Dungeons & Dragons: 15 Best Magic Items For Barbarians
Summary
- Barbarians in D&D focus on physical prowess instead of spells, making magic item selection simpler for Dungeon Masters.
- Gauntlets of Ogre Power boost barbarian Strength to 19, allowing for more focus on feats and nuanced play.
- Javelin of Lightning provides barbarians with a powerful ranged attack option, helping to address their lack of ranged options.
The barbarian may be the simplest class to play in Dungeons & Dragons, but it's this added simplicity that often makes them some of the most memorable characters as far as roleplaying is concerned. After all, since they don't have to spend time poring over a large selection of spells and abilities, barbarian players have all the time in the world to focus on roleplaying instead.
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PostsThankfully for Dungeon Masters, the simplicity of the class also makes magic item selection for them rather straightforward. Barbarians are characters that forgo in-depth martial and magical abilities to focus on overbearing strength and physical prowess instead. Consequently, you'll want to reward your barbarians with magic items that supercharge these traits, and there's certainly no shortage of them to go around.
Updated on January 15, 2025 by Marissa Fiore: Barbarians deserve to have powerful magic at their fingertips, and although they may not be able to do that through spellcasting, they can use magic items. This article has been updated to include additional entries about the items that are best used by the mightiest of party members.
15 Adamantine Armor
Artwork via Wizards of the CoastThe big draw of Adamantine is that, in D&D terms, it is the hardest known substance. In all the worlds. What that translates to in this suit of armor is that it can prevent you from taking the full damage of any critical hit. It, in fact, makes a natural 20 against you just like any other hit.
Now, for a raging barbarian, that probably seems like a waste. You already reduce the damage of piercing, bludgeoning, and slashing attacks. But early into the game, or if going up against foes that are constantly rolling at advantage against you, then throwing on a piece of armor that qualifies as Adamantine can literally save your life.
The only kind of armor that is excluded from being Adamantine is anything that falls into the light category and Hide armor.
14 Gauntlets Of Ogre Power
Gauntlets of Ogre Power via Wizards of the CoastStarting with uncommon quality items that barbarians will receive during lower levels of play, the Gauntlets of Ogre Power is a great first magic item to reward a barbarian. A creature who equips the Gauntlets of Ogre Power sees their Strength score increase to 19 unless their innate Strength score is already greater.
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PostsEventually, most barbarians are going to reach 20 Strength sooner or later due to the large number of 'ASI's (ability score improvements) they receive. However, during early levels of play, it's unlikely that a barbarian will already have a Strength score of 18. Gifting these gauntlets early allows them to focus their starting ASIs on interesting feats like Great Weapon Master, Skilled, Sentinel, and more, providing a barbarian with slightly more nuanced play.
13 Javelin Of Lightning
Javelin of Lightning via Wizards of the CoastOne of the exploitable weaknesses of barbarians is that they don't have a great option for a ranged attack. Of course, they can load up on tons of Javelins and use those in times of dire need, but they fall far below the damage output a barbarian can do in melee and only have a range of thirty feet. Target anything outside of that range, and you're making your attack with disadvantage.
The Javelin of Lightning helps shore up this issue somewhat, providing barbarians with a single use of a powerful ranged attack once per day. When you speak the Javelin's command word, a line of lightning extends from you to a target within 120 feet. All enemies inside the line must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 4d6 lightning damage. Additionally, if the Javelin hits the target, they take damage from the Javelin as normal — as well as an additional 4d6 lightning damage.
12 Animated Shield
Official art via Wizards of the CoastLook, do barbarians usually wear much armor? No. But this is a shield. It's totally different. But the best thing about this shield is that it doesn't require you to stay holding it to be effective. While you may have a hard-to-hit armor class, that number can reach new heights thanks to this item.
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PostsThe animated shield gives you all the protection a regular shield does, but makes it so that, if you choose to dual wield, you can without leaving yourself more open to attacks. And, if you ever feel you out grow the use of this shield, you can pass it to a grateful, and more squishy, party member.
11 Amulet Of The Drunkard
Jaded Sell-Sword by Randy VargasMost barbarians are no strangers to enjoying a drink or ten at the local tavern. If your very own barbarian party member is one such ale distinguishing fellow, this thematic magic item is likely to bring a smile to their beer-stained face. You can use the Amulet to regain 4d4 + 4 hit points once every day, which is like giving your barbarian their very own personal Greater Healing Potion.
As far as classes that excel at taking large amounts of damage are considered, it's hard to beat the barbarian. For this reason, the Amulet is also quite possibly the best magic item for Barbarians, mechanically speaking. Lastly, the Amulet doesn't even require attunement, allowing your barbarian to enjoy its benefits without costing them an important attunement slot.
10 Ring Of Jumping
A Dexterous Expert by Aurore Folny.The Ring of Jumping is an underwhelming magic item for most characters, but barbarians can take great advantage of it. It allows you to cast the Jump spell on yourself as a bonus action, tripling your jump distance. A character's maximum jump distance or jump height is calculated by their total Strength score or Strength ability modifier, respectively.
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Posts 1Because barbarians have such high Strength, this ring allows them to jump a distance of up to 60 feet horizontally or 20 feet vertically. Additionally, a DM might allow a character to jump even farther if they succeed on an appropriate Athletics (Strength) difficulty check. As it happens, barbarian Rage gives Barbarians advantage on Strength checks. It's not out of the question that a barbarian might be able to jump one hundred feet horizontally or 50 feet vertically, depending on how well they do on their Athletics check, as well as the DM's discretion.
9 Boots Of Speed
Basic Rules 5e via Wizards of the CoastYou know what's scarier than a barbarian? A fast barbarian. Really, the only things that keep barbarians from being effective in fights is when something is preventing them from physically hitting their target. If it's a speed issue, then these boots solve that. Well, in most cases anyway.
There's also no rule that says you can't stack this benefit with the likes of Haste, which does more than just make you faster, but hey, big number getting bigger produces some serotonin, doesn't it? But this can be paired with so many other items and spells to create some great synergy while making it harder for foes to escape your wrath.
8 Carpet Of Flying
Artwork via Wizards of the CoastLook, sometimes the only reason a barbarian can't hit a target isn't about speed at all. The target could be flying after all. Well. Throw yourself onto a Carpet of Flying and not even the Gods are safe from you! Well, okay, they might have some other tricks up their holy or devilish sleeves, but it won't be a height difference.
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Something to get them started.
PostsNaturally, it's not just about combat either. There are plenty of useful ways to utilize one of these rugs. You can rush in and grab allies in danger, you can quickly escape a situation that is too much to handle. But let's be so for real. It's pretty much so you can fly in and smack something in the face. The party will love that you can now fly up and punch the dragon. Maybe it's like a shark?
7 Belt Of Dwarvenkind
Belt of Dwarvenkind via Wizards of the CoastTransitioning to rare items that are given out from levels five through ten, the Belt of Dwarvenkind is a great roleplaying magic item that also has incredible game benefits. While wearing the belt, your Constitution score increases by two, you have resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws against poison, you gain darkvision out to 60 feet, and you can speak, read, and write Dwarvish.
Naturally, you also gain advantage on Persuasion checks made to influence dwarves. Best of all, though, every day, you have a 50 percent chance to grow a full beard or increase the size of your beard if you already have one. Basically, the belt makes any character a bonafide dwarf. What's not to love about that?
6 Berserker Axe
Berserker Axe via Wizards of the CoastAny barbarian who doesn't embrace their rage-induced frenzies is no true barbarian at all. The Berserker Axe is a +1 weapon that increases your hit point maximum by a number equal to your total level. However, it might have your Barbarian seeing red in all the wrong ways, as it comes with a curse that makes you unwilling to part with the weapon — and gives you disadvantage on all attacks made with other weapons.
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PostsFor even more fun, each time a character wielding the weapon takes damage, you have to succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. On failure, you go into a berserker rage and must attack the creature nearest you each turn using all of your possible attacks. The berserker rage only ends when you either fall unconscious or you start your turn with no creature within 60 feet of you that you can see or hear. And the barbarian just killed the wizard... whoops!
