Before we get to the next level, I should give out an little bit of information I've promised for a long while.
Did you know a tarot deck has 78 cards, unlike a normal playing card deck? They are divided into two suites, the Minor Arcana, which mirrors normal playing cards - sans jokers, and the Major Arcana, which a deck of 22 thrump cards.
As I said before, MOTBQ has a huge tarot theme running through it, based around the 22 cards of the Major Arcana
suite of the Tarot deck. (The Minor Arcana do not appear at all). Each of the game's ending is named after a card. Several characters are likened to certain cards. The cards help determine which hero Destin is. Lastly, Tarot cards form your most powerful weapon. Able to tip the scales of many battles.
Each time one frees a town or a temple (even if said settlement was re-captured by the empire and is being freed again), we are given the chance to draw a card. Drawing a card gives us that card in our tarot deck, and a small effect determined by the card drawn. In battle, these cards can be used to unleash terrible powers against the enemy units. The stats of cards whose effect is variable are determined by Destin's stats. Similarly, he gets the XP for any kills done by the cards. So be careful using them! As powerful as they are, they can rapidly cause Destin's alignment to take a dive.
The cards are as follow:
- 0: Fool
- Effect when drawn: +1 luck
- Effect in combat: Causes all the enemies in a squad except the leader to retreat. Very powerful card. Very handy to deal with a boss' escort!
- I: Magician
- Effect when drawn: +1 intelligence
- Effect in combat: A column of fire attacks the entire enemy squad, dealing fire damage to all. This is the first of our damage dealing cards. Most of them are the same, only changing the element of the attack. As such, these cards are interchangeable, only the enemy's vulnerabilities dictating which card is better than the other.
- II: Priestess
- Effect when drawn: +1 Alignment
- Effect in combat: Restores 50 hp to all of your units. Very good at the beginning, weaker at the end of the game where 50hp is a paltry amount.
- III: Empress
- Effect when drawn: +1 Charisma
- Effect in combat: Priestess' bigger sister. Fully heals all your units in the squad. As awesome as it sounds.
- IV: Emperor
- Effect when drawn: +1 Charisma
- Effect in combat: Gives everyone in your squad an extra attack. EVERYONE. This can be devastating depending on the party you have. 3 Dollmasters attacking three times? Yes!
- V: Hierophant
- Effect when drawn: + 2 Alignment.
- Effect in combat: Puts the entire enemy squad to sleep. Or tries to, seems to have 50% to 75% success rate. Sleeping enemies can awake if attacked, depending on how long they have been asleep they may or may not have lost his attacks.
- VI: Lovers
- Effect when drawn: +2 reputation.
- Effect in combat: Summon Cupid, who attempts to charm the enemy squad (50% to 75% success rate, Leaders seem more resistant but not immune). Charmed enemies attack their allies, and have their damage added to your side when factoring who wins a battle.
- VII: Chariot
- Effect when drawn: +2 Strength
- Effect in combat: Summon Thor, who strikes the ground using Mjolnir to deal physical damage to the entire enemy party. A standard damage dealing card otherwise.
- VIII: Strength
- Effect when drawn: +1 Strength.
- Effect in combat: Raises a unit's defense. Barely does any difference, seems more effective against physical damage, but still, a crummy card.
- IX: Hermit
- Effect when drawn: +2 Intelligence
- Effect in combat: Summon Merlin, who attacks the entire enemy squad with lighting. A standard damage dealing card otherwise.
- X: Fortune
- Effect when drawn: -3 to +3 to Reputation, randomly determined.
- Forces the enemy squad to run away. Including the leader.
- XI: Justice
- Effect when drawn: +1 max hp
- Effect in combat: A blizzard deals cold damage to the enemy squad. A standard damage dealing card otherwise.
- XII: Hanged Man
- Effect when drawn: -1 Strength
- Effect in combat: Reverse of Strength, it lowers the enemy's defense. With similar, crummy results.
- XIII: Death
- Effect when drawn: -2 Reputation
- Effect in combat: Summons the Grim Reaper who kills every enemy unit whose HP is beneath a certain threshold. The game uses Destin to determine the threshold, so figuring who dies and who doesn't is not simple. Still, when it works, it works. Careful not to let it burn Destin's alignment.
- XIV: Temperance
- Effect when drawn: +2 Reputation
- Effect in combat: Cures the entire squad of any status anomalies such a petrification, sleep, charm, stunned. Still, these effects tend to be rare, and are automatically cured at the end of combat. Still, can be useful to make use your party is not helplessly crushed is a witch stuns them all on her first move.
- XV: Devil
- Effect when drawn: -1 Reputation
- Effect in combat: Summon the Devil, who attacks the entire enemy squad with black magic. A standard damage dealing card otherwise. Since most bosses are resistant to black magic, it makes it somewhat weaker than the rest.
- XVI: Tower
- Effect when drawn: -2 Alignment
- Effect in combat: Causes an earthquake that deals physical damage to all non-flying units in the enemy squad. Weaker than Chariot, and all around more useless.
- XVII: Star
- Effect when drawn: +1 Agility
- Effect in combat: Raises everyone unit in your squad's agility. Making them attack sooner in the battle order. Also makes them more accurate. Best used early in combat though.
- XVIII: Moon
- Effect when drawn: Sets the game clock to midnight. As low ali units are stronger at night, this is good for them. High ali units will find themselves weaken till dawn.
- Effect in combat: Swaps the front and back rows of the enemy squad. Note that units keep the NUMBER of attacks they had, but use the new attack appropriate for their row. This can be dangerous when, say, moving an eagleman to the back, where he can now do his lightning attack twice. Still, a very good card than can cripple enemy spellcasters. Note that the new order REMAINS even after combat.
- XIX: Sun
- Effect when drawn: Reverse of Moon. Sets the game clock to noon.
- Effect in combat: Deals white magic damage to everyone. Your side usually takes about 50%, modified with their resistances. Dangerous to use, but Sun does kill undeads.
- XX: Judgement
- Effect when drawn: Max HP +2
- Effect in combat: A white magic explosion harms everyone in the enemy squad. Would be a normal damage dealing card otherwise, but the White element puts it above any other. Devastating on most bosses. Kills undeads.
- XXI: World
- Effect when drawn: Future tarot cards drawn will grant their bonuses and penalties to all deployed units, if applicable.
- Effect in combat: Makes your squad immune to magic. Attacks from wizard, wiches, liches and other automatically miss. Note that certain attacks you might consider magic are not. For example, a dragon's breath attack will still work. Still, it is the most powerful card in the game, and is pretty much necessary for fighting certain bosses.
And now you know them all! On a related note, certain stores sell "Jokers". Jokers are consumables, that when used, turn into a tarot card that is added to your deck. You can only have 20 cards at any time, and gaining a card as a joker does not cause the effect the card gives when drawn.
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