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Custom Magic Items

ZenBear

Explorer
Got a few ideas for magic items to give my players, would appreciate feedback on balance and fun!

One of my players is playing a Tiefling Rogue with a custom subclass, the Luchador! At level 3, you can use your Cunning Action to make a melee attack against a creature you have grappled, and you get your Sneak Attack against targets you have grappled. At this point he has Boots of Striding and Springing because he loves to perform flying tackles, so it seemed a perfect fit to aid him there. I’m planning on also giving him a custom item called the War Claw of Climbing (could definitely use a more creative name). Inspired by the fourth Prince of Persia, this would grant him a climb speed, slow fall when within arms reach of a wall, and be a d6 magic weapon for close quarters combat. Finally, his weapon of choice is, of course, a chair. He’s expressed interest in wrapping it in barbed wire to add bleed damage. I’m thinking of having him hunt down Bloodsteel and give it a similar effect to the BeardedDevil attack, though probably less damage. Not sure how to balance that one.

Another player is an Aasimar Paladin with another custom subclass I designed called the Oath of the Waifu (I’ll post that one later). She’s built to heal for days, but she’s really enjoying her Smites and has asked for a “boom hammer” that explodes on impact. I found a perfect fit in a homebrew conversion from Bloodborne, and I’m thinking I’ll add a critical knock down effect as well. Seems pretty fair for a rare magic weapon without any +X.

My third player is a Fire Genasi Evocation Wizard who is desperate to have his own giant robot ever since I introduced Warjacks to the setting. Obviously that wouldn’t be balanced, so I’m going to start him out with a Squire. It will start off with only 1 feature, either Arcane Repeater which will work like the Trickery Domain Channel Divinity: Invoke Duplicity, allowing him to cast spells from the Squire as the point of origin for increased range, or Reserve Accumulator for extra spell slot storage per long rest.

So that’s what I have for now. Any thoughts on balance or price? The Bloodsteel barbed wire and the Squire will be purchased items.
 

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During our game session last night League of Legends came up randomly in conversation and it got me thinking about the items, so I decided to translate a couple to 5e. Check 'em out!

Lightbringer
Weapon, Legendary (requires attunement, any bow)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUiOylPbfV0
You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.
Critical hits cause your target to bleed for 3 rounds, taking radiant damage equal to your Dexterity modifier at the start of their turn. The target becomes visible if it's invisible, and it sheds a 5-foot radius of dim light. They can't become invisible until the effect ends.
As an action, you can fire an arrow of light at a location within the weapon’s range and cause bright light to glow within a 15-foot radius of the target for 3 rounds. Until the effect ends, enemies that enter the area become visible if they are invisible, and can’t become invisible until the effect ends. You can’t use this property of the weapon again until the next dawn.

Deathfire Grasp
Staff, Legendary (requires attunement, sorcerer, warlock, wizard)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be1waE9myCU&list=PLJ9wRRCY-gY1YMnDTThA6HW-5dFIc9z-V&index=2
This staff can be wielded as a magic quarterstaff that grants a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. While you hold it, you gain +3 to spell attack rolls.
The staff has 5 charges. While holding it, you can use a bonus action to expend 1 charge to make a ranged spell attack against a target you can see within 60 ft. If you hit, the target takes damage equal to its total Hit Dice and is vulnerable to damage from your spells for 3 rounds.
The staff regains 1d4+1 charges daily at midnight. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff ignites in green flame, crumbles into cinders, and is destroyed.

Obviously these won't be making appearances in my game any time soon, but they would be pretty fun to play with late-game IMO.

I need help coming up with another magic item though. My brother is playing a Battle Master Fighter and he already has two magic weapons (Talon and Hew from Lost Mine of Phandelver) and he'll be getting magic armor soon as well. At this point he's quite capable in combat, but he doesn't have much to do out of combat. He's a very quiet guy and stutters a bit, so he's not very active when it comes to role playing and chatting with NPCs. He is, however, the only character trained in Insight and as the straight man of the party he's become the de facto put-upon party leader role. An idea came up in conversation for a magic badge that changes appearance based on the region it's in and grants him an air of authoritah so NPCs automatically assume him to be the leader. I'm trying to come up with ways to make this happen that don't rely on simple "Advantage on X skill checks" or fiddly bonuses. Perhaps it would grant him a non-mechanical feature like Bad Reputation from the Sailor background, but instead of being intimidating he's respected?
 

An idea came up in conversation for a magic badge that changes appearance based on the region it's in and grants him an air of authoritah so NPCs automatically assume him to be the leader. I'm trying to come up with ways to make this happen that don't rely on simple "Advantage on X skill checks" or fiddly bonuses. Perhaps it would grant him a non-mechanical feature like Bad Reputation from the Sailor background, but instead of being intimidating he's respected?
I like that. A lot.
 



Good stuff! What do the highlights mean?

So I've decided to roll with the badge idea, and I know just how to introduce it in the next session. Here it is:

Badge of Authoritah
Wonderous item, uncommon (requires attunement)
This magic badge changes appearance to match the insignia of the nearest lawful authority. You gain the background feature Bad Reputation while you wear this badge, but instead of people being intimidated they are reassured by your presence. The badge also has 3 charges. While wearing it you can expend 1 charge as an action to cast Calm Emotions or Command (save DC 13). The badge regains all expended charges daily at dawn.

I also statted up the Climber's Claw. Still wish I could think of a better name.

Climber's Claw
Weapon, uncommon (requires attunement)
This claw is a magic finesse weapon. It deals 1d6 piercing damage and grants the wearer a climbing speed equal to their movement. Whenever you are falling within arms reach of a wall, you can use your reaction to dig your claw into the wall to slow your fall and not take any damage upon landing.
 




Yeah, I expected you'd feel that way. Ideally, I was hoping that reading the suggestion would spark your creativity.
 

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