I enjoy making custom content for Dungeons and Dragons, fifth edition. Below you will find a collection of the things I used in one of our home games so far. Feel free to use them in your games and let me know how it worked out.
The items on this page are unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Table of contents
Magic Items
The following items have been part of some one shots or are part of my ongoing campaign. As we play with them and test them out, I will be updating their descriptions.
Ring of the Stupidly Brave (Uncommon)
A silver ring with very simple engravings of a stick figure running towards a firebreathing dragon.
If the bearer of this ring has an Intelligence of 9 or lower, it is immune to being frightened.
Requires attunement
Ring of Communication (Uncommon)
The bearer of this ring can use the Message cantrip. The recipient needs to be wearing another Ring of Communication to be able to receive the message.
Wand of the Appraiser (Rare)
This wand points towards the most valuable object within sight and within 30 ft from the bearer. It ignores items that the bearer carries while holding the wand. The user feels a small force that pushes the hand in the right direction until the wand points exactly towards the object. The wand does not provide any indication of the nature of the object or its actual value. It requires a free hand to use.
Dagger of Smothered Cries (Rare)
On a hit, this dagger absorbs the cries of pain of its target. The energy of the cry is stored in the dagger, which can hold a maximum of 3 cries. On a successful hit, the wielder can choose to release the stored energy. Each stored cry adds +1 thunder damage. When the stored energy is released, the previously smothered cries are audible within a radius of 100 ft. All stored energy is released at once and cannot be divided.
If the capacity of three stored cries is reached, additional cries are no longer suppressed.
Properties
1d4 piercing damage, finesse, light, thrown (range 20/60 ft)
Rock of the Compelled Duel (Rare)
A cubic, black rock of 5 cm (2″) on each side with a smooth and polished surface.
Use a bonus action to perform a ranged attack on a creature.
On a hit, the creature takes 1 point of bludgeoning damage and has to focus its attention on you for its next 3 turns. During this duration, it has disadvantage on attacks on others.
On a critical hit, the creature takes 2 points of bludgeoning damage. The duration increases to 6 turns.
The creature loses its forced focus on you, when
- you attack another creature;
- you use a spell against another creature other than yourself;
- the creature is attacked by one of your allies.
Potion of Lesser Healing (Common)
You regain 1d4 + 1 Hit Points when you drink this potion. The potion’s pale red liquid glimmers faintly when agitated.
A Potion of Lesser Healing is often a diluted Potion of Healing.
Elixer of Protective Healing (Uncommon)
Upon drinking this elixer, you regain 1d4 + 1 Hit Points. You also gain resistance to the following damage types:
| 1d6 | Damage type |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fire + Cold |
| 2 | Acid + Poison |
| 3 | Bludgeoning + Force |
| 4 | Piercing + Slashing |
| 5 | Lightning + Radiant + Thunder |
| 6 | Necrotic + Psychic |
The resistance fades after you take damage from one of these damage types.
For example, if you gained resistance to Fire + Cold damage, both resistances fade when you take either Fire or Cold damage.
Ring of the Sage (Uncommon)
requires attunement
Gold ring engraved with letters from almost every language known. The letters associated with the language you choose glow very faintly.
This ring allows you to learn one additional language out of the following list: Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic, Dwarvish, Elvish, Giant, Gnomish, Goblin, Halfling, Infernal, Orc, Sylvan, Undercommon
Once per day, at the end of a long rest, you can replace the language you know via this ring with another one from the list.
Staff of the Shielding Embrace (Uncommon)
requires attunement by a sorcerer or wizard
This 30 cm long platinum staff is adorned with engravings of arms wrapping around its perimeter all the way along its length. The center section is wrapped in leather to create a comfortable grip. When activated, it creates an invisible barrier of magical force that protects you and that lasts until the start of your next turn. It protects against the triggering attack.
This staff has 5 charges, which are used to fuel the shield. You can use your reaction to expend one or more of its charges to create one of the following effects:
- Create an invisible tower shield to protect you (1 charge, +2 bonus to your AC).
- Cast the Shield spell without expending a spell slot (3 charges, +5 bonus to AC).
- Create an invisible barrier of magical force to protect one of your allies within 30 ft from you (5 charges, +5 bonus to the target’s AC until the start of your next turn).
The staff regains 1d4 + 1 expended charges each day at dawn. If you expend the staff’s last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff does not regain charges for another day. On a 20, the staff regains all expended charges at once.
Returning Tempest (Uncommon)
Simple weapon
Properties: ranged (80/240 ft)
Weapon: Boomerang (requires proficiency with Javelins)
This boomerang is a ranged weapon carved from darkbrown Mulga wood. It is ornately decorated with symbols of storm and wind. When thrown, it has a range of 80/240 feet, and any creature that is proficient with the javelin is also proficient with this weapon.
On a hit, the boomerang deals 1d4 (2) slashing damage and explodes to deal 3d4 (7) thunder damage. The boomerang magically appears back to the thrower’s hand.
On a miss, the boomerang flies back through the air to return to the thrower’s hand at the start of the next turn.
Subclasses and backgrounds
Cleric Divine Domain: Food
One of the players has a background as a dietitian in real life and wanted to incorporate that in her character. I homebrewed the Food Domain for her (because Clerics don’t have enough domains already).
Background: The Toymaker
One of my players is playing an artificer. For her we homebrewed a custom background: The Toymaker. It is a blend between the Guild Artisan and The Entertainer backgrounds from the Player’s Handbook.
Optional Warlock Feature: Summon Tentacles
One of the players in my campaign is a Warlock with a bit of a viking theme. After making tentacles miniatures I felt this was a nice flavor optional feature to try out.
Miscellaneous
Worked out rules for Travel over Land
I summarized the most important rules for Travel over Land in my campaign in a separate document. I added homebrew rules for constitution saving throws for exhaustion caused by travel, and added two horse breeds that are intended for long distance travel. They give the rider advantage on constitution saving throws for exhaustion or have a higher travel speed. This gives a small advantage and reduction in travel times: a rider can either push on for a few extra hours of travel with a smaller risk of exhaustion or travel at a higher pace.
Aergid the Wise, a Silver Dragon Youngling
When a dragon outgrows its Wyrmling phase, but has not quite yet reached the adolescent years of a Young dragon, it is called a Youngling. It is considerably more formidable than a Wyrmling and starts speaking Common (if perhaps broken Common at best).
The Silver Dragon Youngling described here – Aergid the Wise – has spent a lot of time in the library and laboratory of a powerful mage (Balthasar ‘the Mad’ Wardenclyffe) that manipulated the very fabric of time and space. In the absence of the mage, Aergid started to consider this library his lair and treasure hoard. The weird influence of the environment and remnants of former experiments, allows the dragon to use 1 Legendary Action each round to either recharge its breath weapon, make a perception check or retreat as time appears to run at a slightly different rate for it. This dragon was a nice challenge for the 5 level 3 adventurers in my homebrew campaign.