Cartomancer

Cartomancers are hybrid combatants, mystics, and fate-benders who channel supernatural forces through enchanted cards. They manipulate positioning, probability, and hidden information, alternating between weapon strikes, spell-like gambits, and dramatic reversals. A Cartomancer is strongest when taking calculated risks and turning a bad situation into an opportunity.

Back to classes

Create your own CharacterClass

No portrait

Hit Die

1d8 per Cartomancer level

Full Class

Cartomancer

Deal the impossible hand.

SystemD&D 5E (2024)

RoleHybrid controller, striker, and support specialist

Hit Die1d8 per Cartomancer level

ResourceFate Points and Fate Cards

Primary AbilitiesCharisma & Dexterity

SavesProficiency in Dexterity and Charisma saving throws. You rely on mobility, reaction defenses, and probability manipulation rather than heavy armor.

SystemD&D 5E (2024)

The Cartomancer

Spellcasting & Powers

You are a Charisma-based half-caster. You prepare and cast Cartomancer spells using the standard 2024 half-caster spell-slot progression, beginning with 1st-level spell slots at level 1 and reaching 5th-level spell slots at level 17. Your spellcasting focus is a Cartomancer deck.

Curated Spell List

Cantrips

Blade Ward A defensive cantrip suited to a duelist who predicts incoming strikes.
Dancing Lights Creates theatrical decoys and floating signs.
Mage Hand Manipulates cards, locks, and objects from a distance.
Minor Illusion Projects false cards, voices, symbols, and cover.
True Strike Represents a carefully calculated attack.

1st-Level Spells

Charm Person A natural extension of the Cartomancer's confidence and misdirection.
Disguise Self Lets the Cartomancer adopt a new identity at the turn of a card.
Feather Fall A sudden reversal of disastrous momentum.
Jump A burst of impossible movement useful for cinematic positioning.
Silent Image Creates large-scale illusions for tricks and battlefield deception.

2nd-Level Spells

Blur Makes the Cartomancer difficult to read and strike.
Misty Step A short-range teleport that feels like stepping through a card.
Mirror Image Creates multiple false versions of the caster.
See Invisibility Reveals hidden cards, creatures, and magical deception.
Suggestion Turns a well-timed verbal gambit into supernatural influence.

3rd-Level Spells

Clairvoyance Allows the Cartomancer to scout through a distant symbolic focus.
Counterspell Cuts an enemy spell by discarding the right card at the right moment.
Hypnotic Pattern A mesmerizing cascade of impossible suits and colors.
Major Image Creates elaborate battlefield or social deceptions.
Slow Makes enemies feel as though fate itself is dragging them behind.

4th-Level Spells

Arcane Eye A perfect scouting tool for reading dangerous rooms before entering.
Dimension Door A dramatic gate-jump for escape or sudden repositioning.
Greater Invisibility Makes the Cartomancer an unseen hand behind the battle.
Hallucinatory Terrain Rewrites the apparent shape of an area through mass deception.
Polymorph Transforms a creature as though its card were replaced.

Multiclassing

Ability Score Minimum: Charisma 13. When multiclassing into Cartomancer, you gain Light Armor, simple weapons, playing cards, and one gaming set. You gain the Fate Deck and Gambits features, but not additional starting equipment.

Proficiencies

Light armor, simple weapons, playing cards, one gaming set, and a Cartomancer deck. Choose two skills from Acrobatics, Arcana, Deception, Insight, Investigation, Perception, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth.

Skill Options

Acrobatics
Arcana
Deception
Insight
Investigation
Perception
Persuasion
Sleight of Hand
Stealth

Training & Initiation

Most Cartomancers begin as gamblers, spies, stage magicians, or apprentice diviners. Initiation requires creating or stealing a personal deck, learning the symbolic meaning of its suits, and surviving a ritual draw in which one card reveals a hidden fear, debt, or destiny. The deck becomes bonded to its owner through repeated use and cannot be mastered through memorization alone.

Societal Perception

Ordinary people find Cartomancers charming until the cards begin moving on their own. They are welcomed as entertainers, hired as scouts and negotiators, and feared as omens when portals or impossible coincidences follow them.

Visual sheet

Turn Cartomancer into a sheet

A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.

Gallery

No gallery plates yet.