D&D: Have a Little Faith – Best Magic Items for Paladins
Paladins are one of the strongest classes in D&D 5E. Unstoppable with the right gear. Here are some of the best magic items for Paladins.
Paladins have always been among the strongest classes in D&D. Capable of wearing heavy armor and wielding powerful weapons they combine toughness and magical ability. In 5th Edition, Paladins are especially known for their ability to turn spell slots into smites, enabling them to do incredible damage.
On top of that, they have the ability to channel divinity to various effects, can heal party members with a touch, and have auras that buff everyone in their party. One Paladin can anchor a party with little effort. Like Wizards and Sorcerers, they’re pretty great on their own. But once you get magic items? It’s time to get busted.
Here are some of the best magic items for Rogues in D&D.
Best Magic Items for Paladins
Like most characters who fight with weapons and wear armor, all Paladins will benefit from a suit of magic armor, and a magic weapon. There are some iconic ones out there, most notably the Holy Avenger. This is the weapon that any Paladin would want to get their hands on.
Not only is it a +3 magic sword, it deals an extra 2d10 radiant damage. But the real kicker is that while you hold aloft this magic sword, it creates a 10-foot radius aura that grants advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects to any creature friendly to you. If you’re level 17 or higher (congratulations) the aura increases to 30 feet.
That stacks with whatever other Paladin aura you might have. Paladins of the Oath of Devotion with a Holy Avenger can ensure that their closest comrades never fail a save with this weapon.
That said, it is a Legendary magic item. You can’t really count on finding one, but hands down, it’s probably the go-to at the top of any Paladin’s wishlist.
Outside of that, Paladins can benefit from things that boost their magical powers, and things that can help them not be so dependent on multiple ability scores. For this reason, a Belt of Giant Strength is going to be your best bet. Get your hands on even the lowest tier Belt of Giant Strength and you can save all your ability score increases for upping your Charisma and eventually taking Great Weapon Master (at least until One D&D nerfs it into the ground).
With those two in mind, here are some of the other items worth picking up.
The Best Defensive Items
For those times when you believe the best defense is actually a strong defense, these items can come in handy.
- Cloak of Displacement – While wearing this cloak you’re permanently “displaced” and any creature attacking you has disadvantage until you finally take damage. As a Paladin, you’re going to have a higher AC, and if you wield a magic shield it’ll be through the roof. This will help keep you from those critical hits that you can’t stop.
- Adamantine Armor/Mizzium Armor – Adamantine Armor and Mizzium Armor do much the same thing. Their main purpose is to turn critical hits into regular hits. The ability to negate taking double damage is a big gain and will keep the Paladin up longer, so they can heal themselves or others and be extremely durable.
- Animated Shield – Want to use a shield but also want to fight with a heavy weapon for Great Weapon Master purposes? This is the way to do it.
- Spellguard Shield – A magic shield that gives you advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects (as well as disadvantage to spell attacks)? This is a great way to shut down any magical attacks. Especially since your bonuses will likely be high.
Offensive Power
Paladins excel at dealing damage in melee combat. And interestingly enough, because they can smite with every hit, and once they get past a certain level they just start dealing extra damage with every hit, they benefit from weapons that grant extra attacks.
We already mentioned the Holy Avenger, but if you don’t have one, here are some other considerations
- Magic Weapon – Any magic weapon will do. Even the Moon-touched sword will make your damage bypass the “resistant to nonmagical damage” creatures.
- Scimitar of Speed – Of course, since the more attacks you make, the more damage you do, a Scimitar of Speed can come in handy. This gives you a bonus action attack. Although it’s worth mentioning, that even with that in mind, you’ll still frequently be hurting for what to use your bonus action on. Still, having access to another smite, and another vehicle for Divine Strikes, can be pretty spicy in most circumstances.
- Sunblade – Basically a light saber, this magical sun sword is very thematic for Paladins who are frequently bathed in holy light. Plus it’s great for killing vampires. This makes all your damage radiant, which Paladins typically like doing.
Magic
The other area Paladins really care about are magic items that help their magical prowess. And Paladins have access to a couple of really cool ones:
- Necklace of Prayer Beads – This is one of the best items in the game for a Cleric, Druid, or Paladin. It has anywhere from 3-6 beads, each of which let you cast a spell from a pre-selected list once per day per bead. You might have Planar Ally or Wind Walk or Cure Wounds, to name a few. But the biggest thing about this is, that you can cast these spells as bonus actions, meaning you can still have your action to attack (and smite) with.
- Amulet of the Devout – Another must-have for Divine casters. An Amulet of the Devout grants you a +1-+3 bonus to spell attack rolls and to your saving throw DCs and gives you a free use of your Channel Divinity. Which is great and amazing to have, up until you get a Necklace of Prayer Beads.
- Pearl of Power – Paladins get a lot out of their spell slots. A Pearl of Power gets you one back. Cast a spell then use that same slot to do a smite. Or vice versa.
- Ring of Spell Storing – Finally we come to one of the best items in the game. With it you can just cast a spell. You can cast up to five total levels of spells, in fact. There’s no end of tricks you can pull with a toy like this.
What are your picks for best magic items for Paladins?
