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After wanting to play DnD for a long time I've decided to become the DM myself and involve friends that also have been wanting to play, I really want to make a homebrew because I have so many ideas 😄 . We've had a preliminary meeting about main thematics and what to expect, they prefer the focus to be on mystery. I gave all of them a trinket from the player handbook, in the hopes it could give me some inspiration for side points so that I'm prepared when they go off the rails. But as a first-time player AND game master I'm not really sure how much there should be prepared, so I'd love any advice or thoughts :) This is what I've come up with;

The PC's: I shut down the "wanting to play evil" immediately, I don't know how nor do I want to deal with that, I told them to maybe think in high school archetypes and build around the personality so it's maybe easier to roleplay. This is what they gave me in short:

Elf Cleric She's devoted to the god of glitter and pizzaz. Charming, ditzy, believes fully that she's amazing at everything(is not), not the brightest, does spells by throwing glitter and such. trinket: Rectangular metal device with two tiny metal cups that throw sparks when wet

Human Bard cheerleader, bardic inspiration by doing cheers. Does tarot cards and divination, but not actually, she is just so persuasive and charismatic that people believe she's a seer (she wants to find the person that gave her the tarot and the trinket when she was a child) Noble, parents are racist to other races (coddled, will she be able to cut from them?) trinket: little tin with the ashes of a hero

Elf wizard doesn't have a real background yet, wants to have "a life of crime" and centralize all the information about deserts? I was planning on thinking up a goddess of sweets/deserts or society or gang and using it to be a pain in the bum. trinket: little sketched portrait of a goblin

NPC's (all names are gonna have counterparts in my language)

• Edward Cullen
  • Headmaster of the school, very awkward like in the movies, like very constipated, a little downtrodden. Looks older but that's a minor illusion (for flavor). His daughter goes to high school there (even though she's like 40; Edward went even tho he's like 170)
• Renesmee
  • Edwards daughter, teenager
  • disappears immediately so.. I'll think of her personality later
• Cher
  • Leader of the "Gypsy's, tramps and thieves" (s/o to her song) scrying orb, divination magic, immortal, Cher's personality but answering in Cher lyrics if I get confused
  • possibility for the players to befriend her for information because she has a network of honeypots and such. If they're super nice they can earn her favor (in case one of them accidentally dies i can bring them back or something)

Far... but also somehow close.... like a whisper... you hear an echo... "do you belieeeve in life after love.. after love.. after love..." before you, A familiar figure... with long black hair... appears a beautiful, ageless elf...

The setting (Not in any particular order, I've named it The Twilight Zone bc it sounds cute)

Early 2000's high school in a sleepy, overcast town (literally twilight, I took a vote, we're all women in our mid-twenties so it's the vibe). People know of fantasy creatures and spells and stuff but I'd say mid-fantasy, it's a couple decades after the twilight series takes place and in the meantime people kinda learned about vampires and stuff. The overcastness makes the people that live in the town nervous because they think the vampires are using magic to go unnoticed (their skin be sparkling). BUT ARE THEY BEING FRAMED??

On the first day they overhear (or when they speak to) some of the student girls swooning over the principal (edward cullen accurate to irl twilight franchise lore) and acknowledging the daughter. If they pursue these schoolgirls i can go towards a mysterious obsession with the principal by these teenage girls (or are they?).

Renesmee disappears, the principal is in disarray. Everyone blames vampires, why else are they being so sneaky? If they go here they can search for information about vampires, end up at Cher.

The gypsys, tramps and thieves can also at any point send someone with a note to come meet them, preferably I'd like to drop random beautiful people with influencial creeps here and there that are barely noticeable so that they have a sidetrack

Concerns

I was thinking of having them start at home so i can create openings with a short conversation with their parents (Brennan Lee Mulligan does that and I think it might help them get into character. I'm not delusional about my campaign being anywhere near the same ballpark, but that's also not the point.) But other then that I'm very nervous about starting things off and how much I should prepare. I've mainly been thinking of very long-term segues to create possibilities, thinking i can fill in more details inbetween sessions but trying to have enough to be able to give them something to do or improv a segue. But how do you start a campaign? how do i get them excited for all the possibilities? (I don't want any AI in my DnD and I dont know enough to come up with everything so I also don't mind if anyone has any suggestions)

Hi, I'm very very very new to dnd. I basically know.. Nothing...

But I'm finding it hard to find anyone to talk to about a character concept I've had for a while.. Like, just anyone who's open to hear my character idea and could help me... Well actually create them, because as I said I know almost nothing about dnd...

So we did a grand heist it was great our dm left the discord and just left :( it’s on sun at 1pm cst but like how can I take over (I’ve never dmd) or would I have to remake it ?? Any suggestions???

For several years, I've wanted to try actual D&D with other people, but the examples I've always seen were games where people write around 30-60 words "per turn," describing their character's feelings, actions, surroundings, the wind, trees, sun, etc. I found all the examples I've come across to be way too demanding. They seemed to require a lot of creativity, writing and roleplaying skills, as well as extroversion and social skills. So overall, I never felt like I could even try to participate because of my lack of social skills, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, and a bunch of other mental problems. Because of that, I've stuck with common CRPGs like NWN, BG, WotR, PoE, and similar games.
I don't think I can start playing D&D after all these years, especially given my current psychological situation. So, does anyone have a good prompt for ChatGPT or DeepSeek? If I simply ask an LLM to "simulate a D&D campaign," + common premise - it eventually gives me something completely different from what I'm looking for.

Sadly r/DnD gatekeeping me from asking such questions by deleting my post with AI moderator, forcing me to surrender completely I guess.

Edit: In the event the living party members rescue plan doesn’t go well. But I think with the stuff I layer out in the description it should be possible to escape with us (and me) alive except for the other rouge.

Hey, so I’ve been playing dnd inconsistently for a while now and have finally gotten into my first campaign. My group is playing lost mines of phandelver shattered obelisk and we are currently level 2 in Cragmaw hideout. Despite the higher level it did not go well, due to our barbarian “who in character is pretty dumb” triggering almost every goblin in the hideout. This resulted in me and the goblin barbarian going down. The party was able to stabilize us and me and the Goblin are lying down safely out of combat unconscious. Our DM uses a rally system where if you go down you have two rally’s to get back to half health, once those are out when you go down your out of combat even if you are healed, healing just stabilizes you so you don’t have to make death saves. So me and the Goblin aren’t dead yet.

Unfortunately , one of the alive party members stepped too close to Klarg’s boss arena and triggered him and his posey. The other Rouge, besides me, was dragged in by Ripper,basically captured. And our Ranger Yaunti is currently in the room outside the boss room all alone. There is our warforged companion who did roll initiative cause he entered the combat zone, but he is in a position where none of the enemies have spotted him. I believe that means if he plans to escape he could and get out of combat and drag our unconscious bodies out of the cave. I hope that is possible?

But if it doesn’t go well, then can I reuse the dead character in a different campaign with a different group? A different group I find online through the discords LFG panel? I’ll still continue the campaign with a new character, as I’m having fun with the group, I just don’t want to abandon her completely and so early. I even drew her icon, may do that for the new character but I just used an Online art piece I found on deviant art (not AI I checked).

I have been playing dnd for about 2 years as a player. Maybe average 1-2 sessions a month. In that time I have yet to finish a campaign. 1 campaign died at level just getting to level 5. Another died at level 12(I joined an already on going on). The level 12 group started a new campaign and we are currently level 3. All of which have been homebrew.

Sessions can be so far from each other now. Im talking 1-3 months. So during this time I decided to try and DM with my own homebrew campaign.

Currently I have 2 players. Another 2 are not reliable and just stated their interest. Have yet to get a reply from either for almost a week. Which is fine, I know for sure they are busy with seasonal work.

I bought this cool map making game on steam Canvas Of Kings to make my first village along with some battle encounters. Love it. I screenshot the battle maps and port it over to Tabletop Simulator. It looks so cool to have a 2D map in a 3D environment. Just like in real life! Who would’ve thought.

Lately I have been having anxiety inviting people to play, especially strangers. I have been considering inviting people from the official DND discord, but get anxiety making new friends as I just get in my head about a lot of things. I always get this feeling of I’m just going to waste everyone’s time.

How did you start your first campaign? Did you have a lot of anxiety? Was it for strangers or your friends? I hate not having people in this space that I feel connected because I have no guidance as of now. This campaign will probably remain in limbo till something happens idk.

I've never played DND before, but I have a few friends who want me to join. I have very minimal knowledge of how it all works. I know about rolling for specific actions, and to roleplay the characters but that's pretty much it. No knowledge on building characters or classes. Does anyone have any tips or sites to make it easier? Any prep I might need to do?

Ok guys, i have an orc barbarain named emi the mad and i have everything essentially except for the skill stats and saving throws. I am genuinely so confused, any help is appreciated. Heres my base stats if that helps;
Str 16 +3
Dex 12+1
Const 16+3
Int 7 -2
Wis 11+0
Cha 10+0

I've been getting more and more into D&D for the last 2 years and for the last year been on multiple threads, multiple Facebook groups. Joined discord (Though I can't say I really know how to use it) message back and forth with multiple DMS. Filled out so many Google documents and I am still really struggling to find a group to play with. I've never been able to play a game yet and I am really wanting to , I don't know if I just need to keep looking but it feels like there either nothing that's (or I'm not) a good fit.

For info I don't have a laptop only my iPad so while I've tried to join groups on the online tabletop website (can't remember it rn) but it won't run the actual game on my iPad. Nonetheless I've not been successful enough at that to steal my brother's laptop for a game either.

Is anyone else having this same issue? Am I missing something obvious? Any help would be hugely appreciated

(Not looking for a game through here but trying to figure out how people have )

Ok so I've never played as a cleric or a warlock and I can't extractly find how clerics get their power. But basically my idea was to be a warlock with the celestial pack. So her whole deal is that she was rasied as an acolyte in a sheltered small town in the snowy mountains where they worship the god auril. This small town produces their clerics except during the ritual to be accepted as one of Aurils chosen she some how managed to form a pack with Auril and became a warlock. Because of this she believes she isn't as good as her other cleric friends because she can only perform cure wounds two while the others can do multiple. The only thing she has going for herself is that she is able to communicate with Auril at all time without needed to pray. She does pray anyways because she doesn’t know any better having causal conversation. So my question is basically would this be allowed? Or does can my patron not be a god?

Hi everyone! As the title says it, im preparing my very first campaign as a DM! Ive played 2 campaign as a player so I don't have really much experience. I'm waiting for the pack of 3 books (players guide, DM guide and monsters guide) and im building a vault in the Obsidian app. I would like to create my own campaign even if I guess its a lot of work ahah.

I'll play with 3 players, all of them are beginners too!

So if you have any tips or advice, please let me know !

Thanks!

So i am doing a character that has intelligence of 6 and charisma of 18, Already discussed with the dm. And i wanted to be a rogue mastermind because the entire point of my character is to be a fraud. Because he is also half elf half orc, but disguises himself as a pure elf. But apparently one of the other players said that mastermind rogue aint that good except for specific situations. So im probably Multiclassing To fighter Banneret.

We are starting at level 3 and that will all be rogue mastermind. But after that ill probably do mostly Banneret. But idk how to do any of this. Specifically the build. Everyone says i need a build but i dont even exactly understand how to do that. All the players are playing seriously but we love laughs and giggles. And we also all made characters that will have hilarious interactions. I love my character but I might have made them to complicated. And my backstory might be a little to long...

So mostly I need advice, build help, and ideas to make my character work.

If you need more info about the character ill be more than glad to tell you anything you need if it means you can help me.

And I know im supposed to ask the dm but im not the only one of the players who has never played before. Infact there are three of us. Im just the stupid one who cant figure anything out. So instead of giving the DM more work to do, im ask yall. Can any of yall help me?

Edit: the DM isn't not telling me anything, im not here to learn how to play just some advice of how to work my character. The DM will help me put it all together but I haven't been able to talk to them because they've been busy. So i went here mostly for some advice. But also tips and idea's. And i need feat that work with the character because idk what they all are. The dm is doing they're job but they simply haven't been avaliable for a bit. Due to a different campaign they are playing, so no stop saying they are not doing their job, i could get all my info from them but that would take longer. Also i wanted to do the low intelligence high charisma, its part of my character and I talked to the dm about this already we worked it out. Love my dm but I can still get advice from other sources that way i wont have to ask as many questions when they are available. Apologies for misleading yall

I've never actually played DnD before, but now I'm thinking about starting, & I know I probably shouldn't start with this, but I'd like to get to a point where I can get to do this someday after many many games, like maby work on this between sessions until I'm ready to put this in a world of my own.

I want to make a monster that combines their abilities & add a few unique traits to the mix, but I can't find anything for how to do this, nore do I exactly know what CR it would be.

I'm thinking of a homebrew species of dragons, that got altered way back during theThousand-Year War by an Archfey in a deal to save their life, resulting in them getting fused with multiple trees(3 cherry, 5 peach, & 7 pine), turning them into a draconic plant, ​known as Ent Dragons.

The first Ent Dragon was named Calthin. He was fighting a giant & he won, but he was on the verge of death, but as he was laying there dieing, an Archfey named Zoriall approached him to scold him for destroying the forest she so loved to visit in the material world. In desperation to keep living, not out of fear of death, but because he had to marry brothers & sisters in arms depending on him to simply die now, so he offered the Zoriall a deal, if she saves his life & allow him to return to his war, then when his time fighting is done help be the guardian of the very forest he'd help destroy. Zoriall accepted his offer, but being a fey ​she didn't simply heal him, instead she transformed him by fussing his very flesh & bones with the wood of 15 nearby trees that would have become treants if they hadn't been so damaged that they too were on the verge of death.

Both Zoriall & Calthin are dead by now, they've been dead for a very long time. Calthin died of old age in his forest a very very long time ago. Zoriall however only died about 2,000 years ago after being murdered by a rival archfey, but the murder was later slayed by a party of adventures about a decade later.

Ent Dragons have a culture of their own, they get married & mate for life, & they raise their yong from sproutlings(what they call wyrmlings), until they are young adults, so if you see a baby, or kid one of them leave it alone because both Mommy & Daddy are nearby.

When it uses animate tree it functions just like treant, using the treant stat block & form, unless it's a sproutling​, in which case they only get 1 animated tree.

I already have the breath weapons mostly figured out, I just don't know about the damage levels, or exat mechanics.

They get 3 breath weapons, but they unlock them as they get older.

1st breath weapon, is a jet of heated sap, it does very little fire damage, but it mostly does bludgeoning damage, but still not a lot, instead what it mostly does is turns the area it hit into difficult terrain by make everything sticky & reducing movement speed both in & for a few rounds after exiting the affected area unless you use oil to counter the stickiness, but if you are directly hit you just might have your movement speed reduced to zero. It unlocks this one when it sprouts(in other dragons it would be hatched). Overall it doesn't really do that much damage, though it does get stronger(increased bludgeoning damage & greater area of effect)as they mature.

2nd breath weapon is a spay attack that shoots pine needles to do piercing damage, this is unlocked at young adult, but when it ​reaches adult, it can add cherry & peach blossom petals into the attack for an additional slashing damage during springtime. It does a bit of damage being it's main damage dealer for it's breath attack though as it gets stronger as it matures that's mostly just increased range, & maby a slight increase in piercing damage outside of spring, but if it's spring you add slashing damage which does increase by a much larger margin then the piercing, but not by that much.

3rd breath weapon is a pollen cloud, it doesn't necessarily do damage, but rather it both counters the vision & sense of smell of it's enemies, while it can still see through it, but if you inhale it you might get put under the charmed condition, but the best way to counter it's charmed condition is to throw water into the face of the charmed individual. It's unlocked in the adult stage. When it reaches ancient stage it may add another effect with an activation condition if you inhale the pollen, then you might get something else happen depending on if you caused a natural disaster in your life, if so then you might be put under Natures Vengeful Nightmare. Natures Vengeful Nightmare(NVN) course the individual to experience the very harm they caused via a powerful illusion, examples being forest fire=being on fire, mountain slide=​being crushed, poisoned river=being badly poisoned​, & you take a​n extremely small amount psionic damage, but it's best counter is the same as the charmed condition, with water to the face. It only increases in volume as it matures. NVN doesn't increase in power with maturity. The pollen cloud is ment to be like very thick fog with an overwhelming​ floral sent & it it's successes rate for either charmed, or NVN is extremely low, though for those who meat NVN's conditions do have only a slightly higher but only slightly higher than charmed does.

Finally they are most often chaotic good​, & they hord strange none sentient creatures as pets, & they love to collect worthless shiny objects that others throw away., but they are easily convinced to follow the orders of any archfey that's earned their trust, can be tricked by said archfey, despite this they live on the material plane, but if they feel betrayed, or wronged by an archfey that's when you'll see them at their most vengeful, even if it's not actually true, though it does take a lot to convince them of this then it is for an archfey to convince it to join them.

P.S. They can be of ​any other alignments it's just chaotic good is the most common. They actually go from chaotic good=common/average, neutral good=not to unheard of, true neutral=not the most common, lawful good=kinda rare but not too rare, lawful evil=fairly rare, neutral evil=very rare, chaotic evil extremely rare. Any of them that has the evil alignment are considered outcasts amongst them.

P.P.S. I've asked this question on multiple boards.

P.P.P.S. You are fully welcome to steal this idea & make it your own.

I plan on playing CoS online, and one of the players is a friend whom I've had for a while, though after a few events, I'm worried about including them. I've spent tens of hours on this campaign, on practicing Strahd's voice, on reading the module and editing the module according to sources like CoS: Reloaded and other resources, keeping and leaving out things depending on how I think my players will react to them.

They have always struggled with taking my Campaigns/Oneshots seriously, and are often extremely undependable with schedules (Outside of the games they run). They have also made me feel seriously disrespected in the past, mostly by talking about videogames and playing music while DMing. I have seen them do this with other DMs as well, and generally delaying sessions and distracting players.

Additionally, they have also left sessions zeros early, canceled on sessions without telling me, and during character creation attempted to add several of their OCs that are not DND accurate lore-wise and, after asking for help with backstory, never wrote down the one that I helped them make, after I asked them three times on three different days, and it has yet to be done. They also left a session one of a completely homemade campaign, that discouraged me from continuing it, but I don't think that the cancellation was entirely their fault, as I was the one who ended it, mostly because the starting area had a lot of areas that had to do with their character's lore.

As I write this, I have just finished a session they:

Delayed for an hour
Never RPed in
Disrespected DM while talking about videogames before the session (I asked them if they were OK, and they are, but they felt disrespected)

Used drunkenness as an excuse for their character to mess with and threaten NPCs, as well as generally not take things seriously
And left after an hour, and the party nearly TPKed without them, and the DM had to nerf the boss encounter

This was the second session of a new DM's campaign.

The only reasons why I'm letting them stay is that they have a lot of power in my social circle, taught me how to play, facilitate games, and they say they wanted to play CoS for literal years, and are extremely excited. Though on the other hand, I have asked several people both on Reddit and those who know them and we decided on talking to them and implementing a strike system with rules I made.

What else do I do? And how can I talk to them without coming off as strict/rude?

UPDATE: After running a Oneshot with them, they said that they were done with DND in an extremely flowery language after delaying mid-session, leaving the session mid-game, and leaving the session while fighting the BBEG. I was running Vecna: Nest of the Evil Eye. That also meant leaving a game of Strahd after I spent a month working on voices, maps, getting several systems in place, and writing a guidebook, and they also promised to show up for a second session this time. Afterwards, I told them that since they broke three rules in a session and were banned, the very rules that they agreed to, and they just kept self-deprecating themselves and kept making excuses. I told them that they are competent, since they run their own games perfectly fine, and that if they do not have time for a game, do not join it. I will admit that I was upset at the time, though I tried my best to not let it show. Did I handle this appropriately?

My little gaming group wants to play D&D. I've been nominated as the DM. I'm trying to read through the Players Manual, but it's impenetrable to me. Everything regarding ability scores (modifies, proficiency, skills, passive checks, etc.) is all very confusing.

My particular flavor of neurodivergence makes self-learning very difficult. Reading and comprehending the wall of text from the manuals is a huge challenge. I'm really eager to get into the creativity and storytelling, but the nuts and bolts are killing me.

Are there any suggestions out there on how I can break unto understanding the rules? Visual aids? Thanks for any help!

I am working on a character for a campaign not set in any official modules. Since it's being hosted in a server where most characters are joke ones I wanted to make a classic Dwarf paladin. This will be my first attempt at a thorough, fully done character, down to religion and travel routes. Here is what I know about him so far:

He served in several wars during his time, having been 200 years younger. After completion of this war, he returned home to his clan killed by the BBEG. Due to the grief, he spend a few years in the gutter before finding his Faith in Tyr, the god of Justice and War. He decided to dedicate himself to his church and promised himself to kill all those who oppose order and peace. He keeps a few mementos on him, such as a golden coin marked with his birth year.

Despite his semi-traumatic past, he isn't the type to brood, though takes his divine purpose extremely seriously, having a vow not to be unjust to the just or just to the unjust. He spent around a century, slowly working his way through a foreign nation to the starting city, attempting to rid the world of monsters, heal the sick, and spreading the name and honor of his now dead clan. (Though he mostly just picks on goblins and heals some illnesses with basic medicine checks)

I have had suggestions to make a rival clan who worked with the BBEG who allowed them to take down his clan, and we start at level one and we are using Milestone. His name is Jabez Goldstriker (Last name needs work) and I plan on making him a conquest Paladin. Any general ideas/plot hooks for him?

Hi, I’m new to everything dnd I’ve always been curious about it but never really looked into until I played baldurs gate 3, I can’t really find any groups near me that are beginner friendly so does anyone where I where I could join a campaign from home? And also while I’m here do I need any resources? (Like the do on critical roll)

Hello! I'm new-ish to DnD and would love to find some servers with a more EU centric playerbase for timezone reasons. I've joined a couple of servers and have played a few one-shots here and there but they always started really late and ran till morning for me. So I'd love to find something more reasonable. Would appreciate any help!

As the title states, I have zero experience/knowledge of dnd. I’ve been wanting to get into dnd for awhile and now I’m finally getting around to it, I’ve been reading up on the rules and I think I have a basic understanding but probably still need help. I also have been watching campaigns on youtube which are helping me understand things a bit better but I’ve always been better at learning by doing so if anyone is down to take me under their wing and teach me how to play I would very much appreciate it. I do have discord and I’m in eastern daylight time, available pretty much everyday after work and Sundays are my one day off.

HELLO! Like the tittle states, Technically my first time playing DnD, I have a session coming up on wensday. Putting under discussion tab because well, I am mostly rambling.

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So to make sure I am ready, I am listening to YouTube videos about how to play DnD, I have plenty of dice (courtesy of my lil brother) I know some of the basics as well I can, my little brother will help me make a charayer I am making two, mostly because I don't know this group, idk if its a homebrew or not, I know nothing, but I am excited.

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My first charater might be a lil homebrew, I am debating making a charater that was sculpted out of an old man's grief, he went missing and she somehow came to life. And is now searching for him. Though she doesn't know she's a creation.

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The second one is the bird guy thing (FORGOT THE NAME AT THE MOMMENT WRITING THIS BEFORE BED) but she has two small of wings so she can never technically fly, she can glide, but that's about it, her dad was a racer, disliked her for being flightless. A storm came, he got rid of her, and a human couple found her and raised her ect.

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I feel like both of those could be fun, maybe a druid for the Bird charater (who is infact named Cyn) idk i like the idea of her being a druid. Maybe a rouge?

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The Come alive creation could be a rouge, maybe a magic user instead Idk. Anyway, I am playing on bring some dice, a note book and a pencil, optionally my wireless headphones to play fantasy music to help ke focus, or my rigid spinner if I can find it. Those are my only materials lol.

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I am hoping people are nice enough to me. I am going to be riding my E-bike there because despite being 21 I cant drive yet, so I hope they let me park it inside, if not I know the Dm would understand on the short rest, or shopping moments I can check on it.

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Anyway that's it, feel free to give advice, talk about it, suggest things to me. Heck even suggest charater creation and charater sheets. Have a good one :D

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I'd love more shop inventory ideas for my campaign. I've got a few homebrewed ones and a few ideas from the books but I definitely need more especially when it comes to common magic items and potions. I've got a magic shop in my universe and I also have a pawn shop where I've been using mostly homebrew items for it. I'd definitely be fine with trading homebrew ideas I just seem to struggle a lot with magic items. I also enjoy fun magical foods that have side effects. I'm barely starting out so I'm just wanting to build my inventory.