I’ve tried to make it less campaign-shattering here. There’s still about the same mix of good and bad things (actually, slightly more good than bad), but they’re all designed to have no lasting repercussions in and of themselves (e.g. getting turned to stone ends in 5 minutes, though you being petrified for the rest of the fight could end up inadvertently losing the battle and everyone being captured…).

In particular, I’ve designed the Deck of Many Things to be used in combat. Most of the effects should be balanced regardless of level, but for a few of them you will need to look up monsters, items or damage based on the level of the person who drew the card (all included below). It’s worth noting that none of the effects require attack rolls, making the deck a desirable option against particularly tough foes…

If you’d like a description of the Deck of Many Things, or a table to use a standard deck of playing cards in place of it, I refer you to its entry on d20srd.org.

Balance

An unbalanced scale appears between yourself and your opponent. Two rays of light shoot out, hitting each of you, and your foe becomes visibly weaker as the scales balance them.
Effect: Your HP total and your target’s HP total are both reduced to whichever total is smaller. Temporary hit points are not counted and not affected by this card.

Comet

As you hold the card up, it morphs into a flaming boulder and smashes into your target.
Effect: The target and all creatures within 3 squares of it are knocked prone and take fire damage based on your level (see below).

Donjon

Spectral chains appear, binding you.
Effect: You are restrained for 5 minutes.

Euryale

A head wreathed in snakes appears from the center of the card, forcing you to stare at its terrible visage.
Effect: You are petrified for 5 minutes.

The Fates

The fates implore you to draw again… hope that they are working for you.
Effect: Look at the top two cards and choose one to draw. Put the other on the bottom of the deck.

Flames

You and your foe lock eyes from across the battlefield. You are each filled with a fiery rage that will only be quenched by the other’s blood.
Effect: You and the target are marked by each other until one of you is defeated. While so marked, neither of you may mark or be marked by anyone else, and if either of you makes an attack which does not include the other as a target the attacker takes fire damage based on your level (see below).

Fool

Drawing this card, you hear haughty laughter. You feel a compulsion to draw again.
Effect: The DM looks at the top two cards of the deck and chooses the one he deems most detrimental or least beneficial to you. You draw this card and put the other card on the bottom of the deck.

Gem

An illusory gem appears, floating in the air silently in front of you. When your target sees the gem, he is drawn to it.
Effect: The target is entranced by the gem. It will do everything in its power to reach the gem as quickly and efficiently as possible, even suffering opportunity attacks and the like. If it is grabbed, it will try to escape, if it has teleportation powers or other mobility powers it will use them, etc. This effect lasts until the creature ends its turn adjacent to or in the same space as the gem, at which time the gem vanishes and the creature behaves normally.

Idiot

You suddenly feel less competent as years of training wash away…
Effect: The next time you use a daily attack power, it takes a -4 penalty on attack rolls for that power. If you draw the idiot multiple times before using a daily attack power, you suffer this -4 penalty on the next few daily attacks as appropriate. This penalty lasts until it is applied.

Jester

This grinning harlequin encourages you to tempt fate.
Effect: Draw two more cards and resolve them at the same time.

Key

You feel empowered by this card.
Effect: Gain a +2 bonus to all attack rolls, damage rolls, defenses and saving throws until the end of the encounter.

Knight

The card summons forth a ghostly form, which begins attacking your foes.
Effect: A card wraith based on your level (see below) is summoned adjacent to you. It fights for you and your allies, with an initiative just after you, and takes a full share of the experience.

Moon

Your foe’s eyelids become heavy…
Effect: The target is put to sleep. It remains asleep for one hour or until damaged.

Rogue

You get the sudden impression that everyone’s out to get you…
Effect: The next time an ally uses a daily attack power which could target you, it must target you.

Ruin

The weight of impending failure weighs heavily upon your shoulders.
Effect: Take a -2 bonus to all attack rolls, damage rolls, defenses and saving throws until the end of the encounter.

Skull

The card summons forth a ghostly form which begins attacking you!
Effect: A card wraith based on your level (see below) is summoned adjacent to you. It fights against you and your allies, with an initiative just after you, and you get experience as normal for fighting it.

Star

The card flares up with an intense brightness.
Effect: You and all creatures within line of sight of you take radiant damage based on your level (see below).

Sun

The warming sun restores you, body and soul.
Effect: You may spend a healing surge to be restored to full HP.

Talons

Suddenly, your magic items don’t seem quite so helpful…
Effect: Until you next reach a milestone, all your magic items lose all powers and special properties except for enhancement bonuses. This includes losing bonus critical damage.

Throne

By this card’s majesty, enemies are turned to friends.
Effect: The target becomes friendly to you and your allies, fighting alongside you. You do not get experience for it, but nor does it take a share of experience.

Vizier

With the Vizier’s sage advice guiding you, you’re sure to navigate the deck successfully.
Effect: Look at the top card of the deck. You may put it on the bottom of the deck. If you do, look at the new top card of the deck and you may again choose to put it on the bottom. Then draw a card.

The Void

Your soul is drawn into the card. So trapped, you experience nothing but darkness, cold, and emptiness.
Effect: You fall unconscious for 5 minutes. Nothing can wake you while under the effects of this card.

Damage by level (For Comet, Flames, and Star)

Card Wraiths by level (For Knight & Skull)

Also, I’ve made the promised compilation of the monsters from the Steal This Setting: Ravnica series. Let me know what you think!

Steal This Setting: Ravnica compilation

Ravnica: City of Guilds. A planet covered entirely by city, ruled by ten guilds vying for control and kept in check only by an ancient enchantment called the Guildpact.

Ravnica is the setting for the Ravnica block, the twelfth block of Magic: The Gathering, and setting for the Ravnica, Guildpact and Dissension sets. It is also an absolutely fantastic setting for your favorite fantasy RPG.

Pros

• The Guilds: The ten guilds which are central to the plot of Ravnica are also amazing resources for gamers. There’s so much intrigue and so many interactions and plot hooks that I don’t even know where to begin. Characters might belong to the guilds, trying to join them, trying to escape them, etc.
• Room for Expansion: Aside from the guilds, Ravnica’s actually not been explored that much. There’s room for pretty much anything in the city which spans an entire world.
• Dungeons: The city of Ravnica is like an urban parfait, with layers upon layers of streets and buildings. More importantly, while much of the city is constantly being demolished and rebuilt, there’s also room for ancient tenements thousands of years old, inhabited by Urza-only-knows what, and filled with ancient secrets and treasures.

Cons

• Lack of Diversity: Actually, not as big a problem as you might think. Despite the fact that Ravnica’s just one giant city, the city is actually quite diverse. Upscale high rises kept in pristine condition, dilapidated slums, dark and noxious sewers, etc. That said, at the end of the day, it is still a giant city, so you’ll never find, say, a mountain or a forest.
• Narrow power band: Ravnica seems like a setting with a relatively narrow band of power, where it’s difficult for me to envision truly epic stories. Using 4e D&D as a reference, I can certainly come up with a couple of challenges for 30th level characters (Niv Mizzet and Rakdos immediately spring to mind), but I can’t really see a whole lot there to challenge a group of really high-level characters. Ultimately what it comes down to is that, without making some radical alterations to the assumptons of your system, the “big fish” aren’t as a rule much more powerful than the “small fries.” Still in the D&D 4e paradigm, I probably would have difficulty coming up with much else to do beyond, say, 15th level. Then again, maybe not. Who knows?

The Guilds

Wikipedia, as usual, has a really great article on Ravnica, including awesome descriptions of the guilds. I’ll be going over each of the ten guilds in a bit of detail, and today we’ll be talking about two of them, the Azorius Senate and the Boros Legion. Not the most exciting pair, to be completely honest, but they have an interesting dichotomy. In essence, you might think of the Azorius as the lawmakers and the Boros as their enforcers. It’s a bit of a simplification, but not much.

The Azorius Senate: A bunch of pencil pushers and lawmakers who seek to create absolute order by stifling everything under layers and layers of bureaucracy.

To be completely honest, the senate is probably one of the more boring guilds, for roleplaying purposes. Sure, there’s some potential for entertainment as you stymie the players and have them arrested for not filing the proper paperwork before sticking their gum to the bottom of that table, but that would get old pretty fast.

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The Boros Legion: Think of the Boros as the natural result when you’ve got a town guard in a city that takes up an entire planet. They’re a regimented military which concerns itself with upholding the laws and morality, preferring swift action and retribution.

Again, not one that jumps out with any really interesting possibilities, but they’re sure to show up a lot. Whenever the characters are involved in some hijinx, a Boros guard’s probably not far off.

Tune in next week for House Dimir, the Golgari Swarms, the Gruul Clans, and the Izzet League!