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Magic Items

Magic Item Workshop: Supercharging Your Wand of Wonder

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About a year ago, we released a list of magical items that had been homebrewed for our Storm King’s Thunder campaign. Since then, we have been busy crafting new, over-the top-items that are intended to allow players to go above and beyond the norm without tossing the game into a dumpster and setting it on fire. With that said, we just created a new magical item that is a little more than just extra. In fact, it is easily the most complex magical item any of us have created. So, without further ado, we present to you the Wand of Wondrous Chaos – a super-charged version of one of the game’s already most audacious magical items: the Wand of Wonder.

Signature Magic Items: What They Are, How to Run Them, and Why You Should Put Them in Your RPG Campaigns

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The Master Sword, essentially a signature magic item.

They say a hero is only as good as their weapon, which may not be true but if you’re Thor, She-Ra, Drizzt Do’urden, or Trevor Belmont, but it gives them one hell of an edge.  Not to say that their amazing magic weapons or objects of badassery define them as characters, but they definitely add to their personas. The same concept can apply to D&D characters.

Does D&D Magic Item Attunement Crimp Your DM Style?

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Do the magic item attunement rules and limits make D&D 5E a better game or just add a layer of frustration? When we started playing 5E, we actually ignored attunement. Now, we’ve started using it across all of our campaigns to understand how the game is meant to be played. … And we have some concerns. In this episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave talk about attunement, magic items in older editions, and the role these tools play in their games.

The Attunement Rule: If It’s Necessary, Then Why Is It So Disliked and How Could It Be Handled Differently

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One of the hallmarks of playing in a D&D game is it’s trademark magic-rich environment. However, there are games such as Diablo and Skyrim that offer a similar experience, allowing you to explore the world, face powerful enemies and collect magic equipment like Pokémon. And while these games are similar, one stark difference between D&D 5E and the above-mentioned games is the limitations with magical item attunement, toward which there are a great deal of mixed feelings both for and against it.

10 More Awesome Magical Items, and 4 With Wording and Mechanical Issues 

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The Master Sword, essentially a signature magic item.

In part one of our Awesome Magic Items series, we looked at some magical items that are worth the price of admission and a few that would probably just get both you and your friends killed. In part two, we’ll examine both extremes of the magic item list to determine what’s really good and what you shouldn’t give to one of your in-game friends unless you don’t like them.

8 Awesome D&D 5E Magical Items and 3 That Are Deadly to the Party and Campaign (Part 1 – A through H)

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One criticism of 5E is that the magical items are lackluster compared to some previous editions. Well, in our opinion, 5E has a great deal of magical items that are nothing short of fantastic, but others don’t live up to their reputation or can even destroy your campaign. This is why we have composed a list of items that are worth the hype and others that prove all magic items definitely were not created equally. 

7 Ways to Make Treasure More Rewarding in Your RPG Campaign

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One of the eternal struggles a DM must constantly manage is to what extent they reward their players. This is why we put together seven tips to help you navigate giving out rewards within your games. Make these a part of your game, and your players should feel both rewarded and motivated without dripping in treasure by the end of every session. 

9 Legendary Magic Items From DM Tony’s Storm King’s Thunder

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You heard about the crazy magic in my custom version of Storm King’s Thunder on the podcast. Now, let’s take a look at this broken mess of magical mysteries my party encountered.

7 Big Things D&D PCs Could Do With a Little Downtime

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Many D&D campaigns assume that the players change the world most by their adventures. But downtime activities can be every bit as important to shaping the campaign and the world. Sometimes the things done during downtime turn out to be the most memorable parts of your game. Here are 7 of the coolest things I could see players do with downtime and how I would adjudicate them off the cuff.

A Wise DM’s Guide to Homebrew Magic Items

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Custom magical items can add a sense of mystery to the game as well as your own style to the already strong framework of the existing 5E system. I suspect most DM’s and players are open to the idea of introducing non-canon magical items but have valid concerns surrounding these homebrews being labeled either broken or underwhelming. To help find a middle ground between the two, I would like to share four pieces of advice (or, rather. insane ramblings) on how to create custom magical equipment in your game without derailing both your party balance and the game itself.