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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FoxWander" data-source="post: 2704021" data-attributes="member: 1356">In an old 2E game our group actually found FOUR decks!! Remember, it was  just another random magic item back then, not an artifact. And we abused them so much the item was banned from the game. My PC was the only original character from the group who found the first one (from that one I got enimity with Grazzt, a treasure map and magic weapon, and avoid any situation- which I used to avoid the enimity <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> ) but then the second group stumbled on 3 more. We were exploring & clearing out (with plans to rebuild) the lost city from my treasure map when we found one in a mummy's treasure horde. Since my PC (a half-orc mage/thief) had encountered one before, I had the cleric cast Augury before we drew cards from the deck. The DM allowed it  since we could really use the good cards to fix all the messed up things that had happened to our party so far. It worked out particularly well for my character because I gained an 18 Charisma (unheard of for a half-orc) and a small keep, the service of a 4th level fighter (A kobold we had let live to act as our guide. It eventually changed alignment to good and became kind of our party mascot. A pre-cursor to Meepo?), and +2 to a prime stat (Dex went from 16 to 18, I already had an 18 Int which is why I was a magic-user. So now I had three 18s when I'd started with 3d6 in order for stats- Diaglo would be proud! (of course it was still AD&D)).Later our party wizard finally got the Find Familiar spell and the DM ruled that he was high enough level that he would get either a special familiar or a large version of whatever animal he rolled. He got a Giant Owl- a critter that had a miniscule chance of actually having a treasure horde (I have no idea why owls of any size would have treasure, but it was in the MM that way), and if it did have treasure, an even smaller chance to have a magic item. This owl had treasure and a magic item. You guessed it- a deck of many things. The DM rolled his eyes but since he'd rolled it in front of us, he let it stand- but only with the provision that we 1) couldn't use Augury again, and 2) used any really cool good stuff to rebuild the city and temple that our cleric and wizard had just re-dedicated to Mystra. So, no Augury this time. But we did have 3 scrolls of Anti-Magic Shell. We cast the A-M, stepped inside flipped the cards over and pulled all the good cards out, then stepped outside the A-M and drew from our deck of all good cards. The DM ground his teeth but let it go since he like to reward clever ideas (even if they did border on major cheating) and since we personally wouldn't gain any more stuff. So now all the city walls and buildings got repaired/reinforced and the surrounding forests were cleared of major hazards (multiple wish cards), our henchmen (who were now city guards) got some spiffy new magic weapons and our new city got a decent starting treasury.Finally, the red dragon that lived in the mountains overlooking the city had, of course, yet another deck in it's randomly generated treasure horde. (BTW, we "defeated" the dragon by slamming a helm of opposite alignment on its head, making it Lawful Good! Then we convinced it to redeem itself from its evil ways by defending the city it had previously razed and terrorized. So now the city had a REAL spiffy champion!! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> )Anyway the DM would only let the deck stay if we used NO magic to effect our draws, we could only draw once each and whatever happened happened. We were fine with that because we had one final trick up our sleeve. By now we had all read and re-read the description for that deck so much we had it memorized. And I had noticed something- nothing  happens to you if you just look at the cards! It's only when you actually draw a card that it's effect happens.  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" /> So I elected to go first and said, "I turn the deck over and go thru all the cards to DRAW the Jester. I'll elect the '2 more draws' rather than the XP. Then I DRAW the Moon and Star cards (1-4 wishes and 2 pts on major stat)." The DM just shook his head and cursed under his breath. Then he ruled that any cards drawn disappear rather than go back in the deck. So everyone else still got good stuff, but not the really good stuff. But that's how the Deck got banned from our campaign. And my 3d6-in-order-for-stats Half-orc got an 18 Cha, 18 Dex and 20 Int! (not to mention a Daern's Instant Fortress which can only be found and entered by those I specifically invite, a Book of Infinite Spells that you could flip back and forth through and pages that didn't turn on their own, plus a permanent Unseen Servant for my Instant Fortress which I could mentally command from any distance (to turn the pages of my book <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> as well as having dinner ready and waiting <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing    :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" /> )Surprisingly enough, as bad as all that sounds, it didn't really "ruin" the campaign either. We were doing a kinda high-powered campaign because both our main DMs were leaving soon. So it actually just set the tone.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /></blockquote>

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