You just killed a young red dragon. The gold is piled high. Your Paladin is looking at a literal ton of copper coins and sighing because, honestly, who has the carrying capacity for that? Enter the 5e bag of holding. It is the most iconic, overused, and misunderstood magic item in the history of Dungeons & Dragons.
It looks like a regular cloth sack. Maybe it's a bit frayed at the edges or smells like old leather. But inside? It’s a 2-foot by 4-foot gateway to a pocket dimension that defies the laws of physics and, often, the sanity of your Dungeon Master.
The Basic Math Everyone Forgets
People treat this thing like a bottomless pit. It isn't. According to the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Master’s Guide, the 5e bag of holding has very specific limits. It can hold up to 500 pounds. That sounds like a lot until you realize a single gold piece weighs about a third of an ounce.
👉 See also: Why Every Resident Evil 8 Walkthrough Misses the Point of the Village
Do the math. 50 grains per coin means 50 coins to a pound. A full bag holds 25,000 gold pieces. That’s a decent hoard, but it’s not "I just robbed the Iron Bank" levels of storage. If you exceed that 500-pound limit or—heaven forbid—pierce the fabric, the bag ruptures.
It’s gone.
Everything inside is scattered into the Astral Plane. No save. No recovery. Just a bunch of loot floating in the silvery void forever.
The Air Supply Problem
Can you put a person in there? Sure. Should you? Probably not. A breathing creature inside a 5e bag of holding can survive for a number of minutes equal to 10 divided by the number of creatures (minimum 1 minute).
If you stuff your unconscious Rogue in there to sneak him past the guards, you have ten minutes. Eleven minutes? He’s dead. Not "dying" or "making death saves." Just dead. The bag doesn't have a straw.
📖 Related: Astro Bot Big Brother: The Giant Hero Everyone Loves
The Astral Bomb: Don't Be That Player
We’ve all heard of the "Arrow of Total Destruction." It’s the ultimate cheeseball move. You take a 5e bag of holding and you put it inside a portable hole.
Or vice versa.
The result is a rift to the Astral Plane that sucks every creature within 10 feet into the void. The items are destroyed. The rift closes. It’s a one-way ticket to "The DM is going to throw a book at your head."
Most tables ban this. Honestly, they should. It turns a legendary boss fight into a physics exploit. But if you’re desperate and facing a Tarrasque? Well, it’s a hell of a way to go out.
Managing the Weight
Here is a weird nuance: the bag always weighs 15 pounds.
Whether it is empty or stuffed with 499 pounds of iron spikes, it stays at 15. This is the real magic. It’s not just about the volume; it’s about the encumbrance. For a party using the variant encumbrance rules, this item is more valuable than a +2 Greatsword.
I’ve seen players get creative. They don't just put loot in there. They put 500 pounds of water in it, fly over a fire elemental, and turn the bag inside out. Because turning it inside out is an action, and it dumps everything. Instantly.
What You Can't Fit
The interior is roughly 64 cubic feet. That’s a 4x4x4 cube. You aren't fitting a ladder in there. You aren't fitting a 10-foot pole (the adventurer’s best friend).
It’s a sack, not a garage.
If an item is too long to fit through the 2-foot diameter opening, it doesn't matter how much "volume" the pocket dimension has. You can't get it through the door. I’ve seen 20-minute debates at the table about whether a medium-sized shield can fit through a 2-foot hole.
(Pro tip: A standard heater shield is about 2 feet wide. It’s a tight squeeze.)
Common Misconceptions and Rule Gaps
There is a huge difference between a 5e bag of holding and a Heward’s Handy Haversack. The Haversack is smaller but actually better for combat because the item you want is always "on top."
With the bag, if it’s full, you’re digging. The rules don't explicitly say it takes a long time to find something, but many DMs rule that if you have 100 different items in there, finding one specific potion might take an action or even a minute of rummaging.
- Weight vs. Volume: People focus on the 500 lbs but forget the 64 cubic feet.
- Retrieval: It takes an action to pull something out. You can’t "quick-draw" a sword from a bag of holding.
- Living Things: They can't see in there. It’s pitch black. It’s a vacuum-adjacent pocket of nothingness.
How to Actually Use This Without Breaking the Game
If you are a DM, don't give this out at level one. Let them feel the weight of their gear first. Let them struggle with which treasure to leave behind. When they finally get the bag, it feels like a massive power-up.
If you are a player, don't just write "Bag of Holding" on your sheet and forget it. Keep a separate inventory for it. Track the weight.
Believe me, the moment you tell the DM, "I pull out the 400 pounds of caltrops we’ve been saving," you want your math to be right.
Practical Next Steps for Your Table
- Audit your bag. If you haven't looked at the weight of the junk in your 5e bag of holding lately, do it before the next session. You might be closer to that 500-pound rupture point than you think.
- Label the opening. If you're a player, decide where you keep it. Is it on your belt? In your pack? This matters if someone tries to steal it or if you fall into a lake.
- Set boundaries. DMs, clarify if you're allowing the "Astral Bomb" interaction. Knowing this before the party reaches the lich's lair saves a lot of arguing later.
- Think three-dimensionally. Start using the bag for utility, not just storage. Need a heavy weight to trigger a pressure plate? Dump the bag. Need to hide a body? Bag. Need to transport a delicate alchemical reagent that shouldn't be shaken? The interior of the bag is surprisingly stable.
The 5e bag of holding is a tool. Use it to enhance the story, not just to bypass the logistics of being an adventurer. If you treat it as a limitless cheat code, you miss out on the tension that makes D&D great. But if you use it to carry 500 pounds of flour to create a localized dust explosion? That's just good gaming.