@VKAllenAlright, I've read through the backlog of posts, and would like to share my thoughts on many of the things said.
Firstly, congratulations on getting your first gametogether, that alone is already an impressive hurdle to take.
now, let's move on to matters of game mechanics. this concerns
@Saffirra Dusk and
@Sionnie as well, so i'll tag them in this post.
Making your own magical items is quite a difficult balancing act. for example, those two bastard swords, celestia and nightmare... what will the stats on those be? will they just have a high to hit bonus? custom enchantments? what would thos custom enchantments do? would what those custom enchantments do make non-martial classes less powerful in the geran scheme of things.
For a more concrete example, let's take that mezmer dagger. How exactly does it make you harder to hit? does it give a -2 to hit? or disadvantage? does this effect always activate or only against one enemy at a time? Remember that disadvantage basically requires you to make two succesfull rolls to be able hit anything at all.
I'm not saying making custom magical items shouldn't be done. but I am saying it's something that takes careful consideration.
Also, on the matter of allowing
@Bigg Slamm to start with two axes... the starter equipment isn't a straitjacket, I'm pretty sure allowing someone to start with other equipment than what the rules suggest probaby won't break the game.
Breaking things up because I'll now be adressing DDO, feats, and writing your backstory in a tabletop game.
firstly, DDO. to compare DDO to 5th edition D&D is a fools errand. DDO was a heavily adapted version of 3.5E, which was itself miles away from 5E. Feats were of a much different scope back then, which segues me into my next point.
Feats in 5E have moved much more to the realm of optional build choices. in past edition, feats like power attack, weapon focus and waht have you were downright required for some classes, that way of doing things has been cut out and replaced with a system that gives you less feats in total, but where feats have a noticeable and interesting effect on gameplay. Of course there will still be useless feats, such has been since the advent of Tabletop RPGs and will always be that way .
Now on to my final point, writing a backstory for a tabletop rpg. I have seen a mix of good and bad practices from everyone here so far. You have some freedom in making generic points in your backstory like 'parents killed by griffin' and such. What is not all that ok however, is making assumptions that, for example, entire swathes of the setting are dominated by virulent tiefling racism. Sure, the rules state tieflings are rather distrusted by the general populace. But the way i've seen it described is more a mob with torches and pitchforks reaction rather than the implied universal cold shoulder the rules gives us.
Also, feel free to leave some strategic holes in your backstory for the GM to fill in. Using my own character as an example, I've said he's a suspected bastard from a minor noble family. I've left the details of the matter purposefully vague so the GM can expand upon it on their own accord if they ever feel inclined to do so.
well then, if anyone wants any clarification to the points I made, feel free to ask me either here in the OOC or in a PM. I'll now be waiting for a GM post.