D&D's 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide: The Bag of Holding Gets Even Better (But There's a New King in Town!)
D&D's Updated Magic Items: A Look at the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide
Dungeons & Dragons has a ton of awesome magic items. But not every magical bauble gets equal love. The Rod of the Pact Keeper, for instance, is amazing Warlock loot but mostly useless for non-Warlock parties. Only a few items actually appeal to everyone. The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide (dropping November 12th) aims to change that; bringing many previous items from past guides; as well as creating some new ones; and making some smart tweaks to some favorites; even giving one already-beloved item an epic upgrade! Let's dive in!
The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide's items are still key. But many received changes! One that was already considered the top item is even better now.
The Bag of Holding: Lighter Than Ever!
The Bag of Holding. This extradimensional backpack was always a lifesaver – carrying tons of loot. Previously weighing 15 pounds regardless of its contents; (which still meant it was pretty light, really easy to carry especially considering that players would otherwise be stuck with loads of equipment that normally takes up all possible encumbrance limits), it’s even lighter now. The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide lists its weight as only 5 pounds! Now that’s an upgrade! That changed weight sounds completely pointless at first; this simple and amazingly unexpected detail makes even those early adventures in those low levels and early game much better and could easily have unintended benefits to this already iconic game design choice.
Why the change? If the bag makes encumbrance irrelevant, it should totally make it completely irrelevant! While that extra 10 pounds is niche— it might be extremely valuable in some very niche but critically important situations! For example: that unconscious NPC; you definitely need those lighter gear and the easier access.
Heward's Handy Haversack: The New King of Extradimensional Storage
The Heward's Handy Haversack, another extradimensional item that has generally been less popular; receives an even bigger buff! That original capacity for the main compartment from 2014 (80 pounds) is a significant upgrade now – going to 500 pounds! Those side pockets (20 pounds each) jump up to 200 pounds! Now that’s storage capacity for adventurers and really making many aspects around planning so much more relaxing and significantly improves what can actually be carried in dungeons!
The Haversack is mechanically superior to that Bag of Holding: It magically presents the desired item to the top when you reach in; unlike that Bag of Holding! That might seem minor; but now it's been codified. Retrieving an item previously took one action, but it takes a bonus action, not merely an action, making even combat sequences run so much more smoothly. So that extra effort means better combat organization.
The Risk of Extradimensional Storage
Important note for DMs out there: there’s danger. Damaging either the Bag of Holding or Heward's Handy Haversack scatters the contents throughout the Astral Plane! Don't store important stuff without some major precautions.
Conclusion: Why the Bag of Holding Remains Relevant, Yet Also Has Competition
Those upgrades for both these incredible and immensely valuable magic items will create an interesting situation; yet these enhancements will likely affect few, very few campaigns directly; it’s still nice to have this detailed overview and know that your previously cherished gear has changed significantly. The Bag of Holding will never lose its value, but that Haversack just edged out a major player because those very obvious mechanical advantages finally became part of this established rulebook, creating the unique moment that showcases this particular design.
