The Deck of Dragons

The Deck of Dragons

A powerful draconic deck of cards with life changing consequences

Affiliations	Chronepsis
Rarity	Legendary
Type	Deck of Cards

The Deck of Dragons is a legendary artifact created by the draconic goddess of fate, Chronepsis, to bind or punish dragons who threaten the balance of the world. When a card is drawn from the deck, the powers of these dragons are unleashed. Each card carries a draconic boon or curse of immense power, capable of reshaping the destiny of whoever draws it.

Description

The Deck of Dragons is a set of 22 cards, each crafted from enchanted dragonhide and edged in burnished gold. Every card bears the face of a dragon, from ancient dragons to wyrmlings, and even to the mighty Tiamat and noble dragon god Bahamut, to the Ruby Dragon Sardior and the timeless Chronepsis herself. The deck has two additional non-draconic cards: the Card of the Dragon Slayer, said to grant unmatched power against dragons, and the Card of the Dragon Cultists, whose curse brings immediate misfortune and draconic enmity to the drawer.

The deck is usually stored in a slender obsidian box inlaid with ruby and sapphire gems, lined with velvet dyed the colors of dragon scales. When a card is drawn, the dragon’s power momentarily manifests, bestowing a gift, unleashing destruction, or changing destiny itself.

The Deck of Dragons was forged at the start of the War of Many Names and was a creation of Chronepsis, the draconic goddess of fate, to preserve the balance between dragons and the world. Whenever a dragon, whether noble or malevolent, threatened to tip the scales of power, Chronepsis bound their essence into a card, sealing their destiny within the deck. While only Chronepsis could use a deck to seal away a dragon’s power, mortals and other beings across the realm found that when they drew a card from this deck, incredible things would occur, drawing on the draconic magic from within the card. Over time, dragons of every kind, chromatic, metallic, and gem, became aware of its existence, and stories of mortals who dared to wield the cards spread like wildfire, often ending in ruin or legendary heroism. Legends say that five such decks exist across Quelmar, lost to the hoards of ancient dragons, or misplaced in an adventurer's attic.

Rumors tell that one deck lies at the bottom of Tiamat's hoard, while another is in the possession of the Goddess of Death, Silent.

Card Suits: Dragon Types

• Hearts: Metallic Dragons
• Diamonds: Gem Dragons
• Clubs: Chromatic Dragons
• Spades: Planar Dragons

Card Ranks: Dragon Power

• Ace: Dragon Deities
• King: Dragon Ancients
• Queen: Dragon Adults
• Jack: Dragon Younglings
• Two: Dragon Wyrmlings
• Joker: Special

Powers and Abilities

Deck of Dragons

Wondrous item, legendary

The Deck of Dragons is a wondrous and terrifying deck of 22 cards that is brimming with potent draconic magic, a magic that is only released when you pull a card. Before you draw a card, you must declare how many cards you intend to draw and then draw them randomly (you can use an altered deck of playing cards to simulate the deck). Any cards drawn in excess of this number have no effect. Otherwise, as soon as you draw a card from the deck, its magic takes effect. You must draw each card no more than 1 hour after the previous draw. If you fail to draw the chosen number, the remaining number of cards fly from the deck on their own and take effect all at once.

Once a card is drawn, the card transforms into an illusory dragon whose essence floods into the drawer. The effect then takes place, and the card vanishes from the deck. Once all 22 cards are drawn, the deck vanishes back into the timeless hoard of Chronepsis, reassembling itself. If the deck is destroyed, it reforms 1d100 years later somewhere in Quelmar.

The Deck of Dragons Card Table

Card	Effect
Ace of Hearts	Card of the Platinum Dragon: You can cast the Wish spell 1d3 times, but Chronepsis can determine the wish’ outcome to best preserve balance.
Ace of Diamonds	Card of the Ruby Dragon: You are granted immortality and cannot die of age or natural causes.
Ace of Clubs	Card of the Dragon Queen: You are immediately teleported to within 30 feet of the Dragon Queen Tiamat who becomes aware of your presence.
Ace of Spaces	Card of the Fate Dragon: You are immediately teleported to Chronepsis lair in the extraplanar domain of the Quinbarah where she places you on trial for meddling with fate.
King of Hearts	Card of the Golden Dragon: You immediately gain a +2 bonus to all ability scores.
King of Diamonds	Card of the Sapphire Dragon: Your soul is trapped in a rare gemstone and teleported into the hoard of a powerful dragon.
King of Clubs	Card of the Red Dragon: Somewhere in Quelmar an Ancient Dragon makes it their life mission to destroy you and everything you love.
King of Spades	Card of the Celestial Dragon: You turn into an Adult Dragon of your choice for 1d4 days as per the True Polymorph spell.
Queen of Hearts	Card of the Silver Dragon: The card immediately turns into 1d100 x 1,000 GP and 2d20 x 1000 GP with of gems.
Queen of Diamonds	Card of the Crystal Dragon: You gain a Very Rare or rarer magic item of the DMs choice. The DM rolls a d20. On a 1, the item is secretly cursed.
Queen of Clubs	Card of the Blue Dragon: A 100 mile catastrophic storm forms centered on you. The storm lasts for 2d6 days and causes immense destruction.
Queen of Spades	Card of the Abyssal Dragon: Your soul splits in two. A duplicate of yourself, with equal strength and items, appears somewhere in the multiverse. They are your opposite in alignment and will seek your destruction.
Jack of Hearts	Card of the Bronze Dragon: You transform into a Half-Dragon with scales of your choice. You gain blindsight with a radius of 10 feet, and darkvision to a radius of up to 60 feet. You gain resistance to a type of damage based on your scales and gain the ability to read and speak Draconic. Twice per day you can use your breath weapon, emitting the energy type based on your scales in a 30-foot cone, with a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 11d8 damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Jack of Diamonds	Card of the Topaz Dragon: You sprout draconic wings and gain a permanent flying speed of 60 feet.
Jack of Clubs	Card of the Green Dragon: All of your wealth, magic items, and equipment vanish into Tiamat’s hoard. You are left with nothing but the clothes on your back.
Jack of Spades	Card of the Shadow Dragon: Your maximum Hit Points is reduced by half (rounding down). This reduction cannot be removed short of a wish spell.
Two of Hearts	Card of the Brass Wyrmling: The card turns into a Brass Dragon Wyrmling that sees you as their parent.
Two of Diamonds	Card of the Emerald Wyrmling: You gain permanant telepathy up to 120 feet.
Two of Clubs	Card of the White Wyrmling: The card explodes in a burst of draconic energy. Each creature within 30 feet of the card when it is pulled must make a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw or take 6d12 Force damage, taking only half damage on a successful save.
Two of Spades	Card of the Ethereal Dragon: Your race changes to that of a Dragonborn if it wasn't already.
Joker (With TM)	Card of the Dragon Slayer: Your spell and weapon attacks now deal an additional 4d6 damage to dragons.
Joker (Without TM)	Card of the Dragon Cultist: All dragons instinctively distrust you, giving you disadvantage on Persuasion, Deception, Intimidation, and Insight checks on dragons.

Variant: World Breakers

There are rumors in Quelmar of a secret sixth Deck of Dragons, not with 22 cards, but with 26! Along with the normal cards in a Deck of Dragons, the deck also contains 4 World Breaker Cards, cards in the likeness of the World Breaker, a draconic monster prophesized to end the world. For centuries Tiamat has longed to create a World Breaker capable of destroying Quelmar, and Chonepsis has sealed a number of these potential world destroying monsters in her deck. To play with a Worldbreaker deck, add four Seven cards into the Deck of Dragons

The Deck of Dragons: World Breaker Cards

Card	Effect
Seven of Hearts	Card of the Metallic World Breaker: Your body is covered in shining Platinum Scales giving you a +7 bonus to your AC, Resistance to all damage, your constitution increases to 24, and immunity to the Charmed, Frightened, Paralyzed, and Stunned conditions. You no longer suffer the effects of Exhaustion and all Metallic Dragons see you as an ally.
Seven of Diamonds	Card of the Gem World Breaker: You immediately take 30d6 psychic damage. If you fall to zero hit points as a result of this damage, you are under the effects of the Feeblemind spell for 1d4 years. If you survive, your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores all become 26, you gain immunity to psychic damage, and you gain teleptahy out to a range of 10 miles.
Seven of Clubs	Card of the Chromatic World Breaker: You immediately turn into an Ancient Red Dragon loyal to Tiamat. Your alignment turns to lawful Evil and your character falls into the DMs control. Only a Wish spell can reverse this transformation.
Seven of Spades	Card of the Planar World Breaker: You gain the ability to traverse the planes and are able to cast the spells Dimension Door, Plane Shift (self only) and Teleport (self only) at will.

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