Ranma draws from the Deck of Many Things, and... what?
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:07 am
just got my hands on a copy of Dungeon #177, which hosts the 4e update of an old D&D artifact, known as the Deck of Many Things. An item of chaos and mystical power, this relic has a simple, yet dangerous, ability; a person may draw one card from the Deck, and will find themselves afflicted or blessed by a powerful magical effect, depending on which of the Deck's cards was drawn. Once the card has been drawn, the Deck vanishes and leaves you to suffer. I like D&D, Ranma 1/2 and mixing the two, so, I thought I'd come here with a fairly simple exercise: if Ranma was to somehow get his hands on the Deck of Many Things, how do you think any given card would play out in Nerima? There's no "right" answer to this, nor a "wrong" one, either. This is just curiosity seeking satiation. Of course, I've provided all of the cards here so folks know what any given one will do; I'm just curious about how, say, Ranma would be affected by drawing the Ruin card, what item might appear to Ranma if he draws the Keys card, or who he'd become targeted by if he drew the Flames or Rogue cards.
Balance: You have been judged - and found wanting. The powers of fate and luck demand you take some step to equalize the balance within yourself. For Good and Lawful Good characters, they must undergo the Walk on the Dark Side quest (find a specific Good or Lawful Good being and either kill them or otherwise bring ruin to them), while Evil and Chaotic Evil characters must undergo the Shot at Redemption quest (find a specific Good or Lawful Good being and convince it to grant you spiritual clemency in exchange for undergoing a mission for them). Unaligned characters may choose which quest to follow.
Comet: An omen of greatness in your future. In the game, this card means that your next quest rewards double the experience points. In Ranma 1/2... gain twice the benefit from a training regime? Learn a technique in half the usual time? Don't know what it'd do.
Donjon: Powerful magic imprisons you in a state of stasis and buries you deep beneath the earth (typically trapping you in a dungeon, drow fortress or similar chthonic stronghold), in which you will remain until somebody finds you and performs a ritual to release you.
Euryale: You are wracked with physical weakness, your physical fortitude sapped and drained; only magic can cure you, but only after you prove yourself in even your weakened condition. In game terms, suffer a -3 penalty to saving throws, and a Remove Affliction will only remove this once you score a natural 20 for a saving throw.
Fates: Fortune not only smiles upon you, but lovingly takes you in her arms. Just once, you may call upon luck to fall heavily in your favor. In game terms, you may use the Shelter of Fate once only after drawing the Fates card, enabling you to make an attack roll against you become a natural 1, or to make a saving throw, Athletics, Acrobatics or Endurance check of yours count as having made a natural 20.
Flames: A powerful being from another plane becomes aware of your existence - and offended by it. This creature will haunt you out of magically induced enmity, harrassing you and even trying to have you killed until you manage to find it and either kill it or make peace with it.
Fool: The Deck of Many Things blights your fortune in some new way. Discard the Fool card and draw from the top of the Deck until you draw one of the cards of Ruination (Balance, Donjon, Euryale, Flames, Idiot, Rogue, Ruin, Skull, Talons, The Void).
Gem: Riches and wealth are summoned to you by the Deck's fickle magic, giving you gold and jewels equal to 225000 gold pieces.
Idiot: You are wracked with mental weakness, your facilities leeched from you and your knowledge slipping away; only magic can cure you, but only after you prove yourself in even your diminished condition. In game terms, Intelligence based skill checks, attack rolls and pure Intelligence checks all suffer a -2 penalty that can only be removed with a Remove Affliction ritual, which will only work after you have scored a natural 20 in such a check.
Jester: The Deck decides to test your luck to the ultimate level. Discard the Jester and draw two new cards; if one of these is a Ruination card (see Fool), you are afflicted with that card's magic. If you draw two Ruination cards, you can choose which is your doom. If you draw two benevolent cards, you may choose which blessing is applied to you.
Key: The Deck rewards your daring by bestowing upon you a powerful magical item; while this cannot be of legendary strength nor unique throughout the planes (aka, not another artifact), it can otherwise take whatever form you most desire, be it weapon, armor, or other trinket.
Knight: Fate draws to your side a person to become your boon companion, an individual who, while not quite your equal in strength, knows and accepts that the powers of chance have summoned them to be your ally and friend, your confidant and compatriot. In game terms, this character comes from "elsewhere in the world" (which could be taken as meaning that, if drawn in, say, the Astral Sea, it could summon a celestial of some sort) and is 1 level lower than you. Strictly speaking they're supposed to be of the same race and gender, but I'm personally willing to waive that restriction.
Moon: Great magical energies are called into being, raw and malleable, reacting to your very will and shaping into an effect you desire, then passing on. In game terms, immediately cast any one ritual that does not have a permanent effect (so Scrying would be okay, Enchant Magic Item wouldn't - I can list up all of the Rituals in 4e if folks want me to/think it would help).
Rogue: The Deck twists the mind of one of your closest companions, or a community/religious leader in a position to do you harm, compelling them to seek to harm you in any way they can. You do not know this curse has been laid upon them, but only by personally defeating them or otherwise reasoning with them can you lift the curse.
Ruin: The ever-greedy Deck sucks the power from any and all magical items you may have in your possession, reducing them to nothing but raw residuum.
Skull: The forces of the dead are stirred against you, with powerful undead appearing to claim your life - by killing you themselves. In 4e, this takes the form of 4 Sword Wraiths (spectral undead warriors), a Nightwalker (a powerful, demon-like undead with shadowy powers), and an Immolith (an undead fire demon).
Star: A star-mark is emblazoned upon your body, allowing you to tap into the power of the celestial bodies to temporarily bolster your physical or mental abilities to a degree. You can only draw upon their power once every eight hours of rest, but the ability to do so remains yours for the rest of your life.
Sun: A powerful magical item, of strange but effective nature (a Wonderous Item, in game terms) is bestowed upon you.
Talons: An avaricious claw grips at your very spirit, rendering you unable to tap into your truest power or the power of magical items until you make a significant gesture of generosity and receive a ritual to remove the lingering blight. In game terms, you can't use Encounter powers, Daily powers, or magic item powers until you give away a magic item of at least your level (in a Ranma setting, I'd make this sacrifice more nebulous - nobody has any magic items to give away) and receive a Remove Affliction ritual.
Throne: A symbol of leadership and power, the Throne card bestows upon you the knowledge of a castle, keep, dungeon or other appropriate lair that is rightfully yours and how to find it - as well as the vague warning that it already lies in the hands of false keepers that you must defeat. Should you already have a suitable lair, then the Throne card enhances your status by bestowing upon you one or more magical items to enhance your lair (225000gp worth).
Vizier: A seed of supernatural insight takes root in your brain. Once, and once only, you may will it to sprout and deliver unto you the knowledge to answer almost any questions that may plague you (in game terms, any info that could be delivered by a maximumly successful Consult Oracle or Voice of Fate ritual). Once its power has been called upon, it wilts and fades away.
The Void: The baleful magic of the Deck tears your soul from your body and entraps it within an item held on another plane of existence, leaving your body in a magical stasis-coma on the material plane. Only if someone can find this item, retrieve it and break it, will your soul be freed and you restored to life.
Balance: You have been judged - and found wanting. The powers of fate and luck demand you take some step to equalize the balance within yourself. For Good and Lawful Good characters, they must undergo the Walk on the Dark Side quest (find a specific Good or Lawful Good being and either kill them or otherwise bring ruin to them), while Evil and Chaotic Evil characters must undergo the Shot at Redemption quest (find a specific Good or Lawful Good being and convince it to grant you spiritual clemency in exchange for undergoing a mission for them). Unaligned characters may choose which quest to follow.
Comet: An omen of greatness in your future. In the game, this card means that your next quest rewards double the experience points. In Ranma 1/2... gain twice the benefit from a training regime? Learn a technique in half the usual time? Don't know what it'd do.
Donjon: Powerful magic imprisons you in a state of stasis and buries you deep beneath the earth (typically trapping you in a dungeon, drow fortress or similar chthonic stronghold), in which you will remain until somebody finds you and performs a ritual to release you.
Euryale: You are wracked with physical weakness, your physical fortitude sapped and drained; only magic can cure you, but only after you prove yourself in even your weakened condition. In game terms, suffer a -3 penalty to saving throws, and a Remove Affliction will only remove this once you score a natural 20 for a saving throw.
Fates: Fortune not only smiles upon you, but lovingly takes you in her arms. Just once, you may call upon luck to fall heavily in your favor. In game terms, you may use the Shelter of Fate once only after drawing the Fates card, enabling you to make an attack roll against you become a natural 1, or to make a saving throw, Athletics, Acrobatics or Endurance check of yours count as having made a natural 20.
Flames: A powerful being from another plane becomes aware of your existence - and offended by it. This creature will haunt you out of magically induced enmity, harrassing you and even trying to have you killed until you manage to find it and either kill it or make peace with it.
Fool: The Deck of Many Things blights your fortune in some new way. Discard the Fool card and draw from the top of the Deck until you draw one of the cards of Ruination (Balance, Donjon, Euryale, Flames, Idiot, Rogue, Ruin, Skull, Talons, The Void).
Gem: Riches and wealth are summoned to you by the Deck's fickle magic, giving you gold and jewels equal to 225000 gold pieces.
Idiot: You are wracked with mental weakness, your facilities leeched from you and your knowledge slipping away; only magic can cure you, but only after you prove yourself in even your diminished condition. In game terms, Intelligence based skill checks, attack rolls and pure Intelligence checks all suffer a -2 penalty that can only be removed with a Remove Affliction ritual, which will only work after you have scored a natural 20 in such a check.
Jester: The Deck decides to test your luck to the ultimate level. Discard the Jester and draw two new cards; if one of these is a Ruination card (see Fool), you are afflicted with that card's magic. If you draw two Ruination cards, you can choose which is your doom. If you draw two benevolent cards, you may choose which blessing is applied to you.
Key: The Deck rewards your daring by bestowing upon you a powerful magical item; while this cannot be of legendary strength nor unique throughout the planes (aka, not another artifact), it can otherwise take whatever form you most desire, be it weapon, armor, or other trinket.
Knight: Fate draws to your side a person to become your boon companion, an individual who, while not quite your equal in strength, knows and accepts that the powers of chance have summoned them to be your ally and friend, your confidant and compatriot. In game terms, this character comes from "elsewhere in the world" (which could be taken as meaning that, if drawn in, say, the Astral Sea, it could summon a celestial of some sort) and is 1 level lower than you. Strictly speaking they're supposed to be of the same race and gender, but I'm personally willing to waive that restriction.
Moon: Great magical energies are called into being, raw and malleable, reacting to your very will and shaping into an effect you desire, then passing on. In game terms, immediately cast any one ritual that does not have a permanent effect (so Scrying would be okay, Enchant Magic Item wouldn't - I can list up all of the Rituals in 4e if folks want me to/think it would help).
Rogue: The Deck twists the mind of one of your closest companions, or a community/religious leader in a position to do you harm, compelling them to seek to harm you in any way they can. You do not know this curse has been laid upon them, but only by personally defeating them or otherwise reasoning with them can you lift the curse.
Ruin: The ever-greedy Deck sucks the power from any and all magical items you may have in your possession, reducing them to nothing but raw residuum.
Skull: The forces of the dead are stirred against you, with powerful undead appearing to claim your life - by killing you themselves. In 4e, this takes the form of 4 Sword Wraiths (spectral undead warriors), a Nightwalker (a powerful, demon-like undead with shadowy powers), and an Immolith (an undead fire demon).
Star: A star-mark is emblazoned upon your body, allowing you to tap into the power of the celestial bodies to temporarily bolster your physical or mental abilities to a degree. You can only draw upon their power once every eight hours of rest, but the ability to do so remains yours for the rest of your life.
Sun: A powerful magical item, of strange but effective nature (a Wonderous Item, in game terms) is bestowed upon you.
Talons: An avaricious claw grips at your very spirit, rendering you unable to tap into your truest power or the power of magical items until you make a significant gesture of generosity and receive a ritual to remove the lingering blight. In game terms, you can't use Encounter powers, Daily powers, or magic item powers until you give away a magic item of at least your level (in a Ranma setting, I'd make this sacrifice more nebulous - nobody has any magic items to give away) and receive a Remove Affliction ritual.
Throne: A symbol of leadership and power, the Throne card bestows upon you the knowledge of a castle, keep, dungeon or other appropriate lair that is rightfully yours and how to find it - as well as the vague warning that it already lies in the hands of false keepers that you must defeat. Should you already have a suitable lair, then the Throne card enhances your status by bestowing upon you one or more magical items to enhance your lair (225000gp worth).
Vizier: A seed of supernatural insight takes root in your brain. Once, and once only, you may will it to sprout and deliver unto you the knowledge to answer almost any questions that may plague you (in game terms, any info that could be delivered by a maximumly successful Consult Oracle or Voice of Fate ritual). Once its power has been called upon, it wilts and fades away.
The Void: The baleful magic of the Deck tears your soul from your body and entraps it within an item held on another plane of existence, leaving your body in a magical stasis-coma on the material plane. Only if someone can find this item, retrieve it and break it, will your soul be freed and you restored to life.