Best Magic Items for Bard in D&D 5e

Best Magic Items for Bard in D&D 5e

by Prince Phantom

As a full caster class, the Bard is pretty self-sufficient. You could play an entire campaign as a straight classed Bard with no magic items and still likely be the strongest member of your party by just selecting the best spells. The Valor and Swords Bards are slight exceptions to this rule, as they can use weapons effectively and therefore would appreciate magic weapons to overcome non-magical resistances.

Instruments of the Bards

Despite this lack of need extra power, Bards actually get an entire subset of amazing items exclusive to the class called the Instruments of the Bards. Each of these instruments grant your Bard an extra list of spells that can each be cast once per day without expending a spell slot. They also impose disadvantage to enemy saving throws when you use them to cast a spell that imposes the charmed condition. The most powerful spell to use with this is most certainly Hypnotic Pattern, which now auto-wins even more fights than usual.

All Instruments grant the following spells:

Fly, Invisibility, Levitate, Protection from Evil and Good

All four of these are fantastic options that play well with the once per day limitation. Getting to have these for free would be worth the attunement slot on their own, but each instrument also has an additional list of spells specific to itself.

• Doss Lute (Uncommon): Animal Friendship, Protection from Poison, Protection from Energy (Fire only)

  This is definitely the weakest of the instruments, as all of these spells are situational at best. Still worth the attunement slot for the base spells alone however.

• Mac-Fuirmidh Cittern (Uncommon): Barkskin, Cure Wounds, Fog Cloud

  Fog Cloud is the standout here, and a spell Bards typically have access to. Cure Wounds once per day for free is kind of like a Second Wind we can use on anyone, and an extra 8hp or so each day isn’t nothing. Just save it for out of combat or if you’ve run out of slots and need to get someone off of 0hp.

• Fochlucan Bandore (Uncommon): Entangle, Faerie Fire, Speak With Animals

  Bards lack good control spells before 3rd level spells become available, and both Entangle and Faerie Fire fill that role spectacularly. Easily the best of the Uncommon Instruments.

• Canaith Mandolin (Rare): Cure Wounds (3rd Level), Dispel Magic, Protection from Energy (Lightning only)

  Dispel Magic is certainly nice, as is an extra 18ish HP each day, but I’d probably pick the Bandore over this.

• Cli Lyre (Rare): Stone Shape, Wall of Fire, Wind Wall

  Bards don’t usually get spells like Wall of Fire, and if you can make great use of it, this will be amazing. The other two spells are only okay, but Wall of Fire is enough to carry this item to greatness.

• Anstruth Harp (Very Rare): Control Weather, Cure Wounds (5th Level), Wall of Thorns

  Control Weather is a spell that becomes a lot more interesting when it’s free once per day, potentially allowing you to manipulate weather conditions to your advantage on a consistent basis. Wall of Thorns is a great control spell in the same vein as Wall of Fire.

• Ollamh Harp (Legendary): Confusion, Control Weather, Fire Storm

  Bards have better control spells than Confusion, but lack good high level blasts like Fire Storm. The same that I said earlier for Control Weather still applies here, though I’m not sure if I’d actually want this item over the previous one. It doesn’t really live up to the Legendary status, but I’d still never leave it unattuned.

Other Notable Magic Items

Uncommon:

• Eversmoking Bottle: Fog Cloud is a great spell that is missing from the Bard list, and this is a much better version of that spell. It doesn’t require concentration or attunement, and it can fill a much larger area. Just make sure to note which of your spells do and don’t require sight.

• Pipes of Haunting: These require proficiency with wind instruments, but that’s not a big ask for most Bards. This item gives you a better Fear spell (no friendly fire, better AoE, no concentration) 3 times per day at DC 15 for the saving throw. Easily in contention for the best Uncommon item in the game if you can fit it on your sheet.

• Rhythm Maker’s Drum (Attunement): This item is made specifically for Bards, granting an increase to your spell save DC and an extra use of Bardic Inspiration each day. Just a good quality of life item all around that any Bard would love to have.

• Wand of Web (Attunement): Getting a great control spell like Web really rounds out the Bard list, especially at low levels of play.

• Winged Boots (Attunement): Concentration free flight is the dream of any caster, and this is the best item in the game at providing exactly that and nothing else. Only problem is that you’ll no doubt have to fight the rest of your party over it.

Rare Items:

• Cloak of Displacement (Attunement): Defense is the biggest weakness of the Bard class. Low AC is the biggest contributor to this fact, though some subclasses and many multiclass options can alleviate this issue. This item adds and additional, albeit fragile, level of defense that can stack with good AC to make your Bard quite tough to pin down. Just remember that casting your fight winning spell and then dodging every round is also a perfectly viable strategy.

• Lyre of Building (Attunement): Both Passwall and Move Earth are great additions to your spell list, particularly for their exploration capabilities. Exploration is one of the areas that the Bard spell list is a bit lacking in, so this helps a lot to fill that gap.

• Wand of Fireballs (Attunement): AoE blasts aren’t typically the Bard’s specialty, so it’s nice to have a big gun to pull out when the going gets roughest.

• Staff of Defense (Attunement): The +1 to AC is nice, but the standout feature here is 5 castings of Shield each day for free. Bards don’t get Shield, which is the primary culprit for their low defense. This is potentially one of the best defensive items a straight classed Bard could ask for.

Very Rare Items:

• Ghost Step Tattoo (Attunement): This item basically lets you become incorporeal for this turn and the next, allowing you to pass through walls and even spend one turn inside of solid objects for the low cost of 1d10 force damage. The best use of this is to cast your big fight winning spell like Hypnotic Pattern, then either walk through enough walls to where no enemies can reach you, or just spend the rest of the turn under the ground. This protects your health and concentration, making it near impossible for enemies to stop your spell.

• Nimbus Coronet (Attunement): Similarly, this item gives you infinite 15ft bonus action teleports, which is fantastic for avoiding enemies and difficult to escape AoEs like Web. All the better, this teleport isn’t a spell, so you can still cast a leveled spell with your action after using it.

Legendary Items:

• Cloak of Invisibility (Attunement): How does concentration free Greater Invisibility for 2 hours per day sound? Sounds to me like a completely busted thing to give to a full caster who probably has 9th level spells at this point.

• Jester’s Mask (Attunement): We’re mostly interested in this for the +3 to our spell save DC. The other benefits are nice for sure, but that bonus adds a lot to the reliability of our spellcasting.

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