fabled swords are being forged in anvils. Dragon fire-resistant plate armor that has been burnished. Without a suit of armor to fight in, no knight is truly complete!
An adventurer's most dependable partner, paladins combine the divine miracles of clerics with the physical discipline of a fighter, making them one of Dungeons & Dragons' most popular classes.
Today we delve into ancient tombs and dragon-guarded lairs in pursuit of the greatest gear for your Paladin to quest for in the 5th edition.
It’s important to remember that magical items are optional in 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, so make sure your campaign is making use of them before making puppy eyes and bringing your DM their favorite burger for one of these items, which are in no particular order when it comes to their use.
20. Bag of Holding
Encumbrance, carrying weight, leaving loot behind because you only have a sack, never worry about that again with this fashionable sensible bag.
A bag of holding can hold up to 500 pounds as it stores them in an extradimensional pocket within it, letting you and your party members carry all the treasure back home.
What Is Great About the Bag of Holding:
- First of all, it simplifies things. Usually, dealing with loads of loot and inventory management implies a lot of paperwork that most groups either ignore or dread doing. With one of these, you can compromise between inventory management and fun.
- A bag of holding has up to 10 minutes of air within it, making it so you can engage in some serious shenanigans. Spirit away a hostage without being seen? Carry weapons into the king's chamber? You decide.
Bag of Holding details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:bag-of-holding
19. Belt of Giant Strength
Aren’t you tired of being limited to a score of 20 Strength? Don’t you want to be stronger than a bear? You can make your dreams come true with a Belt of Giant Strength!
Simply put, this item changes your strength score to a score granted by the belt, the rare it is, the higher it gets.
At this tier, you could get a Stone/Frost Giant belt for a score of 23, or you can embark on a perilous quest to grab a Fire Giant belt for a whopping score of 25!
What Is Great About the Belt of Giant Strength:
- Thanks to 5th edition’s bound accuracy, every number counts. An extra +1 to hit and damage can spell the difference between victory and defeat.
- Normally, you can’t increase a score beyond 20, this is one of the only ways available to push your Strength to the utmost limit and become a pinnacle of power.
Belt of Giant Strength full details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:belt-of-giant-strength
18. Boots of Speed
With benefits comparable to a feat, these boots let you use a bonus action to double your walking speed and grant disadvantage on opportunity attacks against you!
This is perfect for getting out of hairy situations, nabbing the Macguffin in the nick of time, and beating your allies in a race.
What Is Great About Boots of Speed:
- Most characters are stuck with 30 feet walking speed, this means that, by doubling it, you can outrun most foes.
- Attacks of opportunity can be lethal, and sometimes you just can’t waste your action of disengaging.
Boots of Speed full details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:boots-of-speed
17. Dwarven Thrower
If Mjolnir is your favorite weapon, then this is the right hammer for you.
With an amazing +3 to Attack and damage rolls, this hammer has the thrown property and, immediately after the attack, it flies back to your hand while dealing extra damage!
What Is Great About the Dwarven Thrower:
- Thrown weapons can use your Strength for attack and damage. With this bad boy, you can give your Strength-based character an amazing ranged option.
Dwarven Thrower full details: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Dwarven%20Thrower#content
16. Horn of Valhalla
A powerful, double-edged item that can make for some pretty epic moments.
Four kinds exist, each with requirements to use, but if you meet them, you can summon a host of phantasmal berserkers from Ysgard to fight by your side!
What Is Great About the Horn of Valhalla:
- Armed with reckless attack, 67 Hit Points, and a +5 to Hit, Berserkers are a threat to any creature when summoned in numbers.
- A portable army of roided-out spirits can open a world of possibilities.
Horn of Valhalla full details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:horn-of-valhalla
15. Manual of Bodily Health
Remember earlier how we talked about pushing your ability scores beyond the boundaries of 20?
The manual of bodily health increases your Constitution score as well as your maximum after reading it for 48 hours.
What Is Great the Manual of Bodily Health:
- It increases your Constitution by 2 as well as your maximum for it, granting you more Hit Points and the equivalent of an ability score increase.
- After 100 years it can be used again, if your character is a long-lived race or can’t age, it can, in theory, continue to increase its Constitution every century.
Manual of Bodily Health full details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:manual-of-bodily-health
14. Ring of Regeneration
Did somebody say portable 7th-level spell? Seriously, this ring is amazing.
Every 10 minutes you recover 1d6 Hit Points and you can regrow missing body parts!
The weakest ability that does something similar is a 7th-level spell, and this effect is always active.
What Is Great About the Ring of Regeneration:
- You can save up on healing spells by letting the ring do its magic.
- You can take bigger risks knowing your limbs can be safely regrown.
Ring of Regeneration full details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:ring-of-regeneration
13. Manual of Gainful Exercise
Welcome to arcane calisthenics, for after reading this tome for 48 hours, your Strength score increases by 2, as does your maximum for that score.
This equals an Ability Score Increase, a boon you get only once every four levels (unless you are a fighter).
What Is Great About the Manual of Gainful Exercise:
- From your carrying capacity to attack and damage, Strength is a pivotal ability for many builds. By breaking past the limit you can rival even greater foes.
Manual of Gainful Exercise full details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:manual-of-gainful-exercise
12. Adamantine Armor
Any medium or heavy armor can be fashioned out of adamantine, a rare metal famed for its hardness and endurance.
Armors made out of adamantine are often sought and sold at insane prices, for the protection they offer is just too good.
If you, our brave champion, wear a heavy mail of adamantine, any critical hit against you becomes a normal hit!
Why Adamantine Armor is Great:
- When a creature scores a critical hit against you, all of its damage dice are doubled, potentially killing you on the spot. Now, even if you get hit, you can essentially guarantee that all damage taken will be normal.
- Adamantine is one of the hardest substances in existence, meaning it can’t be easily destroyed or tarnished. This armor is made to last.
Adamantine Armor details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:adamantine-armor
11. Scimitar of Speed
Whistling through the air with deadly sharpness, this curved sword strikes with supernatural speed.
This +2 Scimitar is made deadlier by the fact that you can make one attack with it as a bonus action, perfect for a sword and board build.
Why the Scimitar of Speed is Great:
- Since you can attack a bonus action with this weapon, you could easily cast a spell and cut down a foe in a single round!
- Since this is a +2 magical weapon, this trusty Scimitar will always be a good choice.
Scimitar of Speed Details: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Scimitar%20of%20Speed#content
10. Holy Avenger
Forged to battle all forms of evil, this sword was blessed by the gods for their champions to smite the legions of darkness into submission.
As a paladin-exclusive weapon, the Holy Avenger is the 5th edition equivalent to Excalibur on steroids.
With a +3 bonus to attack and damage, this magical weapon cleaves through fiends and undead like butter, dealing a whopping extra 2d10 radiant damage against them, as well as bathing nearby allies in an aura of protection.
Why the Holy Avenger is great:
- As a legendary weapon, the Holy Avenger has the highest possible bonus to attack and damage a weapon can have. This means that combined with your paladin's divine smite feature, your damage output will reach new heights!
- Besides eviscerating enemies with ease, allies within 10 feet of you while you wield this holy relic benefit from an aura that gives them Saving throws against Spells and other magical effects, keeping them safe while you keep your foes away.
Holy Avenger details: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Holy%20Avenger#content
9. Sentinel Shield
With an eldritch eye emblazoned on it, this shield protects its wielder in ways no other can, by heightening their senses so no blow comes undetected!
The reason for the Sentinel Shield’s awesome potential is that, while wielding it, you get advantage on all initiative checks, which is incredibly handy, and you have advantage on all Wisdom checks that involve perception, benefits so great that they are comparable to a feat, or even better.
Why the Sentinel Shield is great:
- Tired of rolling low on the initiative? We got you covered. This bad boy grants your paladin advantage on all initiative checks, giving you a second chance to strike fast in combat.
- Unlike most wondrous items, the Sentinel Shield does not take up an attunement slot, that’s right, you can benefit from this powerful magical item without it affecting your ability to equip another.
Sentinel Shield details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:sentinel-shield
8. Winged Boots.
Wounded, the dragon took to the skies, a red gemstone against the blazing sunlight, there was no way the knight could slay it then, no sword could reach it…those were its last thoughts before the knight’s boots sprouted wings, propelling the holy warrior towards the wurm’s neck, severing its head.
Tired of seeing your enemies fly away? Winged boots are the solution to your problem. These bad boys grant your paladin a flying speed equal to your walking speed for 4 hours, much longer than any combat normally lasts, and longer than the fly spell does.
Why the Winged Boots are great:
- The paladin’s ability kit is geared towards a melee fighting style, which means that, once your foe is out of reach, it is extremely difficult to pursue. These boots solve that issue, by having a flying speed, you no longer need to rely on ranged combat to deal with these foes.
- A lack of mobility is our paladin’s main weakness more often than not, even outside of combat encounters. The ability to fly allows us to circumvent extremely dangerous situations, and not only that, doing so for 4 hours straight lets us traverse severely long distances with relative ease.
Winged Boots details: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Winged%20Boots#content
7. Defender
Taking the saying “the best offense is a good defense” to a whole new level, this powerful blade, which can be any sword, allows their wielder to sacrifice some of their damage in exchange for a better Armor Class (AC).
This +3 legendary blade lets your paladin transfer some or all of the sword’s bonus to your AC instead of using it on an attack, and guess what? It stacks with the AC bonus from wielding a shield, and even the shield of faith spell, raising your AC through the roof.
Why the Defender is great:
- Since it’s a flat bonus, the Defender stacks with both a shield, which gives a +2 to AC, and the shield of faith spell, which grants another +2 to AC. This means that, if you wanted to focus on defense, you could give yourself a +7 bonus to Armor Class and become an impregnable fortress of holy wrath.
- Since the defender can be any sword, you don’t have to worry about its shape or form, a sensible Dungeon Master will make sure to make the holy blade from the prophecy one you, conveniently, feel comfortable using.
Defender details: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Defender#content
6. Animated Shield
After cleaving a fiend in half, the avatar of the All-Father stands their ground, wielding their flaming greatsword with ease, one might think their back an easy target, so tantalizingly open…until a flying shield stops the assassins blow from an impossible angle, letting them gulp one last time before their head says goodbye to their neck.
Are you a fan of grabbing the biggest, meanest weapon around and crushing your foes with it, but, do you like seeing your Armor Class (AC) be so high your DM has to open the fun part of the Monster Manual to challenge you? Then an Animated Shield is right up your alley!
Why the Animated Shield is great:
- An animated shield is essentially a hands-free +2 bonus to AC, which means your paladin can wield the holiest two-handed weapon it can find to cleave its foes and more!
Animated Shield details: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Animated%20Shield#content
5. Necklace of Prayer Beads
Adventuring is a hazardous task. Grievous wounds, impassable grounds, and disheartened nights, all of these could be willed away by prayers, but can also be solved by miracles.
This necklace has 3 to 6 magic beads that contain divine magic. By attuning to it, your paladin can greatly increase their spell-casting prowess…as a bonus action!
Why the Necklace of Prayer Beads is great:
- Divine smite is a paladin’s bread and butter. The ability to cast more spells without spending spell slots means that you can devote your divine fuel to melting your foes away with divinely infused strikes!
- Each bead contains a spell that you can cast as a Bonus Action. This is glorious for anyone capable of doing it for you still have your Action free to do whatever you’d like after casting a spell which would usually be the main dish of your turn.
Necklace of Prayer Beads details: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Necklace%20of%20Prayer%20Beads#content
4. Sun blade
If you believe photon cutlasses and medieval fantasy cannot mix, yet dearly wish they would, then 5th edition’s gods have a blessing to give: The Sun blade.
When deactivated, a Sun Blade appeared to be a longsword hilt with no blade, however, its wielder can cause a blade of pure sunlight to manifest, melting through their foes with divine radiance!
This +2 rare weapon only requires attunement and that you are proficient with longswords or shortswords, which you are as the avatar of a deity’s might. Not only does it illuminate the area around you, but this blade also deals radiant damage and is particularly harmful to the undead.
Why the Sun Blade is great:
- When you hit an undead with it, that target takes an extra 1d8 radiant damage. This means that you’re not only dealing a rarely resisted damage, but you also are the meanest foe any undead could face.
- Unlike most other longswords, the Sun Blade has the finesse property, this allows you to use your Dexterity instead of Strength when attacking, letting your dexterous paladin wield a blade worthy of its holy purpose!
Sun Blade details: https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/sun-blade
3. Armor of Invulnerability
This set of plate armor was forged by a clan of dwarves, wrought from the finest alloys, the Armor of Invulnerability makes its wearer resistant to all forms of non-magical damage, that’s right, even lightning and flame as long as it's natural.
As if it weren’t enough, our paladin can make themselves immune to non-magical damage for 10 minutes, and, since most enemies in 5th edition don’t have the means to deal magical damage, this turns you into an undying crusader!
Why the Armor of Invulnerability is great:
- Since it makes you resistant to all non-magical damage, this means you now have effectively twice as many Hit Points against mundane damage, letting you outlive your enemies.
- Since the Armor of Invulnerability is a set of plate and paladins are proficient with heavy armor, this means you’ll have an AC of at least 18.
Armor of Invulnerability details: https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/armor-of-invulnerability
2. Cloak of Displacement
While you wear this cloak, all creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls against you, but if you take damage, the property ceases to function until the start of your next turn. Since paladins are proficient with heavy armor and shields, as well as gain access to defensive spells, this makes you incredibly hard to hit!
Since it gives disadvantage to all attacks, this includes spells, meaning that you’ll incredibly lower the chances any attack will even scratch you.
Why the Cloak of Displacement is great:
- This cloak essentially gives your paladin the benefits of the blur spell, except it does not require concentration and lasts virtually forever!
- As a paladin, you’ll have about 16 to 18 Armor Class (AC) or higher, depending on your armor choice. Mathematically, disadvantage on attacks against you is roughly equivalent to a whopping +3 bonus to AC, making you incredibly hard to hit.
Cloak of Displacement details: https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/cloak-of-displacement
1. Spellguard Shield
Evil warlocks, terrifying liches, and mad wizards are a common threat in any Dungeons & Dragons campaign, so making sure you can shrug off their magic is a priority if you wish to survive.
A Spellguard Shield has you covered. While wielding one, you have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects, but wait, there’s more! Spell attacks also have disadvantage against you.
Why the Spellguard Shield is great:
- Spellcasters, especially high-level ones, have access to magic that can render even the bravest adventurer useless.
- A permanent advantage when saving against them, coupled with the paladin’s aura of protection gives you a good chance to succeed reliably.
Spellguard Shield details: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Spellguard%20Shield#content
You May Also Like:
[Top 100] Good D&D Cleric Names You Can Use
[Top 100] Good D&D Fighter Names You Can Use
[Top 100] Good D&D Elf Names You Can Use
[Top 15] D&D Best Puzzles To Make Your Campaign Fun
D&D Best Ranger Subclass (All Ranger Subclasses From Weakest To Strongest)
