I started homebrewing D&D stuff in the first campaign I ran—mostly magic weapons and other items. We’ve talked about homebrew before, but let’s get a little more granular. There’s just something special about designing an item with a specific player and a specific character in mind! More than that, I enjoyed seeing the creative ways that my players used these items.

Below are some resources and advice I’ve found helpful when making items to deploy in my games:

The Dungeon Master’s Guide

Chapter 9 of the DMG is “The Dungeon Master’s Workshop,” where you can find a short but valuable section on making your own magic items—particularly useful is the “Magic Item Power by Rarity” table. The explanation for adding the “needs attunement” property to an item is also helpful for design considerations.

I also recommend at least flipping through chapter 7 of the DMG. This chapter contains all the DMG’s magic items as well as rules for running sentient magic items like Blackrazor. Having a general idea for what a magic item can do can give you a lot of direction and inspiration for your own creations! Besides that, it’s always good practice to have some references on hand for your creative work.

Homebrew designed by others

Whether on the DM’s Guild, D&D Beyond, or other sources, looking at other people’s design work makes for great inspiration! You might find that someone else has already designed the type of item you’re thinking of, or you might find a gap in the current homebrew space. You might find a new favorite creator out there. At least, you can look at what other people are doing to see what works and what excites you about certain designs. This is a great way to kick off some brainstorming of your own!

Some other things to keep in mind:

What do your party/you/your players like?

If you’re not sure where to begin, you can use these questions to get started:

Is there a type of item your players are particularly excited about or talk about frequently? Maybe something from a movie, book, or other media? What inspires you? What has your group gravitated towards in the past?

How will the item affect the character’s abilities?

For example, an item that increases a character’s ability scores—this might affect the character’s to hit and damage rolls, their spell save DCs, their skill check rolls, and so on, depending on what score it is and what the character’s build is like.

Once you have a draft of your design, it’s a good idea to plug that into a character sheet to make sure you see all the areas it changes. Taking up an attunement slot, giving extra uses of a class ability, boosting a certain kind of roll, et cetera. Having someone else look over your draft increases the chance of catching unexpected consequences of your design.

At the same time, something that looks fine on paper might not be fun to play, either because it needs amping up or scaling down. You can always tweak things in between sessions—this is something you’re designing for your group, so you’ll be able to see during play when things aren’t working right!

Lastly…

Don’t be afraid to make it awesome

It’s easier to cut content than to add content. In that same vein, it’s easier to start with a big, exciting, crazy idea and pare it down, than to start small and try to attach things to it to make it bigger. And, hey—it’s more fun that way.

What have you homebrewed for your players? I’m curious to hear!

(Quick blog PSA: Starting with the post on April 8th, Friendly Bard will be updating on Mondays only instead of Mondays and Fridays. The goal here is to continue making regular, helpful D&D posts, just with a little less frequency so I can put more time into each post! Thanks for sticking with me here.)