[Jim]

HUGE SPOILER:
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You don't need to attack him. Just pickpocket the cards since he's a reasonable chap (even though he is chaotic evil).

Use this guide which served me very well indeed: (this is from game banshee for creditorial reasons)

1st draw:
You:
Plague - Gambler is Cursed - 1 point
Strife - Gambler is Slowed - 3 points

Him:
Triumph - 1 point
Construct - 4 points

2nd draw:
You:
Strength - Gambler's str and con are reduced to 6 - 6 points
Guile - Summons 6 assassins to play with - 2 points

Him:
Defiance - 2 points
Empress - 3 points

3rd Draw:
You:
High Priestess - Silence on gambler - 4 points
Emperor - Permanent Mind Shield - 5 points

Him:
Wheel

If you play for the gem in the second round, you can win the gem from him. If you do, however, he will go hostile on you and attempt to kill you, since he *does* want to get out of there.

There is *NO* way to win the last draw.

Once you have the deck in your possession - pick pocketing doesn't affect his game, and you might as well play (and or course keep trying till you win) for the spectral brand, scroll of wish and gem for a total of 60,000 XP each...... You move on to...

The Second Encounter

Here's how the deck as an item works. *'ed cards are considered Bad Draws. The previous draw affects the subsequent draw. Note that some of the other draws can be pretty bad too, but they're not considered BAD in terms of subsequent drawing. Once you have drawn a BAD card, you will have to continue using the BAD draw list. This means that if you draw a good, then bad card, your third draw will be from the bad list.

First draw (random):

-Donjon* (Imprison user, save at -4)
-Ruin* (Party loses all gold)
-Euryale (permanent -1 to all saves, no save. ha ha.)
-Flames (Gate in a Balor and 4 fire elementals to play with)
-Gem (Get a rogue stone, king's tear, sapphire, diamond, ruby and emerald)
-Jester (User gets 50,000 exp)

Second Draw (if first draw was a BAD card):

-Void* (Disintegrates user, save at -4)
-Key (Get a powerful magic item, It's a ring of protection +3)
-Star (Get +1 to one stat, depending on class (fight/barb/pal/ranger str, mage/sorc int, thief/bard dex, monk/cleric/druid wis)
-Rogue (User is dire charmed and attacks the party until dead. Cannot be dispelled, so kill the person and raise him/her)
-Sun (party gains 300,000 exp)
-Vizier (User gets a mantle spell that lasts 24 hours)

Second Draw (if first draw was a NOT a BAD card):

-Void* (see above)
-Magician* (user turned into a rabbit. Cure with remove curse)
-Knight (summons 4 demon knights to duke it out. They do not drop equipment once killed)
-Rogue (see above)
-Sun (see above)
-Vizier (see above)

Third Draw (no BAD cards yet). Note that this is the final draw you can pull.

-Skull (Gates in a Death Shade to play with. He attacks with +5 weapons, dispels magic with each hit, 100% magic resist, resists most attacks, sees invisible and attacks fast. Only tries to kill the user, and once the user is dead, leaves)
-Moon (+10 hp permanently)
-Talons (user permanently blinded until remove curse is cast)
-Fool (user's Wisdom lowered to 3 + confusion (no save). remove curse to restore wisdom, dispel to fix the confusion)
-Comet (5% fire resist permanently)
-Erinyes (+1 to all stats for 24 hours, also called the Fates)

Third Draw (Bad card happened sometime along the way)

-Skull (see above)
-Throne (party gains 1,000,000 exp)
-Moon (see above)
-Fool (see above)

Draw again? Deck dissappears.


You win 20,000 XP each if you win a draw, and you have no reason to distrust him since he takes he rod to escape but returns it earning you a further 10 or 20k XP each (can't remember which). Make a root save as soon as you meet him, and after each draw that you are happy with, quick save.

When you get hold of the deck for yourself, the best outcome in my experience is:

DRAW A BAD CARD (preferably donjon assuming you make your save)
then draw a good card (you'll want to hit star, sun or key).
and finally draw throne to hit 1,000,000 XP which will definately level up all your chars.

[This message has been edited by Jim (edited 10-24-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Jim (edited 10-24-2001).]