Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
Paizo is no stranger to creating near-infinite generators. From their Pathfinder Deck of Endless NPCs to their Starfinder Deck of Many Worlds, Paizo excels at handing people a deck of cards and telling them to go nuts. When I came across the Pathfinder Deck of Endless Treasure, I knew I had to check it out to see what kinds of items it could make that I could eventually throw at my players in our playthrough of the Sky King’s Tomb Adventure Path.
Pathfinder Deck of Endless Treasure Overview
The small box for the Pathfinder Deck of Endless Treasure contains 108 cards, ten of which list instructions to follow in creating your own unique Pathfinder items. It’s honestly a lot of punch for such a confined package. It’s probably only a matter of time before somebody converts the cards into an online item generator, but for now it’s a compact analog method for creating unique items for your table.
The process to make an item is much simpler than the instruction cards might suggest. Draw four cards from the deck, and arrange them in an overlapping manner so that the top, left side, and bottom stick out from underneath a top card. This generates an item of a specific type, item level, unique look, abilities, and a plot hook related to the item. Since these cards are meant to be used multiple times, the best way to capture your creations is to probably snap a photo of the combination, and then convert that to an Item template.
There are several aspects of this system that make it worth its while. For one, you can very quickly and easily generate 24 items in minutes just by using each card in the deck. This makes the process approachable and understandable without making it unnecessarily convoluted. Then, of course, there’s the aspect of having over 100 million combinations of items, which means that you’ll never run out of content. Lastly, the Gamemaster still has the freedom to change anything that they see in the results. These make great springboards for item creation, giving plenty of ideas for you to mix and match.
From my experience using the Pathfinder Deck of Endless Treasure so far, the best way to maximize the usefulness is to first pick out a few cards representative of items that your party would appreciate. For example, we don’t have any Gunslingers or firearms in our campaign, so I’m not going to start with an Arquebus or a Flintlock Musket as the main item. Instead, I’ll start with the Dwarven Clan Dagger which is perfect for either of the two dwarves in the party, or the Longbow for our resident Ranger. Then, I’ll dish out the remaining three cards to determine the special abilities.
I also appreciate the two included tables that show the recommended Damage by Level and Difficulty Class (DC) by level, which streamlines the process of assigning those values so that they’re in an appropriate range for our level 6 party.
You can also use the Pathfinder Deck of Endless Treasure for more than just weapons and armor. The deck includes other valuable items like gems, cosmetics, and orbs, but even goes so far as allowing you to make custom fishing poles, paintbrushes, and wheelchairs. Have another item type in mind that Paizo somehow didn’t include? Use that as your baseline and snag the details of another card to apply to it. Don’t feel limited by the infinite options and flex those creative muscles.
Pathfinder Deck of Endless Treasure: Open the Vaults
There are few things I love more as a Gamemaster than a random generator, so the Pathfinder Deck of Endless Treasure is a massive win in my book. It’s a fast and easy way to add flavor to your treasure, even if you don’t apply all of the bells and whistles that the generator offers. Every gem should not be magical in nature, so just omit that when you’re populating your treasure pools or tweaking existing treasure.
Recently, a friend of one of my players made a comment that our party seemed relatively light on loot, even having the audacity to say that they were destitute. Little did they know that they were just about to stumble upon a pile of treasure, but to add in even more delight for my players, I tailored some of the items using the Pathfinder Deck of Endless Treasure. Here are a few of the items that I made:
Paizo doesn’t miss with their Endless decks, and the Pathfinder Deck of Endless Treasure follows suit with its predecessors. Its ease of use and infinite combinations give it high marks, and will certainly make Gamemasters seem like creative geniuses with the item creations the deck generates. The hardest part is coming up with a fitting name for your creations.
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