Istus Cards

The Istus Cards are a set of 20 cards. Each one is given to an adventuring party during a point in their adventure as a means of commentary or foreshadowing future events by Istus. There are four colors (white, black, red, and blue) implied to correlate to the four elemental artifacts.

Each card has a stated "effect"; it is implied that these effects can only be activated if all 20 of the cards are collected.

## The 20 Cards

### TO LAUGH, TO TALK. COMMONFOLK. (WHITE)

You gain 10,000 XP, or you can draw two additional cards beyond your declared draws.

This card was found after Roselyn's death.

### TO THINK, TO RECONSIDER. MASS. (WHITE)

Your mind suffers a wrenching alteration, causing your alignment to change. Lawful becomes chaotic, good becomes evil, and vice versa. If you are true neutral or unaligned, this card has no effect on you.

This card was found during the Malice Party's meeting with Yvenny, who was lying to them about being Francis.

### TO CREATE, TO WORK. (WHITE)

Increase one of your ability scores by 2. The score can exceed 20 but can't exceed 24.

Has not been found yet.

### TO SHRUG, TO SIGH, TO RESIGN OR LET GO. (WHITE)

You lose 10,000 XP, discard this card, and draw from the deck again, counting both draws as one of your declared draws. If losing that much XP would cause you to lose a level, you instead lose an amount that leaves you with just enough XP to keep your level.

This card was found during arc 3, directly after it was revealed that Sloknek had died.

### TO TRICK, TO GAMBLE. (WHITE)

Permanently reduce your Intelligence by 1d4 + 1 (to a minimum score of 1). You can draw one additional card beyond your declared draws.

This card was found after first entering Julian (1)'s Magic Menagerie, and after getting the Mythical Longsword of Adjudication.

### TO CONFINE, TO TRAP, TO REFUSE. (BLACK)

You disappear and become entombed in a state of suspended animation in an extradimensional sphere. Everything you were wearing and carrying stays behind in the space you occupied when you disappeared. You remain imprisoned until you are found and removed from the sphere. You can't be located by any divination magic, but a wish spell can reveal the location of your prison. You draw no more cards.

This card was found after Ham and Thanatos had stolen from a random shopkeeper in Port Kadileo.

### TO HAVE, TO TAKE, TO ACCEPT. (BLACK)

You gain proficiency in the Persuasion skill, and you double your proficiency bonus on checks made with that skill. In addition, you gain rightful ownership of a small keep somewhere in the world. However, the keep is currently in the hands of monsters, which you must clear out before you can claim the keep as yours.

This card was found in the middle of the underdark section of the Grainsboro Catacombs.

### TO BE SAD, TO CRY. SPACE. (BLACK)

This black card spells disaster. Your soul is drawn from your body and contained in an object in a place of the DM's choice. One or more powerful beings guard the place. While your soul is trapped in this way, your body is incapacitated. A wish spell can't restore your soul, but the spell reveals the location of the object that holds it. You draw no more cards.

This card was found in the start of arc 3, when Mauder possessed one of the golems.

### TO DEFEND. KNIGHTS, CRAFTMEN, SKILLED. (BLACK)

You gain the service of a 4th-level fighter who appears in a space you choose within 30 feet of you. The fighter is of the same race as you and serves you loyally until death, believing the fates have drawn him or her to you. You control this character.

This card was found on Ezekiel's armor during arc 2.

### TO DESTROY. TIME. (BLACK)

All forms of wealth that you carry or own, other than magic items, are lost to you. Portable property vanishes. Businesses, buildings, and land you own are lost in a way that alters reality the least. Any documentation that proves you should own something lost to this card also disappears.

This card was found during Coliocanth's rampage at the end of arc 5.

### TO QUESTION, TO INTERROGATE, TO INVESTIGATE. (BLUE)

Reality's fabric unravels and spins anew, allowing you to avoid or erase one event as if it never happened. You can use the card's magic as soon as you draw the card or at any other time before you die.

Has not yet been found.

### TO LOOK, TO PERCEIVE. ARISTOCRATS, SCHOLARS, MAGICIANS. (BLUE)

At any time you choose within one year of drawing this card, you can ask a question in meditation and mentally receive a truthful answer to that question. Besides information, the answer helps you solve a puzzling problem or other dilemma. In other words, the knowledge comes with wisdom on how to apply it.

This card was found after meeting Josephine.

### TO TREASURE. VALUE. (BLUE)

Twenty-five pieces of jewelry worth 2,000 gp each or fifty gems worth 1,000 gp each appear at your feet.

This card was found after breaking into the Hallowed Sanctum vault, and finding many powerful items, including one third of the Demon Orb blueprints and what would later be revealed as the Magic Eraser.

### TO BE HAPPY, TO LOVE, TO BE. (BLUE)

You are granted the ability to cast the wish spell 1d3 times.

Has not yet been found.

### TO GIVE, TO LOSE. (BLUE)

Every magic item you wear or carry disintegrates. Artifacts in your possession aren't destroyed but do vanish.

This card was found after learning Julian (1) had the Book of Truth and had been lying to the Malice Party about it for half a year.

### TO DIE, TO KILL. (RED)

You summon an avatar of death-a ghostly humanoid skeleton clad in a tattered black robe and carrying a spectral scythe. It appears in a space of the DM's choice within 10 feet of you and attacks you, warning all others that you must win the battle alone. The avatar fights until you die or it drops to 0 hit points, whereupon it disappears. If anyone tries to help you, the helper summons its own avatar of death. A creature slain by an avatar of death can't be restored to life.

Has not yet been found.

### TO BE ANGRY, TO HATE. (RED)

A powerful devil becomes your enemy. The devil seeks your ruin and plagues your life, savoring your suffering before attempting to slay you. This enmity lasts until either you or the devil dies.

This card was found in the necromancer's spellbook during arc 2.

### TO ACT, TO DO, TO LIVE. ENERGY. (RED)

You gain 50,000 XP, and a wondrous item (which the DM determines randomly) appears in your hands.

It was found by Christobal, Thanatos's second character. So. The conditions he found it in aren't important. Pls disregard.

### TO FAIL, TO HAVE AN ACCIDENT. (RED)

The card's medusa-like visage curses you. You take a -2 penalty on saving throws while cursed in this way. Only a god or the magic of The Fates card can end this curse.

This card was found right before Jeremy's death in arc 2.

### TO ATTACK. ROGUES, CRIMINALS, PAUPERS. (RED)

A nonplayer character of the DM's choice becomes hostile toward you. The identity of your new enemy isn't known until the NPC or someone else reveals it. Nothing less than a wish spell or divine intervention can end the NPC's hostility toward you.

This card was found after meeting Olivia for the first time in the Royal Gala.