Tarokka Mechanic For New Players
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2026 11:48 am
Hi everyone! Great to see the site is still going!
I'm planning on a campaign with my wife and two of her friends who have never played DnD before. I'm thinking of running a tweaked Curse of Strahd (which will be my third time running it).
I have the old Talon Dunning Tarokka deck from the 3e release and I wanted to use it more in the game. One thing I was thinking of doing is allowing them to make Tarokka draws to help them, but with a potential downside.
Here's the rules I have so far.
- Each player has a suit (sword, star, glyph, or coin) assigned to them according to their character class.
- A number of times per day equal to their proficiency modifier, they can draw from the deck.
- If they draw a suit card, they add the number on the card to their roll.
- If the suit matches the one assigned to them, they add double the number on the card. Drawing the 10 of a suite assigned to them makes the roll a crit.
- If they expend Heroic Inspiration when drawing, they can look at the first card and decide if they want to take it. If not, they have to draw again and take the next one.
- If they draw a major arcana card, something bad happens.
With 40 suite cards and 14 Major Arcana, it gives them a bit over a 1 in 5 chance of drawing a major arcana card and something bad happening to them. Also, as they are drawing from the same deck throughout the session, each good draw by one of them steadily increases the chance of a major arcana draw for all of them.
I may only reshuffle cards back into the draw deck when they level, so they don't feel like instantly pulling for every little thing.
I wanted to mine the community and see if they had some suggestions on the kind of issues the Major Arcana could cause if they are drawn. I'd like the flavour to be more than just forcing a re-roll with disadvantage. Something a bit more flavourful and a bit more roleplaying based is more what I'm thinking of.
I'm planning on a campaign with my wife and two of her friends who have never played DnD before. I'm thinking of running a tweaked Curse of Strahd (which will be my third time running it).
I have the old Talon Dunning Tarokka deck from the 3e release and I wanted to use it more in the game. One thing I was thinking of doing is allowing them to make Tarokka draws to help them, but with a potential downside.
Here's the rules I have so far.
- Each player has a suit (sword, star, glyph, or coin) assigned to them according to their character class.
- A number of times per day equal to their proficiency modifier, they can draw from the deck.
- If they draw a suit card, they add the number on the card to their roll.
- If the suit matches the one assigned to them, they add double the number on the card. Drawing the 10 of a suite assigned to them makes the roll a crit.
- If they expend Heroic Inspiration when drawing, they can look at the first card and decide if they want to take it. If not, they have to draw again and take the next one.
- If they draw a major arcana card, something bad happens.
With 40 suite cards and 14 Major Arcana, it gives them a bit over a 1 in 5 chance of drawing a major arcana card and something bad happening to them. Also, as they are drawing from the same deck throughout the session, each good draw by one of them steadily increases the chance of a major arcana draw for all of them.
I may only reshuffle cards back into the draw deck when they level, so they don't feel like instantly pulling for every little thing.
I wanted to mine the community and see if they had some suggestions on the kind of issues the Major Arcana could cause if they are drawn. I'd like the flavour to be more than just forcing a re-roll with disadvantage. Something a bit more flavourful and a bit more roleplaying based is more what I'm thinking of.