How to Improve Your D&D Homebrew

Learn to avoid common D&D homebrew mistakes, sharpen your GM skills, and create balanced monsters, spells, and magic items with this comprehensive guide to tabletop RPG game design.

This video dives into the common pitfalls of D&D homebrew content and explores how GMs can improve their game design skills for tabletop RPGs. Learn how to create balanced homebrew monsters, magic items, spells, and adventures that enhance gameplay while avoiding the dreaded mistakes many GMs make. Discover the difference between short-lived "Game Master Stuff" like traps and monsters versus long-term "Player Stuff" like races, subclasses, and magic items, with key tips on playtesting and comparison. The video also covers essential aspects of adventure design, improvisation, and house rules, ensuring your Dungeons & Dragons campaigns stay engaging and fun. Whether you're a veteran DM or new to game mastering, this guide provides valuable insights to improve your homebrew game design.

~~2024 Convention Schedule~~
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Intro 0:00
Sleazy Plug 1:38
Game Master Stuff 2:10
Player Stuff 6:28
House Rules 10:45
Creating Adventures 13:10
Improvisation 14:48
A Word About Fun 16:38

#dungeonsanddragons #dungeonmaster #gamemaster

[orokusaki]

Back in AD&D, when I got into the game, I learned of such things as "Tenser's Floating Disk", "Ottiluke's Resilient Sphere", and "Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion" which as it turns out, were "magic user" spells created by great mages that were Players (and sometimes NPCs) in Gygax's home game. Build from the rules and don't try to subvert or diminish the rules, when making homebrew. Nor should one be seeking power above all others, in such a fashion that it would outshine your fellow Players, perhaps leading to them not having fun.

[csdn]

Luke: "What does the giant want?"

Me: Yolanda obviously

[Zinj]

My favorite creation is the Mug of Maturity. Dwarven mug that puts you to the test. Roll 1d100, on a 100 you gain a permanent +1 to your Constitution to a max 20. On a 1, you gain a permanent -1. My players love it.

[Shobazzy]

My most successful homebrew item by part in my Pathfinder 2 campaign was a discount magic sword that just dealt 1 fire damage on top of its normal slashing

[taskerwanlin]

Not the information I thought I was gonna get, but even better. Also, appreciate the timestamps king

[antimatters]

As both GM and player, at the end of campaigns, we have a partial final session recalling favorite moments.
Never once has anyone praised or even mentioned magic items, special monsters, powers, spells, or anything like that. DMs make a mistake thinking this is the important stuff.

[sorrontisgames]

Your entire channel is useful. I've been DMing for 25 years (give a few breaks here and there), and I'm learning new things every video. Not only that, I'm discovering things I'm doing right organically ... but also some things I'm doing wrong. Learning, hell yeah!

[Argumedies]

I have a complete homebrewed city filled with characters that date all the way back to AD&D 2E and have been brought forward and adapted into both 5E and PF2RM.

Also... rust monsters can swim.

[clarkside]

Speaking of making monsters, the Convenient Creature Codex has modular stat blocks of each CR. It doesn't have deep customization (that's what the DMG is for), but its stat blocks are easily adjustable when you need a certain type of monster. It's on the DM's Guild.

[davidfaulkner]

Homebrew, I stick to sub-races. I start by checking what others have created and compare for balance. Many I find OP. Myself I wanted to bring the Goliath Warebear tribe as an option. I took notes on the monster and the NPC from icewind... I also looked at other shape changing races as well as the druid ability to get the feel for balance. Version 1 was just the transformation and basic buff to play level one. During play test input from the players as they advanced in levels pointed out possible improvements to the scaling of the race abilities. Version 2 added tweeks for levels 2-3, Version 3 address changes for 4-6. So every 3 levels we'd have a group forum to continue developing it.

[LordOz]

I ditch about 75% of my home brew ideas before even bringing them to the table because they add more complexity than benefit.

Also, I think it's important for new DMs to know that even good designers/DMs can have an off session. Sometimes things don't work as expected or the players don't take to something. It's okay. Learn from it, take a breather if needed, and move on.

[Kardur_Wrath_of_the_Abyss]

You are a great human being, I have learned so much from your channel. Keep up the great work.

[Ender]

Hey, it was great to meet you at Gameholecon! Thanks for stopping to chat. :)

[tscoff]

One thing I love doing is home brewing magic items tailored to a specific PC. For example, a PC used a heavy crossbow and I home brewed a magical heavy crossbow that could shoot a normal bolt every round or a ballista bolt every other round that used 3x the dice that the normal bolt used. The player outsmarted me, she “set” the ballista bolt between combats and used it the first round of every combat and used normal bolts the rest of the time.

[SerifSansSerif]

Armors. Mostly people want plate, so some suits that are an ac point or two less but have a few extra resistances or can give a cantrip. Removing the disadvantage to stealth is also a favorite.

Latest is a crafting system for spells

[MarkoSeldo]

I love homebrewing monsters for my homebrew adventure set in a homebrew world with a sprinkling of homebrew magic items and two homebrew subclasses. I've managed to not break anything yet. :)

[jeffschroeds]

You are my favorite content creator. Thanks to you and your team.

[sterlinggecko]

I made a mindflayer and a beholder for the same encounter in a Starfinder rules game for a Pathfinder AP. my party loved the encounter.

[sleepinggiant]

Agreed! Fun is the whole point. But it can't come at the expense of other people's fun. The DM's fun is pretty important.

[Linkueigman]

Within the last year, I have created a set of feats that fix an issue left when Wizards of the Coast tried to make Feats that give proficiency in skills. What I did for the Feats I created is that it would give Proficiency in the skill it was meant to, and it would then give the player an additional bonus that would mostly revolve around being able to use a different attribute in place of the main one when it comes to using the skill naturally. I also made a set of skill+ feats that require Proficiency in a skill as well as level 4 or higher as requirement. These Feats gave additional bonuses when using that skill. One of them was named cats Grace and it would allow a player to ignore fall damage up to a number of feet equal to their passive acrobatics rounded down to the nearest zero. These little changes are also added to help the 2014 backgroynd by giving the skill feats in the background, which gives the proficiencies from them. This small change made background selection not about what works best with their skill section, they did it for what felt best for the character and not what was thebmost powerful to have the most min-maxed character.