Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is getting some hype thanks to its seemingly shameless leaning into the ridiculousness of Dungeons and Dragons. Of course, this means new players are getting into the game, and many newbies often go for the brutal Barbarian.
Barbarians are appealing since they hit hard and take even harder hits thanks to their bigger health pool. Still, they can’t rely on their brute strength alone. Sometimes, a magic item or two go a long way in making the Barbarian a whirlwind of death.
Adamantine Armor
Adamantine Armor is a simple magic item that doesn’t require attunement. It doesn’t provide any bonuses or flashy tricks compared to normal medium or heavy armor. In fact, it’s not even rare, it’s simply an uncommon item. However, what makes it so powerful is the fact that it can turn any critical hit into a normal one.
This effect is even more useful for Barbarians, as this allows them to start doing Reckless Attacks with impunity. The biggest risk to Barbarians while raging has always been critical hits. Now, that worry is essentially canceled. It’s a fantastic magic item to pair with any other.
Cape of the Mountebank
The Cape of the Mountebank smells faintly of brimstone. While the Barbarian is wearing this cape, they gain the ability to cast the Dimension Door spell as an action once every day. Dimension Door is a spell that could be really powerful for the clever Barbarian player.
The ability to teleport for free before raging could spell disaster for any group of enemies. Few things are more terrifying than a pile of muscles attached to axes reaping death on an unsuspecting crowd of foes. Plus, the fact that it requires no attunement makes it quite the underrated magic item.
Periapt of Wound Closure (Requires Attunement)
It’s inevitable for Barbarians to pick up a few wounds in battle. Frankly, when one’s main form of attack is indiscriminate slashing, it only makes sense for a few of the victims to fight back. For these injuries, a Periapt of Wound Closure is incredibly handy to have.
While wearing this pendant, the Barbarian automatically stabilizes at the start of their next turn if they’re dying. Plus, whenever they roll to restore health, the resulting number of hit points restored is doubled. It ensures Barbarians get back into the fray as quickly as possible. Think of a Periapt that makes the Barbarian like Wolverine.
Cloak of Protection/Ring of Protection (Requires Attunement)
Once again, another simple magical item for a relatively simple class. The Cloak of Protection does exactly what it says on the tin, protect its users. The Cloak and Ring grant a +1 to both AC and all Saving Throws, which for the reckless Barbarian is a necessity.
Since some Barbarians choose to not wear armor, this is a good alternative to remain just as hard to hit as the more armored or dexterous party members. The saving throws are the real savior, as it evens out a lot of the weaker stats that Barbarians have, particularly Intelligence and Wisdom.
Weapon of Warning (Requires Attunement)
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While Barbarians already have Danger Sense, this is a more proactive version of “danger sense”. This weapon grants an advantage on initiative rolls while it is on the Barbarian’s person. In addition, they and any companions within 30 feet cannot be taken by surprise unless they are incapacitated by magical sleep.
The weapon will magically awaken any companions and the Barbarian from a nonmagical sleep in case of an attack, taking away the surprise factor from enemies. The best part is it doesn’t even need to be used in battle, it just has to be on the player’s person.
Luck Stone (Requires Attunement)
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This is another simple plus item for Barbarian much like Cloak/Ring of Protection. It gives +1 to all saving throws(handy against powerful spells), but the key difference is that instead of increasing AC, it increases ability checks. Many Barbarians struggle in social situations if built poorly. Luck Stone grants a bit more consistency for outside combat RP.
One of the troubles with Barbarians is they don’t have a lot of features that make them better outside of hitting things or getting hit by things. Luck Stone mercifully makes rolls a bit less likely to fail for Barbarians. When paired with proper ASI assignments, Luck Stone is a great all-rounder.
Any +1/2/3 Magic Weapon (Requires Attunement)
Barbarians are always going to go back to the tried and true hitting things formula, and magic weapons are a necessity for this activity. What kind of magic weapon gained is frankly not as relevant as the fact that it’s a magic weapon. This allows the Barbarian to bypass a lot of magical resistances.
However, a good type of magic item to get for Barbarians would be ones with ranged capabilities such as a bow or javelin. The Javelin of Lightning, for example, solves one of the bigger problems with Barbarians in combat, which is they can’t really hit things that can fly out of their reach.
Mantle of Spell Resistance (Requires Attunement)
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Barbarians can go through quite a bit of punishment thanks to their class features, but spells remain a tough one for them. Particularly spells that attack non-priority stats such as Intelligence and Charisma. Danger Sense only gives an advantage on Dexterity saving throw spells such as Fireball. The Mantle of Spell Resistance provides a simple but powerful effect.
When worn, this mantle gives the Barbarian advantage on saving throws against any spell. Combined with items like the Luck Stone and Ring/Cloak of Protection, Barbarians have one of their weaknesses slightly taken care of.
Manuals and Tomes
These are all named different things, but they all tend towards improving one of the characters’ base stats by 2 while increasing the maximum by 2 as well. This is usually gained in the later tiers of play, and whatever stat it is, it’s well worth getting. If it’s the main stat, it just makes the Barbarian even stronger.
This is usually the case with the manuals, which improve either Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity. In contrast, Tomes will improve the Barbarians’ out-of-combat abilities, as well as improve saving throws, as they affect Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence.
Winged Boots (Requires Attunement)
Barbarians can’t hit things that fly out of their reach, so the solution is clearly to fly up to the slippery foe. The best magic item for this is definitively Winged Boots. They give the player a flying speed equal to their movement speed. For Barbarians, who are already blessed with more movement speed, this is amazing.
It allows Barbarians to plug up the one flaw in their battle strategy, and that’s enemies out of reach. It also allows for some really fun grappling shenanigans. Few creatures can break the grapple of a well-built Barbarian, and being dropped from a great height is enough to take down most non-magical foes.