You are a paladin with a cause, born to smite and heal and then smite some more. Eventually, however, you’ll encounter a monster that can pierce your nonmagical armor or resist your ordinary weaponry, and it will be time for an upgrade. If you're unsure of what items to choose, here are our top picks for magic items for the paladin class. If you see something you like, you can snag it in the D&D Beyond marketplace. Alternatively, if you have a friend that owns the items and they have a Master-tier subscription, they can share them with you.

1. Amulet of the devout
2. Cloak of displacement
3. Corpse slayer
4. Guardian emblem
5. Holy avenger
6. Mace of disruption
7. Necklace of prayer beads
8. Ring of resistance
9. Sun blade
10. Winged boots

Dungeon Masters’ Discretion

Some of these items may be unobtainable in your campaign. Talk to your DM about specific items that you'd like for your character. But keep in mind that they have the final say on which magic items they hand out and permit in the game.

Top 10 Magic Items for Paladins

1. Amulet of the Devout

Wondrous Item, varies (requires attunement by a cleric or paladin)

The amulet of the devout is specially crafted for clerics and paladins. It grants a bonus to spell attack rolls and your spell save DC (determined by the amulet’s rarity) and provides your paladin with one free use of their Channel Divinity. The item is as invaluable as it is straightforward.

If your DM is allowing the optional class feature Harness Divine Power, you can convert a Channel Divinity use into a spell slot. With this amulet, you won’t have to worry about whether you’ll need that Channel Divinity later—just thank Tasha for the extra spell slot for your Divine Smite and keep swinging.

2. Cloak of Displacement

Wondrous Item, rare (requires attunement)

You’re likely already wrapped in heavy armor, and perhaps also shielded, but why stop there? With the cloak of displacement, all creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls against you. Notably, if an attack does sneak through, this property ceases to function until the start of your next turn. It is also suppressed if you cannot move, such as while you are incapacitated or restrained. (Remember that some conditions, such as the paralyzed and stunned conditions, incapacitate as part of their effects.)

3. Corpse Slayer

Weapon, rare (requires attunement)

A corpse slayer weapon and a paladin is a match made in Elysium. Though many magic items (including some on this list) are limited to one type of weapon, a corpse slayer weapon comes in any base weapon type, allowing you to pick your preferred flavor and perhaps apply some specialized feats.

The corpse slayer deals an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon’s type to undead creatures, and gives them disadvantage on saving throws against effects that turn undead until the start of your next turn. The former ability will benefit any paladin in combat against undead regardless of their playstyle or party composition, while the latter ability specifically encourages teamwork and allows for added synchronicity if your paladin is working alongside another paladin or cleric.

4. Guardian Emblem

Wondrous Item (holy symbol), uncommon (requires attunement by a cleric or paladin)

Another item on this list requiring attunement by a cleric or paladin, the guardian emblem leans heavily into the paladin’s potential to support and defend their team. This emblem functions as your holy symbol, and can be attached to a suit of armor or shield.

There was a time when only adamantine armor could negate a critical hit, but the guardian emblem allows its bearer to do so three times per day. When you are wielding or wearing the item bearing this emblem and you or a creature you can see within 30 feet of you suffers a critical hit, you can use your reaction to expend 1 of the shield’s 3 charges to turn the critical hit into a normal hit instead. Sure, you can already drop a mountain of d8s with your smites, but nothing feels more powerful than negating a critical hit.

5. Holy Avenger

Weapon (any sword), legendary (requires attunement by a Paladin)

We couldn’t make a list of paladin magic items without including the beloved holy avenger. 

This magic item requires attunement by a paladin, grants a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls, and deals an extra 2d10 radiant damage to fiends and undead. If shredding ghosts and demons alike with radiant light isn’t enough for you, take comfort in the holy avenger’s 10-foot radius aura granting advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. If you level all the way up to 17 in the paladin class, this aura increases to 30 feet.

Though this item is unlikely to be sitting around in a shop waiting to be purchased, it could serve as an excellent plot device. Perhaps in a stone of some kind, destined for a true king or queen of some sort, I don’t know.

6. Mace of Disruption

Weapon (mace), rare (requires attunement)

The mace of disruption is probably familiar to longtime and new Dungeons & Dragons fans alike. Formally debuting in second edition and more recently put to excellent use by a famous Exandrian gnome cleric, the mace of disruption is ready to tackle all of your undead-slaying needs. 

The mace deals an extra 2d6 radiant damage to fiends and undead and has the potential to destroy them outright if they have low enough hit points after being struck and fail a Wisdom saving throw. Even a successful save renders the target frightened of you—and why shouldn’t they be?

7. Necklace of Prayer Beads

Wondrous Item, rare (requires attunement by a cleric, druid, or paladin)

As half casters, paladins don’t have as many spell slots as some of their fellow divine casters. Fortunately, your paladin can use a necklace of prayer beads to help bridge the gap.

Each bead can be used to cast its corresponding spell once per day. Most of these spells are already on your spell list, but the true boon of the necklace is allowing you to still have access to spells well after you've burned all of your spell slots on Divine Smite. While your DM decides what spells the necklace holds, you’ll have an even bigger choice to make: over the plate armor or under the plate armor?

8. Ring of Resistance

Ring, rare (requires attunement)

Sometimes the key to success is preparation. When questing to defeat a foe with an obvious aptitude—for example, psychic damage for mind flayers, fire damage for red dragons, or necrotic damage for necromancers—you might want to find a ring of resistance. There may be potions available, but the ring will protect you even if you are ambushed or forced to fight your way through many minions over multiple encounters.

If you prefer something like a set of armor of resistance, such things do exist. However, taking this route might eventually lead you to having to choose between armor with a bonus to its Armor Class and your preferred damage resistance.

9. Sun Blade

Weapon (longsword), rare (requires attunement)

Does your paladin’s tragic backstory contain vampires? Let the sun blade lead them to a brighter future. 

This weapon provides a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls, but more evocatively, its damage is radiant rather than slashing, and it deals an additional 1d8 radiant damage to undead. Perhaps its most powerful ability is its dazzling shimmer: the sun blade emits sunlight in a radius of up to 30 feet of bright light and 30 feet of dim light. Handy for when you need a better view of the vampire standing before you!

If your paladin prefers warhammers over blades and is comfortable swapping half of the max sunlight range for a once per day casting of the sunbeam spell, they may want to look to the Duskcrusher.

10. Winged Boots

Wondrous Item, uncommon (requires attunement)

You’ve trekked through a whole layer of Baator and found yourself face-to-face with a pit fiend. But your foe has met paladins before and takes flight. The wizard is slinging spells, the ranger is firing arrows, the druid is keeping everybody healed as the pit fiend hurls fireballs, and you … are waiting for the pit fiend to get within reach.

Wait no longer! Fit yourself for some winged boots and fly your fearsome self into melee range. With these boots, very few enemies will be able to escape your wrath. If you have your eye on other magic boots, or simply don’t want to spend the attunement slot, you may be able to opt for a broom of flying—though you may want to stock a feather token (feather fall) if you opt for that route.

Building a Paladin

Now that you’re geared up and ready to adventure, it’s time to visit D&D Beyond’s character builder! A world of smiting the unholy awaits you.

Damen Cook (@damen_joseph) is a lifelong fantasy reader, writer, and gamer. If he woke up tomorrow in Faerun, he would bolt through the nearest fey crossing and drink from every stream and eat fruit from every tree in the Feywild until he found that sweet, sweet wild magic.