Creating Homebrew Magic Items for Dungeons and Dragons 5e - Dungeon Master Tips

Magic items are one of the easiest ways for a Dungeon Master to get started creating their own custom material for their Dungeons and Dragons campaign. We’ll discuss our methods for creating unique, well-balanced, and fun magic items for your players to seek out and wield.

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+++RESOURCES MENTIONED ON TODAY'S EPISODE+++

+++CREDITS+++
Starring Monty Martin & Kelly McLaughlin
Produced by Clayton Masales

[TheEldritchGoth]

I really good magic item I created was the “Suit of Armor”. It was basically a dapper tuxedo but it raised the player’s armor rating

[tonyhunt]

These are a few ideas I came up.

Lightbringer: A +1 longbow that once per long rest can fire an arrow that when it strikes its target, casts a 2nd level cure wounds. This ability can only be used by a good-aligned character.

Bloodcull Buckler. A shield that has jagged edges all around it, its weilder can use a bonus action to strike with the shield, dealing 1d6 slashing (no mods) damage. If the creature has blood, the shield drinks it, adding half the damage inflicted as temporary hitpoints.

Girdle of Living Lightning: Once per day, the wearer of this belt can speak a command word and condense their form into a bolt of lightning, traveling up to 40ft. Any creature in the bolts path must make a dex 15 saving throw or suffer 4d6 lightning damage.

Tablecloth of feasting. Once per day, unfolding this tablecloth will yield a buffet style banquet of upscale food and drink enough for up to 10 people.

Portable stairs. A 3 foot plank of wood that, when the command word is spoken, transforms into a 15ft staircase.

I have plenty more if anyone needs them.

[FigNewton]

I created Natures Wrath Axe Handles for the lv 5 barbarian in my campaign. There are two of them and grant a +1 each to damage dealt while raging. It's dealt as fire, lightning, or cold which is chosen as the barbarian enters rage. It's lead to some amazing role-play because the barbarian will ask the Wizard or the Ranger "What type of angry do I get?" And if they're able to recall information about the specific enemy, they'll specify burny, shocky, or chilly before the barbarian rages.

[miracleknight]

I'll make "The Tape of Flexing". A God tier item that allows you to fix anything you wish. And....it even works underwater!

[howzany]

Simple item that can have really powerful effects: Ring of Respite: Once a day, this ring allows the wearer to regain the use of a single ability that would otherwise require a long rest to regain.

[leonielson]

A couple weeks ago we found a 'wand of magic missiles', but when the DM announced it he said, "You find a 'Pistol of Force Bolts'." So now my Fighter/Rogue has a wand in the shape of a pistol holstered on the back of his belt.

[ramirezthesilvite]

Friend of mine told me about the "Boots of Knocking" he got in his campaign. They are boots. Enchanted with the Knock spell. Why? So they can open chests like Link from The Legend of Zelda: By kicking them.


I imagine it can make for some dramatic entrances too.

[ddesouz]

I made an item called Helm of the Minotaur. Gives the player the wearing it the Minotaur’s charge attack and gore attack. The Paladin gnome in the party picked it up. Needless to say it’s been awesome!

[billyjoly]

I have a cute Item: I rated it Uncomon based of the 3rd lvl Catnap spell. Its a pillow made of griffon feathers, the favorite pet of a Bard character I had. Effect:
"This pure silk white pillow has round edges and looks very soft and inviting"
Once per day up to two creatures can take a short rest using this pillow, and plunder into a short, yet very deep sleep. After you have rested for 10 minutes, with this item you gain all the benefits from a short rest. But the next time you sleep without this pillow, you will need an extra hour of rest to gain either the short rest benefit or the long rest benefit.
(for added flavor I added the minor flaw to it)

I also had a version of it with a small curse:
If two people sleep together using this pillow, each of those two have to make a saving throw as if they had taken a love potion.
(we had a really funny moment with this)

[admiraltonydawning]

We had a Blooddrinker dagger. It dealt extra 1d6 necrotic damage to a living creature (those that have blood) and had a special quirk in it.
Whenever a character using the dagger rolled natural 20, the dagger would transfer the life essence from an attacked creature to the dagger owner.
However, when a character using the dagger rolled a natural 1, the dagger would instead stab/wound the wielder.
Later I asked the DM about the destiny of that dagger and he told me that he planned it to be growing/upgradable after a certain amount of different creatures' blood "tasted" essentially revealing the nature of it being the cursed item and attempting to consume the soul of its owner by driving him into unstoppable rage that expected to be the complete massacre on a failed wisdom saving throw but it never came up to that point as the dagger owner attempted to "upgrade" the dagger themselves by putting it into a pool that had "Wild Magic" effect on whatever touches it and the effect happened to be "If the creature affected by the Wild Magic draws a weapon before the next sunset, the weapon vanishes", so the weapon was lost.

[subbingemotes]

I made a coin of luck, once created by the goddess Tymora herself, which has a golden and a silver side. If the owner throws it there´s a 95% chance (1D20 side) the thrower calls it right. Also it somehow finds it´s way back to the owner, if the coin is lost or stolen. Might not be that original but it´s amazing to see how creative the player uses this item. Plus: I gave the player a real coin, which had on side painted. It´s always neat to bring a "real" version of an artifact to the table :)

Great video!

[lord_wyran]

i have a ring ive given out once that "once per day you may cast a secondary concentration spell, however you have disadvantage on all concentration checks to maintain the spells, if you fail you lose both." and so far its been pretty balanced. also the ring of ricochet allowed casters and ranged fighters to bounce a spell or projectile off a wall so they could fire around corners.

[chuggajr]

Helpful one for wizards: “Ring of Forgetful Scholars” a ring that copies the Wizard’s Spellbook and acts as a replacement given the spellbook is lost.

In the event the spellbook is not recovered the Wizard may not add new spells using the ring, but may use the information from the ring to fill the book’s other tasks. They can also use the ring create a fully functional replacement given appropriate time and resources.

[Bartdebasman]

So I have a cook player who wasn't happy with his damage output, so I decided to give him more utility.
Name: Shell of the Magma Turtle
Description: once a creature that used to swim in the hottest places on Earth, with a shell that's nearly indestructible. Looking like a giant Ruby, this shell was smithed by Moradin, to represent a giant wok, Wich heats itself. However, movement seems to have peculiar effects on this Ruby of the deep...

Item: 2-handed shield
Extremely heavy, and halves your movement speed.
+2 AC
When using the dash action, the user becomes engulfed in flames.
Each creature the user passes while using the dash action has to make a dexterity spell save equal to the users spell save DC. Upon failing, the creature takes 2d6 fire damage.

When a player reaches lvl 8 and has at least a strength of 14, the player can make 1 attack action, never 2, even if the player has the extra attack ability.
On a hit, target creature receives 4d6 fire damage and 2d6 bludgeoning damage

(Right now the player is lvl 6 and doesn't know about the upgrade at lvl 8)

[benbookworm]

You'd be amazed at how even a "Rock of Gravity Detection" can be received by players. It was just a rock that dropped in the direction of gravity. I was given one as a joke, but I made use of it several times.

[samiollikainen]

Oh god... I have so much I want to "talk" about, but also I don't want to write a mini novella, so it's really, REALLY difficult figure out how to start xD. Oh well here I go.

Creating magic items is probably one of my favorite things to do. I have created so many over the... I want to say 8-years of playing/GMing. If I am being honest, I do tend to make overly powerful items, but also I've only managed to implement few of the items I've created. I love making them, but also I do see problems they could bring (most of the time), so I have the clarity to leave them in the notes untill I figure them out. I want to share the few I have used in games (D&D 4e) with some lore attached.

Crytal Lense of Magic - A clear, see through, green tinted lense, size of a monocle. Tiny magical runes are inscribed on the edge of the lense, all around the edge. By itself it does nothing, and gives faint magical aura. How ever if a caster focuses a spell through the lense (Bonus action or Attack action, as some spells are bonus actions to cast), that spells power is amplified, depending on the quality of the craftmanship and potency of the runes (from adding since dice to dmg or adding some duration, to damage multiplication and "group buffing"). Once spell is channeled through the lense, it will shatter to pieces and cannot be used again. The Lenses are crafted from specific type of crystal, only found deep underground. While crytal type itself is not rare to find, finding large enough piece without large imperfections does make it slightly rarer. Cost of a lense can get pricy due to uncommnality of the material, skilled craftsman needed to create the lense and the magical engravings. Players might find "amazing deals" on these lenses, however frauds are common, and even poorly made real lense can be dangerous. It is known, that if lense has flaws or does not focus properly, it can, and will cause backcast. Reported cases talk of part of the spell reflecting back to the caster causing harm, and violent explosions of the lenses on the casters face and everyone near him. There are also rumors of lenses of such quality and perfection, that can withstand spell channeling over and over again. But those are just rumors...

"The White Spear" - A common design shortspear (from 4e days), that is pure white as freshly fallen snow. The spear exudes cold air, and anyone near it can sense the power it holds, but also the sense of dread that seems to be eminating from it. Once the spear is picked up, all those sensations greatly diminish, and after few moments disappear completely. Anyone identifying the spear magically can tell it's "just" shortspear of frost (1d6 magical frost damage as extra), but also it seems to be just the surface as there is immense power within. After some time, the holder of the spear can start hearing voice speak in his/her head. An innocent, child like female voice asking who the wielder is, where are we, and generally tries to learn more of the person wielding her. It comes apparent that the spear knows very little of itself or why it's there. Only things she can remember clearly are ice fields, and cold breeze, bight light and then darkness accompanied by a name. "Vimas". She is however unsure if that is her name or someone else. The spear would try to "bond" with the wielder, if she liked the person, or try to find another person to wield her if she did not like the person(resorting to "force" if needed), or if the person is trying to stop her "bonding" without giving her a "good reason" why it's not acceptable. Once the spear has found someone to "bond" with, two things will happen. The spear gets slightly stronger (gaining power to radiate cold to small area once per day and unless "bonded" person is killed, it cannot be lost or abandoned, it always comes back) and pure white stripe appears on wielders hair (if bald, skin gets paler, eyes blue(er), any minor bodily change related to snow, cold, ice etc.). Over time as the wielder gets stronger, bonds with the spear more and spear slowly gains pieces of her memory back, it will become stronger (more frost damage and other skills related to frost/cold).

- Bit of history that someone in the party might know as old legends -
What comes in to your mind is an old legend, where Ancient White Dragon was terrorizing the continent, untill a people people banded together and tried to take her down, with poor end result. according to legend all would have been lost, without an unnamed shaman, that managed to bind and seal the soul of the dragon in to his weapon, with the cost of his own life. The dragon, furious of this, raged and bellowed, as her essence poured in to the weapon, slowly removing life from her body. As her final act, she promised to return, as nothing can stop her rage, even imprisonment of her soul. The spear was hidden by the survivors of the fierce battle, in hopes of keeping the promise of the dragon never becoming a reality. No one knows what happened to the spear in the end, or if the legend is even true.

(sigh... I did it again. a small novella... Oh well, it's done.)

[stuhaynes]

I'm a new DM for a group of students at the high school where I teach, your videos have been an excellent resource. One of the students is playing a Monk and decided his own weapon whilst creating his character. He is armed with a steel fan, so I ran with the idea and allowed it as a weapon giving it 1d4dmg, and slashing or bludgeoning dmg depending on if it's open or closed. Already thinking of a magical version for later in the campaign.

[anonymous_wildfire]

I came up with an idea for one of my Homebrew campaigns. It’s called the Traveler’s Backpack. It’s basically a reskinned Cape of Mountebank. It functions like a Heward’s Handy Haversack, but when the command phrase (Take me to the sky) is spoken, the wearer is suddenly sucked into the bag as it turns incorporeal. The bag then flys upwards until it reaches a height of 500 feet above ground, then rockets downwards to a space within 1000 feet of the original location that the wearer was targeting, spitting them out as it becomes corporeal again. I ruled that this journey took a full minute to complete and that despite being incorporeal during the journey, the bag was still fully visible. Another detail I snuck in there was that when it landed I always rolled a d20 in secret, on a 1 the bag would have failed to spit them out and they would have to wait until someone opens the bag to be let out or 24 hours if nobody opens it. (they could still breathe and had access to everything stored inside)

[CrimsonFox]

The SCP Wiki has a TON of interesting artifacts to use in your campaign. Like 714: The Jade Ring, for example, gives you a mental shield; making you immune to memetic and mental influences, and gives you increased chemical tolerance. But, it makes you *super* sleepy.

[jasonsexton]

My paladin has a "boom stick" I gave him which allows him to channel divine energy freely to project a cone of sonic damage. He loves it and usually starts out every interaction with it. Shows how memorable and fun a low level homebrew magic item can be for the characters