D&D: Five Magic Daggers Worth Backstabbing Your Best Friend For
You might not have to backstab your friends to get these D&D magic daggers, but if you had them, it would be easier to do.
The dagger is a friend to all classes. In fact, it is the single most common weapon and/or piece of gear on a character’s sheet.
It’s not hard to see why, either. A dagger is so simple that even a Wizard can use it. They can be thrown. Daggers can be finessed. Whatever your skillset, there’s always room for a dagger. Even if you’re the beefiest Barbarian out there, you’ll be grateful for a dagger. Because how else are you gonna stab a piece of meat and eat it? With a fork? I think not.
With that in mind, here are five daggers that are worth going to almost any lengths to acquire. From Rogues to Rangers, these are five magic daggers great for anyone.
Needle of Mending
Our first magic dagger comes straight out of the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. The Needle of Mending is a magic dagger disguised as a sewing needle. When you speak a command word (a bonus action), it can switch from needle to dagger or back again. And, while you’re holding it, you can cast mending.
Dagger of Blindsight
In the depths of Undermountain aka the Dungeon of the Mad Mage, you’ll find the Dagger of Blindsight. This dagger grants a creature attuned to it blindsight out to 30 feet. A handy tool for any skulking stalker or slinking scout.
Bookmark
Out of the Tomb of Annihilation comes Bookmark. This dagger belongs to none other than Artus Cimber, the weirdest background NPC whose name you probably vaguely recognize. In addition to being a +3 dagger, it has several abilities. With it you can use a bonus action to activate any of the following:
- Shed bright light out to 20 feet, dim light out 20 feet beyond that
- Cause the dagger to point north
- Cast dimension door 1/day
- Cast compulsion (DC 15) – only affects spiders
Rakdos Riteknife
With a +1 bonus to attack and damage, this serrated dagger may not seem like much at first glance. But upon closer inspection, the dagger is stylized with demonic imagery. And though you’d have to travel to Ravnica to find one, it’s worth the trip. Because these daggers are capable of imprisoning the soul of any creature they slay, up to five souls at a time can be held in a Riteknife.
And for every extra soul trapped within, it deals an extra 1d4 damage, but the souls can be spent to activate special abilities:
- Siphon Vitality – release a trapped soul, gain 1d10 hit points
- Annihilation – Expend all five souls to cause a target to save or die
Blade of Broken Mirrors
The final blade is a doozy. Another dagger out of Wildemount, this dagger is associated with Tharizdun, the chained oblivion. And for a dagger that seems somehow connected to the imprisoned evil that wants to devour the world, it sure is frighteningly powerful.
For starters, it’s a Vestige of Divergence, a pseudo-artifact level magic item with three states: Dormant, Awakened, and Exalted.
Each level increases the power of the dagger, allowing the wielder to tap into more of Tharizdun’s terrible essence. In the first phase, dormant, the dagger grants you fluency in Abyssal language, and you use the blade to take on the form of any humanoid the blade has killed.
When it’s Awakened, it lets you cast powerful illusory spells like major image or phantasmal killer. When Exalted, the dagger can be used to turn invisible as an action.
What’s your favorite magic dagger?
