Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Magic Items by a Factor of Three — Wondrous Items

The homebrew content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons found at D&D Beyond is astounding. You’ll find hundreds of thousands of spells, races, subclasses, monsters, magic items and more over there and I’ve looked at quite a lot! All the schools of magic, subclasses for each class individually, feats, monsters, races and a variety of other categorizations of 5E D&D content all fell under my gaze here on the website. Most recently I’ve been going through magic items one category at a time, which includes homebrew armor, potions, rings, rods, scrolls, staffs, wands and weapons. Now I’ve come to the end when it comes to magic items and it’s time to check out the over 100,436 homebrew wondrous items at DDB. Let’s get into it.

Magic items (wondrous items) at D&D Beyond

Before getting started it’s important to note you can create homebrew content for private use and share your homebrew content publicly at DDB at no cost — there’s no subscription required to access these services. However if you want to add any of the homebrew magic items like the rings mentioned below or any other homebrew content you come across to your 5E D&D collection you must subscribe at the Hero Tier or above. There’s a lot you can do at DDB for free. Check out what you can do here.

The DDB homebrew collection uses several statistics to track entries. Views shows how many eyeballs any particular homebrew creation received, Adds shows the number of times a creation was added to someone’s collection and Rating is an upvote/downvote system. Since there are over 100,436 wondrous items in the collection I’m going to share the top 10 highest rated, most viewed and most added selections and to see what’s out there along with any crossover between these three lists.

Top 10 highest rating wondrous items

1. Boots of the Vigilant. Familiar from a number of other homebrew previews, most notably as a superb magic item for rogues, this one’s creator may be a name you recognize. These boots contain an amazing perk for any character.
2. Fine Mustache. If I’m honest I’m extremely biased about this one. This one absolutely ought to be common rarity and even with this adjustment could use some polish. But Nerdarchist Ted and I take our follicle themed 5E D&D content very seriously and we’d incorporate this into those tangles any time.
3. Flask of Perpetual Booze. Side by side with the classic alchemy jug I feel like it’s pretty clear this ought to be common rather than uncommon. It’s a fun item but only marginally useful with some creativity when it comes to combat, exploration or social interaction.
4. Bag of Wondrous Randomization. There’s a bit of clarity required (does it work once a day for an individual or the item itself?) but it comes with a wonderful d100 table full of unusual results. Not for nothing but our own Alisara’s Repository of Misplaced Things is way cooler.
5. Belt of Returning. A magical way to retrieve thrown weapons feels like Dungeon Master 101 whenever such a specialist appears in a campaign. I really like the elegant approach this creator takes by incorporating the property onto a wondrous item rather than a weapon itself. Nicely done!
6. All-or-Nothing Coin. Sometimes I like to try and puzzle out what sort of game elicited an item. In this case I suspect players follow closer to the traditional adventuring day, experience lots of encounters resulting in combat and incorporate some optional rules from the Dungeon Master’s Guide Chapter 8: Running the Game.
7. Book of Misspells. Definitely humorous but the way it’s designed, presented and works means it would be pointless to give this to the player. This means it remains in the DM’s possession and at that point it’s really just a fun game element to interact with rather than a legitimate magic item. Grab some inspiration but leave this book on the shelf.
8. Mortal Soul (contract). I don’t get it.
9. Companion Rock. I know common items aren’t powerful in any appreciable way but damn, talk about really narrow usage and a lackluster effect.
10. Cloak of Steve. I like the ideas baked into this one but it needs polish like clear, concise and accurate mechanical features starting with an indication of when the attuned character can use the reaction.

Top 10 most viewed wondrous items

1. Bag of Wondrous Randomization
2. Boots of the Vigilant
3. Mask of Many Faces. I’m gonna guess the high views on this are for adopting the same name as the Eldritch Invocation for warlocks. Because that’s the only way I can wrap my head around a very rare item granting the awesome power to cast a 1st level spell from one to three times each day.
4. Fine Mustache
5. Belt of Returning
6. Flask of Perpetual Booze
7. Magic Marker. As far as common magic items go not too shabby. It feels like it could use a bit more oomph though. The conditions under which the effect is apparent are too narrow. Essentially it’s a simply quality of life magic item I suppose?
8. Stone of Sending. There’s gotta be better, easier and still magical ways of communicating. Consult with a Social Magica Master — they’ll know for certain!
9. Rock of Improbable Events. Evocative name and it stops there for me. No beneficial or detrimental properties, grants no features or powers to possessor, sentient without a cause, a toothless curse…what’s the point of this again?
10. Lodestone. Nothing fancy about this but it would certainly be a very handy and often used item for any adventuring party. Maybe even too good if your games are like ours — short sessions where everyone can go nova pretty much any time. In such circumstances this becomes more of a story item than an impactful magic item as it pertains to the actual game of 5E D&D.

Top 10 most added wondrous items

1. Boots of the Vigilant
2. Flask of Perpetual Booze
3. Belt of Returning
4. Bag of Wondrous Randomization
5. All-or-Nothing Coin
6. Fine Mustache
7. Bracers of the Assassin. Quality of life for adventurers who get captured often or go places where a concealed weapon may be their only option. They can still be detected both magically and by mundane means. This is something to keep in mind for players — a keen eyed NPC might spot your hidden weapons without much trouble.
8. Companion Rock
9. Book of Misspells
10. Thieves Cloak. The means through which outside observers can detect items concealed in this cloak tipped me off — it’s the same creator as Bracers of the Assassin. The characters in their games must get into some tight spots! Aside from the cleverly concealed pockets it’s a Stealth boost, which if I’m honest usually feels weird for rogues. Those characters always crave items like this but it’s 5E D&D and they’re already literal experts in any field in which they choose to focus.

Wondrous Items rising to the top

It’s been a journey! For folks who enjoy creating 5E D&D content ourselves these peeks into homebrew content have been not only a fun exercise but a learning experience too. I’ve refined my own perspectives on design as well as how various components of 5E D&D pan out during play. The 17 wondrous items emerging as the top picks in these three categories stand out to me mostly due to the rarity on display. There’s a lot more common wondrous items than I expected to find along with a not insignificant number of items with bewildering rarities besides.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the wondrous items collectively is there’s less of them than there are weapons. Our own experiences creating magic items points to wondrous items as the most abundant category by far. Perhaps this is indicative of 5E D&D’s primary activity of fighting monsters.

“Wondrous items include worn items such as boots, belts, capes, gloves, and various pieces of jewelry and decoration, such as amulets, brooches, and circlets. Bags, carpets, crystal balls, figurines, horns, musical instruments, and other objects also fall into this catch-all category.” — from the 5E D&D DMG

One thing I learned about my own design goals when it comes to magic items is the ones created to enhance existing character features are the least exciting to me. Acquiring mastery in whatever niche a character falls is very easy in 5E D&D so the items related to those things, while definitely feeling appropriate thematically, seem like they’d only serve to create an embarrassment of riches for those characters. Plus I tend to prefer magic items with unusual features not available through player choices so with these in mind my favorites from this bunch start with the Fine Mustache. I’m so enamored of our own Beardomancy concept I can’t resist! I also appreciate the Belt of Returning because of the creator’s approach to the concept. The Cloak of Steve is another one with some nifty design. In many cases including a couple of my top picks I’d polish, tweak or adjust them further though.

5E D&D wondrous item resources

I mention our own forays into homebrew content creation for 5E D&D several times to plant the seed in your mind. Now you’re wondering, “What kind of homebrew content do you create, Nerdarchy? I’m extremely interested!” In addition to the monthly rewards our Patreon supporters receive we’ve presented tons of material in our videos and right here at Nerdarchy the Website ready to drop right into your games too. Another place we frequently create new content for Dungeon Masters and players to drop right into games is Nerdarchy the Newsletter and you’ll also get several gifts including $9.99 in store credit so you can add whatever you like there to your own collection when you sign up.

More than any of these sources the best illustration of our love for D&D magic items can be found within the Mage Forge! We curated our own collection to present a Deluxe Box Set of 250 Tarot Sized Magic Item Cards. Mage Forge is ideal for DMs who run short on time for game prep by providing magic items with the potential to define your adventures and the characters who uncover them. Check it out here!

*Featured image — Perhaps the most well known wondrous item in D&D history of course found its way into Magic: The Gathering’s Adventures in the Forgotten Realms expansion. A Deck of Many Things has been described as a campaign breaker and many are those who caution DMs from introducing this legendary wondrous item into their games. We like to take a different approach to things here at Nerdarchy and encourage you to make such a magic item the centerpiece and impetus for your entire campaign! [Art by Volkan Baga]

New videos every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel here