Bards are the jacks of all trades in Dungeons & Dragons, capable of martial prowess and powerful spellcasting, as well as proficient in a number of skills. But they can get even more versatile through the use of magic items. The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide includes a ton of new items, including a few that are bard-exclusives.

But which are the best for bards to use? There are a number of items that synergize with their existing abilities and help them to better perform their roles within the party. Since bards are often the party face, and can also act as and battlefield control, these items focus mostly on improving their ability to act successfully in those positions. These 10 items are the best in the 2024 rule set for bards, and players using the class should definitely give them a try.

10 Instruments Of Illusions Can Give Low-Level Bards A Fun, Creative Option

Creating Images From Your Music

It can be difficult to balance powerful magic items with lower-level parties, but common magic items like the Instrument of Illusions can give players some low-stakes equipment to experiment with. Mechanically, the instrument functions as a way to cast an effect similar to minor illusion, albeit with a limited range. The creature playing the instrument can make harmless visual illusions appear within five feet of themselves, or 15 feet if they are a bard.

The illusions are obviously magical to anyone who sees them, and can't have any auditory effects (apart from the music playing to create them). But they give some creative options to bard players that want to improve a performance or inspire their allies with an especially impressive display.

9 Glamoured Studded Leather Is Both Practical And Fashionable

Nice Armor For Any Bard To Show Off Their Style

Bards are limited to light armor, unless they take the College of Valor subclass, and don't have access to spells like mage armor or shield. It behooves them to seek out high-quality options to protect themselves, and Glamoured Studded Leather is a great choice. It grants an AC of 13 plus the wearer's dexterity modifier, one of the highest scores that light armor can give. On top of that, it has a magical effect that pairs well with a bard's trickery and stage presence.

The armor can take the appearance of any clothing the wearer wants it to, morphing to better match their desired aesthetic. This can be used to hide the fact that one is wearing armor at all, or it could work as a disguise to get a player behind enemy lines. Bards tend to focus on illusion and enchantment spells, and this armor synergizes well with the powers on their spell list.

8 The Dancing Sword Fits Thematically And Leaves Your Hands Free

Perfect For A Bard With A Two-Handed Instrument

The Dancing Sword is great for bards, and not just because of its name. Often, bards will want to pair their spell slinging with weapon attacks of some kind, yet that can pose some issues in of what the bard is actually carrying in their hands. Most instruments take both hands to play, and unless the bard is of the Valor subclass or has the Warcaster feat, that impairs their ability to mix weapons and magic.

Valor bards can use their weapons or shield as a spellcasting focus, and the Warcaster feat allows players to do the same. But an item like this could be a clever alternative to those strategies.

The Dancing Sword is nice in that it operates completely hands-free. The wielder can throw it up in the air and have it make attacks similar to a spiritual weapon, floating around them and hitting enemies while the wielder is free to use their action on other things. This works well for a bard who wants to switch from a melee focus to casting spells mid-fight, or vice versa.

7 The Wraps Of Unarmed Power Are Great For Dance Bards

Helping This New Subclass Enhance Its Unarmed Strength

The College of Dance is a new subclass in the 2024 Player's Handbook, and gives bards the ability to act as unarmed fighters, kicking and punching their way through crowds of enemies. This gives players who want to make an unarmed character an alternative to playing as a monk or Tavern Brawler. It also means the bard can benefit from a few magic items that would traditionally be best suited to monks, including the Wraps of Unarmed Power.

These wraps not only provide a bonus to one's attack and damage rolls with unarmed attacks, but they also allow the wearer to deal force damage rather than bludgeoning. It's a great option for any character using hand-to-hand combat, and especially for the Dance subclass, which gets little outside its features to improve damage.

6 The Pipes Of The Sewers Can Bring Forth Rodentine Allies

Useful In Certain Settings More Than Others

The Pipes of the Sewers are an oddly specific item that will vary greatly in their usefulness depending on where the campaign is located. These pipes only really function if the area they are used in has a sizable rat population, one big enough to make a difference in combat when summoned. If not, playing this instrument will leave the party underwhelmed, to say the least.

First, carrying the pipes makes rats, a classic low-level DnD monster, indifferent to a creature, which is niche at best. They start with three charges, and a creature can use magic action to play them and expend one to three of those charges. If there are enough rats in the area, a number of swarms of rats equal to the charges used will show up in the area. They will make their way towards the pipes, but won't actually become allies just yet.

The DM ultimately decides how many rats are in the area, and their leniency in a situation where this item is used will help to determine whether it functions well.

In order to get these rodents on one's side, the swarm must fail a DC15 wisdom saving throw while within 30 feet of the pipes. This will make the swarm friendly, and it will obey the player's orders, so long as they keep using their action to play the pipes and stay within 30 feet of the rats. It's a needlessly complicated item, but one that has the potential for greatness under very specific circumstances.

5 The Lute Of Thunderous Thumping Can Be A Powerful Melee Weapon

Painfully Loud Music

For bards that want to combine their martial prowess with their talent for creating noise, the Lute of Thunderous Thumping will be perfect. It works like a club mechanically, but on a hit, it deals an extra 2d8 thunder damage, a high amount even by mid-game.

It is even better in the hands of bards, who can use their charisma modifier instead of their strength for attack and damage rolls (provided they sing or hum while swinging it). This means that bards, who do not usually invest much in the strength score, will still be able to fight effectively with this strength-geared weapon.

4 Perfume Of Bewitching Can Enhance A Bard's Social Skills

The Ultimate Tool For Communication

For a common consumable, the Perfume of Bewitching is much better than players might think. Applying the perfume gives a creature advantage on all persuasion and deception checks they make for the next hour, as long as they remain within five feet of the person they are talking to.

Strangely, this perfume does not specify that affected creatures need to be able to smell, nor does it require any kind of saving throws. It functions more similarly to the friends cantrip, which bards could grab, though their limited number of known cantrips may make this a preferred alternative.

This is great for any socially-focused campaign, but works especially well on characters who already have high charisma. The amount that having advantage actually boosts a character's ability to succeed on a roll increases when the bar for success is higher and so is the character's proficiency in that stat. As charismatic casters, most bards will be rocking high marks in both deception and persuasion, meaning they can use this perfume to its full extent.

3 The Pipes Of Haunting Can Scare Off Your Enemies

Strike Fear Into Your Foes' Heartstrings

The frightened condition is a powerful one in DnD, and being able to inflict it consistently gives characters a good deal of strength in combat. The Pipes of Haunting are the perfect tool for a bard that wants access to that kind of power, without needing to spend slots to achieve it. The pipes have three charges, each of which can be used to start playing a haunting tune, potentially frightening creatures within 30 feet of them.

The player of the pipes can choose which creatures in the area are affected, and on a failed save, creatures remain frightened for up to a minute. The pipes regain all charges each day, meaning that a bard could use these pretty consistently in almost every fight they participate in. For an uncommon item, the Pipes of Haunting are surprisingly strong.

2 The Staff Of Charming Gives Bards Some Extra Uses Of Great Spells

Control The Conversation With This Magic Item

The Staff of Charming plays into the bard's social strong suits of controlling the conversation and turning enemies into allies. Specifically, the staff grants the wielder the ability to cast three powerful spells on the bard's list: charm person, command, and comprehend languages. All of these are great for a face character in any party, like the charisma-base spellcaster bards tend to be, but that's not all the staff does.

The staff has several other abilities it can use in conjunction with those spells. One allows them to turn an enchantment spell back on its caster, and another basically grants a once-per-day legendary resistance against enchantment magic. The staff starts off with 10 charges, and regains three to nine each day. There aren't many staves better for characters looking to fully harness the power of enchantment magic.

1 The Instruments Of The Bards Hold Some Powerful Magic

Several Different Variants To All Sorts Of Bardic Characters

Finally, the Instruments of the Bards are some of the best items for bard characters to acquire in DnD. And it makes sense; these items are tailor-made to suit a bard's abilities and spells. There are several rarities and kinds of Instruments of the Bards, all of which grant access to a different set of spells.

All the instruments include some basic options, including invisibility, fly, and protection from evil and good. Then, there are specific versions of the instruments that let their player cast wall of fire and wind wall, or confusion and fire storm. The list goes on, and many of these spells are not available to bards by default. This is a great way for bards to expand their spellcasting horizons in Dungeons & Dragons, and reflect the themes of their art through the unique magic they have access to.

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