Using Tarot in DND

[Podpeople]

Hi

I am helping build a new crit\fumble table, and I thought it would be nice using a deck of tarot for the effects.
Now I want to use all the cards, major arcana and minor arcana.
Whenever someone will draw a major arcana card something big will happen and whenever someone will draw a minor arcana card something small will happen or nothing at all.
Now I wonder how should I balance it all, since the base chance to draw a major arcana card is quite big. (22 out of 78).
I would also welcome any ideas about the effects that can happen, or effects that I should not include.

 

[Ferret]

Draw Twice.

Two Major = very rare, but bad 8%
Major and Minor (any order) = 41%
Two Minor = 51%

The last two, are about equal in chance, so shouldn't be two far apart. Maybe Two Minor is simply cinematic, Major and Minor is something small but not awful (combat advantage, lose a minor action?), Two Major is a serious problem.

 

[Podpeople]

Thank you for the reply.

Your solution could work, however I wanted each card to have it's own effect.
With your solution the number of possibilities increases to an insane amount.
One solution I can think of is:
Two Major: use the effect of the first drawn card.
Major and Minor: use the effect of the Minor.

What do u think?

 

[Ferret]

Sounds pretty good

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

How about just not defining the effects at all? Maybe the minor arcana could have fairly well defined effects, but the major arcana are just wild cards basically. The DM and the player use the inspiration of the card to come up with something.

Really I think the idea is too powerful to use as a crit system (tbh I never really liked them anyway). It might be more interesting as a randomization device for dealing with the whole core mechanic. Admittedly it would take a bit of thought to work out how it would operate without unbalancing the whole game, but I think it could be possible.

For some inspiration in this direction look up the RPG Everway. It used basically a modified tarot deck. It was a radically different game from D&D (or any other RPG ever published), but it could be quite cool.

 

[Mythlore]

Don't forget that court cards count for 16 out of 78, as well -- you never know when you will encounter one of them.

Since all the minor arcana count as the 4 elements, you might want to create one effect based on each element -- perhaps Earth or Fire decreases your Armor rating by the rank of the card (and a court card is equal to 10, perhaps, as well); Water or Air might decrease your Will; Fire or Air might decrease your Reflex, and Earth or Fire might decrease your Fortitude. Choose whichever set works best for you -- if you like Earth reminding you of the Fortitude or Armor; if you like Water or Air reminding you of Will; if you like Fire or Air for Reflex...

The Court Cards might also provide a temporary penalty to your attack instead, equal to -10, or -5 per rank (a King would be -20!), or just -2 per rank -- until the end of your next turn.

The Major Arcana might have a different set of stunts, since when you draw one, classically, it suggests something -major- is the problem.

Fool - Drop weapon
Magician - Suffer energy backlash
High Priestess - Cannot use encounter powers
Empress - Deals minimum damage (bonuses still apply)
Emperor - Cannot use daily powers
Hierophant - Cannot use at-will, encounter, or daily powers
Lovers - All adjacent foes gain an opportunity attack on you (you provoke)
Chariot - Teleported 5 spaces into or away from battle (if away, into; if in battle, away)
Strength - Damage bonuses reduced to 0 (deal base damage plus magic item bonus only)
Hermit - You cannot be aided by another, healed, or targeted by any allies
Wheel of Fortune - Reroll / roll twice, take the lowest roll
Justice - You take damage equal to the damage you deal to your enemy
Hanged Man - Cannot attack or target enemies
Death - Lose 1 healing surge
Temperance - Must take your second wind on next action
Devil - Hit points reduced by half
Tower - Reduced to 1 hit point
Star - You take 10/tier radiant damage
Moon - You are stunned, then dazed as an aftereffect
Sun - You are blinded, then all foes have partial conceal as an aftereffect
Judgment - You deal maximum damage; you take the damage instead.
The World/Universe - Redraw 1d4 cards from the deck, just for kicks

All of these major arcana ideas might be clever enough to work either "until the end of your next turn" -- making you take the penalty for a critical fumble for up to a full turn afterwards -- or as a 'save ends' condition, which is a slightly heftier penalty. As for the direct and immediate effects, some of them may actually hit -- but they carry a penalty... I tried to scale up the devastation as you draw a higher and higher arcana.

What do you think?