I adore homebrewing, I love the framework that 5E provides and how easy it is to create something within that space. I also enjoy high magic item settings. I would rather overflow my players with magic items than be stingy with them. Feast rather than famine. I want magic items to be something the player choses depending on their goal, their surrounding or the foe they are expecting to fight, something that is part of the strategic layer.

I also really enjoy ‘powerful’ items, of course balance and all that, but that’s in your hands at the end of the day. As long as all players have at least one item that makes them go ‘Holy Shit this is amazing’ and makes them shine (preferably in a way that is similar enough to avoid jealousy but unique enough to provide identity) everything is balanced.

The Tome of Farbalv is one of those corner items. The, everyone-gets-at-least-one kind of special magic item that borders on requiring the Legendary rarity. I like these corner items to have a measure of growth within them. They should be cool when the players receive them but should evolve… either through plot (as is the case with this item) or through certain (semi-hidden) milestones. It does involve the transformation into a tiefling so it pays to know your player, if they are very attached to their race… maybe skip this one. (Unrequested transformations should be a session 0 topic!)