You may have used an oracle deck or heard of tarot cards, but did you realize you could perform a reading with a standard deck of playing cards for a friend or yourself? Anyone is welcome to try this method of divination, known as cartomancy.
Here, we go into all there is to know about cartomancy, including its history, the meaning of the cards, how to perform readings, and more.
In This Article...
Tarot cards are used in the deck of numerous things?
Deck of Many Things: Usually found in a box or leather pouch, a deck of many things can be both helpful and harmful. Numerous ivory or vellum cards or plaques are included in each deck. Each has glyphs, characters, and sigils carved on it. When one of these cards is pulled from the deck, its magic is immediately bestowed upon the player, for better or ill.
When a character with a deck of many items wants to draw a card, she must first declare how many cards she will draw. A character may never again draw more cards from this deck than she has announced. Cards must be drawn within an hour of one another. The cards come out of the deck on their own if the character does not voluntarily draw her assigned number (or if she is somehow prevented from doing so). With one exception, the owner of the deck may choose to draw two extra cards if the jester is drawn.
Unless the draw is the fool or the jester, in which case the card is thrown away from the pack, each card taken from the deck is replaced, making it possible to draw the same card twice. There are 22 cards in a deck of many things. You might choose to use tarot cards instead of the magic cards, as shown in the second column of the table that goes with it. Playing cards should be used in its place if there is no tarot deck available, as seen in the third column. Below is a detailed explanation of each card’s effects, which are included in the table.
Balance: The character needs to adopt a whole new alignment. The character gains a negative level if she does not behave in accordance with the new alignment.
Comet: The benefit expires if the character cannot destroy the subsequent hostile monster(s) on their own. If successful, the character earns enough experience points (XP) to advance to the next level.
Donjon: This card denotes confinement, either by a powerful being or an imprisonment spell. In either instance, the victim is stripped of all equipment and spells. Finished drawing cards.
Euryale: This card delivers a curse that can only be lifted by the fates card or a god because to its medusa-like appearance. Otherwise, the 1 penalty on each save throw is permanent.
Fates: Because the fabric of reality is torn apart and then spun again, this card gives the character the ability to prevent even an immediate event. Keep in mind that it does not cause something to occur. It can only halt a current event or make it go back in time. Other party members might have to deal with the circumstance; the reversal only affects the character who drew the card.
Hot rage, jealousy, and envy are just a few of the potential driving causes behind the animosity. It will take the death of one of the parties to put an end to the outsider’s hostility. Assume that the outsider will attack the character (or otherwise disrupt her life) within 1d20 days after being randomly determined.
Fool: Both the redraw and the XP payment are required. With the exception of the jester, this card is always discarded when it is drawn.
Gem: This card denotes prosperity. All of the jewelry is made of gold and set with jewels; each piece costs 2,000 gp, while each gem is worth 1,000 gp.
Idiot: This card immediately depletes 1d4+1 Intelligence points. The extra draw is not required.
Jester: Unlike all other cards except the fool, this card is always discarded when it is drawn. Redraws are not required.
Important: The character must be able to use the magic weapon supplied. It appears in the character’s hand out of nowhere.
Fighter: The knight emerges out of nowhere and serves with fidelity till his or her demise. He or she shares the same gender and race (or kind) as the character.
Moon: This card occasionally features a moonstone gemstone with the right number of wishes depicted as gleams inside, or a moon whose phase corresponds to the amount of desires (full = 4, gibbous = 3, half = 2, quarter = 1). These wishes are identical to those given by the 9th-level wizard spell, and they must be utilized within the specified amount of minutes.
Rogue: If this card is pulled, one of the character’s NPC allies (ideally a group) becomes wholly hostile and alienated going forward. If the character lacks allies, the animosity of a powerful figure (or group, or religious organization) can be used in their place. The animosity is kept hidden until the right moment comes for its terrible revelation.
As suggested by its name, when this card is chosen, all of the drawer’s nonmagical goods are gone.
Skull: A terrifying wraith emerges. This being should be treated as an unturnable undead. If others assist, the character can summon dread wraiths to fight with them. If the character is killed, she remains dead for all time and cannot be brought back to life, not even by a wish or a miracle.
Star: The two points are added to the character’s choice of ability. They cannot be split between two skills.
Talons: Whenever this card is drawn, all of the character’s magical possessions vanish in an instant and without a trace.
Throne: The persona earns the respect of the populace as a real leader. She can place the castle wherever there is an open space (but the decision where to place it must be made within 1 hour).
Vizier: This card grants the person who draws it the once-only ability to invoke a source of wisdom to provide a comprehensive response to any question or solve any specific issue. Within one year, the inquiry or request must be submitted. A very different concern is whether the knowledge acquired can actually be put to use.
The Void: Instant catastrophe is predicted by this black card. While the character’s mind is imprisoned in an object on a distant world or plane, perhaps in the care of an outsider, her body continues to function as if she were comatose. A request or a miracle only makes the character’s level of entrapment known rather than bringing them back. Finished drawing cards.
Which tarot cards are included in a deck?
The Venetian or Piedmontese tarot served as the inspiration for the typical modern tarot deck. The major arcana, which contains 22 cards and is also known as the trumps, and the minor arcana, which has 56 cards, make up the 78 cards that make up this deck. Moon, card number 18 in the major arcana.
Questions you don’t really want answered
Even though it might seem apparent, it’s advisable to refrain from asking the tarot cards questions that you aren’t prepared to hear the answers to. That’s because answers to these questions can reveal information you’re just not quite ready to hear.
“Tarot can definitely come off as offensive if you’re not willing to hear the truth or consider an opposing point of view. Tarot reading Nicole Fortunaso
According to tarot reader and life coach Nicole Fortunaso, “tarot may truly come out as offensive if you are not willing to hear the truth of the problem or look at an alternate viewpoint.” She advises considering why you’re responding the way you are in order to reflect on the best way to address the underlying cause if you ask the question and are unsatisfied with the response.
Should I use the Deck of Many Things as a draw?
Starting with the very first Grayhawk supplement for first edition D&D, this innocent deck of cards has through numerous iterations. And while going through several revisions, it has stayed faithful to its primary idea of injecting a massive amount of disruption into an uninspired campaign. What serves as the deck? What is the actual mechanism? As we go over everything you need to know, feel free to choose a card.
What is The Deck of Many Things?
The extensive D&D deck 5E has seen numerous incarnations; occasionally there are 13 cards, occasionally there are 22, and occasionally the cards are made of ivory or vellum. The cards themselves resemble tarot cards in that they have the same back but different symbolic images on each of their faces.
The deck, on the other hand, is a complete mess. Every time a player draws a card, depending on the card, something occurs before the card vanishes. The D&D deck of many things 5E campaign cards come in good, terrible, and entirely derailable varieties.
Using the Deck as a DM
The deck of many things is a potent artifact, and your players have no real chance of getting their hands on one unless you specifically want them to. The deck of many things can absolutely be used for a brief campaign, but some DMs just present it as a choice because they find it amusing. DO NOT USE IT IF YOU ARE RUNNING A LONGER GAME OR ANY KIND OF CAMPAIGN WHERE THE PLOT IS IMPORTANT.
The deck of many things is a helpful tool for injecting new life into a D&D 5E game and generally enlivening a stale adventure. If the alternative is for players to lose interest in your game, then it’s like hurling explosives into a crowded room just to see what happens.
Frequently, the deck will just alter the course of your campaign. A fight against one of the players as they suddenly become evil, a protracted adventure fighting against a wicked devil or previously friendly NPC, or even an adventure to rescue a player from an extradimensional universe could all result from drawing a card. The deck lays the basis for you to steer the campaign in a fresh and fascinating way, but it won’t create these adventures for you.
Using the Deck as a Player
You have two choices if you find yourself holding the deck of many things. Put it away or start drawing like crazy. Each card had the potential to kill you instantly, give you a level up, make you incredibly wealthy, launch a side quest, enlist the help of a loyal knight, or any combination of these.
Drawing cards from the deck is similar to playing Russian roulette; you can win big, but there’s also a good possibility you’ll lose everything. If you don’t mind losing your present character, don’t draw any cards.
The Deck of Many Things Itself
But now that we’ve talked about it enough, what exactly does each card do? How exactly does it work as a magic item? The current deck of many things rules are as follows:
This deck, which is typically found in a box or pouch, includes several cards made of ivory or vellum. The majority (75%) of these decks only have thirteen cards, while the remaining decks contain twenty-two.
You must specify how many cards you plan to draw ahead of time, and then draw them at random (you can use an altered deck of playing cards to simulate the deck). Any other cards drew have no further impact. Otherwise, a card’s magic begins to work the moment you pull it from the deck. Each card must be drawn no later than one hour after the preceding draw. The remaining cards in the deck fall out on their own and come into play all at once if you don’t draw the specified number.
A card vanishes once it has been drawn. It is possible to draw the same card twice if it is neither the Fool or the Jester because the card always recurs in the deck.
Balance. Your alignment shifts as a result of a traumatic modification to your thoughts. Lawful turns into chaos, good turns into evil, and vice versa. This card has no impact on you if you are truly neutral or unaligned.
Comet. The next hostile monster or group of monsters you come across must be defeated by yourself for you to receive one level’s worth of experience points. If not, this card has no impact.
Donjon. You vanish and are enshrined in an extradimensional sphere in suspended animation. Everything you were carrying and wearing remains where you were when you vanished. Until you are located and expelled from the sphere, you are imprisoned. No divination magic can locate you, but a wish spell can tell where your jail is. You stop drawing cards.
Euryale. The medusa-like face on the card curses you. While under this curse, you suffer a 2 penalty on saving throws. This curse can only be broken by a god or by the power of The Fates card.
Those fates. You can ignore or make a certain event go away as if it never happened because the fabric of reality unravels and spins once more. As soon as the card is drawn, or at any other moment before you pass away, you can utilize its magic.
Flames. Your adversary is a strong devil. The devil desires your destruction and torments you, relishing your anguish before attempting to end your life. This hostility continues until one of you or the demon perishes.
Fool. 10,000 XP are lost, this card is discarded, and you draw from the deck once more, considering both draws as one of your stated draws. If you would lose a level by losing that much XP, you would instead lose a smaller amount, leaving you with just enough XP to maintain your level.
Gem. At your feet, either 25 pieces of jewelry at 2,000 GP each or 50 stones worth 1,000 GP apiece.
Idiot. Reduce your Intelligence by 1d4 + 1 for the rest of time (to a minimum score of 1). Beyond your declared draws, you can draw one more card.
Jester. You can draw two more cards in addition to your announced draws, or you can get 10,000 XP.
Key. You are holding a rare or even rarer magic weapon that you are skilled with. The weapon is decided by the GM.
Knight. In a space you select within 30 feet of you, a fighter of level four becomes your servant. The combatant, who shares your race, will serve you devotedly until the day of his or her death since he or she feels fate has brought them together. You are in charge of this person.
Rogue. You encounter hostility from a non-player character of the GM’s choosing. You won’t learn who your new adversary is until the NPC or another person does. The NPC’s animosity toward you can only be ended by a wish spell or divine intervention.
Ruin. Except for magic artifacts, all of the wealth you possess or carry is gone to you. movable property disappears. Your own companies, structures, and land are lost in a way that little modifies reality. Any supporting documentation that demonstrates your ownership of something also vanishes when using this card.
Skull. You conjure a ghostly humanoid skeleton brandishing a phantom scythe who is dressed in a frayed black robe as an avatar of death. It manifests in a location chosen by the GM within 10 feet of you and strikes you while informing everyone else that you will be fighting this battle alone. The avatar battles until you pass away or it loses all of its hit points, at which time it vanishes. Anyone who tries to assist you summons its own death avatar. It is impossible to bring back to life a creature killed by an avatar of death.
Avatar of Death
Immunities charmed, terrified, immobilized, petrified, poisoned, and unconscious
Movement within the body. Other beings and items can be traversed by the avatar as though they were treacherous terrain. If it ends its turn inside of a thing, it receives 5 (1d10) force damage.
Scythe reaping. Within five feet of a monster, the avatar sweeps its ethereal scythe through it, delivering 4 (1d8) necrotic damage and 7 (1d8 + 3) cutting damage.
Star. Add two points to one of your ability scores. The score can be more than 20, but not more than 24.
Sun. A marvelous object (chosen at random by the GM) emerges in your possession as well as 50,000 experience points.
Talons. You lose all control of any magic you wear or carry. The artifacts you hold vanish rather than being destroyed.
Throne. You become proficient in the persuasion skill, and any proficiency bonuses you receive when using that talent are doubled. You also acquire legal possession of a modest keep anywhere in the world. But before you can claim the keep as your own, you must defeat the creatures that now control it.
Vizier. You can pose a question in meditation and mentally receive an honest response to it at any moment within a year of drawing this card. The solution not only provides information, but also aids in resolving a conundrum or other conundrum. In other words, the information also includes application wisdom.
The Absence. The outcome of this hand is disastrous. Your soul is removed from your body and placed within an item at the GM’s preferred location. The area is protected by one or more strong beings. Your body is disabled while your soul is imprisoned in this manner. Your soul cannot be recovered by a wish spell, but the spell can be used to find the thing that contains it. You stop drawing cards.
Using a Physical Deck
Drawing cards from a real deck is a bit of roleplaying theater that your players will probably never forget, though you can easily replace die rolls for card draws. Consider purchasing a physical deck that your players can actually draw from if you’re willing to go all out or if you intend to make the deck a focal point of your adventures. The early editions of the traditional 22-card deck have curiously become difficult to locate, but I recommend this one from “The Deck of Many,” a firm whose name is based on the iconic object.
You can replicate the deck of many with a deck of regular playing cards if you want to enjoy the theater without paying any money. For a straightforward substitute, use the table below:
What happens if you pull every card in the deck of possibilities?
According to my interpretation, drawing cards requires intent, even if unintentionally. As a result, the deck will appear to be a deck with several cards featuring different pictures if a character simply takes it up and casually flicks through it or flips it over. (I personally would need some form of successful check to recognize that counting the cards doesn’t yield reliable results and trying to sort the cards always fails.) The DM must find out how many cards the player is drawing and then proceed as necessary if at any point the deliberate act of drawing a card enters the game.
Am I able to create my own tarot cards?
Tarot cards have been created by numerous people over the years. Ones that are blank and have already been cut and sized for you are available for purchase. You can then design your own artwork to place on them. Alternatively, you may print them out on card stock or picture paper and cut them out by hand. The act of creating itself is wonderful and can be a tool for fostering spiritual development. You may simply incorporate any hobbies or talents you have into your artwork if you have them.
What tarot card has the most influence?
The Fool is typically seen as a card from the Major Arcana when performing a tarot reading. Contrary to popular belief, the Fool does not fall under either category in tarot card games. Instead, the Fool serves a function that is distinct from both the simple suit cards and the trump cards. As a result, the Fool has no number assigned to it in the majority of tarot decks that were initially created for playing games. Although Waite assigns the Fool the number 0, in his book, the Fool is discussed between Judgment (number 20) and The World (number 21). The Tarocco Piemontese is the only traditional game deck that numbers the Fool 0. Since the 1930s, the corner index for the Fool in Tarot Nouveau decks has frequently been a black inverted mullet. The Fool is one of the most expensive cards in practically all tarot games.
How many playing cards should a Tarot deck contain?
Main Arcana (major mysteries) and minor Arcana, a total of 78 cards, make up a tarot deck (meaning minor mysteries).
There are 22 primary arcana cards, and they typically address important life milestones and broad issues like love, relationships, and work.
There are 56 cards in the minor arcana. These typically address more trivial problems and little inconveniences, such as transient feelings and circumstances. The four suits of minor arcana cards are cups, wands, swords, and pentacles. There are four court cards and numbered cards from 1 to 10 in each suit (page, knight, king and queen).
