Wondrous Item · Extradimensional Storage
Bag of Holding
At a Glance
Type: Wondrous item · Modern rarity: Uncommon · Attunement: Not required in D&D 2024 or 2014 · Capacity in both 5e versions: 500 lb. and 64 cubic feet.
Bag weight: 5 lb. in 2024, 15 lb. in 2014. Retrieval: Utilize action (2024) or action (2014). Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e: Four priced types weighing 15–60 lb. and carrying 250–1,500 lb.
Risk: Overloading and sharp damage can destroy the bag. Putting one inside another extradimensional space can create an Astral breach; use the rule of the chosen edition.
A common-looking sack with a mouth scarcely broad enough to take a bundle of blankets. Yet below its rim lies a hollow larger than the bag itself, and the weight of its contents never burdens the bearer beyond the enchantment’s fixed weight.
On the road, such a bag turns one pack animal’s share of provisions into an adventurer’s luggage. In a merchant’s hands it can conceal a cargo that ought to need a cart. Those uses have limits: objects still need to pass through the opening, overloaded cloth may be ruined, and creatures trapped within face a deadly shortage of air.
Bag of Holding Rules
D&D 5.5e / 2024
Wondrous Item, Uncommon · Attunement: Not required · Weight: 5 lb. regardless of contents · Charges: None.
Capacity and Use
The interior is approximately 2 feet square by 4 feet deep. It holds no more than 500 lb. of contents or 64 cubic feet of volume. Retrieving an item requires a Utilize action. Objects must still fit through the bag’s opening.
Damage and Air
If overloaded, pierced or torn, the bag is destroyed and its contents are scattered on the Astral Plane. Turning it inside out instead empties the contents harmlessly, but it must be turned right side out before it works again.
The bag has enough breathable air for 10 minutes divided by the number of breathing creatures inside. It is not a safe long-term shelter.
Extradimensional Breach
Placing a Bag of Holding inside an extradimensional space created by a Handy Haversack, Portable Hole or similar item instantly destroys both items and opens a one-way gate to the Astral Plane. Each creature in the 10-foot-radius Sphere around the gate is pulled to a random Astral location before the gate shuts. Do not apply a Total Cover exception that is not specified in the Bag of Holding’s own rule.
D&D 5e / 2014
Wondrous item, uncommon · Attunement: Not required · Weight: 15 lb. regardless of contents · Charges: None.
Capacity and Use
The bag has a mouth about 2 feet in diameter and an interior about 4 feet deep. It carries up to 500 lb. without exceeding 64 cubic feet. Retrieving an item requires an action; 2024’s Utilize action wording belongs only in the newer rules.
Damage and Air
Overloading, piercing or tearing destroys the bag and scatters its contents across the Astral Plane. Turning it inside out harmlessly spills the contents, and the bag must be put right before reuse.
Breathing creatures can survive inside for a number of minutes equal to 10 divided by the number of creatures, minimum 1 minute, before they begin to suffocate.
Extradimensional Breach
Placing this bag into a Handy Haversack, Portable Hole or similar extradimensional space destroys both items and opens a one-way gate. Each creature within 10 feet of the gate is pulled to a random point on the Astral Plane.
Pathfinder 1e
Aura: Moderate conjuration · CL: 9th · Slot: None · Type: I, II, III or IV.
Bag Types and Prices
| Type | Bag Weight | Contents Limit | Volume | Market Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 15 lb. | 250 lb. | 30 cu. ft. | 2,500 gp |
| II | 25 lb. | 500 lb. | 70 cu. ft. | 5,000 gp |
| III | 35 lb. | 1,000 lb. | 150 cu. ft. | 7,400 gp |
| IV | 60 lb. | 1,500 lb. | 250 cu. ft. | 10,000 gp |
Retrieval, Damage and Breath
Retrieving a chosen object is a move action, or a full-round action if the bag holds more than an ordinary backpack. Magic items stored inside give no benefits to the carrier. Overloading or sharp damage ruins the bag and loses all its contents forever. Inverting it empties it harmlessly; creatures trapped inside can survive for up to 10 minutes before suffocating.
Portable Hole — Direction Matters
Put the bag inside a Portable Hole, and a rift to the Astral Plane consumes both containers. Put a Portable Hole inside the bag, and a gate pulls in the containers and creatures within a 10-foot radius. The two outcomes differ from the 5e rules.
Construction
Requirements: Craft Wondrous Item and secret chest. Base construction cost: 1,250 / 2,500 / 3,700 / 5,000 gp for Types I–IV, respectively. Pathfinder 1e does not impose the D&D 3.5e magic-item XP cost.
D&D 3.5e
Aura: Moderate conjuration · CL: 9th · Slot: None · Type: I–IV.
Four Bag Types
| Type | Bag Weight | Contents Limit | Volume | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 15 lb. | 250 lb. | 30 cu. ft. | 2,500 gp |
| II | 25 lb. | 500 lb. | 70 cu. ft. | 5,000 gp |
| III | 35 lb. | 1,000 lb. | 150 cu. ft. | 7,400 gp |
| IV | 60 lb. | 1,500 lb. | 250 cu. ft. | 10,000 gp |
Using It
Getting an item out takes a move action, or a full-round action if more than a standard backpack’s load is stored. Overloading or puncturing the bag destroys it and loses all contents forever. Inverting it empties it safely; living creatures survive for up to 10 minutes inside before suffocating.
If a bag enters a Portable Hole, both are swallowed by an Astral rift. If a Portable Hole enters a Bag of Holding, a gate drags in nearby creatures within a 10-foot radius, destroying the containers. Keep these two directions distinct.
Construction
Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item and secret chest.
| Type | Materials (gp) | XP Cost | Standard Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | 1,250 | 100 | 3 days |
| II | 2,500 | 200 | 5 days |
| III | 3,700 | 296 | 8 days |
| IV | 5,000 | 400 | 10 days |
Crafting time follows the ordinary 3.5e rule of at least one day per 1,000 gp of the item’s market price, rounded up; costs and XP are edition-specific.
What Changed Between Editions?
The D&D 2024 bag weighs just 5 lb., compared with 15 lb. in 2014. Both still hold 500 lb. and 64 cubic feet, but removal uses a Utilize action in 2024 versus an action in 2014. Pathfinder and 3.5e instead keep four types, with weights and capacities increasing by price. In the older games, the direction in which a Bag of Holding and Portable Hole are combined changes whether an Astral rift or gate appears. Use the breathing and rupture text in the relevant edition rather than mixing them.
Packing the Bag
Store food, rope, spare clothing, a smith’s tools or travelling books with the weight and volume noted. A full-sized chest may exceed the mouth’s width even if its weight falls below the limit. Keep sharp blades sheathed and packed away from the cloth lining, and avoid storing things whose safety depends on a steady supply of air.
In a fight, the extra carrying room does not create free actions. A character can have a blade in the bag but still has to spend the edition’s required time to retrieve it. In Pathfinder and 3.5e, a near-empty bag behaves differently from one stuffed beyond the capacity of a normal backpack.
Along the Trade Roads
A dealer in rare cloth might carry an entire season’s wares in a humble sack. A scout could conceal spare climbing gear until the moment the party must cross a narrow ravine. And a smuggler might tempt an honest ferryman with gold for moving one suspiciously heavy-seeming bag past the customs gate. The magic changes the journey, not the motives of the people carrying it.
Adventure Hooks
- Missing cargo. The merchants swear twelve sealed parcels were loaded, but the Bag of Holding is empty. Was it inverted in secret, torn during a brawl, or replaced before anyone reached the quay?
- Unsafe nesting. A bargain hunter tries to put one extradimensional vessel into another. The party must recognise the danger before a moment’s carelessness costs everyone their gear—or their escape.
- The wrong type. A trader charges for a Type IV bag while delivering a smaller Type I. Its true capacity becomes important halfway across dangerous country.
Related Items and Rules
- Handy Haversack — rapid access to separately stored equipment; avoid nesting without checking your edition’s rules.
- Portable Hole — a particularly dangerous combination with this bag.
- Backpack — mundane carrying capacity and the legacy retrieval threshold.
- Craft Wondrous Item — Pathfinder and 3.5e crafting prerequisite.
- Secret Chest — required spell for the legacy magical bag.
- Wondrous Items — related magical gear.
Sources and Licensing
D&D 2024: 2024 Basic Rules, Magic Items A–Z; System Reference Document 5.2.1 published by Wizards of the Coast LLC and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.
D&D 2014: Legacy Bag of Holding — 2014 Basic Rules; SRD 5.1. Pathfinder 1e: Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook — Wondrous Items, Open Game Content under the OGL. D&D 3.5e: System Reference Document — Wondrous Items, Open Game Content licensed for public use under Open Game License 1.0a. Campaign-facing examples and hooks are original.
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