D&D’s 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide Makes The Best Magic Item Even Better

Dungeons & Dragons has no shortage of great magic items, but not every fantastic option is beloved by every party. The Rod of the Pact Keeper is a great piece of Warlock loot, for example, but it might as well be a regular stick for any party that doesn't have any pacts in play. Only a small selection of items is likely to appeal to almost everyone, and an even smaller amount is likely to end up in the average campaign.

The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, set for a wide release on November 12, is staking its claim as the newest go-to magic item resource for DnD. Part of its utility comes from magic items that previously appeared outside the Dungeon Master's Guide and new items altogether, but the core selection of magic items from the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide is still essential to the lineup. Although many of those magic items remain unchanged, some have received key tweaks, and one that was already considered a definitive party staple is actually even better according to the 2024 rules.

D&D's 2024 Player's Handbook Buffs The Bag Of Holding

The Best Magic Item Is Lighter Than Before

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The Bag of Holding, which traditionally weighed 15 pounds even if 500 pounds of items were stored inside it, now weighs only five pounds according to the description in DnD's 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. As an extradimensional storage option that can serve as the party's dumping ground for endless junk, the Bag of Holding's ability to trivialize encumbrance has been a godsend for many DnD campaigns. 15 pounds already made it light enough to be easily manageable, especially considering how little the average player would need to carry outside of it, making the adjustment surprising.

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The most logical explanation for the buff is an in for a penny, in for a pound sentiment — if a Bag of Holding's purpose is to prevent the party from having to worry much about encumbrance, it might as well do so with additional style. There is some genuine value to having the additional ten pounds of standard carry weight, even if it's largely situational. The limited supply of breathable air inside a Bag of Holding could force the party to drag around an unconscious NPC, for example, and it's better to have some items immediately on hand.

Heward's Handy Haversack Might Be The Real Best D&D Item

Even More Space & Convenience

Changing the Bag of Holding's weight to 5 pounds brings it in line with Heward's Handy Haversack, another magic item with extradimensional storage that hasn't proven quite as popular over the years. If the Haversack remained unchanged, this could make it almost entirely obsolete, but it gets an even bigger buff than the Bag of Holding. While the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide allowed for 20 pounds of material in each side pouch and 80 in the main pouch, that's been buffed to 200 and 500, officially making the Handysack a more comprehensive option.

Damage to a Bag of Holding or Heward's Handy Haversack scatters the contents in the Astral Plane, so there's also an inherent risk to storing particularly valuable items inside.

The other big benefit of using Heward's Handy Haversack over the Bag of Holding is that it magically sorts the right item to the top whenever someone reaches in, eliminating some potential fumbling around that could happen with the Bag of Holding. The mechanical advantage of this was previously unclear, as reaching into the Bag of Holding previously only required one action, but the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide codifies the difference by making it possible to grab something out of the Handysack while only using a Bonus Action to do so.

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Getting a buff for the Bag of Holding certainly won't do any damage to its popularity, but any players that can manage to acquire a Heward's Handy Haversack now have no reason not to make it their go-to storage solution instead. The changes to both magic items make for an interesting new dynamic, and even if they won't radically alter the course of any campaigns, they're important updates to note for those who might not be picking up the 2024 Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide right at launch.