Site Search

Tarot of Many Things. The Tarot of Many things is an expanded Deck of Many Things that appeared in Dragon Magazine #77 by Michael J. The Tarot expands the Deck of Many Things into a complete set of tarot cards including the use of reversed cards. Oct 24, 2019 Hit Point Press is raising funds for The Deck of Many Animated Spells: DnD 5E Spell Cards on Kickstarter! Fling powerful magics with style using The Deck of Many's unabridged Animated Spell Cards for DnD 5e.

Home > Magic Items > Artifacts

Artifacts are extremely powerful. Rather than merely another form of magic equipment, they are the sorts of legendary relics that whole campaigns can be based on. Each could be the center of a whole set of adventures—a quest to recover it, a fight against a opponent wielding it, a mission to cause its destruction, and so on.

No table has been included to randomly generate specific artifacts, since these items should only enter a campaign through deliberate choice on your part.

Minor Artifacts

Minor artifacts are not necessarily unique items. Even so, they are magic items that no longer can be created, at least by common mortal means.

Minor Artifact Descriptions

Described below is a selection of the most well-known (not necessarily the most numerous) minor artifacts.

Book of Infinite Spells

This work bestows upon any character of any class the ability to use the spells within its pages. However, any character not already able to use spells gains one negative level for as long as the book is in her possession or while she uses its power. A book of infinite spells contains 1d8+22 pages. The nature of each page is determined by a dice roll: 01-50, arcane spell; 51-100, divine spell.

Determine the exact spell by using the tables for determining major scroll spells.

Once a page is turned, it can never be flipped back—paging through a book of infinite spells is a one-way trip. If the book is closed, it always opens again to the page it was on before the book was closed. When the last page is turned, the book vanishes.

Once per day the owner of the book can cast the spell to which the book is opened. If that spell happens to be one that is on the character’s class spell list, she can cast it up to four times per day. The pages cannot be ripped out without destroying the book. Similarly, the spells cannot be cast as scroll spells, nor can they be copied into a spellbook—their magic is bound up permanently within the book itself.

The owner of the book need not have the book on her person in order to use its power. The book can be stored in a place of safety while the owner is adventuring and still allow its owner to cast spells by means of its power.

Each time a spell is cast, there is a chance that the energy connected with its use causes the page to magically turn despite all precautions. The owner knows this and may even benefit from the turning by gaining access to a new spell. The chance of a page turning depends on the spell the page contains and what sort of spellcaster the owner is.

Condition	Chance of Page Turning
Caster employing a spell usable by own class and level	10%
Caster employing a spell not usable by own class and level	20%
Nonspellcaster employing divine spell	25%
Nonspellcaster employing arcane spell	30%

Treat each spell use as if a scroll were being employed, for purposes of determining casting time, spell failure, and so on.

Strong (all schools); CL 18th;Weight 3 lb.

Deck of Many Things

A deck of many things (both beneficial and baneful) is usually found in a box or leather pouch. Each deck contains a number of cards or plaques made of ivory or vellum. Each is engraved with glyphs, characters, and sigils. As soon as one of these cards is drawn from the pack, its magic is bestowed upon the person who drew it, for better or worse.

The character with a deck of many things who wishes to draw a card must announce how many cards she will draw before she begins. Cards must be drawn within 1 hour of each other, and a character can never again draw from this deck any more cards than she has announced. If the character does not willingly draw her allotted number (or if she is somehow prevented from doing so), the cards flip out of the deck on their own.

Exception: If the jester is drawn, the possessor of the deck may elect to draw two additional cards.

Each time a card is taken from the deck, it is replaced (making it possible to draw the same card twice) unless the draw is the jester or the fool, in which case the card is discarded from the pack. A deck of many things contains 22 cards. To simulate the magic cards, you may want to use tarot cards, as indicated in the second column of the accompanying table. If no tarot deck is available, substitute ordinary playing cards instead, as indicated in the third column. The effects of each card, summarized on the table, are fully described below.

Deck of Many Things
Plaque	Tarot Card	Playing Card	Summary of Effect
Balance	XI. Justice	Two of spades	Change alignment instantly.
Comet	Two of swords	Two of diamonds	Defeat the next monster you meet to gain one level.
Donjon	Four of swords	Ace of spades	You are imprisoned.
Euryale	Ten of swords	Queen of spades	-1 penalty on all saving throws henceforth.
The Fates	Three of cups	Ace of hearts	Avoid any situation you choose . . . once.
Flames	XV. The Devil	Queen of clubs	Enmity between you and an outsider.
Fool	0. The Fool	Joker (with trademark)	Lose 10,000 experience points and you must draw again.
Gem	Seven of cups	Two of hearts	Gain your choice of twenty-five pieces of jewelry or fifty gems.
Idiot	Two of pentacles	Two of clubs	Lose Intelligence (permanent drain). You may draw again.
Jester	XII. The Hanged Man	Joker (without trademark)	Gain 10,000 XP or two more draws from the deck.
Key	V. The Hierophant	Queen of hearts	Gain a major magic weapon.
Knight	Page of swords	Jack of hearts	Gain the service of a 4th-level fighter.
Moon	XVIII. The Moon	Queen of diamonds	You are granted 1d4 wishes.
Rogue	Five of swords	Jack of spades	One of your friends turns against you.
Ruin	XVI. The Tower	King of spades	Immediately lose all wealth and real property.
Skull	XIII. Death	Jack of clubs	Defeat dread wraith or be forever destroyed.
Star	XVII. The Star	Jack of diamonds	Immediately gain a +2 inherent bonus to one ability score.
Sun	XIX. The Sun	King of diamonds	Gain beneficial medium wondrous item and 50,000 XP.
Talons	Queen of pentacles	Ace of clubs	All magic items you possess disappear permanently.
Throne	Four of staves	King of hearts	Gain a +6 bonus on Diplomacy checks plus a small keep.
Vizier	IX. The Hermit	Ace of diamonds	Know the answer to your next dilemma.
The Void	Eight of swords	King of clubs	Body functions, but soul is trapped elsewhere.

Balance

The character must change to a radically different alignment. If the character fails to act according to the new alignment, she gains a negative level.

Comet

The character must single-handedly defeat the next hostile monster or monsters encountered, or the benefit is lost. If successful, the character gains enough XP to attain the next experience level.

Donjon

This card signifies imprisonment— either by the imprisonment spell or by some powerful being. All gear and spells are stripped from the victim in any case. Draw no more cards.

Euryale

The medusalike visage of this card brings a curse that only the fates card or a deity can remove. The -1 penalty on all saving throws is otherwise permanent.

Deck Of Many Things 5e Dmg