Cards and Runes

**Cards** and **runes** are usable items with a wide variety of effects. They take up the same slot as Pills.

Runes and special cards are unlocked by completing challenges.

## Cards

### Major Arcana Cards

When on the ground, these cards look like:

###  Reversed Major Arcana Cards

These cards share the same names as their counterparts (barring the question marks at the end of their names), but have the sprite upside-down, a different message, the narrator sound clip reversed, and give different effects.

When on the ground, these cards look like:

### Playing Cards

When on the ground, these cards look like:

### Magic: The Gathering Cards

When on the ground, these cards look like:

### Credit Card

When on the ground, this card looks like:

### Other Playing Cards

When on the ground, these cards look like:

 ? Card | 5.300.48

### Card Against Humanity

When on the ground, this card looks like:

###  Monopoly Card

When on the ground, this card looks like:

###  Holy Card

When on the ground, this card looks like:

###  Uno Card

When on the ground, this card looks like:

## Runes

### Left Pointing Runes

When on the ground, these runes look like:

### Right Pointing Runes

When on the ground, these runes look like:

### Other Runes

 Rune Shards can be encountered only as replacements for runes that have not been unlocked. Once 6 runes of any kind (including soul stones) are available, Rune Shards cease to spawn.

  Rune Shard

## Soul Stones

Soul Stones are all unlocked by beating both Hush and Boss Rush as their respective Tainted character. They count as runes for the purposes of  and  and can spawn anywhere a rune can.

## Other

These are items other than cards and runes (and Pills) that take up the consumable slot. When on the ground, each of these items are uniquely identifiable by their respective icon.  These consumables cannot be replicated by either  or , and  has no effect on them, but the  will always duplicate these into themselves.

 Emergency Contact | 5.300.50
 Cracked Key | 5.300.78

## Probabilities

Cards that spawn as random ones, i.e. with a sub-type of 0, have the following probabilities:

* Any tarot card (1-22) - 66.66%
	+ A specific tarot card - 3.03%
* Any reverse tarot card (56-77) - 11.22%
	+ A specific reverse tarot card - 0.51%
* Any face card (23-31) - 7.74%
	+ A specific face card (23-31) - 0.86%
* Queen of Hearts (79) - 0.86% (same as a specific face card)
* Any special card (42-54) - 3.51%
	+ A specific special card - 0.27%
* Cracked Key (78) - 0.27% (same as a specific special card)
* Wild Card (80) - 0.27% (same as a specific special card)
* Any rune (32-41) - 3.60%
	+ A specific rune - 0.36%
* Any soul stone (81-97) - 5.95%
	+ A specific soul stone - 0.35%
* Rune shard (55) - 0.00% (never spawns on a fully completed save file, chosen only as a replacement otherwise)

## Notes

* The game counts runes as cards for the purposes of , and .
	+ Even though runes no longer count as cards as of *Repentance*,  still prevents new runes from appearing except through forced drops (such as from  or ). Runes that already existed prior to picking up Little Baggy will not be converted.
	+ does not prevent runes/soul stones from generating, will sometimes turn pills into either, and allows holding two of them.
* XV - The Devil card's effect does not stack with multiple uses, nor does it stack with .
	+ grants its additional 1.5x damage multiplier with XV - The Devil.
	+ It also does not increase the chance of a Devil Room or Angel Room appearing when used like with the Book of Belial.
* The damage dealt by II - The High Priestess counts as explosion damage, meaning it will not damage Isaac when possessing  or .
	+ The foot summoned by The High Priestess still counts as explosion damage, even though  or  won't prevent the damage. This means that the card can destroy rocks and open doors, including the entrance to Secret Rooms.
	+ If there are no enemies in a room, II - The High Priestess will target Shopkeepers before targeting Isaac.
* Using XI - Strength as  ??? will give him a permanent Soul Heart instead of a temporary one.  When  Keeper has only one Coin Heart, he can use XI - Strength to gain a second one which is also permanent.  Both of the mentioned characters will lose the temporary health granted by XI - Strength.
* If Isaac uses XI - Strength card with only Soul, Black, or Bone Hearts left, and loses the non-Red Hearts while in the same room, he retains the full Red Heart Container that XI - Strength grants.
* The heart container granted by XI - Strength cannot be used to purchase a devil deal. However, if Isaac has no other red heart containers to spent, then one granted by XI - Strength can be used this way. This also works if the devil deal costs 2 hearts, but Isaac only has 1 before activating the Strength card.
	+ III - The Empress? also works this way.
* Runes will be replaced with cards if no runes are unlocked.
	+ However, items that normally spawn runes (e.g.  or ) can spawn Rune Shards before any runes are unlocked.
* The Emperor, The Stars, and The Hermit will act as a random teleport in cases where there isn't a boss room, treasure room, or shop to teleport to.
* Using IV - The Emperor on a Curse of the Labyrinth floor will teleport Isaac to the second Boss Room.
* III - The Empress card's effect can be stacked with multiple uses of the same card (including uses by Blank Card), and also stacks with the .
	+ The damage bonus is the number of uses *squared*, e.g. +1.5 \* 4 \* 4 damage for using the card via a Blank Card, with Tarot Cloth and Car Battery equipped.
* Using the Joker card in Womb / Utero II will instantly teleport Isaac to the Devil Room or Angel Room with a trapdoor leading to Sheol or to the Cathedral. This can be used to skip Mom's Heart and will not count as a kill.
	+ After unlocking It Lives, Devil or Angel Rooms in Womb / Utero / Scarred Womb II no longer contain trapdoors and instead have their normal contents.
* Using The Joker card can allow Isaac to encounter Devil Rooms or Angel Rooms on floors they otherwise cannot appear on, such as the first floor, or Corpse II.
* While Curse of the Maze is active, 0 - The Fool, IV - The Emperor, IX - Hermit, XVII - The Stars, and XVIII - The Moon may fail and leave Isaac in a different room than intended. The Joker card still works normally.
* Using the XIV - Temperance can, in rare cases, spawn the Blood Donation Machine directly on Isaac, forcing him to use it once. This happens more often if Isaac is against a wall when the card is used.
* All teleportation cards except 0 - The Fool,  XVII - The Stars, and  Joker are unavailable in Greed Mode.
* If alternate versions of consumables have been unlocked (for example,  Charged Keys or  Mega Chests), any cards that can spawn that type of consumables (for example, Ace of Spades or  VIII - Justice?) have a chance of being replaced with those rarer consumables.
	+ Key Rings are the only exception to this.
	+ Cards that are explicitly stated to spawn a type of consumable (such as VI - The Lovers spawning red hearts) will almost always drop that exact type of consumable, unless they're used in specific Secret Room.
* Using a Black Rune to absorb items in Boss Rush or Challenge Rooms counts as taking the items and will cause waves of bosses or enemies to start spawning.
* Using the Blank Card with the ? Card teleports Isaac to the I AM ERROR room of the current floor. This consumes both the Blank Card and the ? Card.
* Black Rune, unlike , will grant stat ups for sacrificing active items. This makes Black Rune useful even while holding Void as any active item that would be detrimental to absorb can instead be absorbed by Black Rune.
* If  is held, and the currently held card has Tarot Cloth effects, the card will flash, indicating that it will be amplified by Tarot Cloth.
* Using any teleport cards while inside of The Beast fight will simply move Isaac instantly to different spot in the same room. This also includes the Joker card.
* Leaving Trinkets in a Boss Room or Treasure Room will transform them into a Cracked Key when on the Ascent to Home, if the Red Key is unlocked. This allows Isaac to unlock a Tainted Character without needing the Red Key.
* If a Black Rune is used while Isaac is holding an item above his head, it will consume the item. This allows him to immediately absorb passive items bought from Devil Rooms, Black Markets, or Shops. This also can be used to give Isaac a chance to see what an unknown item is before deciding if he wants to consume it.
* If Isaac uses the Black Rune to absorb items from a room with choice pedestals, it will only absorb one item, and the other item vanishes as if Isaac took it.
* The Black Rune can be used to absorb  if Mother isn't the goal of the run. Can also be used to absorb  or .
* Using the Rune of Jera on a Wild Card will copy the Wild Card, allowing Isaac to infinitely copy any other consumables in the room.
* Once Mother is defeated, a unique marked skull will spawn on Depths / Necropolis / Dank Depths II or XL. When destroyed, it will always drop 0 - The Fool card (Or an identified Telepills if  has been picked up).
* Soul of Cain's effect can open any door that  can, including the Strange Door and door to Mega Satan.
* Using Soul of The Lost and then beating a boss for a completion mark within the same room will not count as a completion mark for  The Lost. Instead, the completion mark and achievement will go to the character who used the soul stone.
* Using IV - The Emperor? in Womb / Utero/ Scarred Womb / Corpse I or II will teleport Isaac to a boss fight from the current boss pool.
	+ Using it in Sheol / Cathedral / Dark Room / Chest / The Void / Home will teleport Isaac to a random room.
	+ Using it in ??? will teleport Isaac to a boss fight from the Womb boss pool.
	+ Using it in an I AM ERROR room will take Isaac to the last room he was in when exited, allowing him to further explore the floor.
	+ It can be used to skip Boss Rush after touching a pedestal item. After defeating the extra boss, leaving the room will lead Isaac to the regular, locked Mom boss room.
* Using IV - The Emperor? again on the same floor after defeating the boss it spawns takes Isaac back to the same cleared Boss room.
* For the purposes of tracking 's effect on  The Lost /  Tainted Lost, VI - The Lovers? doesn't add any hidden Broken Hearts to their healthbar, allowing them to use the card without penalty.
* Items granted by Soul of Lilith do not count as collected, and can still spawn in any pool they're in. Familiars obtained this way contribute toward transformations such as Conjoined.
* Soul of Lilith takes its familiars from the Baby Shop item pool, however when Isaac's stuff is rerolled, those familiars are rerolled in the Treasure Room item pool.
* Items granted by Soul of Lilith can be destroyed by  /  for their respective bonuses right after using the soul stone while the pedestal pickup animation is playing.
* Characters granted by Souls of the Forgotten / Jacob & Esau can interact with Blood Donation Machines, Devil Beggars and Hell Games, allowing  The Lost and  Tainted Lost to safely use them without dying, or a form of invulnerability.
* Characters granted by Souls of the Forgotten / Jacob & Esau can't be used to leave a room, thus they can't be used to negate damage from exiting a Curse Room.
	+ They also cannot pick up items, nor can they pick up things such as pills/cards/soul stones. They can pick up hearts, however Soul of the Forgotten can only replenish its bone hearts by collecting a bone heart pickup.
* Items granted to Esau when summoned from the Soul of Jacob and Esau will remove those items from their respective pools as if the player had obtained them. This also prevents future uses of the soul stone from giving that item to Esau.
* When the Soul of Jacob and Esau is used, some items given to Esau will also apply to Isaac for the floor. This happens with  and mapping items such as , for example.
	+ If Esau is given , pills will remain identified for the rest of the run, even if negative pills aren't converted into positive ones.
* Items granted to the player by  are considered starting items by the effect of "XVII - The Stars?". Thus, only the first item picked up within the current run is removed.
* Before using the IX - The Hermit? card, dropping every unwanted card/pill/rune/trinket from the floor into the same room can generate heaps of extra money.
* As  Tainted Lost, every card has a roughly 10% chance to be replaced with a Holy Card.

## Unlockable Achievements

* The Necronomicon - Use  4 times.

* Blinding Baby - Use  while holding .

* Ancient Recall - Use **Cards and Runes** 20 times.

* Huge Growth - Increase in size 5 times in a single run via , "One makes you larger" pills, , etc..

* Baby-Bender - Use  or  while already having homing tears.

## Trivia

* The appearance of the tarot cards seems to be based on the Universal Tarot of Marseille deck produced by Lo Scarabeo, most clearly seen with the card backs as well as the splash image that appears when using The Sun.
* The runes and their names ingame are based on the Elder Futhark alphabet system and its reconstructed Proto-Germanic names. In popular culture, runes often signify that something is in some way magical.
	+ *IX - The Hermit?'*s effect was based directly on the Rune of Fehu from *Antibirth*. No other Antibirth rune was adapted into Repentance.
* The Suicide King card is a nickname for the King of Hearts, referred to as such because its artwork depicts a king who seems to be sticking a sword into his own head.
* The Get out of Jail Free card is a reference to a card with the same name that appears in the table game *Monopoly*.
* The "A Card Against Humanity" card is a reference to the card game *Cards Against Humanity*.
* Ancient Recall, Era Walk, Huge Growth, and Chaos Card are all based on cards from *Magic: The Gathering*.
	+ The Chaos Card is a reference to the card "Chaos Orb", which also instantly destroys enemies that it touches.
	+ The "Ancient Recall" card is a reference to the card "Ancestral Recall", which also draws three cards.
	+ The "Era Walk" card is a reference to the card "Time Walk", which allows players to take an extra turn.
	+ The "Huge Growth" card is a reference to the card "Giant Growth", which buffs creatures summoned in the game. Its message might be a reference to the card "Become Immense", a card with a similar effect to Giant Growth.
* A NULL card with ID 0 exists, revealed by the "giveitem k0" Debug Console command. It can't be acquired or used in any way.
* Many cards were given new unique back sprites in Booster Pack #5, some originating from Antibirth.
* *Soul of Cain'*s ability is likely a reference to  being an unlock for  Cain in the original *Antibirth* mod.
* *Soul of Judas'* description and ability are a reference to the Spy from Team Fortress 2.
* *Soul of Samson'*s description is a reference to Judges: it is said that Samson killed an army of 1,000 Philistines using a donkey's jawbone.
* *Soul of Eve'*s description is a reference to the original description  had when taken as  Eve in the original *Antibirth* mod.
	+ Its effect was also probably inspired by the old original  effect, which caused  Eve to sometimes generate extra s upon being hit that would persist between rooms.
* *III - The Empress?* will display a pop up saying "*The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night*" a reference to *Castlevania II: Simon's Quest* when night turns to day.
	+ This is also a reference to 's (and by extension III - The Empress) pop up being the day to night message in said game.
* When *VII - The Chariot?* is activated, the statue will sometimes look like Edith, a character from Antibirth that wasn't adapted into Repentance.
* The Reverse Tarot Cards refer to tarot card readings, where a reversed card has a contrary meaning to its upright variant.
* *XVII - The Stars* in actual tarot decks is just referred to as *XVII - The **Star***.
* Rune Shards exist to counteract players who purposely avoided unlocking less useful runes. For example, prior to *Repentance* it was possible to purposely avoid all rune unlocks except Jera, to make exploits involving Jera and  much easier. With the inclusion of the Rune Shard, avoiding rune unlocks to prioritize another is no longer possible.