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There are various teleportation spells in 5th Edition D&D. Most of them have language like "You teleport" or "This spell instantly transports you".

Some, like Dimension Door, contain the following clause:

You can bring along Objects as long as their weight doesn't exceed what you can carry.

For teleportation spells without such a clause, and therefore without such a clear definition of what creatures teleported with the spell can bring along (like Misty Step, Scatter, Teleport, Plane Shift, etc.), what exactly can teleported creatures take with them?

Examples of things a teleporting creature might want to take:

  • Clothes/armor
  • Weapons
  • Miscellaneous adventuring gear they usually carry
  • Treasure chests within their carrying capacity
  • Treasure chests not within their carrying capacity
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The RAW can get a bit weird for teleporting.

If we strictly follow the RAW for misty step, you would be naked after teleporting since it just says "You".

You teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see.

Although hilarious, it would get old pretty fast. This is why most people interpret "You" as you and all your gear. If you had a treasure chest you would have to stuff everything you can carry in your pockets and leave the rest.

Then there are spells like teleport:

This spell instantly transports [...] a single object that you can see within range, to a destination you select. If you target an object, it must be able to fit entirely inside a 10-foot cube

This means that you can teleport with all your gear and you could bring the treasure chest as long as it fits the 10-foot cube, even if it exceeds your carrying capacity. Unfortunately, you can take only the chest and not the treasure since it states that it must be a single object.

But there are also spells like thunder step (XGtE, p. 168):

You can bring along objects as long as their weight doesn’t exceed what you can carry.

This would mean that you get to bring your gear with you and also the treasure chest with the treasure as long as you can carry it.

My point is: it differs from spell to spell. You should always read the spell description before teleporting and accidentally leaving your treasure behind. And of course, talk to your DM to make sure "you" means you and your gear, or your party might get stranded in the Elemental Plane of Fire, naked in front of a fire giant, if you cast plane shift.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Small note: I think the Teleport spell allows teleporting creatures or an object, but not both at once. (It's less clear whether you could teleport the chest with you by carrying it and teleporting yourself.) \$\endgroup\$
    – Ryan C. Thompson
    Apr 5, 2019 at 17:23
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It can carry everything it normally can carry

The Sage Advice Compendium has explicitly ruled on this:

Misty step doesn’t say the caster can bring worn or carried equipment with them. Are they intended to leave everything, including their clothes, behind?

No, the caster’s worn and carried equipment are intended to go with them. Some teleportation effects do specify that you teleport with your gear; such specification is an example of a rule being needlessly fastidious, since no teleportation effect in the game assumes that you teleport without your clothes, just as the general movement rules don’t assume that you drop everything when you walk.

So, all teleportation effects, wether they mention it explicitly or not, transport their targets with all their gear.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ What "Sage Advice Compendium"? (Assuming it's online you should add a link.) \$\endgroup\$
    – Laurel
    Jun 12, 2022 at 18:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ Hi @Laurel, I added the link. Most of the answers on this site that mention it do not explicitly link to it, as (a) it is one of the most often cited rules sources next to the core books and maybe (b) WOTC has a history of link rot for their D&D resources, so it may cause unneccesary maintenance pain down the road. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nobody the Hobgoblin
    Jun 12, 2022 at 18:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ In this case, where the answer is really mostly providing the SAC ruling that now is official, I think it makes sense to link it as you suggest. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nobody the Hobgoblin
    Jun 12, 2022 at 19:53

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