D&D: Magic Items That Will Make You the Ultimate Thief
Crime pays, both in the real world and D&D. And in D&D these magic items will help you be the ultimate criminal/thief.
D&D is proof that crime pays. You don’t even have to be the head of a farcical government agency to rob every single commoner, merchant, and king blind—all you need are the right skills, and the right magic items. You can pull off daring heists that are the stuff of legend, with the right setup.
So whether you’re playing a Thief Rogue, a Bard with Criminal Tendencies, or the average Baldur’s Gate 3 protagonist, here are some magic items that will help you become the ultimate thief.
Ring of Invisibility
Let’s start with the most obvious item on the list. This one magic item enables so much chicanery. The Ring of Invisibility is a potent, Legendary magic item. And a quick glance at what it actually does reveals why. It’s quite simple, really. Spend a Magic Action and become Invisible, per the condition. It’s not a spell, there’s no concentration.
In fact there are few limits on your invisibility—attacks don’t break it, casting spells doesn’t break it, even your death won’t end the invisible condition. The only thing that will is either you taking a Bonus Action to become visible again, or someone removing the ring. Invisibility alone won’t make you a master criminal, but it sure helps.
Gloves of Thievery
These ones have thievery right in the name. Gloves of Thievery will make even a Paladin into a capable burglar. But in the hands of someone who’s already skilled? You’ll become the sort of thief they talk about in stories and songs.
Because Gloves of Thievery add a +5 bonus to your Sleight of Hand checks. Add that to bonuses you already might have from Expertise and something like a Rogue’s Reliable Talent or a Bard’s Inspiration and you’ll be making the kinds of Sleight of Hand checks 3rd Edition characters dreamt of.
Boots of Elvenkind
Boots of Elvenkind are a much less flashy item. But they go a long way to complementing your thievery. While wearing Boots of Elvenkind, you have advantage on Stealth checks, so you can hide (even if you’re Invisible, you’re not necessarily hidden), and your footprints make no sound whatsoever. So that should make it even harder for your presence to be detected if you’ve got something like the Ring of Invisibility going.
Nolzur’s Marvelous Pigments
But what good are skills and undetectability if you can’t get into the treasure vault? That’s where something like Nolzur’s Marvelous Pigments come in. Because these pigments let you turn your imagination into reality—within some fairly broad limits.
You can paint an object on a surface and it becomes fully realized. Including, and explicitly the ability to paint a tunnel or a door into something. Who needs to unlock an unpickable vault door when you can just tunnel your way through, Looney Tunes style.
Oil of Etherealness
Of course, if you truly want to leave no trace, you can use the Oil of Etherealness. This consumable item comes in a vial that gives you ten minutes of the Etherealness spell, which allows you to move through the Border Ethereal plane. You can effectively move through solid objects, nothing on the Material plane can interact with or even perceive you.
So you could appear, even in a sealed treasure room, take what you want, paint a temporary replacement with your Marvelous Pigments, and be a ghost of a memory by the time anyone notices.
Happy thieving!
