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Broom of Flying 5e: Speed, Weight Limit and the 2024 Attunement Change
A Broom of Flying is an uncommon wondrous item you ride through the air at a fly speed of 50 feet, dropping to 30 feet if it carries more than 200 pounds, up to a hard limit of 400 pounds. It has no duration and no charges: it flies until you land. The 2014 version needs no attunement and starts with a command word; the 2024 version requires attunement and a Magic action. The verdict: flight with no time limit at uncommon rarity, best for riders who keep their total weight at 200 pounds or less.
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Broom of Flying Rules Text
Broom of Flying
2014 rules
Wondrous item, uncommon
UncommonNo attunement
This wooden broom, which weighs 3 pounds, functions like a mundane broom until you stand astride it and speak its command word. It then hovers beneath you and can be ridden in the air. It has a flying speed of 50 feet. It can carry up to 400 pounds, but its flying speed becomes 30 feet while carrying over 200 pounds. The broom stops hovering when you land.
You can send the broom to travel alone to a destination within 1 mile of you if you speak the command word, name the location, and are familiar with that place. The broom comes back to you when you speak another command word, provided that the broom is still within 1 mile of you.
This wooden broom functions like a mundane broom until you stand astride it and take a Magic action to make it hover beneath you, at which time it can be ridden in the air. It has a Fly Speed of 50 feet. It can carry up to 400 pounds, but its Fly Speed becomes 30 feet while carrying over 200 pounds. The broom stops hovering when you land or when you're no longer riding it.
As a Magic action, you can send the broom to travel alone to a destination within 1 mile of you if you name the location and are familiar with it. The broom comes back to you when you take a Magic action and use a command word if the broom is still within 1 mile of you.
You stand astride the broom and activate it: by speaking its command word in 2014 (the text attaches no action to it), by taking a Magic action in 2024. Spoken command words fail where sound is suppressed, as inside a Silence spell, so a 2014 broom can't take off there; a 2024 broom can, because its launch needs no word. Its recall does, in both editions.
The broom stops hovering when you land. The 2024 text adds that it also stops when you're no longer riding it. Until then there is no clock: no hours, no charges, no recharge.
The 200-pound line
The broom flies at 50 feet while carrying up to 200 pounds and at 30 feet above that, to a maximum of 400. The weight is everything on it, rider included. A 170-pound human fighter in chain mail (55 pounds) is already at 225 and flying at 30 feet. A halfling wizard with a backpack stays well under and gets the full 50.
Two riders are allowed if the total is 400 pounds or less, at 30 feet. That makes the broom a slow two-person rescue tool: fly in, pick up a downed ally, fly out.
Knocked out of the sky
Falling is the real risk. Damage from a fall is 1d6 bludgeoning per 10 feet, to a maximum of 20d6, and you land prone. A rider 100 feet up takes 10d6 (35 on average).
What knocks you off is not in the rules. The mounted combat rules (a DC 10 Dexterity save to stay on when you're knocked prone or your mount is moved against its will) apply only to a willing creature serving as a mount, and the broom isn't a creature. The 2024 flying rule (a flier who is Incapacitated or Prone falls unless it can hover) is about a creature flying on its own speed, and here the broom has the Fly Speed and does the hovering. DM ruling: borrow the mount rule: a rider who is knocked prone, or whose broom is shoved, makes a DC 10 Dexterity save or falls off. In 2024 the broom then stops hovering too, since you're no longer riding it.
If the broom is your main way across chasms, a Ring of Feather Falling on the rider is cheap insurance.
Sending the broom away and calling it back
You can send the broom alone to a place within 1 mile that you name and know. It comes back on a second command word if it's still within a mile. In 2024 both steps take a Magic action, and the recall needs a spoken command word.
At its 50-foot speed, a mile (5,280 feet) takes about 106 rounds, roughly 11 minutes. The broom can't fight, scout or report back, and the text says nothing about cargo. DM ruling: a sent broom can carry an object tied to it within its 400-pound limit, which turns it into a way to ferry rope, potions or a note to allies you can't reach.
Broom of Flying: 2014 vs 2024
2014 (SRD 5.1)
2024 (SRD 5.2.1)
Rarity
Uncommon
Uncommon
Attunement
No
Yes
Weight
3 lb
Not stated
Taking off
Speak the command word
Magic action
Speed and capacity
50 ft, 30 ft over 200 lb, max 400 lb
Same
Stops hovering
When you land
When you land or stop riding it
Sending it away
Command word, name a familiar place within 1 mile
Magic action, same conditions
Calling it back
Second command word
Magic action and a command word
Value
No price in the SRD
400 GP (uncommon)
Attunement is the big change: a 2014 party can pass one broom around, while in 2024 it takes one of three attunement slots and only the attuned rider can use it. Takeoff also costs the 2024 rider their action, so they can't launch and take the Attack action in the same turn. And a 2024 broom drops the moment its rider falls off.
Of these, only the broom and the very rare carpet fly with no time limit, and the broom is faster than 2024 Winged Boots. The catch is weight: boots and wings don't care what you're wearing, while the broom drops to 30 feet under a rider in heavy armor. The Carpet of Flying is a group vehicle; the broom is a personal one.
Best on: light characters, scouts and ranged attackers who want to stay above enemies that can't fly or shoot back.
When it's a trap: for heavily armored melee characters, who are usually over 200 pounds and need to land to fight anyway; and in 2024, for a character already short on attunement slots.
Broom of Flying for DMs
What it breaks. Cliffs, pits, rivers and castle walls. If your dungeon depends on a 60-foot chasm, the broom solves it in a round or two. Plan vertical encounters with ranged enemies and flying monsters, not just obstacles.
Pricing. The 2024 SRD values an uncommon item at 400 GP. The 2014 SRD has no prices. For shopkeeping, see the magic item rarity calculator.
Hooks.
•A village across a gorge, under a mile away, needs an antidote tonight. The broom can carry it there alone, but only if someone in the party has been to the village and can name the place.
•A courier service runs on sent brooms. One has stopped arriving, and the person who sent it can't call it back: it's more than a mile away now.
It has a fly speed of 50 feet, or 30 feet while carrying more than 200 pounds. It can carry up to 400 pounds in total. The numbers are the same in both editions.
Does a Broom of Flying require attunement?
In the 2024 rules, yes. In the 2014 rules, no. That's the biggest difference between the two versions.
How long can you fly on a Broom of Flying?
As long as you want. The broom has no charges or time limit; it stops hovering when you land, or in 2024 when you're no longer riding it.
Can two people ride a Broom of Flying?
The text limits only weight, so two riders can share it if they and their gear weigh 400 pounds or less. Over 200 pounds, the broom flies at 30 feet.
How much is a Broom of Flying worth?
400 GP under the 2024 SRD, the value of any uncommon magic item. The 2014 SRD gives no magic item prices.
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.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.