Bag of Holding 5e: Capacity, the Portable Hole Rule and 2024 Changes

A Bag of Holding is an uncommon wondrous item that holds up to 500 pounds of gear, not exceeding 64 cubic feet, while always weighing the same: 15 pounds in the 2014 rules, 5 pounds in the 2024 rules. It doesn't require attunement, so anyone in the party can use it. Taking something out costs an action (a Utilize action in 2024). Put it inside a Portable Hole or a Handy Haversack, or put either of those inside it, and both items are destroyed while everything within about 10 feet is pulled into the Astral Plane. The verdict: the best uncommon item in the SRD for almost any party, as long as nobody treats it as a closet for prisoners.

Table of Contents

• •Bag of Holding Rules Text
• •How the Bag of Holding Works
• •Bag of Holding: 2014 vs 2024
• •Is the Bag of Holding Worth It?
• •Bag of Holding for DMs
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Bag of Holding Rules Text

Here is the item exactly as each SRD prints it. The 2014 version comes first (SRD 5.1), then the 2024 version (SRD 5.2.1).

The two cards are close to identical. The real differences are the weight, the action it takes to pull something out, how the air supply is worded, and the exact shape of the area the Astral gate swallows. Each one is covered below.

How the Bag of Holding Works

Capacity: 500 pounds or 64 cubic feet, whichever comes first

Both limits apply at once. Sixty-four cubic feet is a 4-foot cube, or the space of 64 full backpacks (a backpack holds 30 pounds in 1 cubic foot). Dense loot hits the weight cap first: fifty coins weigh a pound, so 25,000 coins are the full 500 pounds.

The opening is the practical limit for anything bulky. The 2014 text gives the mouth as roughly 2 feet in diameter, and the 2024 text describes the bag as roughly 2 feet square and 4 feet deep. Neither says the mouth stretches. DM ruling: if an object can't fit through a 2-foot opening (a door, a full suit of plate on its stand, a ladder), it doesn't go in, however much room is left inside.

Weight: what it does to encumbrance

The bag weighs 15 pounds in the 2014 rules and 5 pounds in 2024, regardless of contents. Carrying capacity is Strength × 15 in both editions for a Medium creature, so a Strength 8 wizard can carry 120 pounds. With the 2014 bag on their back they can still haul 500 pounds of treasure while only 15 pounds counts against that limit. For tracking the rest of a character's load, the encumbrance calculator does the math.

Taking things out (and putting them in)

Retrieving an item takes an action in the 2014 text and a Utilize action in the 2024 text, so it can't be part of the free object interaction you get on your turn. In combat that adds up. Under 2014 rules, pulling out a potion takes one turn's action and drinking it takes the next. Under 2024 rules you can pull it out with the Utilize action and drink it as a Bonus Action on the same turn, but it still costs your action. Keep the healing potions on your belt.

The text doesn't say what putting something in costs. Both SRDs let you interact with one object for free during your move or action. DM ruling: dropping one item into the open bag is that free interaction; stuffing in several items, or anything awkward, takes an action.

Breathing inside the bag

The bag holds air, and the two editions word the limit differently:

• •2014: breathing creatures inside can survive for 10 minutes divided by the number of creatures, minimum 1 minute. After that they begin to suffocate. Under the 2014 suffocation rules a creature then holds its breath for 1 + its Constitution modifier minutes (minimum 30 seconds), survives a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum 1), and drops to 0 hit points.
• •2024: the bag holds enough air for 10 minutes of breathing, divided by the number of breathing creatures inside. When it runs out, the 2024 suffocation rules apply: hold your breath for 1 + Constitution modifier minutes, then gain 1 level of Exhaustion at the end of each of your turns. A creature dies at Exhaustion level 6.

Worked example: one Constitution 14 creature (+2) sealed inside has 10 minutes of air, then 3 minutes of held breath. Under 2014 rules it gets 2 more rounds before dropping to 0 hit points; under 2024 rules it is dead six turns later unless someone opens the bag. Two creatures halve the air to 5 minutes each.

Neither version says how a creature gets out. Compare the Portable Hole, which spells out a DC 10 Strength check to force your way free. DM ruling: a creature inside a closed Bag of Holding can't open it from within, and anything that can't fit through a 2-foot mouth can't be put in.

Overloading, piercing and tearing

Go over 500 pounds or 64 cubic feet, or pierce or tear the bag, and it is destroyed, with its contents scattered in the Astral Plane. The 2014 text adds that it "ruptures"; the result is the same. The SRD doesn't define how much damage counts as piercing. The 2024 SRD does say most magic items other than potions and scrolls have Resistance to all damage, which supports reading this as a deliberate act. DM ruling: a stray arrow or a fireball doesn't tear the bag; a creature that grabs it and slashes it open does.

Turning it inside out

Turn the bag inside out and everything spills out unharmed. It has to be turned back the right way before it works again. That makes it the fastest way to empty the bag in one go: a quick way to drop a barricade of crates in a corridor, or to dump a captured treasure hoard on the floor and count it.

The Portable Hole rule: the Astral gate

This is the interaction everyone looks up. Placing a Bag of Holding inside an extradimensional space created by a Portable Hole, a Handy Haversack "or similar item" instantly destroys both items and opens a one-way gate to the Astral Plane where the one item went into the other. The Portable Hole and Handy Haversack carry the same rule from their side, so it doesn't matter which item goes into which: both are destroyed.

Who gets pulled through is where the editions differ:

No version offers a saving throw. Each creature in range lands at a random location on the Astral Plane, and the gate closes behind it. Whoever puts one item into the other is almost always in range. In 2024, the Portable Hole and Haversack wording lets total cover protect a creature, while the Bag of Holding's own wording doesn't mention cover at all.

What counts as a "similar item" is left open. Spells such as Demiplane create extradimensional spaces, but they aren't items. DM ruling: only magic items trigger the gate; a Bag of Holding carried into a demiplane is just a bag in a room.

Bag of Holding or Bag of Devouring?

The SRD has a very rare item built to look like this one. A Bag of Devouring is the feeding mouth of an extradimensional creature: anyone who reaches inside has a 50 percent chance of being pulled in, and a creature that starts its turn inside is devoured. Cast Identify on any unlabelled bag before you put your hand in it.

Bag of Holding: 2014 vs 2024

What this means at the table:

• •The 2024 bag is lighter. Ten pounds matters for a low-Strength caster, and a 5-pound bag is easy to carry as a spare.
• •The 2014 minimum is gone. The 2014 text guarantees at least 1 minute of air however many creatures you cram in. The 2024 text just divides 10 minutes, so ten creatures share one minute between them.
• •Suffocation got slower but just as lethal. Exhaustion stacks a -2 penalty per level on every D20 Test, so a creature pulled out of the bag after a few turns is in bad shape even if it lived.

Is the Bag of Holding Worth It?

Yes, for nearly every party. It doesn't take an attunement slot, so it never competes with a Cloak of Protection or Ring of Protection. It ends arguments over who carries the loot, and it lets a party bring back a dragon's hoard without a cart.

Compare it with the other SRD storage items:

In the 2014 rules the bag beats the Haversack on capacity; the Haversack wins on speed. In the 2024 rules the Haversack's central pouch alone matches a whole Bag of Holding, and you can pull from it as a Bonus Action, so a 2024 party that finds a Haversack can sell the bag. The Portable Hole holds the most, but it has to be unfolded on a surface to use.

When it's a trap: as a way to carry unconscious prisoners or a downed ally (see the air limits above), and as a weapon. The Astral gate takes the user and everyone nearby with it, and it costs two magic items.

Bag of Holding for DMs

Where it turns up. As an uncommon item with no attunement, it fits a first or second treasure hoard. Handing it out early saves the table from tracking every gold piece's weight, which most groups skip anyway.

What it changes. Very little in combat, because pulling items out costs an action. It changes loot: the party can now carry off statues, kegs and armor sets, so expect them to strip every dungeon. If your adventure relies on treasure being too heavy to move, the bag breaks that.

Pricing. The 2024 SRD values an uncommon item at 400 GP and says uncommon items are usually for sale only in cities. The 2014 SRD has no price table; any 2014 price you've seen comes from the Dungeon Master's Guide. The magic item rarity calculator and shop price calculator help if you run a magic shop.

The gate. Players will eventually try to use the Bag of Holding and Portable Hole as a bomb. The text is clear that there's no save and that both items are destroyed, and the user is in range. Decide in advance what the Astral Plane means in your campaign, because someone may end up there. A stranded party is an adventure, not a dead end.

Hooks.

• •A merchant offers a Bag of Holding at a bargain price. It's a Bag of Devouring, and the merchant has never once reached inside it.
• •A smuggler's Bag of Holding was torn open in a bar fight, scattering its contents into the Astral Plane. The cargo owner wants it back and will pay for an expedition.
• •The party finds a Bag of Holding with something breathing inside. Opening it starts the clock on whatever has been trapped there with only minutes of air left.

Who has the bag, and what's inside it, is exactly the kind of detail that gets lost between sessions. Loreify records your game and writes the recap, loot included.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much can a Bag of Holding hold in 5e?

Up to 500 pounds, not exceeding 64 cubic feet, in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. The bag itself weighs 15 pounds (2014) or 5 pounds (2024) no matter what's inside. Overloading it destroys the bag and scatters its contents in the Astral Plane.

Does a Bag of Holding require attunement?

No. A Bag of Holding is an uncommon wondrous item with no attunement in either edition, so anyone can use it and it doesn't count toward the three-item attunement limit.

What happens if you put a Bag of Holding in a Portable Hole?

Both items are destroyed and a one-way gate to the Astral Plane opens where one went into the other. Every creature within 10 feet is pulled through to a random spot on the Astral Plane, with no saving throw. In 2024, a Portable Hole put into the bag spares creatures behind Total Cover; the bag going into the hole doesn't.

Can you put a creature in a Bag of Holding?

The rules expect it: breathing creatures inside have 10 minutes of air divided by their number (minimum 1 minute in 2014), then they start to suffocate. The text doesn't say how a creature gets out or how large it can be. A fair ruling: it has to fit through the 2-foot mouth, and it can't open the bag from inside.

How much is a Bag of Holding worth?

400 GP under the 2024 SRD, which sets the value of every uncommon magic item at 400 GP. The 2014 SRD gives no prices for magic items.

Item text: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Analysis, rulings and ideas are Loreify's own.