The Best Magic Items for Bards in Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) 5e

Magic items in Dungeons and Dragons are meant as magical rewards for adventuring and exploring your campaign. Every D&D campaign is full of great loot placed by your DM, but if you ever have a pile of gold burning a whole in your pocket and are looking for somewhere to put it all, here are some suggestions!

Whether you are a player looking for the best items for your character, or a DM who is looking to tailor the loot in your campaign to the classes your party is playing, here is the perfect list for magical items for Bards in Dungeons and Dragons 5e that every bard is gonna want to attune to!

Rhythm-Maker’s Drum

This wondrous item recently released in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is quite literally the best item for bards for its level. Having this drum increases the spell attack bonus and saving throw DC of your spells, and within 5e’s take on bounded accuracy, these increases are far and away the best thing you can have. It may not be flashy, but this drum is the most powerful item by rarity of any items that a bard can attune to. In addition, it also allows you to regain a use of Bardic Inspiration, which is always useful in a tight spot.

Reveler’s Concertina

This wondrous item also comes from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and increases your Saving Throw by another +2. This item in conjunction to the Rhythm Maker’s Drum and a strong enough Charisma score can make your saves unsaveable to a number of weaker enemies. By mid tier it is possible that with a +4 Proficiency Bonus and +5 Charisma Bonus that using these items in conjunction could net you a DC 21 save on your spells. On top of all of that you can use the Concertina to cast Otto’s Irresistible Dance, which everyone knows is one of the most hilarious spells in the game, and excellent crowd control.

Cloak Of Many Fashions

Getting away from simple stat increase items, because while extremely powerful, these items are less fun than some others. The Cloak of Many Fashions is a “Common” item which means you should be able to get it very early in the game. The Cloak doesn’t require attunement which is also a major perk, and allows the user to use a bonus action to change the style, color, and quality of the cloak. While it’s not a crazy illusion that’s gonna break the game, it is a funny item for any bard to change their appearance in the most dazzling manner that they can think of. Anyone with a little creativity and pizazz is sure to find a use for it.

Deck Of Illusions

The Deck of Illusions is a crazy fun magic item, one of my personal favorites that is limited only by a little luck and some creativity on behalf of the player. The full deck is a pack of 34 cards, and drawing a card at random springs up an illusory effect dependent on which card is drawn. This can range from dragons to beholders and a few different things in between. The illusion allows the player to control it and make it lifelike if they can. The deck doesn’t require attunement again, which is another major benefit. Confusing their enemies, illusions, tricks! All in the bard’s ‘deck’ of shenanigans. It is the perfect way to confuse, confound and generally confuzzle one’s enemies.

Glamoured Studded Leather

This armor is a nice light armor, one that bards can wear which is a major bonus! In addition, it allows the user to make the armor take on the appearance of any other armor or even other clothing. This doesn’t actually change the armor’s shape or weight, but it is great for disguising your look. Whether you are deceiving someone into believing you’re a paladin, or trying to keep your armor while sneaking into a royal ball, the Glamoured Studded Leather is perfect for your Bardish escapades. Once again, no attunement is required, and as an added bonus it is not limited by use, so you can change your look as much as you want.

Gloves Of Thievery

While this item might be perfect for the rogue, quite a few bards fall into the role of skill monkey in the party. Bard’s magic can even put them in a world all their own in certain circumstances. Either way, occasionally a bard has to fill in for the sneaky dashing debonair roll. They are designed, after all, to be a jack-of-all-trades. A +5 bonus to Sleight of Hand checks and pick locks is crazy good within the bounded accuracy of 5e and a little extra thieving never hurt anyone.

Instruments Of The Bard

Instruments of the Bard are...well designed for bards. Each of the items, seven in total, are designed to amplify the specific abilities of bards. Most of the items give the ability to cast additional spells which is of particular use. Each of the instruments shares a spell list, and then each one has its own unique list on top of those ones. These range from smaller spells to ones of particular power, but those instruments go up to Legendary in rarity.

Stone Of Good Luck (Luckstone)

Bards are just the kind of crazy class that could always need a bit of extra luck in their pocket. While attuned to the stone, the user gets a +1 bonus to ability checks and saving throws. As Skill Monkeys, Bards, especially lore Bards get a whole lot of use out of any item that gives them a bonus to ability checks. Not to mention that saving throws help anyone in almost any dangerous situation.

If you like this article or any others I have written, consider liking, subscribing, tipping or pledging here on Vocal as it really helps me continue writing! If you're looking for other Bard articles follow the links below!

• Archetypes for Bards
• Backstories for Bards
• Backstories for Bards Pt. 2
• Magic Items for Bards
• Best Spells for Bards
• Best Feats for Bards

If you want to read my other articles on Magic Items, follow the links below;

• Barbarian
• Bard
• Cleric
• Druid
• Fighter
• Monk
• Paladin
• Ranger
• Rogue
• Sorcerer
• Warlock
• Wizard