Beast of Burden

"BOB" redirects here. For a list of non-player characters with this name, see Bob.

A familiar's inventory interface

A Beast of Burden (often abbreviated to BoB) is a type of Summoning familiar that has the ability to carry items for the player. To access their familiar's inventory, players need only to click on them or interact with them and manually ask them to open their inventory. To use the items that have been stored with the BoB, the player must have enough free spaces in the backpack to take the items, as they cannot be used directly from the familiar's inventory. However, some Make-X actions will continue to take items from BoB once initiated.

The familiars with the Beast of Burden ability are shown in the table below.

List of Beasts of Burden

Standard

level	Familiar		Slots	Time (min)	GE price	Cost/slot	Cost/min	Cost/slot /min
13		Thorny snail	3	16	727	242	45	15.1
14		Spirit pack pig (Tier 1)	4	16	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
25		Spirit kalphite	6	16	2,268	378	142	23.6
40		Bull ant	9	32	873	97	27	3
44		Spirit pack pig (Tier 2)	8	32	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
52		Spirit terrorbird	12	32	1,089	91	34	2.8
67		War tortoise	18	48	24,859	1,381	518	28.8
84		Spirit pack pig (Tier 3)	22	64	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
96		Pack yak	30	64	4,108	137	64	2.1
99		Pack mammoth	32	64	17,512	547	274	8.6

Rune essence

For these familiars, the slots column refers to the number of rune essence (or pure essence) they can hold.

level	Familiar		Slots	Time (min)	GE price	Cost/slot	Cost/min	Cost/slot /min
54		Abyssal parasite	7	32	4,671	667	146	20.9
62		Abyssal lurker	12	48	6,827	569	142	11.9
93		Abyssal titan	20	48	8,196	410	171	8.5

Divine memories

For these familiars, the slots column refers to the number of memories they can hold.

level	Familiar		Slots	Time (min)	GE price	Cost/slot	Cost/min	Cost/slot /min
81		Nightmare muspah	32	64	30,234	945	472	14.8

Item storage

The beast of burden deposit button is the third icon at the top of this bank interface.

If players have a Beast of Burden (BoB) familiar with them with the bank window open, they can deposit its entire inventory into their bank by clicking the summoning familiar icon at the bottom of the bank interface, similar to the 1-button inventory or equipped items deposit feature, or by pressing the corresponding keybind. Players can also Withdraw-X from a bank to a BoB without having to exit the bank or use bank presets to automatically withdraw items to a Beast of Burden.

There is also a give-all option, which deposits all inventory items, prioritised according to their order in the inventory, into the familiar's inventory.

Before the familiar's time limit is up, two messages will appear, along with a tick-tock sound:

• You have 1 minute before your familiar vanishes.
• You have 30 seconds before your familiar vanishes.

After that: Your familiar has dropped all the items it was holding. You will have exactly five minutes until your items disappear for you to pick them up, which is significantly longer than if you had dropped them yourself. This technique is useful in fighting difficult bosses.

Limits of items carried

Currently, the known limits for what a beast of burden will carry are as such:

• Most tradeable items can be stored if the value of each stack is 15,000,000 coins or less. The exceptions are stated in the next group of bullets.
• Tradeable items worth over 15,000,000 each cannot be carried, because a "stack" of such an item always has at least one of that item. Items that go over the Grand Exchange market value the familiar can hold will give the message "This item is too valuable to trust to this familiar."
• Likewise, a stack of 16 items worth 1,000,000 coins each (for example) cannot be fully carried by a BoB. The following point states how the stack can be fully carried if the item is not stackable.
• Within a BoB, there can be two stacks of each item. One stack must be noted, and the other "stack" unnoted. This allows for the 15,000,000 coin limit for each item to be bypassed, through one noted stack reaching the limit and then unnoted versions of the same item being added to the BoB. For example, 15 items worth 1,000,000 coins each can be carried by a BoB if they are all noted, with another 15 of the same item able to be carried if they are all unnoted, for a total of 30 items worth 1,000,000 coins each.
• Rune and pure essence can be carried only by the three abyssal familiars, which can only carry essence (see below).
• Many untradeable items which are "supplies" but not "equipment" can be carried. The idea is that these are items used in skilling where more than 28 inventory spots could be useful. This is only a guideline, and one should test items beforehand. For example, the following can be carried:
  • All untradeable potions which are not quest items.
  • Enchanted gems (the post-hoc reasoning is that they are crafting supplies that one buys from Slayer Masters).
  • Rings of slaying and ferocious rings.
  • Saplings.
  • Red sandstone and crystal-flecked sandstone.
• Many other untradeable items cannot be carried.

Additionally, familiars cannot hold restricted trade items along with the following tradeables:

• Bonds
• The Beach tokens (any year)
• Crafting catalyst items (metal setting, leather case, gem focus, summoning focus)
• Parasols
• Spring Fayre tokens

Currently the limit is 15,000,000 coins. The limit is based on the Grand Exchange market values of items. For example, a beast of burden will carry a rune full helm, but not a blue partyhat.

The amount a familiar could hold was changed with the release of summoning patch #2. There is speculation that it was changed because people were complaining about the limited amount of items a player could store with the familiars.

For large volume resource collection, combine a beast of burden familiar with imp-in-a-box. Use imps to send your resources and empty imp boxes to the bank, then fill up your familiar and your inventory and travel back to the bank. This will allow you to transport 28 items in your inventory + 28 items banked by the imps (+banked boxes) + your familiar's cargo space worth of items.

It should however be noted that hunting imps takes a long time and it might be simpler to just bank more often.

For quest items that cannot be handed to a familiar, the method above still works. Simply hand your empty magic boxes to your familiar until it is full, then ship the remaining empty boxes to your bank with imps from occupied boxes. In each case, the sums come out the same. Imps either take one item and one magic box home, or the box is handed to the familiar, and the imp carries two items home.

Beast of Burden limitations

Although in most cases a beast of burden helps, there are a few factors that should be taken into consideration before using it.

Premature death

If a beast of burden dies while carrying items, they will be dropped on the floor and players may not be able to retrieve them if they do not have inventory slots available. Players may want to think about how many items they load a familiar with depending on what situation they will be in, such as in a fight where the beast of burden can be attacked by a player or monster, and how much they should carry to combat it. It should be noted that beasts of burden are immune to poison and most should have more than enough life points to get through the situation.

Familiar timer

All familiars have a set lifespan - including beasts of burden. The timer is a key factor to take into consideration. Players should consider how long a trip might take, or the familiar's timer might end up running out. If the familiar is being used to bring items back and not to carry them, consider waiting until it is really needed before summoning.

On 29 April 2009, an update allowed players to replenish the familiar's lifespan. They are required to have both the pouch of the familiar they currently have, and have the summoning points that would otherwise be required to summon a new one. Pouches can be used on the familiar to do this, or the familiar interface may be used.

Training production skills

For the production skills of Smithing, Crafting, Herblore, Divination, and Cooking, the production action brings up the Make-X interface. By default, this interface allows the player to press Space to create the "maximum possible" number of items before certain item-saving effects. For example, 15 unfinished potions and 13 secondaries gives the option to make 13, even though it is very common to be able to make more than 13 with the scroll of cleansing.

Curiously, this "maximum possible" includes the BoB's inventory. Thus, if a player has a war tortoise, 14 unfinished potions and 14 secondaries in the normal inventory, and 9 unfinished potions and 9 secondaries in the war tortoise's inventory, then by default, the Make-X option is 23. However, if the player simply presses space from this menu and does nothing else, then the supplies in the inventory will run out after 14 potions. An interesting way around this is to constantly click the "Take Beast of Burden items" button from the familiar interface (in inventory view mode). This does not interrupt the skilling action, but it allows the player to produce more than 14 potions in a row in this case.

Consider the production of overloads and its variants. This requires 6 items. Using only the normal inventory with 28 spots, one can make at most 4 overloads per inventory. However, by using a pack mammoth, the total capacity increases to 60 effective spots. One can thus create 10 overloads per inventory, but the player must keep clicking "Take Beast of Burden items" or else they will end production early. Producing overloads is already a click intensive activity, so adding a few different clicks from the BoB interaction to greatly decrease banking time is recommended. A bank preset can be configured to take a certain BoB setup. In other circumstances, the extra clicks from the BoB action might not be considered worthwhile.

Other beasts of burden

The following familiars can only be summoned while training Dungeoneering in Daemonheim.

Familiar	Summoning level	Number of slots	Time (min)
Cub worldbearer	7	12	64
Little worldbearer	17	14	64
Naive worldbearer	27	16	64
Keen worldbearer	37	18	64
Brave worldbearer	47	20	64
Brah worldbearer	57	22	64
Naabe worldbearer	67	24	64
Wise worldbearer	77	26	64
Adept worldbearer	87	28	64
Sachem worldbearer	97	30	64

The following Beast of Burden Clay familiars are exclusive to the Stealing Creation activity.

Familiar	Summoning level	Number of slots	Time (min)
Class 1	1	1	30
Class 2	20	6	30
Class 3	40	12	30
Class 4	60	18	30
Class 5	80	24	30

Glitches

• There was a glitch with beasts of burden when using Cyreg Paddlehorn's boat (to or from Mort'ton). When a beast of burden was following a player, the beast would be forcefully dismissed, dropping all of the items it was carrying. There was no way to pick up the items from the boat. The messages only appeared after arriving at the destination and dismissing the message that informs the player of the arrival. This has since been fixed.
• During a God Wars Dungeon instance, occasionally a player's beast of burden would vanish with the items inside regardless of the timer; the only way to reobtain the items from the familiar was either to summon a new one or use the deposit familiar option at the bank. This is now fixed.
• One can encounter display glitches when dragging items between the inventory and the BoB's inventory (in either direction) while teleporting. The glitch that occurs is that the item may become invisible. To fix this, one can try to transfer another item after one is done teleporting. This glitch occurs frequently when managing inventory space during farm runs while using a BoB. This glitch occurs because the player has a different status while teleporting. For example, immediately after using a lodestone teleport, spamming a key bound to "surge" will yield the error that the player is invisible.

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included—see here for how to help out!

• patch 10 July 2023 (Update):
  • Familiars with small Inventory sizes now display correctly compared to those with bigger inventory sizes.

• patch 21 June 2021 (Update):
  • Legendary pets now revert back from the Beast of Burden's inventory interface when the timer expires.

• patch 8 February 2021 (Update):
  • We have removed an issue where Beasts of Burden were displaying duplicate 'Take BoB' options.

• patch 24 February 2020 (Update):
  • Runescape Mobile: The beast of burden Inventory icons have been updated to use circular slots that match the main backpack Inventory.

• patch 6 January 2020 (Update):
  • Ground wyvern bones can now be stored inside a Beast of Burden.

• patch 16 December 2019 (Update):
  • A variety of untradeable items have had their noted counterpart made possible to add the Beast of Burden inventories including things such as potions, the various banite ores and bars urns, and sapling plant pots.

• patch 2 December 2019 (Update):
  • Primal Feasts and Portions can now be added to Beast of Burden inventories.
  • Stopped players from being able to use items directly from their Beast of Burden when skilling such as making potions with ingredients from a pack yak.

• patch 23 September 2019 (Update):
  • Noted damaged hides from Big Game Hunter can now be placed in beast of burden inventories.

• patch 16 September 2019 (Update):
  • Adding farm animals to a BoB will no longer revert them to having a default name and traits.

• patch 12 August 2019 (Update):
  • Examining items in a beast of burden now correctly shows item price.
  • Fixed an issue where crafting jewellery from a Beast of Burden could cause the crafted item to be destroyed.

• patch 1 April 2019 (Update):
  • Prevented incense sticks from being crafted from items stored in a beast of burden.

• ninja 5 February 2018 (Update):
  • The maximum stack value on a Beast of Burden has been increased from 5m GP to 15m GP.

• patch 20 November 2017 (Update):
  • Items will now consistently appear in a Beast of Burden when using the 'Give BoB items' option.

• patch 14 August 2017 (Update):
  • An issue where the "Give BoB" option on the summoning icon displayed as "Take BoB" has been fixed.

• ninja 10 July 2017 (Update):
  • The 'Take BoB' option now works correctly with keybinds.
  • Giving items to a familiar now behaves properly when handling stackable items.

• ninja 26 June 2017 (Update):
  • Players can now give inventory to a beast of burden familiar by using the familiar menu or by setting the left-click option on the summoning button.

• patch 26 September 2016 (Update):
  • A beast of burden can no longer hold items worth more than 5M per slot.

• ninja 22 August 2016 (Update):
  • A beast of burden's inventory is now dropped to the floor when a player dies. Tradeable items will appear to other players after a minute has passed.

• patch 21 March 2016 (Update):
  • Attempting to store too many items in a beast of burden will no longer show a message for each item it couldn't carry.

• patch 9 November 2015 (Update):
  • Players can no longer use a beast of burden to smuggle a cannon into Kuradal's dungeon, and cannons can no longer be placed down in the area.

• patch 2 November 2015 (Update):
  • Beast of burden familiars now work correctly in the Dominion Tower.

• ninja 12 October 2015 (Update):
  • All Beasts of Burden now have a greatly increased life points total.

• patch 10 August 2015 (Update):
  • The Beast of Burden ability timer no longer remains on screen when dismissing a legendary pet.

• ninja 3 August 2015 (Update):
  • Beasts of Burden can now be trusted to carry items with a value of 5m or below, increased from a cap of 50k.

• ninja 6 July 2015 (Update):
  • Players can now open a beast of burden's inventory into a tab to allow for easier use.
  • Players can now access a beast of burden's inventory directly from the bank by switching the inventory tab.

• patch 22 June 2015 (Update):
  • Players can now deposit items still held by a beast of burden via the bank "Deposit all BoB" button when the familiar has disappeared unexpectedly.

• ninja 26 January 2015 (Update):
  • Combination potions can now be stored with a beast of burden.
  • Unfired and unstarted runed urns can now be stored in a beast of burden.

• patch 26 August 2014 (Update):
  • The ‘deposit beast of burden’ option from the bank will now deposit all of the BoB items correctly.

• patch 23 June 2014 (Update):
  • A typo with Beasts of Burden if a player tries to store an untradeable item has been fixed.

• ninja 27 January 2014 (Update):
  • The primary option on beast of burden familiars is now 'Store' instead of 'Interact'.
  • Players can now store portents of restoration in their beasts of burden. The healing effect will still only occur while the portent is in the backpack.

• patch 7 February 2012 (Update):
  • Beast of burden familiars can now hold untradeable potions/flasks.

• patch 4 January 2011 (Update):
  • Adjusted the way beasts of burden hold onto items after you switch to a different familiar.

• patch 7 October 2009 (Update):
  • Improved the logic dealing with the value of items you can store in a familiar's inventory.

• patch 10 August 2009 (Update):
  • If you attempt to withdraw several items from your beast of burden, but you do not have enough inventory space for them all, you will now withdraw as many as possible.