D&D: Five Pirate-Themed Magic Items to Swash That Buckle
Put a little swash in that buckle! Here are five magic items that will make anyone a dashing rogue.
From Our Flag Means Death to the myriad pirate-themed video games coming out, to PIRATE BORG and beyond, pirates and anyone known to swash a buckle or two are enjoying, well, don’t call it a comeback because they’ve been here for years.
But let’s do appreciate the flair and grace that it takes to really live out the swashbuckler fantasy. Not sure where to begin? Here are some magic items to shoot for. The rest is up to you and your panache.
Cape of the Mountebank
Every good swashbuckler needs a cape. From a long flowing dramatic one to a sexy little half cape that just falls off of one shoulder in some of that good old-fashioned asymmetry that screams “probably bi” almost as loud as the way you’re sitting in your chair right now, capes are an important part of any swashbuckler’s kit.
And the Cape of the Mountebank is a fantastic magic item that lets you add some flair. Being a swashbuckler is all about the dramatic entrances and exits, and you can do both of these with this magical cape. You can appear or disappear in a puff of smoke, as you cast dimension door to dramatically bust in at the last minute, or escape when all seems lost.
Fool’s Blade
A newer item out of the Book of Many Things, but one that fits the swashbuckling flavor extremely well. A Fool’s Blade is a +2 sword—make yours a rapier for maximum swash—but it doesn’t stop there. A Fool’s Blade imparts on its bearer two cunning tricks.
The first is the ability to feint as a bonus action, granting you advantage on all attack rolls until the start of your next turn. The second thing it can do is even better; you can redirect an attack on you to another target within each of your enemies (as long as they’re within 60ft.). All very swashbuckler-y. And all part and parcel with this blade.
Hunter’s Coat
Look stylish and also be protected with the Hunter’s Coat out of Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. This stylish coat not only offers a +1 bonus and is light enough armor that you can get your full Dexterity bonus with it, but it also gives you 3 charges which you can spend to deal an extra 1d10 necrotic damage to a target you’ve already wounded.
Stormrider Boots
It’s gotta be the shoes. Swashbucklers love to make an entrance. And the Stormrider Boots out of Tal’dorei Campaign Setting Reborn let you make about as flashy an entrance as you can.
Activate these boots as part of your movement, and you’ll gain a flying speed of 90ft., attacks of opportunity against you take disadvantage, and any hostile creature you move adjacent to has to save or take 3d8 damage. Sure it only lasts a turn, but that’s long enough to swoop in, zap all of the Cardinal’s guards, and then Dimension Door out with whatever endangered royal beauty was getting kidnapped and it’s now looking at you with wonder and a politically dangerous sort of admiration.
Sapphire Buckler
Made from the scales of one of these guys.
Last but not least, if you’re going to be a swashbuckler, you may as well have an actual buckler to swash. Which, by the way, is where the term comes from. You’d swash your buckler, beating your sword against your small shield to demoralize and disorient your opponents.
The Sapphire Buckler takes that to a whole other level. Not only do you gain resistance to psychic and thunder damage, but when you take damage in melee, you can use your reaction to blast whoever it was with thunder damage yourself as you swash your buckler mightily.
Now you just gotta work on some pithy sayings and raising just one eyebrow flirtatiously.
