r/HomebrewDnD

Here is the Orc Shaman, a CR 4 spellcaster built to add storm magic, ancestral spirits, and battlefield support to orc encounters.

I wanted this creature to feel like more than just an orc with spells. It can support nearby allies with temporary hit points, empower a warband with primal rage, call down lightning through its Rite of the Storm Gods, and use its voice as a supernatural force that carries across the battlefield.

The page also includes optional traits that let you customize the shaman depending on the role you want it to play. It can become more durable against thunder and lightning, deal extra force damage through ancestral spirits, hold concentration more reliably while wounded, perform ritual movement, or unleash one final spell when reduced to 0 hit points.

It works well as a tribal spiritual leader, battlefield caster, cultic storm priest, or dangerous support monster behind a larger orc warband.

This creature is from Orcs & Orcs, available on DriveThruRPG in PDF and hardcover print!

Orcs & Orcs is the ultimate guide to unleashing the full fury and depth of orc-kind in your 5E campaigns, whether you want savage warbands, disciplined armies, cursed berserkers, or iron-willed mercenaries.

What’s Inside?

• Dozens of Orc Statblocks – From the Orc Bannerbearer to the Red Orc Warlord, each entry includes extra traits and variants to help you customize encounters with brutal precision.
• Powerful Orc Factions – Expand your bestiary with Ironpeak Orcs, Oathsister Orcs, Red Orcs, and twisted Mutant Orcs. Each brings unique abilities, lore, and lair ideas.
• Orc Campaign Tools – Warband factions, tactical lairs, encounter suggestions, and more.
• 70 Orc-Themed Magic Items – Tribal relics, cursed axes, brutal armor, spiritual totems, and more.
• VTT & Art Resources – Includes 27 handouts and 17 creature tokens to bring orcs to life in-person or online.

Orcs fit into any fantasy campaign as enemies, allies, or complex factions. Wherever your world needs strength, rage, and scars earned in battle, orcs are ready.

I’m also working on Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E, an upcoming Kickstarter featuring 300+ magic items inspired by myths and legends from around the world. It includes weapons, armor, relics, artifacts, and scaling items that can grow with the characters over the course of a campaign. You can subscribe to our newsletter to get updates and download a free 30-page PDF preview. We only send emails occasionally, and only when there’s a new release, important news, or exclusive free content and discount codes to share.

You can find more of my creatures and manuals on DriveThruRPG, my Linktree, or by visiting r/JonnyDM!

The Winged Lynx is a CR 6 flying predator built for mountain passes, remote forests, sacred peaks, and isolated wilderness encounters. It is fast, intelligent enough to feel unsettling, and dangerous enough to become the center of local legends, whether as a feared monster, a false deity, or a misunderstood guardian.

I wanted it to feel more interesting than just “a lynx with wings”, so the page includes lore, encounter ideas, and multiple plot hooks. It can stalk travelers from above, terrorize a village, become the focus of a dangerous cult, or guard an ancient mountain secret that the party needs to uncover.

Mechanically, it is a mobile ambush predator with stealth, aerial movement, a diving attack, a fear-based roar, and bonus action mobility, making it useful as either a solo wilderness threat or part of a larger mountain encounter.

This creature appears in The Aberrant Codex: Mutations and Aberrations, available on DriveThruRPG! You can also check it out there for a more extensive preview. Delve into the warped world of aberrations, mutations, and cosmic horror in your 5E campaigns.

What’s Inside:

• Mutation Rules & Zones – Mechanics for wild magic areas, arcane corruption, and the strange transformations they cause.
• Character Options – 12 subclasses, 10 backgrounds, 4 new races, and 30 feats themed around mutation, aberration, and forbidden evolution.
• Spells & Items – 33 spells and 80+ magic items warped by planar influence or unstable energies.
• Monsters & Templates – Over 150 monster statblocks, from psionic predators to mutated horrors, plus variant rules for custom mutations.
• VTT Resources – Includes 100+ creature tokens and 125+ art handouts to bring your sessions to life.

Whether you want eldritch creatures, strange player options, or full rules for reality-warping regions, The Aberrant Codex has it all. The Hardcover edition of The Aberrant Codex is also available here: https://buy.stripe.com/8x24gyfNNegY75qgwI6c005

You can also subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on upcoming projects, including a Kickstarter launching in the coming months: Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E, inspired by myths from around the world. By joining the newsletter, you can download a free 30-page PDF preview of the upcoming Kickstarter. We only send emails occasionally, and only when there’s a new release, important news, or exclusive free content and discount codes to share.

For more of my creatures, items, and manuals visit DriveThruRPG, my Linktree, or r/JonnyDM!

Hello, fellow adventurers! Today, we are excited to share the Bowl of the Moon Rabbit and Maneki-Neko Figurine, two Uncommon magic items inspired by Japanese folklore. These entries come from our upcoming Kickstarter project, 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 2024.

Step into a realm of ancient gods, legendary heroes, and forgotten civilizations with Mythological Items, a comprehensive compendium featuring over 300 magical items specifically designed for 5E and its 2024 ruleset update. This manual spans a vast array of cultural traditions, organizing its treasures into regional categories for easy reference and immersive worldbuilding. Each item includes not only full game mechanics, but also lore and background information to integrate it seamlessly into your campaign, whether as treasure, quest rewards, or the key to an unfolding mythic saga. From the storm-summoning weapons of thunder gods to cursed trinkets whispered of in ancient lore, this book brings myth to your table like never before.

This manual offers an extensive collection of magical items that can be incorporated into any campaign, regardless of its connection to specific mythological themes. The items presented in this volume, drawn from a multitude of global legends and folklore, are envisioned to enhance the diversity and depth of any fantasy world. This eclectic array mirrors the inherent blending of elements in many worlds and settings, where influences from various cultures and mythologies coexist harmoniously. For instance, Thor’s Hammer, Mjölnir, could serve as the centerpiece of a divine quest, while Draupnir, the Norse ring of endless wealth, might drive political intrigue or power struggles in a kingdom torn by greed.

Mythological Items also provides a solid foundation for campaigns that wish to delve deeper into the relics of a specific mythology or blend multiple traditions into a larger, interconnected setting. A campaign inspired by Greek mythology could see players donning the Nemean Lion’s Pelt, becoming nearly invulnerable as they take on challenges worthy of Heracles himself, while a campaign drawing from Japanese folklore could involve uncovering the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the fabled grass-cutting sword tied to imperial lineage and divine storms.

We suggest checking our pre-launch page for additional info and an extended 30-page preview of our compendium, scheduled to release in a few months! Alternatively, you can also subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on upcoming projects, special offers, and important news about our past and future works.

Happy adventuring!

It took over a day to rework this. I really hope it is more balanced, and that somebody can give me a feedback to it. I know that lady does not make sence for a subclass of the Son of Sparda, but i couldn't come up with another fitting name so yeah. I really like dnd and Devil May Cry and thought I'd cmbine those.

Hi everyone!

​I wanted to share my latest project: The Circle of the Umbra.

​The goal here was to create a "Dark Druid" that feels less like a nature-guardian and more like a predator trapped by a shadow curse. I’ve always felt that the standard Druid chassis is a bit too "light" for certain darker campaigns, so I designed this subclass to fundamentally shift how the class plays.

​Anticipating the "Standard Level" Questions:

You’ll notice that this subclass includes features at levels where Druids don't usually get subclass upgrades (Levels 7, 15, 17, 18, and 20).

​I chose this "Base Class Variant" approach for a few specific reasons:

​The Flavor Gap: Standard Druid features like Beast Spells and Archdruid feel wrong for a character whose magic is being actively corrupted by the Shadow Weave.

​Horizontal Power Balance: These aren't "extra" features. They are surgical replacements for base class features. For example, Umbral Casting replaces Beast Spells to ensure the character can only cast their "corrupted" spells while transformed.

​The Damage Tax: At Level 7, I’ve locked the Elemental Fury damage into Poison, Necrotic, Acid and Psychic. By taking the "tax" of being resisted by many monsters (Poison/Necrotic), it balances out the high-utility Psychic damage.

​Design Philosophy:

This is a Glass-Cannon Striker. You lose the "extra health bar" of traditional beast Wild Shape in exchange for high mobility (Umbral Slip) and high-risk/high-reward damage (Vital Strike).

​I’m looking for feedback on:

​The Level 7 Damage Swap: Does the Poison/Necrotic restriction feel like a fair trade for Psychic damage?

​High-Level Scaling: Does the scaling of the Umbral Weapons feel appropriate for a full-caster who is trying to survive in melee?

​Formatting: I tried to stick as close to the WotC "clinical" voice as possible—let me know if anything reads as ambiguous!

​Thanks for taking a look at Silvax's curse!

Here are a few psionic magic items built around psychic power, telekinesis, mind control, and mental defenses. The Sword of Psionic Manifestation is the main one here, giving a character that classic psychic warrior feeling with a manifested psionic blade, extra psychic damage, a reactive mental shield, and telekinetic strikes against distant enemies.

The page also includes the Helm of Telepathic Command and the Staff of the Psionic Overlord, which lean more into domination, telepathy, and spellcasting.

The second page features the Staff of Mind Mastery, a legendary item for spellcasters who want to boost psychic damage, cast powerful mind-affecting spells, retaliate with mental force, and protect themselves from charm, fear, and other psychic threats.

I really like psionic items as rewards because they let you bring mind powers into a regular 5E campaign without needing an entire psionics system. They work especially well for psychic warriors, aberration-themed campaigns, mind flayer plots, alien ruins, strange lost civilizations, or any player who wants their character to feel like their power comes from pure willpower instead of traditional magic.

These items are part of Psionic Magic Items, a collection of unique psionic magic items. You can also check out my bundle of small D&D manuals on DMsGuild, which includes Psionic Magic Items.

You can also subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on upcoming projects, including a Kickstarter launching in the coming months: Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E, inspired by myths from around the world. By joining the newsletter, you can download a free 30-page PDF preview of the upcoming Kickstarter. We only send emails occasionally, and only when there’s a new release, important news, or exclusive free content and discount codes to share.

For more of my creatures, items, and manuals visit DriveThruRPG, my Linktree, or r/JonnyDM!

✨New amazing monster!!!✨

Visit Tales & Taverns to download the VTT Token and get access to tons of adventures, creatures, races, classes, quests, mini-games, tavern games, monthly miniature giveaways, and more than 800 pages of UNIQUE DnD content!!

✨New amazing sword!!!✨

Visit Tales & Taverns for tons of adventures, creatures, races, classes, quests, mini-games, tavern games, monthly miniature giveaways, and more than 800 pages of UNIQUE DnD content!!

I’ve been playing D&D for quite a long time, and I’ve always loved unusual character concepts or races that carry an inherent sense of conflict. For example, in my very first game, which immediately turned into a full campaign, I chose to play a Drow while fully understanding that it would likely create situations that could either help or hinder the party.

That was also when I seriously started digging into Drow lore, and of course I eventually came across Driders. They were essentially classic arachne-like creatures, which instantly caught my attention as a potential way to play an actual spider monster character.

The main issue was that Driders were very clearly designed as enemy monsters, making them unsuitable as playable characters, and on top of that they were deeply tied to Lolth, which completely removed the possibility of playing one as even a neutral character.

I spent a long time trying to solve that problem. At first, I limited myself to searching for existing homebrew solutions, but eventually I decided to simply “brew” my own race from scratch, and that is what I’d like to share with you.

Arachnids are an ancient race of intelligent beings descended from volcanic spiders altered by the influence of mysterious magical crystals. Over time, they developed intelligence, the ability to mimic humanoid appearances, and partially humanoid forms, though they retained their predatory nature and many inhuman traits.

Physically, arachnids are divided into two generations. The elder generation preserves most of its spider-like features: chitinous exoskeletons, numerous eyes, and monstrous proportions. The younger generation is far closer in appearance to humans and other humanoid races, though additional eyes, cold skin, unusual anatomy, and unnatural movements still betray their origins.

Arachnids possess an innate connection to venom and spider silk. Their bodies are highly resistant to toxins, they are capable of producing their own venom, and can create various objects from webbing. However, their physiology handles cold extremely poorly.

Despite their frightening reputation, arachnids do not possess a unified culture or inherent worldview. Due to generations spent living among other peoples, their behavior and morality are largely shaped by the environment in which they were raised.

I invite you to take a look at their racial traits,
as well as the lore I wrote in an attempt to make the race easily adaptable to your world without requiring major setting changes.

Unfortunately, I do not have the resources to commission an artist, nor the artistic skill to provide illustrations myself. However, I am confident that the popularity of arachne and spider-like humanoids in pop culture will make it easy for you to find references or simply use the image you already have in mind.

I would also like to emphasize that this race was designed as a solid foundation for creating characters within a very specific aesthetic and thematic style. Because of that, both you and your DM (if you are a player) are completely free to alter, expand, or remove any elements as you see fit.

My goal is simply to restore a small piece of cosmic justice and give players the opportunity to play not only cosmic slimes or snakefolk, but spiders as well, while finally separating them from Lolth as their mandatory creator. Remember: “The code is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.”

✨New amazing enemy!!!✨

Visit Tales & Taverns to download the VTT Token and get access to tons of adventures, creatures, races, classes, quests, mini-games, tavern games, monthly miniature giveaways, and more than 800 pages of UNIQUE DnD content!!

Do you have the willpower to dedicate yourself to the ancient military code of the Bushido? Do you have the integrity and fortitude to embody the 7 tenets that govern the life of a Bushi?

Then prepare to master the way of the blade, and embody the code of the Bushido with this subclass!

The Way of the Bushido is one of my favourite creations, offering:

• Two brand new, custom fighting styles that represent traditional Japanese fighting styles.
• Spells, channel divinity options and leveled features that pay homage to traditional Japanese culture.
• An authentic subclass that does its best to be respectful and diligent in its representation of traditional Japanese culture

Please critique kindly :)

Disappointed in the "Way of the Four Elements" monk subclass? Yeah, me too. So I made the four elements as thematically distinct subclasses inspired by ATLA.

First is the Way of the Earthshaper, a formidable class designed to be immovable on the battlefield.

A monastic tradition rooted in a philosophy of patience and resilience, Earthshapers do not strike wildly and passionately like their Fireshaping cousins, instead they endure and counter with devastating precision when the opportunity presents itself. Earthshapers are best utilised as supports, able to disable opponents through tactical manipulation of the battlefield, though they can also serve as brawlers and mini-tanks.

Hi, everyone!

I hope it goes without saying that homebrew content is permitted at this table, and that nobody involved is trying to "win" D&D.

I will soon be beginning my first D&D campaign with a group of first time players, though our DM has played before. I really want to play a Warlock, but our group only has three players. I wanted a way to balance the desire to play a Warlock (primarily for the story potential) with the utility of a better casting class. My initial thought was to simply replace the spell slots table with the Wizard's, but that almost felt like I was just playing Wizard. Then I came up with this idea - making an Eldritch Invocation that'd solve my problems.

As I've never homebrewed before, I wanted to get some thoughts on this solution. My DM seems all for it, but I wanted some feedback. Specifically regarding viability - should I allow for upcasting? Would that make this too good? Is this too many spell slots? Not enough? Could this break the game in some way I'm not seeing?

I was using the Wizard as a sort of benchmark. At level 5, they can cast nine leveled spells (four level 1, three level 2, and one level 3), this invocation would allow me eight leveled spells (two level 1, two level 2, and two level 3 in addition to my two existing spell slots) at the same point.

At level 11, a Wizard has 16 leveled spells, and I'd have 15 leveled spells (three existing spell slots, plus two spell slots per spell level 1-6). I think that keeps a fairly even pace. If I changed nothing else, I'd have access to Magical Cunning to regain some Pact Magic spell slots. If we get to 11, I would also begin to have access to Mystic Arcanum. I would also have to prepare spells from the Warlock list, of course.

I do acknowledge this would give me three level 9 spells at 17, but from what I understand, it's very rare for players to get to that tier of play anyway and I don't expect us to play for that long as we intend to begin at level 1.

Please leave your thoughts, and thank you for helping me shape this into something fair, but fun.

Here's the first draft of the Path of the Behemoth subclass! Based on the video game Destiny 2, I've ported over the Stasis subclass from Titans into a playable Barbarian subclass for the 2024 edition.
As this is a first draft I would love to hear what you guys think, if there's any balance concerns and if it feels like it carries the same gameplay identity from Destiny 2.

If you wanna see more of my Destiny-based homebrews feel free to check my profile, and download the free PDF's from my Ko-Fi page here: https://ko-fi.com/s/dc3eca69a5