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Dead Man's Gambit - Never Play Cards With Abyssals

The Dead Man's Gambit is a delightful deck of cards; forged of soulsteel, each card in the 75 card pack has its own story and its own soul. While the history of the artifact remains a relative mystery - no one can decide just who's responsible for the damned thing, though many fingers point to the Princess Magnificent, since she seems to enjoy frivolous artifacts. Others point to the lair of the Silver Prince, and claim it was a gift designed for "friendly games" with the Litha to the south. In either case, the Dead Man's Gambit came to be, and has passed through the hands of numerous Abyssals since then. Most consider it to be something of a bad luck charm, due to the rapid changes in ownership that have occured since the deck was first created.

For those interested, I've set up a WhosWho to contain information on the personalities that have become the cards.

Statistics of the Dead Man's Gambit

The Dead Man's Gambit is rated as Artifact ** for Abyssals. Storytellers allowing other types of Exalted to possess the Dead Man's Gambit are encouraged to up the cost to Artifact ***, or require a suitable reason for how someone else managed to lay hands on it. The cards of Dead Man's Gambit, being made of Soulsteel and with razor-sharp edges, may be used as throwing weapons. When used in this fashion, they possess the following statistics:

• Acc +2, Dam +1L, Rate 5, Range 15

Attacks made with the Dead Man's Gambit function as do all other Soulsteel attacks; that is to say, they drain the thrower's Permanent Essence in motes when used against Essence Channelers, and have a +1 Accuracy bonus. This Accuracy bonus is already figured into the weapon's statistics.

The Dead Man's Gambit requires an attunement cost of 4 motes, and cannot be attuned or used as anything but a weapon if any of the cards have been stolen.

Powers of Dead Man's Gambit

Dead Man's Gambit provides the following special powers to the Abyssal attuned to it:

• Disguising - Only ghosts with access to the Shaping Ghost Clay Path were considered for inclusion in the Dead Man's Gambit; now that selection grants the cards the ability to become whatever they need to be. By spending one mote, the Abyssal may cause the deck to shift into a form appropriate for any game of chance. Extra cards are temporarily sent Elsewhere, while those remaining shift form to suit the game or task at hand.
• Stacking the Deck - The Abyssal attuned to the cards may spend a mote while shuffling them, which ensures that the cards will come up badly for the Abyssal's opponents or victims. The cards enjoy making others suffer as they have, and much prefer to make others lose, rather than the Abyssal win.
• Losing Streak - Losing a game to an Abyssal using the Dead Man's Gambit can have some rather severe results. The Abyssal may, at the conclusion of a game where the opponents lost, spend a Willpower point and make an Essence roll. Each success on the Essence roll translates to 1 point of the Unluck flaw being applied to his victim. Successes must be divided in the case of multiple opponents. A failure or botch on the roll inflicts the Abyssals Permanent Essence worth of points of Unluck on the Abyssal himself. For the purposes of this power, an opponent beaten in combat by an Abyssal who was using the weapon purpose of the deck counts as being a situation where the Abyssal can inflict Unluck.
• Reshuffle - The Abyssal using the deck may pull the deck apart and spend a mote of Essence, calling any missing cards back to the deck. The maximum distance any cards may be from the Abyssal is the Abyssal's Permanent Essence * 10 in yards. The Abyssal is then surrounded by a storm of cards as they reshuffle and set the deck, now whole, back in his hand.

Questions, Comments, Opinions, Flames!

Exquisite.
-- Darloth

Sweet. - Falcon

Good christ, the deck makes the opponent lose and you get to screw them over with a permanent flaw as a result? There should be a specification of some time limit or burnoff method for the Unluck, or this should be a stronger artifact. - Talain