Magic Items, Deck of Many Things, Evil Swords & More! - Web DM
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- Опубліковано 26 сер 2024
- These items are MAGIC!! Distribution, evil weapons, decks of many things & more!
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We have been playing a campaign going on almost 3 years now, and have had the deck for about 2 and half yrs of the time we have been playing. Got it off of a discovery at level 2 and our group loves pulling from the deck. Every session since I am the one who has it, everyone asks can we pull from the deck. Like we thoroughly enjoy the deck of many things in our game.
I just got a revised version of blackrazor last night in our stradh campaign, and I'm going to try to convince my dm take my chaotic Neutral character into a dark lord tyrant that challenges strahd. The revised version is lightning based, 1s instead of +3s, but everything else basically remains the same :)
My group found a Deck of Many Thing a few weeks ago. Our sneak-thief of a warlock drew two cards: first one destroyed all of her gold and gems (and she had waaay more than the rest of us), second changed her alignment from chaotic neutral to lawful neutral. The rest of us opted not to draw cards after seeing that. Later on, the same warlock wanted to get back at an NPC she didn't like, so she Persuaded him into drawing a card. It gave him 50,000 EXP and a wondrous item.
I assume the rest of the party enjoyed that quite a bit.
my opinion on the deck is that if it ruins the campaign it's the fault of the dm not for inturducing it but for not just going with the simple solutions to it's obvious problems the fool is suddenly a card that applies a curse that you can go on a quest to remove, the dungeon inprisons you yes but it's like a escape room which could be a lot of fun, if they get a wish it summons a genie with a set of pre established rules made by the dm, several of the bad cards in the deck can be a lot of fun like the devil just make it so the players have a set time between the times it attacks and allow them to make actions to delay or quicken the confrontation, little modifications like that could make it a lot of fun take void for example it instead steals your body and you are left as a ghost with your body being guarded by a great beast and you have to posses people and go on a quest to reclaim it most of the problems with the deck spawn from people taking it at face value when their is a lot of fun to it hell it's the deck of MANY things make and add your own both good and bad of somthing seems to harsh make it less so or remove it entirely just make sure there are if not equal amounts at least some cards that will mess with players. I'm just disappointed about how many dm's and players never seem to realize this
See I am currently introducing a deck into the campaign I am DM'ing and I've seen so many people say it wrecks a game and I'm like "You're the DM.....just change it slightly so it doesn't wreck it". Like the void card, if someone pulls that card their soul will be trapped inside an object guarded by a creature yada yada but the player will still be able to control the character, he just won't have a soul until they decide to retrieve it....which in my mind makes for a very interesting RP when the Lawful Good character suddenly loses his soul and now has no morality holding them back.
Johnathan Era I didnt say take out all the bad shit. I said if the DM is worried about it ruining the game then change the way it works slightly. I just put the deck in my game. One person is walking around without a soul. One person is walking around with a Balor as a nemesis. One only gained 2 levels when they should have gained 4 because the level gap would be astronomical and it would ruin the fun for the rest. It's not about trying to get the good without the bad. I had 4 players all pull 3 cards and had good shit and bad shit happen to them. I just kept it so the game could continue. If you dont want to DM that way then dont.
Johnathan Era level 25? Isn’t the max level 20?
My buddy paid 1000 gold to pick a card from the deck of many things and got 50,000 gold. I paid 1000 gold and lost all my non-magical belongings. The merchant wanted 5000 gold for me to pick another card, which I didn't have, so my buddy loans me the money and I got 2 wish spells. It was an interesting session.
So a merchant goes around to towns making money no matter what...with bad things happening usually... Ha. Sneaky merchant.
Just deployed a Deck of Many Things in my campaign.
It killed one player, imprisoned one in a extra-dimensional prison, another got their soul sucked out, and one player drew the sun and jumped to level ten.
Then the cleric, in absolute horror, drew The Fates and said "I wish that the Deck was never here." Literally undid the entire six session adventure the party had just went on and brought one of the PC's murdered friends back from the dead. They are all aware of the changed timeline.
Think they'll be a bit more careful about it next time
I saw this magic item once, it was a staff wich allowed you to basically cast polymorph on yourself but if you get less than 10 on a d20 you became a potato instead.
Cruye Eblon wait permanently or how long
A D what do you think :):):)
rpg ninja?
A small price to pay for salvation.
One thing I've had fun with in my game is making +1, +2, and +3 equipment NON-magical. Instead the"+" indicates how well the item is made; +1 being finely crafted and +3 being a weapon worthy of a king or emperor. This allows things like silvering weapons or class features to remain relevant much later into the game.
That's a good point. It is weird that a weapon or armor made by an apprentice is as effective as one made by a master blacksmith.
Brilliant!
Blackrazor has to be near the top of the heap for most powerful magic weapons!
It's fucking ridiculous. Coupled with my Order of the Immortal/Fighter....things have gotten out of hand. We had a combat a couple of weeks ago where I became "One Punch Man" for its duration.
Up until you face an undead, which at that point it starts killing you instead.
Yeah but there are like NO undead in Out of the Abyss.
Yeah man that thing is fucking nasty. Gotta kill something absolutely no-backsies dead? Blackrazor.
I just gave a player who was playing a Blood Hunter Blackrazor. He decided to go find himself a Scapegoat named Jack and become a serial killer during downtime. The worst part was, one of the towns in my world was actually named Whitechapel. I facepalmed so hard when I realized what he had done.
And remember, magic items don't have to be +1 or +anything. Giving more options to a character in a thematic way is enough (like a weapon allowing a character to cast a certain low level spell once per long rest). The power growth will happen naturally anyway with leveling up, and you can keep closer to the CR calculations.
Yeah, this edition's really built with the idea that you could run it without magical gear. That only gets difficult with monsters that resist non-magical damage.
+Nerdarchy Any clues as to you sirs' next Live D&D session upload, and/or the campaign you'll be running?
Deck of Many Things most of the time will ruin your longer campaings. Either it kills some of the party or make one godly mighty. It's hillarious in one-shots.
Markus Scheucher actually I had it in my campaign. it stripped the babarian down to a hand-me-down longsword from the fighter and decreased his int by 3. killed 1 character which was revived by the wish spell won by another player. also our fighter got a magic sword and our arcane trickster is 50k experience ahead.
Skriee you were ver lucky ...
Agreed, UNLESS you rework it to your own liking. See Matt Colville's video
See the way I see the Deck of many things is it should be treated in one of the following ways.
1). The discovery/hunt of the deck of many things is either a collective group goal or the goal of one of the PC’s. Say one of them is an Artificer who has a fascination with magical items and likes to collect them. Or perhaps someone is hunting it down because they want to use its fate altering powers to correct a mistake made in their past or obtaining it on behalf of another because in order to settle a life debt that looms over you. If they’re a collector, have them find magical decks that aren’t related but still interesting like The Deck of Many Weapons (this item was created during an age when the lust for the original fate deck was ripe with tales of woe and wonder. This deck however contains copies of many powerful, legendary, and cursed weapons/items)
2). It should be used to enhance the story. Have the knight from the titular card be from the time before the great calamity or when the betrayer gods still roamed the material plane, when this deck was first made who made it etc.
3). It should be given at a time when your players could realistically win a 1v1 duel with the avatar of death (and y’know, actually GIVE them something for winning the duel)
I agree with that warning. I have been a player drawing a deck of many things but I was lucky enough to get some of the more beneficial cards.. but it resulted into a near TPK due to my level turning all of the fights to be too difficult for the rest of the party.
However as a magic item, in my 5th edition campaign, I have a naval campaign where the party has been dealing with a big pirate crew that was some weird voodoo stuff going on. I awarded one of the players (at about 5) with a magic item that the party's fighter finds out is a sentient weapon. However instead of it being a +3 or more weapon its a magic weapon that if you complete parts of its agenda, he gets more powerful and so this fighter has a weapon that they can take throughout the session. at the moment, it has become a +1 weapon that helps resist charm and frighten effects and this sword has an agenda to kill whomever killed him when he was alive.
forewarning: I will be taking that sentient weapon concept for my campaign
I lost my mouse of clicking +1 during the spellplague, luckily I found my touchable phone +2. It's an unearthed arcana thing, y'all probably haven't heard of it.
Our rogue found a deck of many things. She drew a card that disolved all of her magic items(+1 Rapier and ring of spell storage) then decided fuck it and drew another card. Able to roll for a magic item. Rolled for the item and she got a +1 rapier with necrotic damage.
We had a sentient magical item that was being played by a player in another game. He was playing at another table, so he would hear things and just suddenly be involved. It was pretty amazing.
Regarding MI, I try to create different types of items, to avoid my PCs from reading the DM Guide and foreseeing what treasure they find.
EX:
- Amulet of Invisibility /Instead of a ring of Invisibility
- Ring of web resistance / Instead of a ring of freedom of movement
- Mask of underwater breathing / Instead of the ioun stone that Sustains creature without air
I did have a dwarf fighter PC whose goal in life was to create a set of Gauntlets of Giant Strength.
1. He was an Armor Smith so he quested for mithral and then crafted the Masterwork gauntlets.
2. Then the party hunted down and killed a hill giant. The dwarf removed the heart and the party drained several vials of blood.
3. I then said that they need to quest for a crystallized rose that was located in a graveyard. (It was considered a 5000 GP Gem)
4. Finally the mage in the party enchanted the item.
PCs should never be able to anticipate what the DM is going to do. My PCs have a rule:'"Never believe the DM, unless he is controlling an NPC, then believe him but do not trust him".
What's the point of changing the names of the item though? If your players read and memorised (for some reason) the DMG and you give them a "Ring of Web Resistance", they'll still think, ooh, that's a "Ring of Freedom of Movement". I don't understand who you're trying to fool here?
Not sure about the ring of web resistance, but I think he was trying to offset the "it's a ring, so it must be a Ring of A, B, or C!" by swapping the item types. I have no idea what web resistance is, unless it's literally just that. Maybe the prototype to the Ring of Freedom of Movement.
They all just nerfs for powerful items
Love the series, could we see two partner series, one where the DM designs it in a video (I have X players using these classes, therefore I am making this encounter and this story element) and another where it is played out over one to three sessions? I think it fits your channel well and would love to see how you adapt known elements on the fly and create situations for specific players.
This idea kicks much ass.
THIS
Joy-gasm
Something similar is on Matthew Colville's channel, if you aren't familiar. He's made episodes designing dungeons or explaining his thought processes behind them and their set up, and has a campaign diary to show running it. Not a perfect fit for what you're looking for, but it's something, and it might help, or at the very least be of passing interest.
My favorite item we ever got was "The Ring of the Grammerian." It had 3 charges and for every charge spent you could change one letter of a spells name. Our paladin killed a death cult leader with Bovine Shite.
I'm gonna be a DM for the first time and all your videos and advice are simply fantastic.
+Jake Blaze, You should check out Matt Mercer's Dm Tips, and Matt Colville's youtube channel.
I think you guys are one of the best channels on UA-cam keep it up
Appreciate the sentiment. Stay tuned!
I agree. As a DM, I've gotten a ton of info!
That beholder on the wall behind them looks like a cross between Coolio and the annoying orange...
i would love to see the spelljammer and the evil campaign that you guys are playing!
I was super upset when I didn't have my fix for web DM yesterday. more than worth the wait. this is one of my favorite episodes. it is so difficult to gauge how many and what types of magic items to hand out during the campaign, especially as a new DM with a group new to 5e. this was so informative.
also, it was fun watching you geek out over your black razor Pruitt. it's very apparent that you are having a good time in that game!
First time with the deck of many things I was itching to use it, the DM rolled 100 on a random encounter difficulty and we had some undead kraken, I tell the rest of the party "Don't worry, I have radiant damage" on my turn I annonce that i'm taking a deck of many things card and I drew some pelor card that gave me a sword with infused radiant damage and my melee attacks permanently do radiant damage
8:26 "Oop, it's Murder Monday. Time to go murder someone to feed the sword." XD
I'm so tempted to call this Web MD
Aww, where'd the bookshelf go? It put me in the ready to learn space.
In our last session our Kinder pulled out a deck, i immediately snatched it from him as bad things happened the previous time he had a deck. We were not told if if was a deck of many things or deck of illusions. My character was shuffling the cards around the camp fire and the top card fell off(counted as drawn). Jack of Spades... Ally turns against me, it's the kinder... He hides and fireballs me in the back with a wand... Of course this causes all cards to go flying through the air. Because of the order the cards were pulled/drawn/fell, I ended up gaining 3 levels and some diamonds. Everything else was negated due to wishes and avoid any situation you choose. It made for a very interesting session. As the other characters didn't truly know what was going only i had been shot with a fireball from the brush. And my stuff started disappearing and reappearing. I disappeared into another void and wished my way out. It was probably the most fun I've had so far playing.
One of my favourites was the “transient targe”.
Thing was good for one hit, completely invincible, no damage, to any attack. Once.
It doesn’t matter what that attack was, it was the standard, anything weaker than that initial hit would have all the stopping power of a boiled shoe.
Anything _more_ powerful than the initial hit, however, would turn the targe into kindling.
I laughed for a good minute when the paladin got splinters from one exploding in his face!
There’s also the opposite effect for weapons, if that’s something you might want to use.
My favorite deck of many things was back in HS. The DM made us all declare how many cards we would draw before anybody drew. I elected to draw 2 cards and go last. Everybody before me drew all the bad cards, effectively destroying the party. I wound up drawing the sun and the moon and getting all 3 wishes. The DM allowed me to use one wish to duplicate the effect of the fates and make it so the rest of the party had chosen not to draw from the deck. In exchange, the experience from the sun was split with the party so that I wasn't massively over leveled.
13:04 Truly my favorite WebDM moment.
I love portable holes so much. They're wacky, and force players to get creative. You can use it to move between iron bars, reduce the weight of something, and if you're not bought, get this: have your warlock of the undying pick pact of the chain. Now you climb him into the portable hole, the imp familliar hides it in their pocket turn invisible and boom. At will invisibility and flight combined, and there's no duration limit. It's broken I guess, but man is it a brilliant idea.
Here's a story... the last eberron campaign I ran went from 1 - 20 in about 60 weeks... it was about refugee cyre soldiers becoming warlocks to destroy thrane while the silver flame angels fought demons in the spirit world along the same batttlefields as the skirmishing in eberron itself.
Once the heroes started transitioning from fighting warlocks and warforged in the warzones of thrane into fighting cultists and demons and legions from hells... every time they killed a higher CR of demon, they could draw from a fresh deck of many things.
We went through 4 characters doing that. lotta magic gear, but it's eberron so not so bad. LOTS of demons had hates, which made it easy to put platoon names on the demons they fought.
Ring of Spell Storing on nonmagic casters? I like it.
i like the idea of the loot making sense.
I.E a lair of a necromancer has a spell book, maybe a staff or two, gold, and the necromancers personal stuff.
I loved hearing you guys get excited about your campaigns and characters ^.^
also struggling with decisions regarding giving magic weapons to a 2-person party (@ level 1) so this video is a ton of help
I'm actually planning a Spelljammer campaign because of you guys. I'd love to see more on it if you had the time
I'm glad we could provide that spark of inspiration. Let us know how it turns out!
I've dealt with a deck of many things once. My old ass hole GM decided to present it to us as a reward at level 5 or 6. Initally we were only allowed to draw x amount of cards one time. First round was a mixed bag. Then he said if we all agree we could draw again, so we did, more bad then good this time. He asked if we wanted to draw again 4 of us said no and 1 yes because he was only getting good stuff and laughing at the fact that the rest of the group was getting bad things, then change the rules to if one draws we all draw, he forced us to draw again or the deck starts flipping cards and effects by itself for whoever's turn it was. He did that twice. Long story short I lost magic my weapon, the barbarian lost everything, she was literally just a naked person with us if we didn't give her spare clothes, and the other two had mix bag getting money and a castle but nearly dying and devils hating them. I was the the last to draw and the DM canceled the last card I was supposed to draw 4 times because I had not drawn a single good card. The last one I drew made me go from level 5 or 6 to level 12. I leveled up while we were traveling, then at camped killed the character that kept drawing cards with easy because of a 6 level difference and I had first watch that night.
Danny Hampton my opinion on the deck is that if it ruins the campaign it's the fault of the dm not for inturducing it but for not just going with the simple solutions to it's obvious problems the fool is suddenly a card that applies a curse that you can go on a quest to remove, the dungeon inprisons you yes but it's like a escape room which could be a lot of fun, if they get a wish it summons a genie with a set of pre established rules made by the dm, several of the bad cards in the deck can be a lot of fun like the devil just make it so the players have a set time between the times it attacks and allow them to make actions to delay or quicken the confrontation, little modifications like that could make it a lot of fun take void for example it instead steals your body and you are left as a ghost with your body being guarded by a great beast and you have to posses people and go on a quest to reclaim it most of the problems with the deck spawn from people taking it at face value when their is a lot of fun to it hell it's the deck of MANY things make and add your own both good and bad of somthing seems to harsh make it less so or remove it entirely just make sure there are if not equal amounts at least some cards that will mess with players. I'm just disappointed about how many dm's and players never seem to realize this
This actually gave me a great idea for a character backstory. A traveling gypsy provided you with the opportunity to draw from a deck of many things. Greedily you chose to draw 3 cards. And those cards were Talons, Ruin, Fool, and Rogue. All progress you had made in life was lost, and your wife (your best friend) left you for another man and is now pregnant with his child.
You must now become an adventurer to regain that what was lost. DM permitting you could maybe put Eurayle in there as well for a challenge.
Oh wow! I am surprised to hear about only 1 magic weapon before 5th level! I've always given my players 1 magic item on their first adventure. I always felt like it gave them that sense that this is a really lucrative business, dungeon delving. Or that it really highlighted the importance of the adventure they were on.
Thanks for continuing the uploads great stuff! I was super sad when you guys stopped uploading for a time, glad to see you guys back on track!
Glad to be back. Life gets in the way sometimes.
Finding one- or more- Decks of Many Things seems like a great run-up to fighting the forces of Chaos.
I gave the Deck of Many Things to a level 1 party in an ongoing campaign, It was a blast
Oh wow! I always wondered if I was the only one who would reverse the d100 roll if what was rolled I wasn't happy with, to disruptive, a severely cursed item party had no way to deal with, etc. I love giving out limited use low level magic items to low levels, like a bag of 3 web spells. Or weird magic items, like a ring of caterpillar control. It was so fun to watch the player try to find a use for that ring!
As a Dm I made Blackrazor the Phylactery of my Lich BBG which was masked by a mind blank on user who unwittingly feed the Lich souls freely for it. They party was allowing its usage but in truth they were allowed to have the sword...;)
I love rolling for random loot, it's fantastic.
A Drow Paladin has a hilarious Vorpal Blade, of Knock. It can unlock things like the magic spell if it touches the lock.
.. And it's a vorpal blade.
Pact blade warlock allows you to turn a magic weapon of your choice into a magic weapon, which does defeat the purpose oh having a magic weapon, but at the same time, it allows for a loophole with hexblade, which, I understand this is up for interpretation, but I've heard that the loop hole is this: hexblade + pact of the blade + magic 2 handed weapon, since, from what many many people have told me, and from what I have read, the pact of the blade removes one of the restrictions of hexblade.
Another great episode! I really enjoy these, thanks!
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed!
For the Deck of Many Things, I like the concept, but I've had the thought to make my own, because a lot of the things in the deck don't work with my game, eg experience isn't how we level. Beyond that I don't really like the deck's implementation, because none of the good things you can get are commensurate to having a demon lord destroy everything you love and then killing you; and the good things you can get often have a drawback or requisite, while the bad things don't have a similar counterbalance. So I might take the Major Arcana from a tarot deck and come up with consequences for each.
Another interesting option is the Tarokka deck from Curse of Strahd. The book gives some vague insight into the divinatory meaning of each card and you could use that as your inspiration for something that happens to that character that makes sense for your game.
Im currently having a lot of fun by adding a bunch of magic items very early in a campaign (lv 3-4), but they are all very ambigous as to their usefullness. There is a theme of cursed items that have been sealed away, but most of the items being cursed doesn’t mean they are just unusable or down right dangerous to dabble with. The way they are cursed vary from dangerous to just annoying or just a bit silly, and most of them also has some way you could use it to solve problems. The players have started finding them and figure out what some of them do (no PC has Identify yet), but they are currently very cautious as to how much they want to try to rely on anything magical they have found. :)
thanks for addressing magic items. I really enjoy your takes on the game. your show format and production values are so far above any other gamer show out there. how about a Medusa show?
Thanks! That's a good one! It's on the list.
I kind of campaigned over several games to get my fighter the Hammer of Thunderbolts. I got the idea when I actually did get the gauntlets of ogre power.
Yeah I got a character on the hunt for “Book of Vile Darkness”😈
Im currently going through D&D cram for my first campaign, playing a dwarf mage
Gonna be great-
Keep up the good work!
Where can I watch the campaign with the overpowered sword, Blackrazor?
I personally love introducing powerful items but with also certain drawbacks.
Like a powerful, +3 Sword... but it is also infused with the spirit of a raging demon, and can cause the wielder to go into a murderous rage where they'll try to attack ANYONE closest, including their teammates.
Or a potent ball of spell storing... however, because of the crystal's fragile nature, it could break during a fight/mishandling, and would then explode, the force of the explosion dependent on how many spells were currently stored inside it.
Instead of being just straight stat upgrades, weapons then take on a more dynamic, tactical aspect that may often require consideration before you bring it into battle.
if you want to stop a game from exploding, RIG IT!
Sad Tyrant I know right? You also could(pasted from another comment I replied to would take to long to modify sorry if the context is more than a bit off) my opinion on the deck is that if it ruins the campaign it's the fault of the dm not for inturducing it but for not just going with the simple solutions to it's obvious problems the fool is suddenly a card that applies a curse that you can go on a quest to remove, the dungeon inprisons you yes but it's like a escape room which could be a lot of fun, if they get a wish it summons a genie with a set of pre established rules made by the dm, several of the bad cards in the deck can be a lot of fun like the devil just make it so the players have a set time between the times it attacks and allow them to make actions to delay or quicken the confrontation, little modifications like that could make it a lot of fun take void for example it instead steals your body and you are left as a ghost with your body being guarded by a great beast and you have to posses people and go on a quest to reclaim it most of the problems with the deck spawn from people taking it at face value when their is a lot of fun to it hell it's the deck of MANY things make and add your own both good and bad of somthing seems to harsh make it less so or remove it entirely just make sure there are if not equal amounts at least some cards that will mess with players. I'm just disappointed about how many dm's and players never seem to realize this
I think the best/needed magic item you can give the party at low level is a bag of holding. makes all the looting and stuff they find easier to carry with you.
Blackrazor's always been pretty damned powerful, however, much like with CR encounters, I've generally tailored all sentient magical items to my PC's.
Love this info.
I DM a super-high magic setting campaign. My characters are level 6 and they're stacked to their boots in something magical. I think they're perfectly fine so long as they're uniquely niche and or are double-edged swords.
I have a weapon coming in soon that's a sentient symbiote. It deals extra damage to Aberrations and gives you temp health, but it's at the cost of your arm if you lose con saves as it slowly replaces your arm, requiring you literally chopping your arm off to remove it. It never moves beyond the arm though.
Gave me an idea. Unstable ring of spell storing. Have to roll on wild magic table when you cast a spell out of it if you roll a 1 on a d20. Maybe adjust the probability so it goes off on 5 or less.
ah, the Deck of Many things.
My twisted use by a very pragmatic Chaotic Neutral Spellsinger. Found deck in a Dragons hoard.
The Dragon had Kobolds as thralls.
BAHAHAH!
Round 1) Spell, Dig. Dig Pit.
Round 2) Push Kobold into pit.
Round 3) Lower deck into pit in a basket.
Round 4) Command Draw 4 cards.
Needless to say the first few Kobolds were goners, WAY GONERS...
Rinse repeat #2,#4,
Went through 4 Kobolds before 1 lived, with #5 gaining +50XP+6 Levels&MMagic(Elvin chain+2), -2 IQ, +2 St & 1x 4th L Fighter. Wala! "Kelso" the new Kobold King!
#6 Kobold Dies
#7 Gains 10kXP+4 Levels, MMagic(Boots of Dex),-3Save Pet & 20pieces of Jewelry - Becomes "Dog" the new Henchman Guard Archer of the Spellsinger! ("Dog" last @ 8th Level, as a loyal Henchman/Bodyguard)
Hilarious !!!
GMs - Do try it out in a "test" environ!!!
Would like to say I love both shirts worn on this video.
Dang, I just became my team's DM and I stumbled upon your videos and they're great :D I've been binge watching your videos all morning:p
Our Warlock broke his Staff of Elemental Power (based off the Staff of Power/Magi) over his knee during our combat with a Death Knight and his hordes; which the survivors learned where juiced up (or oozed up) by the influence of Ghaunadaur. It was just a stunning moment...
I've always loved the deck of many things, and since I bought that (and deck of illusions) from Green Ronin years ago, I've brought it in to various tables with mixed results. Honestly, in all these years I've never thought about changing the text of the cards to make it more playable at lower levels. I'm the DM! I've changed tons of potions, armor, weapons, and I am disappointed with myself for not figuring that out sooner. For example, instead out having your soul sucked out and imprisoned, it is merely knocked out of your body and is free-floating, and your body simply exists, like Spock in the "Spock's Brain" episode, and the players have to figure out how to reintegrate them.
I really like giving my players some kind of item early on that could become some kind of signum for them. These items are often quite powerful at their level but they could also be upgraded later on if the players so wish.
the blade u mentioned always being drawn sounds like it would be fitting if it would over time fuse to become one with user's flesh, kinda like the wand with toffee possessed ludo in "star vs the forces of evil"
I like personalized magic items to prevent the +1 sword from being replaced by a +2 sword later on. Instead, I have the items scale with the character. That +1 sword speaks to the character and asks for things (like 'kill 20 foes with me') and once that's done the sword becomes +2 or whatever. Armor is tougher for that but it can be done with some creativity. I try to stay away from Deck of Many Things or other Legendary things until the party has hit tier 3 and they're really challenging powerful foes.
I’m going to make Maui’s Hook, The Invisibility Cloak, and other famous relics!
I made an item that was key to the dungeon my guys were in, An artifact level orb that contained a crap ton of holy magic.The spellcaster that was forced to be attuned to it until their death can use it basically as an instakill aoe with the penalty of exhaustion. I think i did something fair as they were given access to it immediately.
Im a little late this week, but as always another great vid!! You guys ever think about a skype session with fans?(maybe a contest to decide players) Im personally not a huge fan of online table-toppin but it would b a blast to game with you guys . keep it up & thanks for makin the best D&D webshow out there!!!
In my campaign wands don't recharge their charges, so are more like consumables. That way I can reward the players with a reasonably powerful magic item, but its uses are limited. Consumables are a great way to convert massive wealth into defeating a tough encounter.
for magic items I normally give a +1 sword around 2nd level, and then maybe some around 5th, but besides utility stuff like the glowing orb thing, I don't give out magic items until later
So, first campaign I ever played/playing (As I am in the middle of it now) my DM places a deck of many things in our path. It magically binds to my character and it will not go away until four cards are drawn from the deck. Now he modified it so that whatever happens our characters wouldn't end up dead, rather any soul sucking would have turned us into a magical item instead. Anyway pulled 3 of the cards so far, I got +2 perma stat of my choice, our paladin got the ability to alter fate once before he dies, and I gave a name npc a massive power boost lol. So far its been good, I refuse to draw the last card myself though.
I had it once with a wildmagic sourcerer. she used a spell and i set it up that if she uses a spell, i (dm) roll a d20 and on a 1 i have her roll her d6 to check for magic surge.
so she roled a 6, rolled on the wild magic list and got the cast fireball on yourself. that spell then killed all enemies and all player got unconsious, exept the cleric (was far enough away).
This was about 1h (roleplay heavy) in hte campain so the characters where still lvl 1. i then put in a break and talk to the cleric.
We came up with a situation that an Avatar of Lathander came down to her and offered a trade. He channels his divine magic through her to res the party and she then changes her Domain from war to life and become a cleric of him. Spreading the word.
For her good deeds and having all that divine power flowing through her i gave her a lvl up (yay lvl 2) and the holy symbol she got from Lathander was a +1 AC Amulett.
It was a nice boost to AC as she only had a leather amor and a shield (AC 13), but nothing op, in my humble opinion.
And with that the adventures carried on, with a now Life cleric of Lathander.
Regarding those accidental duplicate cards in your deck of many things... it doesn't really matter if you have duplicates unless the same person draws said duplicates in their drawing session since the moment a card is drawn it returns itself to the deck. Your players were doomed anyway. :)
The deck one of my favorite items in D&D and I've used it many, many times over the decades. I had an anti paladin's keep set up where adventurers could go to "purchase" rare magic items. The payment would be to draw 4 cards. Used the setting all throughout the '80s. Was great fun!
I usually build up a list of items that i think can add something to the game, and either the items show up in context where they make sense or get rolled randomly.
A couple of ideas: Have the adventure be a quest to find and destroy the deck of many things, and if the characters choose to draw instead, oh well. Or create a deck of few things (the finest in goblin craftsmanship!) that may give you an attribute boost, or make you frictionless for an hour...
So to get around the bad occurrences my evil bard character adopted a bunch of kids and moved them into a lovely manor and had them pampered. When they were totally convinced of their adoration and affection towards him he brought them into the study and under charm person using detect thoughts, with a suggestion ready to go and the kid silenced by a polymorphed green dragon they thought was their mother, had them draw. First card was wish, so he just told the child to wish for what he told them. Sure as more cards were drawn a few kids met horrible ends, but even with the kids drawing the XP cards that just means my evil character has moderately strong devoted npc allies.
I did a 'wacky' one-shot where all the players were level 1, their stats were flat d20 rolls, and they could take 5 magical items of any rarity. We spent the first 2 hours in the first hallway drawing cards for 2 separate deck of many things and dealing with the consequences.
I feel that a game where someone gives PC's a deck to destroy would be fun, and watch as they become tempted to draw.
That's a great hook for a low to mid level adventure.
Great episode! I agree with Jim, deck of many things, totally not worth it. Are you planning to upload more game sessions in the future? That'd be awesome.
I'd love it too. We're trying to work it out.
A custom magic item I think would be a good seemingly throw away item is a sword hilt runes on it. When a spell is cast while holding it, the hilt absorbs the spell and creates a blade with properties based on the spell used.
Good misleading item thrown into the pile of uninteresting items in a dragon's lair or a beholder's trash pile. One creature's trash is another's treasure.
upload more game sessions. Like for the haircut
We're working on it! Thanks!
The way I see it, the only useful magic item is a magic item that the players will actually use. I tend to set my players up against enemies possessing items that they might want, whether it's an item that would fit their build or one designed almost perfectly for them. I also like minor magical items that have good character flavor, like a lizardfolk who had a bag of cooling that allowed him to store meat that he collected from defeated enemies.
Those beards are awesome
See the way I see the Deck of many things is it should be treated in one of the following ways.
1). The discovery/hunt of the deck of many things is either a collective group goal or the goal of one of the PC’s. Say one of them is an Artificer who has a fascination with magical items and likes to collect them. Or perhaps someone is hunting it down because they want to use its fate altering powers to correct a mistake made in their past or obtaining it on behalf of another because in order to settle a life debt that looms over you. If they’re a collector, have them find magical decks that aren’t related but still interesting like The Deck of Many Weapons (this item was created during an age when the lust for the original fate deck was ripe with tales of woe and wonder. This deck however contains copies of many powerful, legendary, and cursed weapons/items)
2). It should be used to enhance the story. Have the knight from the titular card be from the time before the great calamity or when the betrayer gods still roamed the material plane, when this deck was first made who made it etc.
3). It should be given at a time when your players could realistically win a 1v1 duel with the avatar of death (and y’know, actually GIVE them something for winning the duel)
I run a game in a lower magic setting, but all of the players pretty comfortably silvered all their weapons to overcome magic resistance
As far as magic item tables go, I give my players three options. Gold, a roll on the appropriately leveled (or on a lower) table, or have me make a random item for them. You'd be surprised how many times #3 is chosen, even if the item I roll up isn't something they need. Players love new stuff!
If somebody ran a one shot about a quest to acquire the deck of many things I would play as a bard
With the sole intention of not touching the infernal device but rather witnessing the grand and archaic events that unfold
My character will not except one gold coin for his share of the treasure
For the tale he told, if he survives, that’s the treasure he was seeking on the quest
now, my campaign has been designed to be extremely difficult, but i have also let players go "hey, can i have item X", and if im ok with that item, they either get it or information on where it is. i also make sure each character gets something. now, whether or not they use it(wizard turning down a spell tome because they dont like that school of magic) is not my problem. in my case, i try to make sure the characters are well equipped, because if they aren't, enemies can just steamroll them with 0 trouble, because of the difference
I had a sentient item that literally just hates everything, it's always saying "F*** you" to everyone.
My favorite magic item I've received as a player was for my Bard, that the party had dubbed the Flute of Jigglypuff, which was able to put an opponent to sleep vs a dc 17 will save. Eventually made an NPC develope narcolepsy (my half elf bard girl didn't like that guy. Think Zap Branagin from Futurama)
I once drew a card and lost all my magic items (rop, +1 rapier, and +1 armor with cold resistance, as well as a few misc items that I didn't really care about) and then drew another one that gave me +2 con...we were on my way to town and basically bought everything back because my entire party had barely spent any money and we even rolled percentages to see if merchants had the items. In the end I basically traded less than 5k gold (I don't remember the exact amount) for +2 con and I lost cold resistance....fair trade to me.
Used DoMT a couple of times on the same party. One guy had the biggest balls I've ever seen on a player. Drew an ungodly number of cards both times and only got one bad card.
cool new set
We're loving it. We have grand designs for future episodes.
As DM, you should always STACK the Deck of Many Things.
Choose how many good things and pick them, then the next same number are increasingly worse.
If they draw max, they get the void.
When the first person finishes drawing... the deck vanishes. Its done.
Sentient sword to wielder:" I thirst. Feed me."
Really odd thought.... But I liked your idea for a Halfling Diviner Wizard with the Lucky feat... and I thought that if you added a gambling skill to that skillset, that s/he could make a pretty badass character if given a Deck of Many Things (Hollowed or normal, doesn't matter).
Wondering what your thoughts on that idea are
I honestly would love if there was a feat that allows you to concentrate on two different spells. or maybe a magic item that would allow that to happen.
chainlock/ring of spell storing (a little arduous yes, but it IS an option. but being able to have 2 concentration spells is crazy OP. imagine a single player being able to hex someone, then cast other concentration spells on them that require a save.
this would only be powerful on single target bosses and most bosses do have legendary saves. and it would take two rounds of set up. It wouldn't be op but a solid pick for all spell casters.
I agree that specific combo isn't super duper op, but I was just thinking off the the top of my head. Currently playing a warlock in a game so I thought about it in terms of warlock. And that wouldn't takeultiple rounds to set up, if you have someone else cast the debuff. Point is, I'm pretty sure that that would be somewhat stronger than a feat level, that sound more like a class feature
as long as no druids get ahold of that ability one of the only things holding them back is concentration
Hey guys, I'm enjoying your content, especially your discussions about certain monsters. As a relatively new DM you guys are helping me alot. I was wondering, what are your thoughts on gnolls and how they can be made interesting?
Volo's Guide has about 10 pages with information on Gnolls, and a couple of new really cool Gnolls (Flinds will wreck any party's day.)
Sword of Necessity
Does exactly the damage it needs to do for you to not get wrecked