Day 25: Favourite Magic Item

My favourite magic item is one that you should never actually give to your players. That’s the Deck of Many Things.

The Deck of Many Things is not something I would hand out to my players now. It did see use in more than one game back in the ’80s though. The fact that you could win, or lose, it all on the draw of a card had too much appeal. I can’t remember what happened to characters that drew from the deck but I do remember that it never ended well!

Despite or, perhaps because of, it’s ability to kill every character in your group (or make them massively overpowered), it’s still an iconic magic item. For that reason, it’s my favourite magic item—even if I wouldn’t actually use it any more.

I have, perhaps inaccurate, memories of “cut out and keep” cards appearing in an issue of Dragon many years ago. Wizards of the Coast also have a random generator hidden on their website which looks like it uses the same art. If you do decide to get your players a Deck of Many Things and don’t buy (and print) your own, then it’s a handy resource. Just remember to use the rules from the 5th Edition Dungeon Masters Guide (or the SRD).

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