Preliminary Thoughts on D&D Tarot Magic

Now, don't get me wrong: I don't believe in Tarot as a fortune telling device. But the concept is great, and I think in some respects it would be nice if it was actually useful. There is something spellbinding about the Major Arcana - the way they look in most decks, their powerful symbolism, their iconic feel. We don't live in a world in which they can actually tell us anything, but a world in which they did would be extremely interesting.

In There is Therefore a Strange Land Tarot (like God, Satan, etc.) is real and can be used by all characters. There is also a unique Tarot Reader class. I've even drawn up a table of key words:

The Fool	Excuses
The Magician	Precision or concentration
The High Priestess	Intuition, wisdom
The Empress	Mothering, sexuality, nature
The Emperor	Fathering, authority, power
The Lovers	Love, passion, bonding
The Chariot	Conquest, honour, impulsivity
Justice	Impartiality, clear vision, logic
The Hermit	Silence, guidance, understanding
Wheel of Fortune	Opportunities, possibilities, fate
Strength	Self-control, solidity, perseverance
The Hanged Man	Sacrifice, surrender, acceptance
Death	Loss, transition, inescapability
Temperance	Harmony, moderation, healing
The Devil	Materialism, anger, hedonism
The Tower	Chaos, disillusion, sudden change
The Star	Calmness, trust, joy
The Moon	Lack of clarity, deception, anxiety
The Sun	Enlightenment, splendour, personal power
Judgment	Rebirth, reconciliation, decision
The World	Accomplishment, prosperity, wholeness

The basic idea is as follows: once in a given period of time (a month, say), a PC can go to an NPC fortune teller and have a single fortune told - which means they are assigned one Major Arcana.

A PC of the Tarot Reader class can also read their own Tarot, which means taking a number of cards based on their level and combining them. So, for instance, a 5th level Tarot Reader might be able to take 3 draws. He or she can then combine the 3 cards, or use them individually.

The way this happens is that, when the PC encounters what he or she considers an applicable situation, he or she gets a premonition or feeling that bestows an advantage. So if he drew the fortune of The Chariot, he could use it when trying to browbeat a thug or whatever because it is associated with conquest, and automatically succeed: it was written in the stars that the thug would be intimidated. Or if he has The Moon, he can use it to automatically succeed when trying to tell a lie: fate had already determined this.

I think the critical thing is making sure this doesn't become too story-gamish or too overpowered. I'm not sure I like the idea of somebody being captured by bandits and just using The Tower to dictate that the camp gets thrown into chaos by a distraction, or using The Hanged Man to generate the outcome "the dragon surrenders" as soon as it's encountered. It feels a little bit too much like narrative control. Not that there's anything wrong with that necessarily, but I like D&D effects to be a bit more concrete and measurable - bonuses, saving throws, etc. And yet at the same time just providing bonuses to dice rolls strikes me as a bit banal.