Wizards of the Coasts is launching a new set of randomized, collectible cards to give a new edge for your player characters during an encounter.

The D&D Fortune Cards: Shadow Over Nentir Vale comes in 8-card booster packs with each card giving a small-time benefit to characters which players draw at the start of an encounter.

The cards are also divided based on rarity (common, uncommon and rare) with a total of 80 cards in the set. Each booster comes with 5 commons, 2 uncommons with 1 rare and players (or DMs) are encouraged to swap cards with each other in order to create a deck that can be used during their sessions.

Very much similar with the tweets during D&D Encounter Wednesdays, each card could provide a bonus such as temporary damage resistance, to attack rolls, to defenses or a chance to reroll saving throws against certain conditions that adds a new tactical element on when players want to use their cards during the encounter.

While this accessory’s intention is to add new avenues of excitement to the game, it is not a compulsory purchase for D&D players except for those who are running D&D Encounters in their friendly local game store.

D&D Fortune Cards have been integrated into the Wizards Play Network (WPN), where purchase of the cards will be a requirement for some of its programmes and but that won’t be necessary for its organized play where the cards would also be used.

D&D Fortune Cards will release on February 8, selling at $3.99 per booster. You can also see a sample of the cards here.