We’ve talked a lot about Dungeons and Dragons. And in the books you can find a magic item that does so many things. But what happens when you want to create a magic item. Are there things that you need to know how to do to get a good one created? Or is this something that you can just slap one together and it is going to work?

Why Make A Magic Item?

First off, let’s talk about why you’d even want to make a magic item. The big reason is that you want it to do something that the game hasn’t offered in the first place. And I am going to say that most of the time it is because it has something to do with the story that you are creating. If you just want to make it a one-off thing, that’s fine too. But when I think about making a magic item, it is something that I want to be impactful.

Now, with that, it can also be a little bit silly as well. We’ll see an example of that down at the end of the article. But when that is not a great thing to always have. I like silly in my games of Dungeons and Dragons, but if it’s always just silly, that has its own downside.

What Makes A Good Magic Item?

So let’s talk about what makes a good magic item and I think there can be a number of things that do that. Or a number that don’t.

Firstly it’s balanced to your game. I specifically am saying to your game here. It can be fairly unbalanced to Dungeons and Dragons if you want to play your game that way. Give your group something powerful and see what happens.

Secondly, make it useful. Now this one is probably something that people might not always do. But most of the time time, a magic item that you create should be, in fact, useful, for the party. Now it doesn’t mean that they always use that item, but it means that in certain situations it is useful.

Make it impactful as the third thing. This kind of ties into the previous ones, but beyond just a little utility, make it something that feels special. You are making a magic item here. If you make something mundane like a hat of water breathing, cool, but not impactful. There are already spells and rings and other items that do that.

Finally, tie it in. This one is probably the most important out of all of them for making a magic item. Though we’ll dive into it more. But a lot of the time you want it to tie into the story. Again, Dungeons and Dragons has many a magic item, so why make one if it doesn’t tie in.

Does It Need To Tie Into The Story?

But does it need to tie into the story? No, a magic item you make doesn’t need to tie into your campaign. But it is way more interesting if it does. If it doesn’t, it’s just a cool thing that the players can use. If it does, not the players feel like not only they got something useful, but someone that is informing them where the game is going. And that is going to feel better.

You might want to give them an awesome sword, but what’s the advantage of an awesome sword besides combat? It does +1 to hit and +1 damage and deals 1D6 fire damage, really cool. But why does it do that, why is it in this world? If you answer those questions it is more interesting than without answer it.

Does It Have a Downside or Curse?

This is a great question and the answer lies in the first thing that I said when creating a magic item. Is it balanced to your campaign. If you want a ton of awesome items and powerful magic and your players to feel like they have awesome things, then no, it might not. If you want to give them a +3 great sword, do that (I know that’s in the game). But if you want to give that and not just give the players a super powerful item, then balance that out.

Now, this is also something that should be used in balance with how much you hand out. Not everything should have a curse. Not everything should have a downside. I think that a mix is good, between those two things, and also not having any thing. You want to create something cool without a downside, that’s awesome and good. If everything comes with a cost, that isn’t as fun for the players.

Putting A Magic Item All Together

So let’s put two magic items together. I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about one of the ideas before and not about the other, because it is the reason for writing this article.

The Sword of Reincarnation

Stats: Great Sword with +3 to hit and +3 to damage

Ability: This sword rends the soul of those killed with it from their body. The soul is then sent out into the world where it joins with another soul. And they remember that it was you who killed them.

How This One Works

So let’s break it down as a magic item according to my guidelines set up above. Firstly, is this a balanced item to the world I am running. No, not really. This is a very powerful sword. And my players are not that high level yet. But it is balanced because of the downside.

Nothing like getting sold an awesome +3 sword at seemingly a discount. Only later in the campaign, and so while this doesn’t tie into the story, it creates it, an angry mob coming after you.

Soul Dagger

Stats: Dagger

Ability: On a success hit the being hit with it must make a DC 20 wisdom saving throw. If they fail, they are captured by the dagger and removed from combat.

The dagger stores up to 10 souls at once. You cannot identify which souls are in there. If you cast identify, you do not know how many souls are currently in there. You are able to voluntarily release the next soul. But the souls are always released from least recent to most recent. If the item is disenchanted or destroyed all souls are released. All released souls return to the world as when they went in without the sense that any time has passed.

Attunement required

How This One Works

There is a lot of wording there, but this is one that is basically a ridiculously powerful item. It is not just a do more damage, but you can effectively end any fight with it. But there is a downside.

There is a limited number of uses of the item, kind of. This is one that I am planning on using in my game. I want to get it into my players hands as an item that looks interesting, and has three charges left on it. They get to know some about the item when they find it, like the ability to capture souls.

The first soul released is going to be the creator of the dagger who is from thousands of years ago. They were stabbed with it and as a magic user with lots of intelligence but not much wisdom they got stuck in there. But the players will learn specifically about that time period and what that dagger was meant to be used for from this character.

So it’s story driven, it’s powerful, and there are 6 beings trapped in it that might be allies or enemies. The first one who is released is neither an ally or an enemy to the players. I like the idea of the scientist who cares more about the experiment than who has it now.

Final Thoughts

So there are just some ideas for building out a magic item. I’ve come across a cool website: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/ which would allow you make something that looks official if you want to print that off. That is a cool feature that you can add to your game.

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