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Deck of Illusions 5e: Card Table, Rules and Best Uses
A Deck of Illusions 5e is an uncommon wondrous item: a box of 34 cards, usually missing 1d20 − 1 of them, that each create a harmless illusory creature when drawn at random and thrown within 30 feet. The illusion looks real, lasts until its card is moved or it's dispelled, and is exposed by touch or a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. Each card works once. It needs no attunement. The verdict: a bag of free distractions with no duration limit, as good as the player using it is at bluffing.
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Deck of Illusions Rules Text
SRD 5.1 (2014) first, with its playing-card table, then SRD 5.2.1 (2024) with its d100 table.
Deck of Illusions
2014 rules
Wondrous item, uncommon
UncommonNo attunement
This box contains a set of parchment cards. A full deck has 34 cards. A deck found as treasure is usually missing 1d20 - 1 cards.
The magic of the deck functions only if cards are drawn at random (you can use an altered deck of playing cards to simulate the deck). You can use an action to draw a card at random from the deck and throw it to the ground at a point within 30 feet of you.
An illusion of one or more creatures forms over the thrown card and remains until dispelled. An illusory creature appears real, of the appropriate size, and behaves as if it were a real creature except that it can do no harm. While you are within 120 feet of the illusory creature and can see it, you can use an action to move it magically anywhere within 30 feet of its card. Any physical interaction with the illusory creature reveals it to be an illusion, because objects pass through it. Someone who uses an action to visually inspect the creature identifies it as illusory with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. The creature then appears translucent.
The illusion lasts until its card is moved or the illusion is dispelled. When the illusion ends, the image on its card disappears, and that card can't be used again.
This box contains a set of cards. A full deck has 34 cards: 32 depicting specific creatures and two with a mirrored surface. A deck found as treasure is usually missing 1d20 − 1 cards.
The magic of the deck functions only if its cards are drawn at random. You can take a Magic action to draw a card at random from the deck and throw it to the ground at a point within 30 feet of yourself. An illusion of a creature, determined by rolling on the Deck of Illusions table, forms over the thrown card and remains until dispelled. The illusory creature created by the card looks and behaves like a real creature of its kind, except that it can do no harm. While you are within 120 feet of the illusory creature and can see it, you can take a Magic action to move it anywhere within 30 feet of its card.
Any physical interaction with the illusory creature reveals it to be false, because objects pass through it. A creature that takes a Study action to visually inspect the illusory creature identifies it as an illusion with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. The illusion lasts until its card is moved or the illusion is dispelled (using a Dispel Magic spell or a similar effect). When the illusion ends, the image on its card disappears, and that card can't be used again.
Table: Deck of Illusions
1d100
Illusion*
01–03
Adult Red Dragon
04–06
Archmage
07–09
Assassin
10–12
Bandit Captain
13–15
Basilisk
16–18
Berserker
19–21
Bugbear Warrior
22–24
Cloud Giant
25–27
Druid
28–30
Erinyes
31–33
Ettin
34–36
Fire Giant
37–39
Frost Giant
40–42
Gnoll Warrior
43–45
Goblin Warrior
46–48
Guardian Naga
49–51
Hill Giant
52–54
Hobgoblin Warrior
55–57
Incubus
58–60
Iron Golem
61–63
Knight
64–66
Kobold Warrior
67–69
Lich
70–72
Medusa
73–75
Night Hag
76–78
Ogre
79–81
Oni
82–84
Priest
85–87
Succubus
88–90
Troll
91–93
Veteran Warrior
94–96
Wyvern
97–00
The card drawer
*Stat blocks for these creatures (except the card drawer) appear in "Monsters."
The mechanics barely moved. The table did: 2024 replaced the card-by-card list with a 1d100 roll and swapped several creatures.
How the Deck of Illusions Works
How many cards you get
A full deck has 34 cards. A found deck is usually missing 1d20 − 1, between 0 and 19, so the average found deck has about 24 cards. Count them when the party finds it; that number is the deck's total uses.
Drawing and throwing
It takes your action (a Magic action in 2024) to draw a card at random and throw it to a point within 30 feet. The draw has to be random, or the magic doesn't work, so you can't pick the dragon card for the boss fight.
•2014: the card you draw decides the illusion. The red dragon is the ace of hearts; the two jokers show you, the deck's owner. With a full deck, each card is a 1 in 34 chance, and you have a 2 in 34 (about 6%) chance of drawing yourself.
•2024: you roll 1d100 on the table to decide the creature. An Adult Red Dragon is 01-03 (3%); the card drawer is 97-00 (4%).
What the illusion can do
It looks and acts like a real creature of its kind, except that it can do no harm. While you're within 120 feet and can see it, you can spend your action (Magic action) to move it anywhere within 30 feet of its card. The 2014 version can be several creatures from one card, such as a knight and four guards; the 2024 version is always one.
The card text settles most of the questions people ask. The illusion "behaves as if it were a real creature" (2014) or "looks and behaves like a real creature of its kind" (2024), so an illusory troll snarls, paces and lunges like a troll, and it "appears real" at its proper size, so it hides what stands behind it. What it can't do is harm anyone: its claws and breath land with no effect, and the first attack that passes through a target exposes it just as touch does. It only travels when you spend the action to move it, and never more than 30 feet from its card.
How it's exposed
•Anything physical passes through it, which reveals it at once.
•A creature can spend its action (the Study action in 2024) to look closely and make a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. In 2014 the illusion then "appears translucent"; the 2024 card drops that line.
Most monsters have no reason to inspect a dragon instead of running from it. A clever foe with an Investigation bonus of +3 sees through it on 12+, 45%.
How long it lasts
Until its card is moved or the illusion is dispelled, with no time limit. Dispel Magic ends it, and 2024 names that spell. When the illusion ends, the card goes blank for good.
That missing duration is the item's strongest feature. An illusory troll left guarding a camp stays there all night.
The card lies on the ground under the illusion, since you throw it to a point and the illusion forms over it. The illusion lasts "until its card is moved", by anyone: an enemy who spots the card and kicks it aside ends it.
The tables differ too. The 2014 list includes a beholder, which has no stat block in SRD 5.1, and an "ogre mage", a name no SRD 5.1 stat block uses. The 2024 table drops both and adds a Basilisk, Guardian Naga, Oni and Wyvern, and every 2024 entry except the card drawer has a stat block in the 2024 SRD (the table's "Veteran Warrior" is the stat block printed as Warrior Veteran).
At the table: with the 2014 deck, a DM can look at the next card and know what's coming; with the 2024 deck nobody knows until the d100 lands, and the same creature can come up twice. The 2014 groups (bandit captain and three bandits, priest and two acolytes) look like more of a threat than a single 2024 creature.
Is the Deck of Illusions Worth It?
For a party that likes to bluff, yes. Each card is a free, permanent distraction that costs no spell slot and no attunement. Uses that work:
•Covering a retreat. A fight-ending red dragon or lich appearing between you and pursuers buys a round or more of hesitation from anything that can't tell it's fake.
•Guarding a camp or a door. Since the illusion doesn't expire, it can stand watch overnight.
•Faking reinforcements during a negotiation or an ambush.
•Drawing fire. Creatures that don't know better will spend attacks on it; one attack passing through ends the bluff.
Compare Minor Illusion: it costs nothing but makes only a 5-foot image that lasts 1 minute. The deck gives full-size moving creatures with no duration, at the cost of not choosing which one you get.
When it's a trap: in a fight against creatures with good Investigation or a reason to touch things (a melee brute will swing at it first and learn the truth). And drawing yourself from the deck is the least useful result.
Deck of Illusions for DMs
Where it turns up. An uncommon item with no attunement fits an early hoard, a carnival or a gambler's estate.
How to run it. Decide in advance how monsters react to an illusion. Animals and low-Intelligence creatures are fooled until something passes through it; a lich or a dragon might spend an action to study it. Roll the DC 15 check openly so players know where they stand.
Pricing. 400 GP under the 2024 SRD, the value of an uncommon item. The SRD doesn't reduce that for missing cards. DM ruling: scale the price by cards left (a half-empty deck at half price) when it's sold. The 2014 SRD has no prices. The shop price calculator helps with the rest.
Hooks.
•A bandit gang has been terrorizing a road with a "troll". Nobody has ever been hurt, and the troll is always standing on the same patch of ground.
•A noble's guards are a knight and four soldiers who never eat, never sleep and never answer questions. The card is under the rug.
•A 2014 deck turns up with only the two jokers left. Each shows the deck's owner: two decoys of whoever claims it, ready for a prison break.
Which cards are gone and which illusions are still standing guard somewhere is easy to lose between sessions. Loreify records the game so you can check.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a Deck of Illusions illusion last?
Until its card is moved or the illusion is dispelled. There's no time limit. When it ends, the card goes blank and can't be used again.
How do you see through a Deck of Illusions illusion?
Touch it, since objects pass through it, or spend an action (the Study action in 2024) to inspect it and succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check.
Can a Deck of Illusions illusion deal damage?
No. It looks and behaves like the real creature, but it can do no harm.
How many cards are in a Deck of Illusions?
A full deck has 34 cards. A deck found as treasure is usually missing 1d20 − 1 cards, so it has between 15 and 34.
Does a Deck of Illusions require attunement?
No. Anyone can draw from it, in both the 2014 and 2024 rules.
Item text: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Analysis, rulings and ideas are Loreify's own.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.