected target must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn. On a successful save, the effect ends on the target. On a failed save, the target has the petrified condition (instead of the restrained condition) until it is removed by the Greater Restoration spell or similar magic. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Fates. As a bonus action, you can brandish this card at one willing creature you can see within 30 feet of yourself, granting the creature a brief glimpse of the future. Until the start of your next turn, the creature has advantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Additionally, other creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls against the target for the duration. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Flames. You can use this card to summon a devil. The card is attuned to a specific devil with a challenge rating of 8 or lower. As an action, you can hold this card aloft and summon that devil, which appears in an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet of you. The devil is initially unfriendly toward you and your companions. Roll initiative for the devil, which has its own turns. The DM has the creature’s stat block. On each of your turns, you can issue a verbal command to the devil (no action required by you), and as long as you are holding this card, the devil obeys your commands. Otherwise, it is under the DM’s control and acts according to its nature—it might attack you if it thinks it can prevail or try to tempt you to undertake an evil act in exchange for further service. After 1 minute or when the devil’s hit points drop to 0, the devil returns to the Lower Planes. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Fool. As an action, you can brandish this card at one creature you can see within 30 feet of yourself. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw, or for the next minute, the target can’t cast spells or activate magic items, it has disadvantage on all saving throws, and other creatures have resistance to all damage it deals. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Gem. This card holds one 6th-level spell (chosen by the DM). As an action, you can brandish this card and use it to cast the spell stored inside (spell attack bonus +9, save DC 17). Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Jester. As an action, you can brandish this card and use it to cast the Otto's Irresistible Dance spell (save DC 17), and you have advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration on it. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Key. As an action, you can brandish this card and use it to cast the Knock spell, with no sound made by the spell. This property can be used five times, and it regains all expended uses at dawn.

Knight. As an action, you can throw this card to an unoccupied space on the ground within 60 feet of yourself while speaking a command word, whereupon the card magically transforms into a deck defender (see chapter 9 for its stat block) for up to 1 minute or until you use an action to speak the command word again, whereupon it transforms back into a card. The deck defender obeys your spoken commands. If you issue no commands, it takes the Dodge action and moves to avoid danger. The deck defender reverts to a card early if it drops to 0 hit points. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Moon. As an action, you can speak a command word while touching this card and transform into a wolflike biped for 1 minute. For that duration, you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, and when you hit a target with a weapon or an unarmed strike, the target takes an extra 1d6 force damage. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Puzzle. As an action, you can hold this card aloft and magically disable each trap within 60 feet of you that isn’t behind total cover. A trap, for the purpose of this property, includes any object or mechanism that would inflict a sudden effect that was intended by its maker to cause harm or inconvenience. If the trap is the effect of a spell, such as Alarm, that trap is suppressed for 10 minutes instead of being disabled. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Rogue. When you hit a target with a weapon attack while holding this card, you can deal an extra 6d6 force damage to that target. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Ruin. As an action, you can brandish this card and use it to cast the Disintegrate spell (save DC 17). Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Sage. As an action, you can brandish this card and use it to cast the Contact Other Plane spell. When you cast the spell in this way, your questions are answered by the mysterious figure depicted on the card. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Skull. As an action, you can brandish this card and use it to cast Spirit of Death as a 6th-level spell (spell attack bonus +9, save DC 17). Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Star. As a bonus action, you can speak a command word while holding this card aloft to gain advantage on all saving throws you make for the next 10 minutes. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Sun. As an action, you can brandish this card and use it to cast the Sunbeam spell (save DC 17), projecting the light from the card’s face. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Talons. As an action, you can brandish this card and target one magic item you can see within 120 feet of yourself. If the item isn’t an artifact, its magical properties are suppressed for 1 minute. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Throne. As an action, you can speak a command word while holding this card to gain advantage on Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) checks for 1 minute. In addition, for that duration, you can use this card to cast the Command spell (save DC 17) as an action. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Void. As an action, you can brandish this card and attempt to banish up to three creatures you can see within 120 feet of yourself. If the target is from a different plane of existence than the plane you’re on, the target must succeed on a DC 17 Charisma saving throw or be banished, returning to that other plane. Once this property is used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.

dmg legendary wondrous-item
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