D&D 5E My First Homebrew Magic Item, Thoughts?

carnivore_cat

First Post
Alright, so this is my first attempt at a custom magic item. I'd really like to get some feedback on it before I hand it over to my players.

These black obsidian dice have been cursed by the Devil's blessing. They are found in groups of three in black leather bags. Their numbers are beautifully inlaid rubies that seem to glow with a dim power. When rolled a magical effect is triggered. This can be either good or bad the Devil's mischief is tricky.


Roll 3d6 and consult chart for result
3- For the next 10 minutes you can see any invisible creature if you have a line of sight to it.
4- Roll a D10. Your height changes by a number of inches equal to the roll. If the roll is odd, you shrink. If the role is even, you grow.
5- You gain three normal healing potions.
6- You grow a long beard of feathers that remains until a short rest at which point the feathers explode from your face.
7- Your form becomes blurred. Creatures have disadvantage on hitting you with any hostile action for the next 10 minutes.
8- For the next minute you are unable to speak. Whenever you try pink bubbles float out of your mouth. The bubbles smell amazing.
9- A shimmering eye appears on your forehead for the next 10 minutes. During that time, you have an advantage on wisdom (perception) checks that rely on sight.
10- For the next 1 minute you can teleport up to 20 feet as a bonus action on your turns.
11- All of your hair falls out but grows back in 24 hours. During that time you have an advantage on all intelligence checks.
12- You and every creature within 30 feet of you become invisible for the next 10 minutes. The invisibility ends on a creature when it attacks or casts a spell.
13- If you die within the next 24 hours you immediately come back to life as if by the reincarnate spell.
14- You are immune to being intoxicated by alcohol for the next 5D6 days.
15- A spectral shield hovers near you for the next 10 minutes granting you a +2 bonus to AC and immunity to magic missile.
16- Your skin turns a vibrant shade of blue and you glow a low light in a 30-foot radius. Only a remove curse spell can end the effect.
17- You gain resistance to all damage for the next 10 minutes.
18- On a roll of 6,6,6,(added up to 18), your soul is sucked from your body into the dice. They glow a bright red before and after the process. The only way to retrieve the soul from the dice is to collect 3 powerful artifacts and perform a ritual similar to a resurrection on the dice with the empty body.

I can't decide if the final should be the soul losing or if it should trigger something similar to the Skull card from the deck of many things. So instead it would be -

You summon an avatar of death-a ghostly humanoid Skeleton clad in a tattered black robe and carrying a spectral scythe. It appears in a space of the DM's choice within 10 feet of you and attacks you, warning all others that you must win the battle alone. The avatar fights until you die or it drops to 0 hit points, whereupon it disappears. If anyone tries to help you, the helper summons its own avatar of death. A creature slain by an avatar of death can't be restored to life.

I was thinking it could also be a mix of the two. I would like to know what others think first though. I got most of my inspiration from the wild magic table for sorcerers. They would function like most other magical items, only usable once a day.


 

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Fun stuff - I see you borrowed heavily from the Wild Magic table.

My only suggestion would be to put the milder results toward the middle numbers, and the more potent results toward the high or low ends. For example, group invisibility on a 12 will be quite common - since it provides a huge advantage to the party, you may want to push it to a less likely die roll like 4 or 5 or 16 or 17.
 

ad_hoc

(they/them)
You haven't specified how they are used.

Personally I would have them be a minor Deck of Many Things. Roll once and they vanish to reappear elsewhere. The boon/drawback is permanent.
 

Quartz

Hero
10- For the next 1 minute you can teleport up to 20 feet as a bonus action on your turns.

For consistency, use Misty Step.

18- On a roll of 6,6,6,(added up to 18), your soul is sucked from your body into the dice. They glow a bright red before and after the process. The only way to retrieve the soul from the dice is to collect 3 powerful artifacts and perform a ritual similar to a resurrection on the dice with the empty body.

No. This is Not Fun. It's also nowhere similar in power to the other effects. How about Disadvantage on all rolls instead? Perhaps as a 30 foot aura? Or summoning a CR-appropriate devil? The devil is neutral if the thrower is Lawful Evil and hostile if Good or Chaotic.

I think generally you should look at many of the longer-lasting effects being 24 hours. Again, you want it to be fun for your players.
 

I would personally standardize some of the aspects of the results so that you don't have to memorize how long they last. Maybe, unless otherwise specified, the effect lasts for 10 minutes, and any of the abilities where that would really not work could specify how long instead.
With an item like this I think it's important to have a mixture of really good results, funny and situational results, and funny but maybe negative results. I would make 18 nowhere near as lethal, but put in some negatives for some of the other rolls. There could be trade-offs for the more powerful ones (in my opinion like 17 or 5), maybe one of the potions is different and you don't know which one. If 18 is too damaging then the players will always be afraid to use the dice. But, if the potential consequences are more likely but less deadly, and more humorous, the item will be a joy to play with.
 

carnivore_cat

First Post
Ya, You are all right about roll 18. I was also considering the effect being summoning some kind of creature, but I haven't really decided what it will be. There are definitely a lot of changes I'll need to make before giving these to my players. Thanks for all the great advice everyone!:)
 
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