Broken

So, at the last Ptolus game, Bobby once again showed off his extreme luck by pulling just about the best card possible from the Deck of Many Things, gaining himself 50,000 xp and a pretty decent wondrous item (in this case, Goggles of Night).

Awesome, yes? Well, almost awesome.

You see, the problem with this is that it upsets game balance. This generous amount of xp would place Bobby at level 11, and therefore effectively make him CR 12. The rest of the group is CR 7 or 8. This upsets not only the power base, but experience earned and encounter levels for the entire game.

So, a solution must be found.

It is not fair to the player to say "sorry, it didn't happen". After all, there was more than a little risk involved in drawing from the Deck in the first place since half the cards in there are exceptionally detrimental to a character. Also, the DM has to accept the fact that they are responsible for it. After all, they put the Deck there!

However, game-breaking effects aren't much fun, and a CR 12 character running around with a posse almost half his level is bound to cause problems. What can the DM throw at the party that the 11th level ranger can't just cut through? Also, everyone will now level slower due to the level curve being thrown off!

A tricky situation, to be sure, and one that does not have an easy solution.

A couple of thoughts on the matter:

1. The player should not be punished. It takes cojones the size of watermelons to draw from the Deck, and as a DM you probably wouldn't lose any sleep if he pulled a card that earned him the enmity of an extraplanar creature (like RJ did) or something. So just saying "It never happened", while possible for you to do, is certainly not cool.
2. Perhaps offer an alternative reward? I know Casey (the DM in this case) mentioned something along the lines of offering him a magic item of equal value, but the xp to GP ratio in D&D is terribly skewed in favor of xp. It's like converting pesos to pounds. In the end it will probably wind up being less game-breaking than the 11th level dual wielding super-kitty, but it will still pose a problem.
3. Splitting the xp amongst the party was also mentioned, which is actually a pretty sound idea...but I would still give the player that drew the card "something extra" for the risk.

By the way, this post is not meant in any way to be a criticism of Casey's DMing (which is pretty damn good). Sometimes shit happens, and that's all there is to it! I just thought it was a good blog topic!

And finally, you have egg on your face.