Seated at the table is a large demon, shuffling a pile of stiff slips of parchment. As you enter the room, he says: "Would you care to join me in a game? My master, after hearing legends of a magical artifact of great power and caprice, sought to create his own version of it." The demon holds up his pack of chits. "This isn't quite as rewarding or as dangerous as a true Deck of Many Things, but it can certainly make for an interesting diversion... if you're willing to take a little risk. Shall I deal you in?"
The Deck of Many Things is an entertaining way to completely destroy a campaign.
The Deck of Galumarth tries to maintain much of the same spirit and feel of the classic DoMT, but keeps its effects to a much more manageable level. A few of them are even designed specifically to be hooks for future quests, as the players seek out some way to deal with some of the more persistent consequences. This artifact is aimed at characters who are around levels 3-5.
A complete Deck of Galumarth contains twenty-five cards made of stiffened parchment, each engraved with glyphs, characters, and sigils. It functions basically the same as the DoMT, but with different effects for the cards. Some are simply milder versions of the original effects; others are completely new. For convenience, I've mapped them to playing cards:
| Nine of Hearts | Your alignment is shifted one step along one axis (randomly chosen) for 2d6 days. Acting grossly out of your new alignment causes you to suffer 1d4 Cha damage. |
| Nine of Clubs | If you defeat the next hostile monster or monsters encountered single-handedly, you'll receive 2,500XP in addition to the usual XP reward for the encounter. |
| Nine of Diamonds | Gain one beneficial minor wondrous item (randomly selected from the appropriate table) and 2,500 XP |
| Nine of Spades | You are immediately shackled hand and foot (and thereby Entangled) with masterwork manacles fitted with a superior-quality lock. Manacles and lock are made of magical force (DC 45 Strength to break them, hardness 35, 30 HP, negligible weight); as soon as you are freed by any means, the manacles vanish. |
| Ten of Hearts | You are infected with The Shakes. There is no save to resist the initial infection, but otherwise the disease proceeds normally. |
| Ten of Clubs | Gain the service of a 1st level fighter. |
| Ten of Diamonds | Gain your choice of five pieces of jewelry worth 1000gp each or ten gems worth 500gp each. |
| Ten of Spades | Each magic item you possess is immediately teleported to a different location within one thousand feet of where you are now. |
| Jack of Hearts | You are granted one free use of the Limited Wish spell, as if by a scroll of Limited Wish (the wish must be made within one hour). |
| Jack of Clubs | Gain a minor magical weapon (randomly selected from the appropriate table). |
| Jack of Diamonds | Gain +1 inherent bonus to one ability score of your choice. |
| Jack of Spades | You take a -1 penalty on all saving throws from now until you take an additional level in any class. |
| Queen of Hearts | Gain a +2 bonus to Appraise, and you can now use it as if trained. You also receive a small general store in an appropriate town or city of your choice, worth 5,000gp (stock and building together). It's stocked with standard adventuring gear and staffed by a first level expert NPC. |
| Queen of Clubs | All of your equipment immediately becomes masterwork. Items which have no masterwork form may be upgraded to superior materials or craftsmanship at the DM's discretion (such as hempen rope becoming silk). |
| Queen of Diamonds | Gain 1,000 XP and you may draw again. |
| Queen of Spades | You immediately suffer 1d4+1 Int damage. |
| King of Hearts | Your soul is transported to the ethereal plane (where it is solid) while your body remains behind (unconscious but otherwise unharmed). Your ethereal form retains any non-magical clothing you were wearing, but none of your equipment. Creatures on the material plane can hear your voice, but only if you shout or they succeed on a DC 12 Listen check. |
| King of Clubs | A minotaur appears and attacks you. Against attacks from any other characters, the minotaur has DR 10/-, SR 16, and resistance to all energy 10 (but none of these apply against attacks from the character who drew the card). If you escape without defeating the minotaur, it will hunt you down to the best of its abilities. |
| King of Diamonds | Lose 1,000 XP and you may draw again. |
| King of Spades | Each item you possesses has a 10% chance of vanishing immediately. Vanished containers disgorge their contents. (2d10-1)% of money possessed vanishes as well. |
| Ace of Hearts | You are granted one free use of the Commune spell (which must be used within one hour). |
| Ace of Clubs | One powerful (relative to the party) NPC who was previously either friendly or indifferent towards you becomes unfriendly or hostile (repsectively). (This person need not be present at the time, and may even be someone you haven't met yet. The character's motivation for this is up to the DM.) |
| Ace of Diamonds | For the next 2d6 days, you have the ability cast Detect Magic at will as a caster of your character level. |
| Ace of Spades | You are levitated five feet off of the ground, as if affected by a Levitate spell. The effect is involuntary and lasts for 2d6 days. |
| Joker | Your size category is changed to the next size category larger or smaller (randomly determined) as if by an Enlarge Person or Reduce Person spell. This effect lasts for 2d6 days. |
(Released under the Open Game License.)
(Home)