POLL: Deck of Many Things + POLL

Remove all ads!

I suppose that there are many (old) threads about the Deck, but many new players have come since then. And my question is: What surprise did it give to you? Did you like it? Did you reload often and experimented with it to get the best cards?

Poll Information
This poll contains 4 question(s). 32 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Deck of Many Things + POLL (32 votes.)

Did you like the idea of Deck in Watcher's Keep? (Choose 1)
* It is brilliant. It gives a very good addition. - 31% (10)
* Good idea. It was interesting. - 59% (19)
* Average - 6% (2)
* Below average - 3% (1)

If it caused a negative effect but not death, did you reload your savegame? (Choose 1)
* Never. - 6% (2)
* Sometimes. - 31% (10)
* Often. - 31% (10)
* Always. - 31% (10)

Did you experiment with it and reloaded if needed, to get the best cards? (Choose 1)
* All the time. I wanted the best cards! - 25% (8)
* Only until I got the XP giving cards (SUN and/or THRONE) - 13% (4)
* A bit. Why not? - 53% (17)
* Never. - 9% (3)

How many times did it kill you? (Choose 1)
* Very few times. - 38% (12)
* Sometimes. - 44% (14)
* Often. - 19% (6)
* All the time I tried to use it, actually - 0% (0)

 

I think the Star is the most important card. It usually takes me about an hour to get.

 

I reloaded quite a few times when I first picked it up because I was after the whopping XP bonus you get with it. But every other time I've just picked at random and gone with the results I've got (unless they've been disastrously bad results).

 

Well, while I was writing the FAQ for the DoMT I only had to reload a few times... CTRL - R fixed a lot.

 

What does the Star do? I cannot remember now.

 

Ah well whenever I use it I lose 10k or my party turn to squirels etc bad magic!

 

So a random effect... perhaps there is a better effect than these, or drowling would have not liked it.

 

I think Star was +1 to the user's primary stat. (not sure though)

 

Beside the cards Sun (+300000xp for party) and Throne (+1000000xp for party), I remember another good card called Vizier. It gave constant Mantle (immunity vs. weapons with enchantments up to +2) for a few days. I know this is not so big deal, but much better than e.g. the Void...

 

Yes, Star gives +1 permanently to the primary ability score for the active class. Not sure what happens if you're multiclass though.

 

Dan's omnicient guide says:

Donjon Imprisoned
Ruin Lose 100,000 gold
Void Disintegrated
Magician Transformed into a rabbit, Remove Curse to undo
Skull Summons a hostile death shade, harmed by +5 or higher
Key Random magic item
Star If you are a warrior then +1 to strength; if you are
a Priest, +1 to wisdom; if you are a wizard, +1 to
intelligence, if you are a rogue, +1 to dexterity
Throne Party gets 1,000,000 experience
Moon Character gets +10 to max hit points
Euryale Character loses 1 to all saving throws
Flames Summons a hostile Baalor and some fire elementals
Knight Summons in four demon knights
Rogue Charms the character (they become Red and hostile)
Talons Blinds character. Remove curse to undo
Fool Lowers Wisdom to 3 and Confuses; remove curse spell
Comet Character gets +5 fire resistance
The fates Temporarily boosts +1 to all stats, lasts one day
Gem Get a rogue stone, king's tear, sapphire, diamond,
ruby, and emerald
Vizier Mantle spell for one day
Jester Character gains 50,000 experience
Sun Entire party gains 300,000 experience

So Star, Moon, Throne are the way to go.

 

Couple of corrections to your list:

You lose ALL your gold; not just 100K.

You get a Ring of Protection +3; nor a random magic item.

 

Thanks Spelladonna, would you reveal your sources to us?

 

I saw something on another non-SP site that gave a very detailed description of the deck of many things. Basically, you can't get the three best cards available. There are cards listed as "good" cards, and other cards as "bad" cards. The probability of drawing a "good" of "bad" card on the second and third draws are based on the previous draws. If your previous draw(s) consisted of "good" draws you are more likely to get a "bad" draw on subsequent draws, and the more "bad" draws you get, the more likely you are to get a "good" draw on subsequent draws.

Moreover, not all the cards are possible to draw on each draw. It is more appropriate to think of the deck as three sub-decks rather than one deck. It is for this reason that some combinations of cards are impossible. For example, I think it is impossible to get both the Throne (1 million XP for party) and the Key (+3 ring of protection) because both of these cards are only available on the third sub-deck. I'm not sure if that's precisely right, but I do know of the three most valued cards - party gets 1 million xp, party gets 300,000 xp, and the +3 ring of protection, two of them occur only on a certain sub-deck, so you can't get all three during a three card draw. If I can find the site, I'll post a link to it, although it was a long time ago that I found this.

 

Actually I think I'd prefer the +10 HPs to most of the others. A ring of protection +3 sounds great but AC is pretty meaningless in TOB because most of the enemies can hit you no matter how good your AC is. And while a million XP is cool, generally by this stage you've amassed so much XP that an extra split between the whole party doesn't amount to much (about two thirds what they needed to advance a level).

 

Good cards, no doubt.
Getting Sun (+300 000 XP) was relatively easy, so I usually used that. I did not reload saves and experienced, that is not fair and fun. So if I got Sun instead of Throne, I was still satisfied.

 

I found that reloading doesn't work. I got the same card after a reload that I got before one, every time.

 

Yes, that's true. Now, I remember the same. To get the best cards, the only effective way is to save the game before you start experimenting with the cards. And when you encounter a bad card or you are unsatisfied, you have to reload that savegame and start the process over. Since the order you get the cards in is not totally pre-generated (the order seems to become fixed after the first draw (?)), this should work. Once I tried it, just for fun. And it worked.