"Greetings, foundlings, and salutations!  You have decided to enter the mystical halls of the Brews, where you might learn some most astonishing mysteries and solve the most tangled of puzzles.  Your task is to present us with something we haven't seen before, and have it make us look upon it with delight.  You have but a few tendays to create your product and show it to us, so we suggest you get to work!"

- Meyonmon Merridith, Ex-Candlekeep Scholar

The purpose of this thread is to spread a little bit of fun in the form of a competition!  Your task: Create an item of homebrew (see below) that is totally original and makes us go "wow"!  The end products will be rated by members of the community, and the victors will create the next Finest Brew contest! The previous contest (linked here) was judged by Thauraeln_The_Bold. The first one (linked here) was judged by Yamana_Eajii. Both contained a multitude of spectacular entries, so I suggest you check them out if you haven't already. Now, onto the important stuff

Timeframe:

 Contest categories: 

 Voting:

 Contestants:

 We hope you enjoy your brewing!

Here is my submission for the Player Option category, which I think at least somewhat fits into the energy absorbing/siphoning theme. It is still a work in progress, but wanted to get what I had out and aim to finish it by the time voting commences

Sorcerous Origins: Primordial Spirit

Just had a funny idea for a magic item and gonna throw it in here as my submission for the DM category

Souldering Iron

Magic Weapon (Dagger), Very Rare {requires attunement}

This piece of metal is inscribed with numerous sigils, and although it appears to be glowing hot it is cool to the touch. The life essence of creatures melts and becomes malleable when touched by this blade. When you hit a creature with an attack made with this weapon, the target takes an additional 2d4 fire damage. Fire damage dealt by this weapon ignores resistances and immunities, as the creature feels its very soul begin to burn. A creature which lacks a soul (such as a construct or plant or other creature of the DMs discretion) does not take this additional damage. 

While attuned to this weapon, you can use it to cast Soul Cage and can choose to use the dagger in place of the required material component to house the soul. Once you cast the spell this way, this feature cannot be used again until the next dawn. You cannot have more than one soul held within the dagger at any time. While a soul is held within the dagger you can use your action to transfer the soul to another object by touching the dagger to it. The object must be worth at least 100 gp and not already be housing a soul to be a valid target for this effect.

Quote from Kaboom979 >>

Zaratan (Bludgeoning): You have blindsight to a radius of 10 feet while you are on solid ground. This blindsight cannot perceive flying or incorporeal creatures. 

 For this part, I'd actually recommend doing Tremorsense instead of blindsight because it does exactly what you want it to do, plus allows the player to potentially feel things underground.

As for the contest itself, I'm going to change things up a bit and use one of my homebrew spells for my player option this time;

Absorb Spell

---

 

LEVEL

5th

CASTING TIME

1 Reaction *

RANGE/AREA

60 ft

COMPONENTS

S

DURATION

1 Minute

SCHOOL

Abjuration

ATTACK/SAVE

None

DAMAGE/EFFECT

Negation

 

You attempt to absorb a spell being cast by another creature. If a creature that you can see is casting a spell of 3rd level or lower, the spell is absorbed and has no effect. If the spell is 4th level or higher, make an ability check using your spellcasting ability. The DC equals 10 + the spell's level. On a success, the spell is absorbed and has no effect. If a spell is successfully absorbed, within the next minute you can cast a spell at the same spell level or less without expending a spell slot. Alternatively, within the next minute you can cast the spell that was absorbed without without expending a spell slot or providing any material components.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, the interrupted spell has no effect if its level is less than or equal to the level of the spell slot you used minus two.

* - which you take when you see a creature within 60 feet of you casting a spell

---

Spell Lists; Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

So little time! So little!  I will be trying expeditiously to meet it however.

Quote from FallenPhoenixIV >>

Quote from Kaboom979 >>

Zaratan (Bludgeoning): You have blindsight to a radius of 10 feet while you are on solid ground. This blindsight cannot perceive flying or incorporeal creatures. 

 For this part, I'd actually recommend doing Tremorsense instead of blindsight because it does exactly what you want it to do, plus allows the player to potentially feel things underground.

 That was the idea, but the issue is that as far as I know tremorsense is a monster-only sight. IIRC it is not referenced in the PHB, so it would be hard for a player to find details about what it means. On the other hand, blindsight is referenced in the players handbook and is used with special limitations for the Blind Fighting fighting style. To use tremorsense I would have to name it and exactly define it for the player using the subclass because a player would not see "tremorsense" and be able to figure out what that is using the PHB. 

A player with only this subclass and the PHB can say "Oh, I have blindsight + some limitations" and look up blindsight in the PHB and know exactly what the entire scope of the ability is without me having to also type the specific benefits of blindsight into the subclass feature.

I do think adding the ability to see creatures underground would be a good addition

Quote from Kaboom979 >>

Quote from FallenPhoenixIV >>

Quote from Kaboom979 >>

Zaratan (Bludgeoning): You have blindsight to a radius of 10 feet while you are on solid ground. This blindsight cannot perceive flying or incorporeal creatures. 

 For this part, I'd actually recommend doing Tremorsense instead of blindsight because it does exactly what you want it to do, plus allows the player to potentially feel things underground.

 That was the idea, but the issue is that as far as I know tremorsense is a monster-only sight. IIRC it is not referenced in the PHB, so it would be hard for a player to find details about what it means. On the other hand, blindsight is referenced in the players handbook and is used with special limitations for the Blind Fighting fighting style. To use tremorsense I would have to name it and exactly define it for the player using the subclass because a player would not see "tremorsense" and be able to figure out what that is using the PHB. So instead I opted to make something like tremorsense which builds off of blindsight instead 

I just doubled checked because I swore it was in the PHB and I found the different sense in chapter 8 and yeah... it's not there. Confused on why It's not, but it isn't.

Quote from FallenPhoenixIV >>

Quote from Kaboom979 >>

Quote from FallenPhoenixIV >>

Quote from Kaboom979 >>

Zaratan (Bludgeoning): You have blindsight to a radius of 10 feet while you are on solid ground. This blindsight cannot perceive flying or incorporeal creatures. 

 For this part, I'd actually recommend doing Tremorsense instead of blindsight because it does exactly what you want it to do, plus allows the player to potentially feel things underground.

 That was the idea, but the issue is that as far as I know tremorsense is a monster-only sight. IIRC it is not referenced in the PHB, so it would be hard for a player to find details about what it means. On the other hand, blindsight is referenced in the players handbook and is used with special limitations for the Blind Fighting fighting style. To use tremorsense I would have to name it and exactly define it for the player using the subclass because a player would not see "tremorsense" and be able to figure out what that is using the PHB. So instead I opted to make something like tremorsense which builds off of blindsight instead 

I just doubled checked because I swore it was in the PHB and I found the different sense in chapter 8 and yeah... it's not there. Confused on why It's not, but it isn't.

 Yeah, its weird. I am tempted just to define tremorsense because it does make more sense, but I like having things tied to what is available to the player and want to streamline it to not be too wordy

 Player Option.  Vampiric enough?  It's very quickly done, but hopefully it should be better for upcasting than most spells (When you get to 9th level, people will rather cast wish than fireball, even though both are great options - this spell tries to stand up to higher level spells).

I'm going try to make something for all three categories, but here's my submission for the DM one.

Emotion Giant

Small fey , chaotic neutral

Armor Class 17 Natural Armor

Hit Points 65 (12d6 + 36)

Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft.

STR

5 (-3)

DEX

17 (+3)

CON

16 (+3)

INT

14 (+2)

WIS

18 (+4)

CHA

18 (+4)

Damage Resistances Acid, Lightning, Thunder

Damage Immunities Cold, Poison; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks

Condition Immunities Exhaustion, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained

Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 14

Languages Sylvan, Telepathy 120 ft.

Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

 

Proficiency Bonus +3

Higher Invisibility. The emotion giant is invisible, even to creatures with truesight or see invisibility. However, it is visible to creatures that are charmed or frightened.

Psionic Giant. Each time the emotion giant is subjected to the charmed condition, the frightened condition, or an enchantment spell, its size increases by 1. Its dimensions double, its current hit points and hit point maximum increase by half, and its Soul Twister attack does an additional 1d6 damage. This change lasts until the emotion giant takes psychic damage.

Actions

Multiattack. The emotion giant makes two soul twister attacks.

Soul Twister. Melee Spell Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6 + 4) psychic damage, and the target must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, roll a d4 and consult the table below.

d4	Effect
1	The target is frightened for 1d6 rounds, as it is consumed by a feeling of immense terror.
2	The target is charmed for 1d6 rounds, as it is overcome by a feeling of intense adoration.
3	The target falls prone and is incapacitated for 1d4 rounds as it is devoured by insurmountable sorrow.
4	For 1d4 rounds, the target uses its action to make a melee weapon attack against the closest creature to it, overwhelmed by extreme anger.

Let's GOOO! Competition of the finest brews III!!!

I'll super excited to see all your awesome content. I'll submit mine when I can. 

Quote from Yamana_Eajii >>

Life Bond

4th-level necromancy

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a vial of blood)
Duration: Concentration, 1 minute

You bond your soul to that of another creature.  As an action, you may force one creature within range to make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC.  A creature can choose to fail this save. 

     On a failed save, you and the target are intrinsically bonded.  You can speak telepathically with the target as long as you are both on the same plain of existence as if you shared a common language.   Neither you nor the target can make further weapon or spell attacks against each other, and neither of you can willingly move more than 120 feet away from each other.

     In addition, as a bonus action on each of your turns while the spell is active, you can force the target to repeat their Charisma saving throw, taking 4d10 necrotic damage on a failure, or ending the spell on themselves on a success.  If the creature failed its save, you then gain a number of hit points equal to half the damage the creature took.

     At Higher Levels.  When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th-level or higher, the necrotic damage dealt by the spell increases by 1d10 per spell slot level after 4th.  Also, when cast from a spell slot of 7th-level or higher, the spell's duration becomes 10 minutes.  If cast from a spell slot of 9th-level, the spell doesn't require concentration for that casting.

Classes: Cleric, Warlock

 Player Option.  Vampiric enough?  It's very quickly done, but hopefully it should be better for upcasting than most spells (When you get to 9th level, people will rather cast wish than fireball, even though both are great options - this spell tries to stand up to higher level spells).

Looks awesome. Maybe a bit op as you have the power to end it whenever you want.

Wait... This is so short. It's fine, but as I'm about to leave for a short vacation, I may not actually be able to submit anything. Sorry!

Quote from HomebrewMindFlayer >>

Wait... This is so short. It's fine, but as I'm about to leave for a short vacation, I may not actually be able to submit anything. Sorry!

 Yeah... Ill probably change the time. I goofed up in typing it. Itll be longer tomorrow

The due date is so soon! Here’s my inspirational thing. 

Quote from TabaxiRogueFighterClericWarlock >>

Quote from HomebrewMindFlayer >>

Wait... This is so short. It's fine, but as I'm about to leave for a short vacation, I may not actually be able to submit anything. Sorry!

 Yeah... Ill probably change the time. I goofed up in typing it. Itll be longer tomorrow

Thanks! I'll make a player option soon. Here's a clue on it:

W****ck - *h* P*r*s**e

Quote from HomebrewMindFlayer >>

Quote from TabaxiRogueFighterClericWarlock >>

Quote from HomebrewMindFlayer >>

Wait... This is so short. It's fine, but as I'm about to leave for a short vacation, I may not actually be able to submit anything. Sorry!

 Yeah... Ill probably change the time. I goofed up in typing it. Itll be longer tomorrow

Thanks! I'll make a player option soon. Here's a clue on it:

W****ck - *h* P*r*s**e

 Guess:

Clarifications:

• Inspirational Option is Aetherium (the item is for context)

Quote from Thauraeln_The_Bold >>

I'm going try to make something for all three categories, but here's my submission for the DM one.

Emotion Giant

Small aberration , chaotic neutral

Armor Class 17 Natural Armor

Hit Points 65 (12d6 + 36)

Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft.

STR

5 (-3)

DEX

17 (+3)

CON

16 (+3)

INT

14 (+2)

WIS

18 (+4)

CHA

18 (+4)

Damage Resistances Acid, Lightning, Thunder

Damage Immunities Cold, Poison; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks

Condition Immunities Exhaustion, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained

Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 14

Languages Sylvan, Telepathy 120 ft.

Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

 

Proficiency Bonus +3

Higher Invisibility. The emotion giant is invisible, even to creatures with truesight or see invisibility. However, it is visible to creatures that are charmed or frightened.

Psionic Giant. Each time the emotion giant is subjected to the charmed condition, the frightened condition, or an enchantment spell, its size increases by 1. Its dimensions double, its current hit points and hit point maximum increase by half, and its Soul Twister attack does an additional 1d6 damage. This change lasts until the emotion giant takes psychic damage.

Actions

Multiattack. The emotion giant makes a soul twister attack.

Soul Twister. Melee Spell Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6 + 4) psychic damage, and the target must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, roll a d4 and consult the table below.

d4	Effect
1	The target is frightened for 1d6 rounds, as it is consumed by a feeling of immense terror.
2	The target is charmed for 1d6 rounds, as it is overcome by a feeling of intense adoration.
3	The target falls prone and is incapacitated for 1d4 rounds as it is devoured by insurmountable sorrow.
4	For 1d4 rounds, the target uses its action to make a melee weapon attack against the closest creature to it, overwhelmed by extreme anger.

An emotion giant is a strand of chaotic whimsy originating from the Feywild. Though it's invisible to most creatures, to those who can see it, it appears as an intangible specter that flickers between different hues. 

 Why does it have a multiattack that only gives it one attack? It can already make one attack with the attack action, so allowing it to do the same thing (with a few restrictions because there’s a difference between making an attack and taking the attack action) is just redundant. Also, if it’s from the Feywild it should probably be a Fey. I do like it though, it’s just a bit odd.