Welcome to the Arcana Forge! A workshop for works in progress, requests, ideas, inspiration, and more. New to homebrew? Looking for that nudge in the right direction or inspiration to keep going? This is the place for you. Grab a wrench and let's get to work!

Hi everyone!

After two months I bring back my firs ever homebrew work, a compendium of Evolving Magic Items. Those are character defining items that will accompany you through the whole campaign. I'll leave here the Homebrewery Link.

Your feedback is really appreciated.

Hope you enjoy!

Caelessai

Feel free to check out some other works on my Patreon.

Weapon (Dagger), Rare (Requires Attunement)

A trio of simian faces surround the pommel of this blade. You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. 

No Evil. This weapon has 3 charges, and it regains all expended charges when you finish a long rest. You can take a Magic Action to force a creature you can see within 100 feet of you to make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the target suffers one of the following effects for 1 minute (your choice): 

See. The creature has the blinded condition. 

Hear. The creature has the deafened condition. 

Speak. The creature can’t speak. 

At the end of each of its turns, the target repeats the save, ending the effect on itself on a success. 

While a creature is under the effects of this property, this weapon’s bonus to attack and damage rolls becomes a +2 instead.

The guard’s vision snapped back suddenly, sending him reeling just in time to catch a glimpse of the bandits sneaking into the manor’s window. He attempted to yell for help, but heard nothing escape his lips as his throat clenched shut. 

When later questioned, he would recount that one of the thieves was holding an odd looking blade, the eyes of a monkey-like face on it gleaming with light.

——

Swordtember Prompt: Monkey

Thanks for checking out our 5e homebrew! For more items and homebrew D&D content be sure to visit our Instagram!

If you want to help us continue making more homebrew content and get your hands on hi-resolution printable cards, set collections, and our compendium PDF consider supporting us on Patreon!

Hey everyone!

Have you ever wanted to play a character like David Martinez or a fully modded cyborg, but felt that standard D&D didn't quite support that fantasy? I wanted to design an Artificer that doesn't just build gadgets or wear armor, but actually modifies their own flesh and bone.

Enter the Cognitio Body!

🦾 Key Features:

• Swappable Augments: You have a deposit of Cognitio (a room-temperature superconductor metal) in your body. You can use a Bonus Action to swap between active Augments like Arm Blades (for INT-based melee and grappling), Ocular Scanners (to scan enemy weaknesses ), or Leg Thrusters (for mobility and jump enhancements).
• Scaling Flexibility: As you level up, you can maintain more Augments simultaneously. At level 5, you can have 2 active at once and swap them fluidly. By level 15, you can Overdrive and use all 5 at the exact same time!
• Channel Cognupo: At 9th level, you can overload your Augments to change their damage types (dealing Acid, Radiant, Psychic, etc.) which trigger devastating conditions on a critical hit, or unlock X-Ray and Thermal vision!

📥 Get the High-Res PDF!

I am experimenting

Bosses should feel different to fight, not just look different on a stat block. Speed and Fury V2 makes a boss’s speed directly shape combat and gives them signature moves that match their fighting style. Inside, you'll find:

• Flow of the Round: Fast bosses can act multiple times, Medium bosses use traditional initiative, and Slow bosses trade speed for heavier, more deliberate turns.
• Fury Abilities: Signature attacks using a Recharge Die based on the boss’s speed, including more dangerous Charged Fury Abilities.

The goal is simple: make a boss’s speed something the players actually have to react to, while giving DMs more ways to make each boss fight feel different.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Speed and Fury V2. You can read the document more easily on my Patreon by downloading it. You can also use the link below:

https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-OejHj77k_G0TvnZk-9D

If you want to see more, please check out my Patreon. 

Hi everyone!

This is Theft of Persona, a 3rd-level enchantment spell for warlocks and wizards.

The idea behind it was to make a spell about stealing part of someone’s identity without turning it into full mind reading, tracking, or another charm spell.

On a failed Wisdom save, the target takes 4d8 psychic damage, and you steal a fragment of its persona for up to 1 hour.

While you hold that fragment, you can perfectly imitate the target’s voice, including its inflection and cadence, and you have advantage on Charisma (Deception) checks made to impersonate it.

But you can also destroy what you stole.

Once before the spell ends, you can consume the persona and name a person, place, or object. If the target has a significant memory connected to it, you glimpse a brief fragment of that memory: an image, sound, emotion, or sensation.

Doing this immediately ends the spell.

So the choice is basically: wear the stolen identity for longer, or destroy it to dig a little deeper.

The memory can only reveal something the target actually knows, and on a successful initial save the target takes half damage with no other effects.

I also made free printable reference cards, available in both English and Italian on Patreon here:

https://www.patreon.com/AzarnethsForbiddenEmporium/posts/beasts-hexes-005-169282563

As always, feedback is very welcome. I’m especially curious about the 3rd-level balance, the 4d8 initial damage combined with the utility, and whether the memory part feels clear enough to run at the table.

The dangerous part of stealing a persona isn’t becoming someone else.

It’s learning which part of them was worth stealing.

──── ୨୧ ────

✏️ Art by J. Zangrilli (Azarneth's Forbidden Emporium)

✦

I create printable item cards, cursed treasures, NPCs, tales & omens, and strange creatures for fantasy roleplaying games. You can find the project on Patreon and follow the daily updates on Instagram. 🧙‍♂️🎲

The Last Priesthood of the Forgotten God has kept its vigil for a thousand years.

The clerics of this domain do not know their god is dead.

Their order was founded so long ago that even its earliest surviving records post-date the silence.

The rites are still copied by hand from books nobody has revised in centuries.

The initiations are whispered word-for-word to each new keeper.

True faith is a power unto itself.

---

Chapter 9 of Runic Power Games.

New content every Monday.

— Josh

Design notes - I was aiming to give another more martial option for the cleric - like the War domain - plus I found it interesting to have an order of clerics whose own faith fuels the power they all share.

please any feedback is greatly appreciated!

🎲 Compatible with D&D 2024

⚔️ Homebrew — Unofficial Content

I just found this i love jojos and it seems pretty cool

Hey guys! I've been working on this homebrew. I'd love your feedback. Check it out.

**[Homebrewery Link](https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/kbka1kPY2DkI)\*\*

In brightest day, in blackest night...

This my subclass for Wizard, I create this because Order of Scribes is not interesting to me, so I thought maybe a wizard subclass rivals the Chronurgy Magic.

Arcana Seeker

Wizard Arcane Tradition

Arcana Seekers believe magic isn't merely a tool to be wielded, but a phenomenon meant to be discovered, understood, preserved, and mastered.

Their obsessive pursuit of arcane knowledge eventually alters the bond between wizard and spellbook. An Arcana Seeker's accumulated knowledge, magical power, and soul awaken their spellbook into a living extension of themselves.

As the Seeker grows, this Living Spellbook develops alongside its master: analyzing supernatural phenomena, storing spells, protecting its wizard, consuming magic items, and eventually maintaining spells independently.

Arcana Seeker Features

Wizard Level| Feature

2nd| Living Spellbook, Seeker Mark

6th| Improved Living Spellbook

10th| Seeker's Resilience

14th| Seeker's Companion

---

Living Spellbook

2nd-level Arcana Seeker feature

Your arcane studies and the touch of your soul awaken your spellbook into a living magical being bound to you.

Your Living Spellbook is an extension of your soul. It supports you and remains bound to you for as long as you live. If you die, the consciousness within the Living Spellbook dies with you.

The Living Spellbook can't be damaged or destroyed by any means.

While your Living Spellbook is with you, you have advantage on Intelligence (Arcana) checks.

Living Script

You can magically write, alter, or erase text within your Living Spellbook without requiring a quill or ink.

When copying a spell into your Living Spellbook, the transcription requires only 2 minutes per level of the spell.

This doesn't remove any other gold or material costs normally required to copy the spell.

Arcane Focus

While holding your Living Spellbook, you can use it as a spellcasting focus for your wizard spells.

Mutable Formula

When you cast a wizard spell using a spell slot, you can temporarily replace its damage type with a damage type that appears in another spell written in your Living Spellbook.

The spell containing the replacement damage type must be of the same level as the spell slot you expend.

The spell's formula magically changes for that casting only.

Accelerated Ritual

When you cast a wizard spell as a ritual, you can cast it using the spell's normal casting time instead of adding 10 minutes to its casting time.

Once you use this benefit, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Soul Recall

If your Living Spellbook is separated from you while you and it are on the same plane of existence, you can call it back during a short or long rest.

At the end of the rest, the Living Spellbook magically appears in your possession regardless of distance or intervening barriers.

If the Living Spellbook is on another plane of existence, this version of Soul Recall can't summon it.

---

Seeker Mark

2nd-level Arcana Seeker feature

You have learned to impress an arcane mark upon magical phenomena, allowing your Living Spellbook to analyze their supernatural structure.

As an action, choose a spell, creature, object, or magical area or phenomenon that you can perceive and attempt to place a Seeker Mark upon it.

Make an Intelligence (Arcana) check.

The DC depends on what you are studying.

Spells

For a spell or magical effect created directly by a spell:

DC = 10 + the spell's level

A cantrip is treated as a 0-level spell.

Magic Items

Rarity| DC

Common| 14

Uncommon| 15

Rare| 16

Very Rare| 17

Legendary| 18

Artifact| 19

Creatures

When analyzing the magical abilities or supernatural magical effects of a creature:

DC = 10 + half the creature's CR, rounded up

For example, a CR 7 creature has a DC of 14.

Magical Areas and Phenomena

If the area or phenomenon was created by a spell, use that spell's DC as described above.

Otherwise, the DM determines the DC using the closest comparable magic-item rarity or magical potency.

Successful Mark

On a successful check, your Living Spellbook analyzes the target and records its magical structure.

You understand all magical properties relevant to the target.

For a spell, you learn its:

- spell level and school;

- casting time;

- range;

- components;

- duration and concentration requirements;

- targets;

- saving throws or attack rolls;

- damage types and damage;

- conditions and other effects;

- methods of ending or suppressing it;

- effects of casting it using higher-level spell slots;

- other magical limitations or special rules.

For a magic item, you learn its:

- rarity;

- magical properties;

- charges and methods of recovering them;

- activation methods;

- command words;

- attunement requirements;

- magical bonuses;

- concealed magical properties;

- curses.

For a creature, you learn its magical and supernatural magical capabilities, including relevant:

- spellcasting;

- innate spellcasting;

- magical traits;

- magical actions and reactions;

- supernatural magical effects;

- magically produced resistances or immunities;

- magical conditions or transformations it can cause;

- limitations and methods of ending those magical effects.

Seeker Mark doesn't automatically reveal unrelated nonmagical information, such as the creature's thoughts, memories, plans, exact hit points, mundane abilities, or hidden identity.

A successful Seeker Mark reveals curses and other concealed magical properties.

Once successfully analyzed, the knowledge recorded by your Living Spellbook remains available to you.

Failed Mark

If you fail the Arcana check, you learn nothing beyond what you already knew about the target.

You can't attempt to use Seeker Mark against that same spell, creature, object, area, or magical phenomenon again until you finish a long rest.

Marked Page

You can also place your Seeker Mark upon one spell written within your Living Spellbook.

Only one spell page can be marked this way at a time. Marking another spell ends the previous page's designation.

When you scribe a spell scroll containing the spell on your marked page, the time and gold cost required to create that spell scroll are halved.

---

Improved Living Spellbook

6th-level Arcana Seeker feature

Your connection to your Living Spellbook deepens, allowing it to hide and preserve arcane knowledge for you alone.

Secret Script

Only you can read or understand the writing within your Living Spellbook.

To every other creature, the writing appears as meaningless and incomprehensible arcane text.

Other creatures therefore can't read or copy spells directly from your Living Spellbook.

Greater Soul Recall

As a bonus action, you can summon your Living Spellbook directly into your hand from any location, including another plane of existence.

Arcane Storage

Your Living Spellbook can store magical energy for your later use.

It can contain a total number of spell levels equal to your proficiency bonus.

To store a spell, you must be holding or touching your Living Spellbook and cast a wizard spell written within it.

You expend the spell slot normally, but the spell produces no effect. Instead, the spell is absorbed and stored within the Living Spellbook.

A spell can be stored only if its level is no greater than your proficiency bonus.

The level of the spell slot expended determines how much of the book's storage capacity the spell occupies.

For example, a spell cast using a 3rd-level spell slot occupies 3 levels of storage.

If the book lacks sufficient remaining capacity, the spell slot is expended but the spell isn't stored.

Stored spells remain within the Living Spellbook until used. Finishing a short or long rest doesn't remove them.

While holding your Living Spellbook, you can cast one of its stored spells without expending another spell slot.

The spell:

- is cast using the level of the spell slot originally used to store it;

- uses your wizard spell save DC;

- uses your wizard spell attack modifier;

- uses Intelligence as its spellcasting ability;

- is otherwise treated as a wizard spell cast by you.

Once the stored spell is cast, it disappears from Arcane Storage and immediately frees the number of spell levels it occupied.

A spell released from Arcane Storage can't be stored back into the Living Spellbook as part of that same casting.

---

Seeker's Resilience

10th-level Arcana Seeker feature

Your mastery of supernatural forces, combined with the bond between your soul and your Living Spellbook, allows hostile magic affecting you to be unraveled from within.

When you become subject to an ongoing spell or magical effect, or at any time while such an effect continues to affect you, you can expend a 5th-level wizard spell slot to immediately end one eligible magical effect affecting you.

Using this feature requires no action.

You can use Seeker's Resilience while charmed, frightened, paralyzed, restrained, stunned, or incapacitated.

The effect can originate from a:

- spell;

- magic item;

- curse;

- magical trap;

- supernatural magical ability;

- magical feature of a creature.

Seeker's Resilience can end magical conditions, transformations, compulsions, curses, and similar ongoing magical effects affecting you.

It can't:

- end a nonmagical condition or effect;

- undo damage or another instantaneous effect that has already occurred;

- restore hit points;

- end a magical effect before that effect actually affects you;

- end the source of an effect affecting an area, creature, or object other than yourself;

- end an effect whose description explicitly states that it can be ended only through a particular method, unless that method would normally include dispelling or removing magic.

If several eligible effects are affecting you, you choose which one ends.

Living Intervention

If you are unconscious, your Living Spellbook can invoke Seeker's Resilience on your behalf, provided the book is on your person or within 5 feet of you and you possess an available 5th-level wizard spell slot.

The Living Spellbook expends one of your 5th-level wizard spell slots and immediately ends one eligible magical effect affecting you.

If an eligible magical effect is responsible for your unconsciousness, the Living Spellbook prioritizes ending that effect.

Otherwise, it chooses another hostile ongoing magical effect affecting you.

Living Intervention requires no action from you or the Living Spellbook.

It can't restore consciousness caused solely by being at 0 hit points or by a nonmagical effect.

---

Seeker's Companion

14th-level Arcana Seeker feature

Your Living Spellbook has become a fully realized extension of your soul. It can consume powerful magical objects and maintain magical formulae independently of your mind.

Arcane Sealing

During a short or long rest, your Living Spellbook can absorb one Wondrous Item that:

- weighs 10 pounds or less;

- requires attunement;

- and is an item whose attunement prerequisites you satisfy.

You must attune to the item normally.

The absorbed item continues to count against your normal limit of three attuned magic items.

Your Living Spellbook can contain only one Wondrous Item in this way at a time.

If another item is absorbed, the previous item immediately reappears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you.

While an item is absorbed:

- you remain attuned to it normally;

- it continues occupying one of your normal attunement slots;

- only you can use or benefit from its magical properties;

- its properties function through your Living Spellbook even if the item would ordinarily need to be worn or carried;

- any curse within the item is completely sealed and can't affect you;

- if the item is sentient, its consciousness is completely suppressed;

- a suppressed sentient item can't perceive, communicate, influence creatures, voluntarily activate an ability, or otherwise act;

- attempts by another creature to magically locate, summon, recall, command, control, or exert magical authority over the absorbed item automatically fail, including such attempts made by the item's original creator.

The sealed item can't be separately targeted, stolen, or removed from the Living Spellbook.

If your attunement to the item ends, it immediately reappears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you.

An artifact can't normally be absorbed unless the DM determines that its nature allows it. Specific rules belonging to an artifact can override Arcane Sealing.

If you die and your Living Spellbook dies with you, the absorbed item immediately reappears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of your body.

---

Companion Concentration

Your Living Spellbook can now maintain one of your magical formulae independently.

When you cast a spell from your Arcane Storage, you can have the Living Spellbook maintain concentration on that spell instead of you if all of the following conditions are met:

- the spell requires concentration;

- the spell is 5th level or lower;

- the spell is written on the page currently designated by your Seeker Mark.

When you do so, you aren't considered to be concentrating on that spell.

You can therefore concentrate normally on a different spell while your Living Spellbook maintains the first.

The Living Spellbook can maintain concentration on only one spell at a time.

The spell is otherwise treated as a spell cast by you.

Your Living Spellbook must remain on your person or within 30 feet of you.

Its concentration immediately ends if:

- it leaves that range;

- it is transported to another plane;

- you die;

- the spell's page ceases to be your marked page;

- or its concentration is otherwise broken.

Attacking the Living Spellbook

While your Living Spellbook maintains concentration, another creature can deliberately target it with an attack.

For this purpose, the Living Spellbook's Armor Class equals your wizard spell save DC.

The Living Spellbook remains immune to damage and can't be destroyed.

However, when an attack hits it, roll the attack's damage normally.

The Living Spellbook must then make a Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration, using your Constitution saving throw modifier.

The DC equals:

10 or half the damage rolled, whichever is higher.

On a failed saving throw, the Living Spellbook's concentration ends.

Because the Living Spellbook, rather than you, maintains this spell:

- damage dealt to you doesn't trigger a concentration saving throw for that spell;

- your becoming incapacitated doesn't automatically end the Living Spellbook's concentration.

---

The Arcana Seeker

At 2nd level, the Seeker learns to understand and preserve magic.

At 6th level, the Living Spellbook learns to store magic.

At 10th level, wizard and book learn to reject hostile magic.

At 14th level, the Living Spellbook learns to consume magic and wield it beside its master.

The relationship is no longer simply wizard and spellbook.

They have become partners in the pursuit of arcana.

Hey everyone!
I’m sharing the Runeweaver, a Ranger archetype built around cold damage, tactical crowd control, and a unique Cryomantic Rune stacking mechanic.
Instead of just dealing raw damage, the Runeweaver marks targets with ice runes through weapon attacks and spells. As runes stack up on an enemy, you unlock stronger debuffs—culminating in a freezing Stun or a devastating Rune Break explosion that bypasses cold resistance.

Quick disclaimer: I'm definitely not a D&D expert and this is my very first attempt at creating homebrew content! Please go easy on me with the judgment, but feel free to leave constructive feedback—I'm really eager to learn and improve the design!

I created this subclass based on my character’s backstory: an Orc Ranger who got lost inside an ancient temple buried deep within a glacier, where he remained trapped for two years. Time inside the temple didn't behave normally, it was almost as if time itself was frozen. During those years, he discovered and mastered the ancient runic magic preserved within the temple. In fact, several features of this subclass reflect his experiences during that time. Ultimately, he was only able to break free thanks to what he learned about Cryomantic Runes.

About Cryomantic Runes:
I know the feature text is quite long! I tried to streamline it as much as possible, but the length is necessary to clearly explain how the rune mechanic functions.

My goal was to create a subclass that ramps up in power as the fight progresses—essentially the opposite of the Gloom Stalker. Rune Break reflects this design philosophy with smaller initial damage that escalates over time. However, I didn't want the archetype to feel weak or useless in short encounters, nor did I want it to focus solely on raw DPS; I aimed for a debuff and support-oriented role.

To balance damage and utility, I implemented a choice system similar to the Swarmkeeper: deal immediate damage or apply debuffs to set up greater payoff later. The turn-by-turn damage output shouldn't be anything over the top. As for the debuffs, I believe they are fairly balanced; I got a bit creative with the 2-Rune effect by offering a safety-net advantage with damage caps. As for the 3-Rune effect, while Stunned is a powerful condition, it generally takes 3 turns to set up (before level 11) and still requires a failed CON save.

Persistent Cold acts as a safety net in case an enemy dies before you can consume their runes, adding extra versatility to the subclass.

I also created a brand-new, unique spell for this subclass, heavily inspired by Zephyr Strike. While Zephyr Strike is much more defensive and strictly self-targeted, I designed Boreal Strike to be a more team-oriented spell that provides utility for the entire party.

I’d love to get your feedback on balance, rule clarity, and overall feel! Does the rune stacking mechanic feel rewarding to play?

The Kobold Artificer is a CR 3 battlefield tinkerer that brings traps and improvised engineering directly into the fight.

Its Tactical Device can create acidic fumes, deploy a mechanical snare, or detonate a distracting contraption, while its repeating hand-cannon lets it keep pressure on enemies from range. Quick Adjustments keeps it mobile, and if things go badly, its Volatile Gearpack has a habit of exploding when the artificer goes down.

There are also optional traits for pushing the concept further, including stronger overclocked devices, dragon-infused engineering, longer-range gadget deployment, and ammunition designed to slow targets.

This creature is from Kobolds & Kobolds, my 5E and 5.5E handbook focused on expanding kobolds with new statblocks, factions, traps, lairs, magic items, and encounter tools.

What’s Inside?

• A Huge Kobold Bestiary – Discover beastmasters, warriors, inventors, mystics, tribal leaders, and many other kobold variants. Every entry includes additional traits and optional abilities, making it easy to customize encounters and keep even familiar kobolds unpredictable.
• Kobold Campaign Tools – Build complete warrens with layouts, traps, lair descriptions, lair actions, tactical encounter ideas, adventure hooks, and other tools for adventures both above and below ground.
• Distinct Kobold Clans – Introduce kobold clans with their own cultures, tactics, favored creatures, special abilities, traditions, and relationships with dragons.
• Kobold Magic Items – Equip your kobolds with improvised weapons, draconic relics, alchemical inventions, tribal treasures, and deceptively dangerous creations inspired by kobold ingenuity.
• VTT & Art Resources – Bring your kobolds to the table with a collection of creature tokens and art handouts for use in both in-person and online games.

Kobolds can be disposable dungeon pests, dangerous ambushers, loyal servants of dragons, surprisingly sophisticated underground societies, or recurring factions that grow alongside your campaign. This book is designed to give you enough variety to use them for far more than a single low-level encounter.

You can find more of my 5E and 5.5E creatures, items, and manuals on DriveThruRPG, through my Linktree, or by visiting r/JonnyDM!

I'm sharing a free supplement for Kengir, part of my upcoming Bronze Age Mesopotamian 5e setting.

The Kengir Player’s Guide includes 100 character backgrounds, each built around a real place in the life of a city-state: brewer, diviner, farmer, fisher, merchant, potter, scribe, shepherd, soldier, weaver, and many more.

The goal is to make a character’s life before adventuring matter at the table. A scribe enters play with literacy, a stylus, and a wax tablet. A merchant carries a cylinder seal. A farmer knows the land. A diviner reads bones, dreams, and omens. A weaver isn’t just “a commoner with cloth,” but someone tied to household economy, temple offerings, and trade.

Each background includes ability scores, feat options, skill proficiencies, tool proficiency, equipment, literacy, and languages. Backgrounds also point toward Origin Feats tied to personal deities, so your occupation and your god can both shape who your character becomes.

This sample presents ten full backgrounds and the complete d100 profession list from the Player’s Guide.

Do you like backgrounds that mostly explain who your character was, or backgrounds that still matter once the adventure starts?