The Quiver of Ehlonna holds a small arsenal in three compartments while always weighing 2 pounds, and the rules tell you exactly what each compartment holds right up until your player asks about a trident. The official text lists examples, not dimensions, so the trident question (and the whip question, and the glaive question) comes down to interpreting the phrase “or similar objects.” Here are the official numbers, the honest read on the gray area, and a ruling framework you can apply to any weapon a player tries to stuff in there.
What the Quiver of Ehlonna officially holds
| Compartment | Capacity | Listed examples |
|---|---|---|
| Shortest | Up to 60 objects | Arrows, bolts, or similar objects |
| Midsize | Up to 18 objects | Javelins or similar objects |
| Longest | Up to 6 objects | Long objects such as bows, quarterstaffs, or spears |
Three properties make this uncommon wondrous item better than its rarity suggests. It weighs 2 pounds no matter what’s inside, so encumbrance simply stops being a question for your weapon loadout. You draw any item from it as if from a regular quiver or scabbard, meaning no action tax and no rummaging mid-combat (the genuine advantage over a Bag of Holding, which makes you dig). And unlike most storage items, nothing about it requires attunement.
So, does a trident fit?
The rules don’t say, which means your DM decides, and both answers are defensible. The honest summary of the debate:
| Reading | Ruling | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Lenient (most common) | Yes, full 6 capacity | A trident is a spear with extra prongs: roughly 4 feet long, comparable weight, functionally a thrown/melee polearm. “Similar objects” exists precisely to cover weapons like this |
| Strict | No | The compartment lists slender, rod-like weapons. A three-pronged head is meaningfully wider than anything listed, and the examples are the spec |
| Middle ground | Yes, reduced capacity | The length fits but the head is bulky, so it counts double: 3 tridents instead of 6, or mixed loads at a 2-slot cost each |
If you want the table consensus: most DMs allow it under the lenient reading, because the item’s job is convenience and nothing about hauling six tridents breaks a game. The strict reading isn’t wrong, though, and the middle ground is a nice compromise when a player’s whole build revolves around exploiting the answer.
My ruling
I’d allow the trident. To me, “similar objects” is doing a lot of work here, and a trident is close enough to a spear that I do not think it is worth stopping the game over. If a player is trying to load the thing with a ridiculous pile of bulky polearms, then sure, I might start counting them as extra slots, but six tridents is not breaking anything at my table.
A framework for every “does X fit?” question
The trident is just the most-asked version of a question that recurs forever, so settle the category instead of the case. Three checks resolve almost anything: Is it about the length of the listed examples for that compartment? Is it broadly the same shape (slender and rod-like for the long compartment, shaft-like for the middle, shaft-and-fletching scale for the short)? And does allowing it actually change game balance, or just save bookkeeping? A glaive fails the length check (7 feet of polearm against 6-foot examples). A whip passes length coiled but fails shape, and most DMs allow it anyway because nothing is gained by saying no. A halberd fails twice. A javelin-shaped magic rod sails through. Write your three answers down once and every future case takes ten seconds.
When the quiver isn’t the right tool
If your character genuinely needs to haul wide or oversized weapons (mauls, glaives, several tridents under a strict DM), a Bag of Holding carries them all without debate; the trade-off is its 15-pound weight and the rummaging time to retrieve anything mid-fight. Plenty of characters run both: the quiver for the draw-it-now weapons, the bag for everything else. And if your DM rules against tridents but your character concept depends on them, ask about a custom variant item as a future reward; the Quiver of Ehlonna is a common baseline for homebrew storage items, and most DMs would rather tweak an item than fight about prongs for a whole campaign.