18 Best Monk Magic Items in 5e DnD

“It’s just you and us, Monk.” The Dwarven ruffian spits as he and his band of disheveled mercenaries reach for their weapons.

The monk says nothing. She pulls out an old set of dirty pan pipes and blows a low sequence of notes.

Suddenly, from behind the gang, a faint tip-tapping of scurrying begins to gather.

What Is a Magic Item in D&D?

Magic items. Every player wants them. Even Monks. Like experience, they’re almost a right of passage as you level. You can buy them, find them, or sometimes steal them. You may even fight a party member for it. I’m looking at the Rogue. My Swashbuckling rogue has a Rapier +2 with tentacles on the hilt called Octopierce, glamoured studded leather +1, and a homebrewed Caustic handaxe +2. It’s taken me two years in real life to pick these items up or about 6 months in-game time. Unless you have a generous DM, don’t expect them to arrive every week. And certainly don’t expect them to be cheap. That’s what makes it fun when you obtain one.

You’d think monks, with their magic fist punches and ability to walk on water, they’d dismiss the idea of any ability to change magic items. But no, they’re actually great and can enhance your Monk in many ways. From AC enhancing abilities to movement, even to weapons, and everything in between. Monk magic items are a thing. And they’re here to stay.

How Do Magic Items Work in D&D?

Magic items have set rules for how they work in the world of D&D.

Attunement

Some magic items require attunement. This is where you must bond with your magic item. I usually take it out to dinner or to see a movie. But seriously, your Monk must spend a short rest attuning to the magic item, and you can’t attune to any more than three magic items at any one time.

Paired Magic Items

Magic items that come in pairs, such as boots or bracers, only work when they are in their pairs. You also can’t wear one boot of speed and a one-winged boot to get both benefits. Nice try Einstien!

Multiple Magic Items

Look, no matter how you try, you can’t wear two pairs of magic boots. Or two pairs of gloves. Don’t be silly. However, with the DM’s discretion, you could layer two magic cloaks or wear many magic rings.

Activation

Sometimes, a command word needs to be uttered to activate your magic item, which is fine. Just make sure you’re not standing in an area where you can’t speak. Such as the area where the spell silence is cast. Some magic items are consumable and disappear when used. Scrolls disintegrate when read, oil goes on the body, and potions are drunk.

Charges

A lot of magic items only have a set amount of charges per day. Once used, you must wait for the following day to use it again.

Without further ado, let us look at which magic items work perfectly for Monks that will improve your Monk’s flavor, skills, and abilities. For more information on general monk builds, you can check our Monk build guide here.

How to Use This Guide

Everything Monk Magic Item in this guide has an emoji, ranking how useful a it is for your Monk character.

✅ — A top Monk Magic Item that you should definitely pick up if you’re playing a Monk.

🆗 — A solid Monk Magic Item that does its job well and will deliver for your Monk.

⚠️ — A Monk Magic Item that is more flavorful. Could work for a specific Monk build.

⛔ — Useless Monk Magic Item for your Monk. Sell it. Keep the gold.

These feat rankings are meant to help you create an optimized class build, but remember, D&D isn’t a game where you need to win to have fun. Weaker but flavorful feats also have their place and can make for fulfilling characters.

Monk Magic Items

✅ Amulet of Health (Rare, Requires Attunement)

When you roll your ability scores, your top two ability scores should be Dexterity and Wisdom. As a melee fighter, the Monk’s Constitution should also be high, and that’s where the Amulet of Health comes in. Boosting your Con ability to 19, you get all the bonuses for that lift, like hit points and saving throws.

⚠️ Amulet of the Drunkard (Uncommon)

I don’t know about you, but my party seems to spend a fair bit of coin when they hit a tavern. One bard gets up and sings, and the other drinks cocktails and chats up anything that moves. The rogue and monk start dancing while the Paladin sips wine and takes in the atmosphere. The Gnome Fighter heads into the kitchen, any kitchen, and starts cooking. So, you might as well use this time to regain some health. 

The Amulet of the Drunkard allows you to gain 4d4 + 4 hit points if you drink a pint of beer, ale, mead, or wine. They do say ale is medicinal. And if you play a Way of the Drunken Master Monk, which actually has nothing to do with drinking beer, it adds a nice little flavor to your monk character. It can’t be used again till next dawn.

✅ Blood Fury Tattoo (Legendary, Requires Attunement)

This tattoo doesn’t just make your Monk look tough. It actually has some great magic properties. It arrives with 10 charges that you regain fully at dawn. Every time you punch a target that hits, you can choose to do an extra 4D6 necrotic damage. Plus, you regain hit points equal to the damage done. Just like 60s Batman. Pow! Thump! Bosh! 

Not only that, when an enemy that you can see damages you, you can expend a tattoo charge and use your reaction to attack back. With advantage! That’ll teach them.

🆗 Boots of Speed (Uncommon, Requires Attunement)

Monks are fast. And as they rise through the levels, their movement increases a fair bit. Boots of Speed double your walking speed. From level 18 onwards, that means your Monk can walk 120 ft and dash 240 ft. What! If anyone is running away from your party. They ain’t going to outrun your Monk character. Plus, any enemy that makes an attack of opportunity at you does so with disadvantage. The boot’s influence on your movement lasts 10 minutes. After that, you must have a long rest before they’re ready to go again. Your Monk is basically a ranged weapon. Walk in, punch 18 times (slight exaggeration. More like 3 or 4), and then walk out again. Home in time for pancakes.

✅ Bracers of Defense (Rare, Requires Attunement)

Probably one of the most common magic items for D&D classes that don’t wear much armor. Braces of Defense simply add +2 to your armor class if you’re not wearing armor or not sporting a shield. And as Monks do not wear any armor. It’s an easy way of raising your Monks AC. Monks tend to wade in during combat. Having a reasonable AC is necessary when the enemy fights back. My monk briefly had a pair before he was captured, and they ended up in the hands of our mage.

🆗 Cloak of Displacement (Rare, Requires Attunement)

Great for Monk melee combat. The Cloak of Displacement gives the illusion of you standing in a place near your location. It means that any enemy making attacks on you does so with disadvantage. Most Monks are in the thick of close combat, and the Cloak of Displacement gives that nice little advantage when in a one-on-one or one-on-many situation. If you do take damage, the illusion drops and begins again on your next turn. It also doesn’t work if you are incapacitated or restrained. Basically, if you can’t move for any reason, the Cloak of Displacement doesn’t work.

🆗 Cloak of Elvenkind (Uncommon, Requires Attunement)

It’s all about being stealthy. Firstly, you must put the hood up for the cloak to do its thing. This costs an action. As does pulling it down. With the hood up, perception checks to see if you are done with disadvantage. Plus, any stealth checks you make have advantage. Perfect for sneaking up to your enemy and stunning striking their ass. 

✅ Cloak of Protection (Uncommon, Requires Attunement)

Because Monks don’t wear armor, any magic item that increases the AC is a bonus. The Cloak of Protection offers a +1 to AC and saving throws. This is great. And if you manage to get some bracers of defense, you can stack the AC to a decent +3. Monks’ AC is based on their Wisdom and Dexterity modifiers. If you can get each one to the max of 20. You could get your AC right up to 23! Alright, Tank.

✅ Gloves of Soul Catching (Legendary, Requires Attunement)

If your Monk ever comes across the Gloves of Soul Catching, hang on to them because they’re one of the best magic items a monk could have. Firstly, when wearing them, your Constitution score jumps to a wholesome 20. Upon landing an unarmed attack on your opponent, you gain an extra 2d10 force damage to your target and regain the number of hit points equal to the force damage dealt. Alternatively, instead of regaining the hit points, you can choose to gain advantage on one attack roll, ability check or saving throw you make before the end of your next turn. All this for just a pair of gloves!

🆗 Insignia of Claws (Uncommon)

The Insignia of Claws comes to us from the Tyranny of Dragons book. And it’s a great magical item for Monks. As you enter combat, the stones radiate with purple light, delivering power to your Monk’s fists. While wearing the Insignia of Claws, you gain a +1 bonus to the attack rolls and the damage rolls. Your punch fists are now classed as magical.

✅ Manual of Quickness of Action (Very Rare)

A simple book. Possibly a book on Yoga? You need to spend 48 hours over 6 days or fewer studying the book (of Yoga), and your Dexterity will go up by 2. As does your maximum for that ability. Once read, it loses its charge but will regain it in a century. If you can be bothered to wait that long. Not only is it great for increasing your Dex but you increase the maximum, usually 20, to 22.

🆗 Peregrine Mask (Very rare, Requires Attunement)

It would work perfectly with the Way of the Mercy Monk subclass due to their ‘interest’ in masks. The Peregrine Mask allows your Monk to fly at a speed of 60 ft. Plus, you get advantage on initiative rolls. Now, you’ll notice that there are a few magic items here that allow you to fly. Simply because a Monk that can fly is an extremely deadly weapon. I saw this firsthand when our Monk, Tan, was flying around a battle arena, knocking the crap out of all the creatures there. The ability to get places quickly and get out of melee range is a skill.  

⚠️ Pipes of the Sewers (Uncommon, Requires Attunement)

This is a nod to our Monk again, Tan, who had a set of these due to her affiliation with our small furry friends. But it still has a lovely bit of flavor for your Monk character. In a nutshell, the Pipes of the Sewers call a swarm of rats to your command.

Firstly, you’ve got to be able to play the dam things. So, you must be proficient in wind instruments. Secondly, while you’re attuned to the pipes, normal rats and giant rats won’t attack unless provoked or harmed.

The pipes have 3 charges. When you play the pipes as an action, you can expend one of the charges as a bonus action. This calls forth a swarm of rats as long as there is enough in the area. This is determined by the DM. When the swarm appears within 30 feet of you, make a Charisma check resisted by the swarm’s Wisdom check. On a fail, the swarm acts as normal and can’t be charmed for 24 hours. If you win, the Rats are charmed by you and can be commanded as long as you play the pipes each round as an action. A fun and useful magic Monk item that adds flavor to your roleplaying experience.

🆗 Ring of Invisibility (Legendary, Requires Attunement)

Simple. While wearing the Ring of Invisibility, you can turn yourself and anything you are wearing invisible. It costs an action, and you remain invisible until you attack, cast a spell, or use a bonus action to become invisible. The ability to sneak through a dungeon, a town market, or whatever is crucial in D&D. Perfect for those playing a Way of the Shadow Monk, enhancing their ethos and abilities. Or even for Monks that need to be extra sneaky because the Rogue is off chasing the bard.

🆗 Ring of Jumping (Uncommon, Requires attunement)

Jump! Might as well jump! Adding to the Monk’s ability to perform parkour—running along walls and going all Jesus by running on water. The Ring of Jumping allows you to cast the jump spell as a bonus action. The Monk’s jump distance is tripled, adding to the Monk’s ninja-like skill set.

🆗 Tome of Understanding (Very Rare)

Similar to the Manual of Quickness of Action (It’s definitely Yoga), the Tome of Understanding increases your Wisdom by 2 and your maximum Wisdom allowance by 2. Generally from 20 to 22. You need to read it for 48 hours over 6 days or less.

🆗 Winged Boots (Uncommon, Requires attunement)

I said this before in this guide. A flying Monk is a deadly weapon. See Peregrine Mask. The Winged Boots allow your Monk to fly about. You have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. Which with Monks increases as you level. so by Monk level 18, you’ll be flying along at 60 ft. The ability to fly in, punch the crap out of the enemy and fly out again is absolutely the best, and your DM will hate you.

✅ Ying and Yang (Rare, Requires attunement)

These are a pair of homebrew magic Monk knuckledusters that one of our DM’s created for the Monk in our party. Feel free to use them in your own campaigns. 

Yang and Yang are sentient weapons. It takes an hour to attune to them. Each one has its own personality: a friend and foe, an angel and devil—one to help, one to hinder. They speak to you in your head. One is made from Oynx, and the other is an unknown white stone. The onyx delivers neurotic damage, and the white stone one delivers radiant damage. The damage dealt is equal to your unarmed melee damage and is classed as magic.

Twice per long rest, you can activate the knuckle dusters to be able to project your melee attack up to 30ft for 1 minute. Almost like a short-range weapon. Perfect for punching at a distance. Also, the DM roleplaying both knuckledusters is hilarious!

Which Monk Magic Item Is for You?

I could have done ‘the top ten of the most obvious Monk magic items. But when I read a guide, I want to know all my options, not just the ones that every other guide throws out. There is something here for everyone. Remember, you can only attune up to three items at a time. By the way, do you disagree with some of these choices? Are there Monk magic items that I’ve clearly missed out? Please be kind, comment below, and let us know!