Comparison

Characterize vs Magwa's Magic Item Compendium

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Characterize

Generate unique characters with names, traits, and stats instantly. Explore diverse categories and save your favorites for any creative project. Unlock additional themed packs for even more variety.

Highlights
  • Unlimited name generation
  • Rich character details (age, traits, etc.)
  • Themed character packs
  • Save and share creations
  • Diverse character categories
Features
Read full description

Characterize: Your Unlimited Character Creation Companion Characterize is the ideal tool for writers, role-players, storytellers, and anyone who needs fresh, original characters at a moment’s notice. With a tap, Characterize draws from a massive, ever-expanding database of names, traits, and stats to bring you a nearly infinite variety of unique personalities—enough for even the most epic of projects. Whether you’re crafting a daring pirate, a cunning assassin, a modern hero, or something more fantastical, Characterize helps you find the perfect fit every time. Save your favorites, tweak their details, and return for more whenever inspiration strikes! Key Features: Boundless Name Generation: - Instantly generate characters from countless categories, including humans, orcs, pirates, assassins, and more. The possibilities stretch into the quadrillions—no two characters need ever be the same! Rich Character Details: - Don’t stop at names. Dive into ages, birthdays, hair and eye color, height, intelligence, personality, and relationships—all created with a single tap. Your characters will spring to life with depth and flair! Unlock Even More Worlds: - Beyond the vast default selection, themed packs give you even more variety. From superheroes to aliens, historical figures to anime icons, you’ll find the perfect flavor for any setting. Save & Share with Ease: - Keep track of your favorite creations and share them with friends. Revisit your saved characters whenever you like—no scrolling through endless notes or documents. Whether you’re naming a long-awaited protagonist, populating a tabletop campaign, or challenging yourself to write a story without knowing your cast in advance, Characterize puts limitless inspiration at your fingertips. Stop juggling multiple tools—download Characterize today and generate your next hero with a single tap! http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula

About

Magwa's Magic Item Compendium

Discover and create thousands of unique magic items for your tabletop RPG adventures. This app offers a vast collection of hand-drawn items, random generation, and the ability to save your favorites. Perfect for dungeon masters and players seeking inspiration.

Highlights
  • Thousands of random magic item generation
  • Create custom magic items
  • Save favorite items
  • Over 30 free hand-drawn sketches
  • Reference ready-to-use items
  • Compatible with D&D 5e SRD
Features
Read full description

Magwa, the most prestigious scholar of arcane antiquities, has spent his life traveling the Vast Kingdom in search of powerful and fascinating magic items. He has explored the darkest dungeons and braved the dens of dragons to bring you a magic item collection like you've never seen. He has finally published a portion of his discoveries in this mobile application for you to use in your next RPG adventure. His work includes over 30 free hand-drawn sketches and the option to buy many more. It even includes the ability to randomly generate items, create your own, and save them for later use. Magic, right? While the compendium is simple to use, it is more than just a random magic item generator. As a dungeon master, you will have the power to generate thousands of random magic items with a single tap. You will also be able to create your own custom magic items or adapt random magic items to fit your game setting. Once you find an item you love, the magic item compendium lets you save it to your phone so you can pull it up quickly the next time you play. To top it all off, the compendium includes a handful of wondrous items that are ready for you to reference and use in your game. The app is compatible with 5e materials and even pulls some of your favorite magic items straight from the D&D Systems Reference Document (SRD) via the Open Gaming License. End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Characterize4 screens
Magwa's Magic Item Compendium4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Characterize at every 3 weeks against Magwa's Magic Item Compendium's every 2 months. Characterize also leads on ratings volume (344 vs 71). Magwa's Magic Item Compendium's advantage is review sentiment (77% vs 68%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Characterize sells 16 one-off in-app purchases and Magwa's Magic Item Compendium sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for Characterize against 4.3 for Magwa's Magic Item Compendium. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 344 and 71 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 68% of Characterize's written reviews are positive against 77% of Magwa's Magic Item Compendium's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Characterize ships an update every 3 weeks, Magwa's Magic Item Compendium every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Characterize versus Magwa's Magic Item Compendium: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCharacterizeMagwa's Magic Item Compendium
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (344 ratings)4.3 (71 ratings)
Positive reviews68.3% of reviews77.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings344 — better71
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size295 MB31 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperAlexander WinnKnights of Vasteel LLC

Customer experience

Characterize

All ratings344 ratings
Positive85.8%
Neutral4.4%
Negative9.9%
Written reviews123 reviews
Positive68.3%
Neutral12.2%
Negative19.5%

Magwa's Magic Item Compendium

All ratings71 ratings
Positive83.1%
Neutral7.0%
Negative9.9%
Written reviews48 reviews
Positive77.1%
Neutral12.5%
Negative10.4%

User reviews

Characterize

From 344 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Helpful for character creation
  • 🚀 Great for writers and RPG players
  • 💡 Lots of creative and random traits

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive, many features require purchase
  • 🐛 Bugs with saving and restoring purchases
  • 🔍 Limited free options

Magwa's Magic Item Compendium

From 71 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Beautiful art style
  • 💡 Great for on-the-fly item creation
  • ✨ Free version is very useful
  • 📚 Excellent for DMs and homebrew items
  • 🖼️ Ability to import own artwork

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Subscription issues (missing info)
  • 💸 Purchased content not downloading
  • 🔄 Updates removing saved items
  • 📉 Items can be overpowered/bland
  • 🖼️ Some art packs not downloading

Bugs and requests

Characterize

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes on startup
  • Issues with custom generators and editing characters
  • Purchased content not unlocking properly

Requested features

3 requests
  • More free generators
  • Ability to edit and customize generated characters
  • Sorting and organization options for saved characters

Magwa's Magic Item Compendium

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Subscription information missing
  • Purchased images/data not downloading
  • Un-named magic item groups cannot be deleted/edited
  • Saved items lost after updates
  • App crashes
Show 4 more
  • Cannot open on computer or copy-paste text
  • Darkwood wand image not selectable/visible on iOS
  • Download issues after purchase
  • Purchased content inaccessible after update

Requested features

10 requests
  • Add landscape mode for iPad
  • Improve scrolling between items
  • Add a back button for easier navigation
  • Include a 'common' rarity selection
  • Allow users to choose from personal pictures
Show 5 more
  • Add curses as a feature
  • Create a bestiary/creature generator
  • Add more weapon types
  • Discounted option to buy all packs
  • Christmas-themed pack

In-app purchases

16 purchases

Characterize

One-time16
  • Heroes & Villains Generator$0.99
  • Wizards & Witches Generator$0.99
  • Gods & Goddesses Generator$0.99
Show 13 more
  • Anime & Manga Generator$0.99
  • Demons Generator$0.99
  • Anthros Generator$0.99
  • Aliens Generator$0.99
  • Kings, Queens, & Nobles Generator$0.99
  • Apocalypse Survivors Generator$0.99
  • Assassins Generator$0.99
  • Angels Generator$0.99
  • Demigods Generator$0.99
  • Dragons Generator$0.99
  • Fantasy Races Bundle$4.99
  • Mythology Bundle$5.99
  • All Generators$19.99
11 purchases

Magwa's Magic Item Compendium

Subscriptions1
  • Monthly Subscription$1.991 Month
One-time10
  • The Master Collection$0.99
  • Elves of Ilfelin$0.99
  • Mines of Dimlodir$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Gafan's Workshop$0.99
  • The Red Ravens$0.99
  • The Shadow Index$0.99
  • Seas of the Viamaros$0.99
  • Magic Item Hunters$0.99
  • Swords of Vasteel$0.99
  • The Alchemist Shop$0.99

Questions

Is Characterize free?
Characterize is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Magwa's Magic Item Compendium free?
Magwa's Magic Item Compendium is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Characterize or Magwa's Magic Item Compendium?
Characterize and Magwa's Magic Item Compendium are both rated 4.3 out of 5 on the App Store, from 344 and 71 ratings respectively.
Do Characterize or Magwa's Magic Item Compendium have ads?
Neither Characterize nor Magwa's Magic Item Compendium shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Characterize or Magwa's Magic Item Compendium?
Characterize ships an update every 3 weeks, and Magwa's Magic Item Compendium every 2 months. Most recently, Characterize was updated on October 14, 2026 and Magwa's Magic Item Compendium on October 15, 2026.

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