In our recent episode, we discussed a listener question about homebrewing magic items that are based off our favorite books, movies, myths, and television series. Specifically, they were hoping to translate the legendary Shardblades from Brandon Sanderson’s epic series, The Stormlight Archives.
We discussed several of our own homebrew items that we’ve instituted in our home games over the years and we thought it might be fun (and hopefully helpful) if we shared our top 3 homebrews: what they were based on, why we wanted them, how we translated them into our campaign worlds, and the stats we used.
So, without further ado… may we present our favorites!
DM Dave: He-Man’s Sword of Power
As we discussed in some detail during the episode, in our Curse of Strahd campaign, DM Tony’s barbarian, Hawk Morgan, was finished with the initial story arc of a thinly-veiled Hulk Hogan and, after finding DM Dave’s evil blade of Count Strahd’s, Lament, the Impaler, decided against destroying souls for his own benefit. Then, after defeating Vladimir Horngaard, undead commander of the Knights of the Silver Dragon, came into ownership of Silver’s Song, a +2 Greatsword that dealt additional damage when used against Strahd.
Enter the concept of the Sword of Power: two blades, one light and one dark, that when brought together become ultimately powerful. This led to a great quest to melt the swords down and have one of the greatest elven smiths, Gondolin, forge them into Takal Aestar – our version of the legendary Sword of Power.
Takal Aestar (The Dragon’s Union)
Weapon (longsword), legendary artifact (requires attunement)
Takal Aestar, the High Elvish words for the Dragon’s Union. A 4 foot blade of shining brilliance. In place of a standard crossguard, the sword’s blade widens into a pair of dragon wings which taper to become the handle. Between the wings lie two open notches surrounded by arcane runes etched into the metal.
Takal Aestar is a magic longsword of sharpness that grants a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. On a successful hit, Takal Aestar deals 2d8 slashing damage (instead of static damage, the sharpness imbues the longsword with an additional damage die.) Takal Aestar scores a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20 with a natural 20 delivering an additional 14 damage.
Spell Deflection As a reaction, you can deflect or redirect magical energy when you are the target of a spell attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the spell is reduced by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your level. If you reduce the damage to 0, you can redirect the magical energy. If you redirect the magical energy in this way, you can make a ranged spell attack as part of the same reaction. You make this attack with proficiency, and the range is 30 feet.
Pool of Power (1/day) While attuned to Takal Aestar, on a bonus action, the wielder can call on their inner reserves of power to heal. The wielder may expend up to half of their current hit dice pool. This feature recharges on a long rest.
Siege Weapon Takal Aestar deals maximum double damage (32) to objects and structures.
For story reasons (i.e. the Heavyweight Championship Belt), we built in a second piece that would allow the wielder to transform into “the Most Powerful Man in the Universe!”
Belt of the Ancients
Utilizing Takal Aestar as a focus, you are able to draw power from Yester Hill. As an action, you can hold Takal Aestar above your head and speak the Oath of the Ancients: “As the Stones of Yester Hill Protect, So Shall I. I Shall Kindle the Light. I Shall Shelter the Light. I Shall Preserve the Light. I Shall Be the Light.I Have the Power,” becoming the protector of Yester Hill and a symbol of The Green Mother, Gaia who was worshiped by the druids that existed in the Valley of Barovia centuries prior.
- You become incredibly well-muscled and defined, with your strength score increasing to 26.
- You transform into a natural leader, outfitted in the armament of a Champion of the Green Mother (a double baldric fashioned from the stones of Yester Hill, a fur loincloth and leather boots) , with your Charisma score increasing to 20.
The transformation lasts for 10 minutes at which point, a DC 15 CON Save is required to avoid a level of exhaustion. You may draw on the power of Yester Hill once per day, with any use recharging at dawn. Once the Oath has been spoken, you become physically tied to the land of Yester Hill and are required to travel there periodically to renew your oath.
2. DM Tony: Zeus’ Thunderbolt
In DM Tony’s Storm King’s Thunder campaign, he had developed six legendary artifacts, one for each character, that were spread through the adventure – an excellent way of spurring the players on through incentive.
For his half-Storm Giant wizard, Erasmus, he built out Zeus’ Thunderbolt; easily one of the most legendary items ever. Additionally, this is a great example of a powerful item that levels with the character, allowing the DM to adjust the power curve accordingly.
The Thunderbolt of the Storm Giants
Weapon (thunderbolt). Legendary artifact (requires attunement by a wizard. sorcerer, or Storm Giant)
The Thunder Bolt is an azure blue weapon of shimmering, solid energy which constantly crackles with celestial power. It can be summoned to the hand of its user on command and or dismissed until needed. Originally, it was designed to be of the length fitting for a Storm Giant, however, it can resize itself to be as small as five feet in length if it was to be used by a medium-sized person. It acts as an arcane focus and functions as +1 for levels 1-6, +2 for levels 7-13, and plus +3 for levels 14-20.
Its charges are tied to the proficiency bonus of the character and recharges fully twice per day; once at sunrise and once at sunset.
Lightning Strike: By using one charge the wielder may summon and hurl a thunderbolt as the Lightning Bolt spell cast at the character’s highest casting level. For example, if the Thunderbolt was held by someone who’s highest level spell slot was 5th, then the lightning bolts used by the wielder would be as if they were upcast to 5th level and using the DC of the caster. When the bolt strikes a solid object it causes all creatures within 30 feet to make a Constitution saving throw or be stunned for one round.
If this weapon were to be used by an actual Storm Giant:
The saving throw on their Lightning Strike ability would be increased to 20.
Their Lightning Strike ability could be used 3 times without recharging and then would recharge as written.
The damage increases to 16d8.
Finally if, the target is immune to electricity, treat it as resistance and deal full electrical damage to targets with resistance.
3. DM Chris: Demonic Bob Ross
In DM Tony’s recent birthday game , DM Chris took some inspiration from the hilarity and absurdity of Castle Greyhawk. To this end, he decided to take a beloved character from our youth and make him a demonic enemy for a 20th level party… enter Demonic Bob Ross!
DM Chris went the extra mile for the 3WD-Verse and made a spiffy stat block for use in your own games!
Final Thoughts
TTRPGs, like D&D, grew out of our love of fantasy, science fiction, and myths. With that understanding, there will always be magic, items, monsters, and general shenanigans that you are completely inspired by and want to include in your game.
But, as opposed to prewritten novels, television series, and movies, we have to work everything we do into a collaborative game experience. We don’t know how these items and ideas will play in our campaign worlds until we’re live, and there’s no “re-writes” to save us.
So, when you’re thinking of bringing in something from a beloved property that has you so jazzed, ponder these two questions. 1) What is the world that you’re pulling this from? and 2) How does the object, magic, or idea work in that world? Our discussion in the episode about how Shardblades are handled on Roshar and the Spice Melange is handled in Dune gave examples of this.
Once you’ve pondered those questions, make the job a little easier on yourself by benchmarking to some established ideas. There’s a wealth of information out there, especially with 3rd-party supplements, to better understand how to manifest your imagination.
Until next time, Heroes… LIVE THE ADVENTURE!
Got A Question?
3 Wise DMs mission is to help DMs with problems that you can’t find answers to in the rulebooks. If you’ve got a question or a problem, visit the website and enter it in the “What’s Your Problem” field. Or reach out to us at 3wisedms@gmail.com.
Need Dice?
If you’re in the market for dice (and who isn’t?) visit our affiliate link at FanRoll Dice and enter code 3WISEDMS10 to get 10% off your entire order!