D&D Ideas — Magic Items

D&D Ideas — Magic Items

July 26, 2023

Dungeons & Dragons/ Editorial/ Free Nerdy Things/ Game Master Tips

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is Magic Items, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hang out every Sunday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy YouTube Channel to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life, and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. To celebrate International Tabletop Day 2018 we launched our revised Patreon rewards by sharing Empusia, Curator of Souls for free. Perhaps a fiend spirit will have heard of Empusia. Check out our free section of products over at Nerdarchy the Store category for our FREE material like this one.

Empusia, Curator of Souls is a collection of magic items, monsters, NPCs allies or enemies and a dynamic encounter with the fiendish art collector Empusia herself! Add some new stuff to your games for FREE right here!

Delving Dave’s Dungeon

This particular weekly live chat was inspired by magic items from the D&D movie and the stats that were provided over on the D&D Beyond website in an article. You can go over there and get access to them for free – Here.

As a DM I love creating custom magic items in D&D for my players. While it can be great to find fun items in existing material matching a special item to a particular character is a blast. This doesn’t have to be a time-consuming or labor-intensive task. Let’s go over ways to introduce magic items custom to a D&D character in your game with the least amount of effort.

Shared History and/or Purpose: One of the easiest things to do is take an existing magic item from one of your favorite Dungeons and Dragons sources. Either write or rewrite the magic item’s history lineup with the characters. If the character belongs to an organization, tie that item to it. Alternatively, you could make it more personal. It turns out that the magic item was wielded by an ancestor of the characters. Was the fighter’s village razed by a dragon and they became an adventurer to get justice for their fallen loved ones? Let them find a dragon slayer sword or a magic item that gives them resistance or immunity to the dragon’s breath weapon.
Enchant an Existing Item: One of my favorite things is to add an enchantment to one of the character’s existing items. This could be turning it into an existing magic item or one from your own imagination. You could even combine this method with any of the others listed here. The fighter that has a vendetta against dragons perhaps took up his mother’s sword who died trying to defend the village and bought her child enough time to escape. After the first time they defeat a dragon, magic awakens in the blade.
Copycat Existing Game Mechanics: Perhaps there is a feat, spell, or class feature that would work really well for a particular character. Allow the magic item to bestow that upon the character. You as the Dungeon Master don’t have to create anything new yet the player will still get a unique and one-of-a-kind magic item.

Spruce Up an Existing Magic Item: Take any magic item and add abilities to it. At it’s core it’s done, but some minor or major tweaks will make it unique. You can even use method three above with an existing magic item. The magic item section of the Dungeon Master’s Guide has a section with tables that allow you to tweak and customize magic items.

Spotlight

Dark Paths

Forbidden Library

In hidden library miles below the ground in the city, a librarian collects books slated for burning, missives never meant to see the light of day. A small complex and vault of secrets, those who know of the Forbidden Library are few, and those who have been inside even fewer.

Adventure scenario for four 4th-5th level characters
5 New Creatures including the Library Drake — a new variant familiar option
2 New Subclasses — Facedancer and Oath of Secrets
4 New Magic Items

Check out our entire Dark Paths series here

From Ted’s Head

The movie had some amazing things about it, and the magic items were no slouch either. With only a little bit of spoiler involved the items played a huge role in the plot without taking away from the character’s options and growth. The idea of go get the MacGuffin has been around a long time so it is nothing new to the gaming table or the big screen.

Three of the items played a huge role in the movie. The tablet is the central motivator for Edgin. The horn of beckoning death was likewise for Sofina, and the Helm was a nice catalyst for character growth for Simon. All in All not bad for items being able to impact so many in under 2 hours of actual screen time. Now I have seen the movie twice and looked for things that stood out. To me, one of the major talking points has been Doric.

Doric is a druid who turns into an owlbear, and in one scene she changes shape a LOT of times. My first time through I noticed the trend and started counting right away, I counted again the second time through. Even if Doric were an elder druid she would not be able to assume that many forms in a day and she would have to turn into her natural form to take on a new wild shape. But Does she? For the movie’s entertainment needs, why not let her? But it got me thinking. We do not know if Doric already has some magic items. There is a book called A Druid’s Call that details Doric’s backstory and how she turns into an owlbear, But what if she had a ring/necklace/bracer or anything really that allowed her more wildshapes or allowed her to change shape into another form so long as she was using a singular hit point pool, it should not matter.

A magic item so often is able to fix things in a D&D world. It can get you in places or get you out. It can solve just about any kind of problem. And the problems it can’t fix are things you have not found the right item yet. After all, can’t everything be solved with a Ring of Wishes?

If you have not watched the movie, I highly recommend it. See how it inspires you as it has me. The magic items from the movie are certainly cool and Xenk’s sword is truly awesome I would love to have that for my own character, or for me personally, but that would be even less likely.

Blog