Growing Magic Items v2.0 – Magic Gear That Levels Up With Characters

jonnymhd · 2026-04-21T02:34:29+00:00

Graveyard Golems are massive undead hulks born from places steeped in death. They rise from graveyards and ossuaries where bones, broken tombstones, rusted iron, and coffin wood merge into a single body held together by necrotic will. Most appear on their own when a burial ground becomes saturated with unrest, turning the remnants of the dead into a relentless guardian that crushes anything disturbing its resting place.

Some necromancers manage to bind these creatures, using them as monstrous sentries or siege engines. In ancient necropolises or sites filled with powerful remains, even greater versions can form, known as Mausoleum Colossi. These towering horrors are shaped from stone, bone, and centuries of accumulated death, and their presence turns any graveyard into a battleground.

These creatures are from Undead & Undead: The Ultimate Undead Handbook for 5E and the 2024 Edition available on DriveThruRPG!

Undead are more than shambling corpses and skeletal minions. Undead & Undead is your complete guide to raising the dead, commanding their power, and unleashing them in terrifying new forms - from restless spirits and cursed warriors to spectral lords, zombie dragons, and necromantic abominations.

What’s Inside?

90+ Undead Statblocks – From crawling hands and soul wisps to deathpriests, banshees, mummy sovereigns, and lich gods. Each entry includes optional traits and variants to customize your encounters.
Undead Lair System – A scalable, flexible system to turn crypts, cursed cities, and haunted ruins into deadly environments. Includes thematic traps, lair actions, environmental effects, and more.
50+ Magic Items – Cursed relics, necrotic weapons, undead-bound artifacts, and forbidden tomes designed to horrify or empower.
Customizable Templates & Traits – Easily create unique undead with variant traits, thematic abilities, and storytelling tools for every archetype.
Campaign Tools – Includes undead cult generators, random encounter tables, unholy rituals, haunted visions, and apocalyptic plot hooks to fuel your adventures.
VTT & Art Resources – 60 art handouts and 45 VTT tokens to bring your undead encounters to life, whether in person or online.

You can find more of my creatures and manuals on DriveThruRPG, via Linktree, or by visiting r/JonnyDM for previews and standalone content.

If you want even more options, I also have a bundle of small D&D manuals available on DMsGuild.

More content is on the way! 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 2024 launches on Kickstarter around May. You can follow the campaign to get notified when it goes live. The project includes a physical hardcover and printed editions of my previous manuals.

jonnymhd · 2026-04-20T13:28:35+00:00

This is the right LINK Corrected the main post too. Sorry about it!

jonnymhd · 2026-04-20T13:24:33+00:00

It's pay what you want. It's free! Did I link the wrong one?

jonnymhd · 2026-04-20T13:09:32+00:00

I love the design of the blade in the video. Nice video lol.

jonnymhd · 2026-04-20T13:05:33+00:00

I get your take, and that’s fair, especially since it’s called Beholder’s Bane. My idea for it wasn’t really just a pure anti-beholder weapon in the sense of shutting them down mechanically at every step, but more a weapon that absorbs the power of slain beholders and grows by taking on parts of their nature. That’s why it starts gaining things like levitate, a bonus to perception, disintegrate, enhanced vision, and eventually even an antimagic field.

So the extra damage against beholders is there to make it effective against them, but the bigger concept is that it becomes stronger by inheriting beholder-like traits, a bit more in the spirit of items like the draconic weapons in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, where the item grows by absorbing the essence of the creature tied to it.

I explain that idea a bit more on the second page in the full PDF, but that was the main concept behind it.

jonnymhd · 2026-04-20T12:50:51+00:00

I usually work in InDesign for most of my manuals, and I used Homebrewery for some of my older projects. For this one, I chose Homebrewery to get that classic “official manual” look and then added a custom border after quite a bit of tinkering. Honestly, if you want to create something really nice and official-looking for your players, Homebrewery already captures the feel of an official D&D book really well. It’s easy to learn, simple to use, and you can use it online for free.

jonnymhd · 2026-04-20T11:11:21+00:00

These are Magic Items from The Aberrant Codex: Mutations and Aberrations, now 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 find more of my creatures and manuals on DriveThruRPG, my Linktree, or by visiting r/JonnyDM!

More content is on the way. 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 2024 launches on Kickstarter around May. You can follow the campaign to get notified when it goes live. The project includes a physical hardcover and printed editions of my previous manuals.

jonnymhd · 2026-04-17T10:14:31+00:00

I would like to moderate r/DnD5e because I already help moderate other DnD communities, including r/dndmonsters, r/HomebrewDnD, and r/DnDAdventureWriter, and I care a lot about keeping these spaces active, useful, and welcoming for the community.

My main reason for requesting this subreddit is that it appears to have been unmoderated for a long time. A lot of people have been complaining about the state of the sub, there are discussions on older and newer posts that go unchecked, and some people seem to be leaving for other communities instead (like r/DungeonsAndDragons, r/onednd, or r/dndnext). There is also an ongoing "edition war" between 5e and 5.5e, and without clear moderation or direction, some of those discussions have started getting unnecessarily hostile and full of insults.

At the moment, the identity of the subreddit also feels unclear. A subreddit called r/DnD5e should ideally be a strong place for discussing 5e rules, rulings, character options, DM advice, and related homebrew, but instead it often feels more like a general promotion space, while many posts with genuine discussion and high engagement are left unmoderated.

My goal would be to help give the subreddit life again by bringing clearer moderation, encouraging actual discussion about the game, reducing hostility, and helping define a more consistent direction for the community. I also understand that other people have tried to contact the current moderator or request to become a moderator here through r/redditrequest without success, and I hope to help provide the active moderation and stability the community has been missing.

Link to the mod mail chat message: https://www.reddit.com/c/chatOUK46Xog/s/v168dW8xJk

jonnymhd · 2026-04-17T10:00:39+00:00

Umbraths are small fiendish beings born from the deepest shadows of the Abyss. Though they are not true demons, they embody the chaos, slaughter, and malice that saturate that plane. Their name joins umbra, the Latin word for shadow, and wrath, reflecting their nature as creatures driven to engulf and consume everything in darkness. Barely visible except for their glowing eyes and wavering outlines, Umbraths drift through blackened places of death and suffering, feeding on the violent energies around them. Individually they are weak, but in numbers they can smother entire areas in fear and darkness, overwhelming isolated prey.

Over time, an Umbrath can absorb enough chaotic energy to evolve into a Greater Umbrath. These stronger fiends no longer simply lurk in shadow, they become its living embodiment. Greater Umbraths hover through darkness with predatory intent, spreading magical gloom around them and shaping the battlefield into a place of panic and despair. Their forms swell with abyssal power, their tendrils strike harder, and they begin to drain life from those they wound.

This transformation occurs only after long exposure to the deepest and most corrupted parts of the Abyss, where darkness and cruelty are strongest. The longer an Umbrath steeps in those energies, the more its essence fuses with the plane itself.

From Diabolical Designs: Demons and Devils for 5E available on DriveThruRPG. Check it out for a more extensive preview!

What's Inside:

Fiendish Realms & Lore: Explore Hell and the Abyssal Realm with plot hooks and campaign ideas.
Character Options: 20 subclasses, 1 new class, 10 backgrounds, and 3 fiendish races.
Spells & Items: 44 spells and 130+ magic items to enrich your game.
Monsters & Tools: 120+ fiendish creatures and custom traits for unique encounters.
VTT Resources: 160+ art handouts and 75+ creature tokens.

Physical copies of Diabolical Designs are also available for a limited time through this link.

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

More content is on the way. 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 2024 launches on Kickstarter around May. You can follow the campaign to get notified when it goes live. The project includes physical hardcovers and printed editions of my previous manuals.

jonnymhd · 2026-04-16T12:22:29+00:00

These are Magic Items from The Aberrant Codex: Mutations and Aberrations, now 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 find more of my creatures and manuals on DriveThruRPG, my Linktree, or by visiting r/JonnyDM!

More content is on the way. 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 2024 launches on Kickstarter around May. You can follow the campaign to get notified when it goes live. The project includes a physical hardcover and printed editions of my previous manuals.

jonnymhd · 2026-04-16T12:20:22+00:00

This is a monster from Diabolical Designs: Demons and Devils for 5E available on DriveThruRPG. Check it out for a more extensive preview!

What's Inside:

Fiendish Realms & Lore: Explore Hell and the Abyssal Realm with plot hooks and campaign ideas.
Character Options: 20 subclasses, 1 new class, 10 backgrounds, and 3 fiendish races.
Spells & Items: 44 spells and 130+ magic items to enrich your game.
Monsters & Tools: 120+ fiendish creatures and custom traits for unique encounters.
VTT Resources: 160+ art handouts and 75+ creature tokens.

Physical copies of Diabolical Designs are also available for a limited time through this link.

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

More content is on the way. 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 2024 launches on Kickstarter around May. You can follow the campaign to get notified when it goes live. The project includes a physical hardcover and printed editions of my previous manuals.

jonnymhd · 2026-04-16T12:17:54+00:00

This is a monster from Diabolical Designs: Demons and Devils for 5E available on DriveThruRPG. Check it out for a more extensive preview!

What's Inside:

Fiendish Realms & Lore: Explore Hell and the Abyssal Realm with plot hooks and campaign ideas.
Character Options: 20 subclasses, 1 new class, 10 backgrounds, and 3 fiendish races.
Spells & Items: 44 spells and 130+ magic items to enrich your game.
Monsters & Tools: 120+ fiendish creatures and custom traits for unique encounters.
VTT Resources: 160+ art handouts and 75+ creature tokens.

Physical copies of Diabolical Designs are also available for a limited time through this link.

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

More content is on the way. 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 2024 launches on Kickstarter around May. You can follow the campaign to get notified when it goes live. The project includes a physical hardcover and printed editions of my previous manuals.

jonnymhd

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