diff --git a/patches/server/General-ItemMeta-fixes.patch b/patches/server/General-ItemMeta-fixes.patch
index 3642dbdc11..1eedd402a2 100644
--- a/patches/server/General-ItemMeta-fixes.patch
+++ b/patches/server/General-ItemMeta-fixes.patch
@@ -296,6 +296,15 @@ index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..00000000000000000000000000000000
          CraftMetaItem.getOrEmpty(tag, CraftMetaItem.NAME).ifPresent((component) -> {
              this.displayName = component;
          });
+@@ -0,0 +0,0 @@ class CraftMetaItem implements ItemMeta, Damageable, Repairable, BlockDataMeta {
+         Map<?, ?> mods = SerializableMeta.getObject(Map.class, map, key.BUKKIT, true);
+         Multimap<Attribute, AttributeModifier> result = LinkedHashMultimap.create();
+         if (mods == null) {
+-            return result;
++            return null; // Paper - null is different from an empty map
+         }
+ 
+         for (Object obj : mods.keySet()) {
 @@ -0,0 +0,0 @@ class CraftMetaItem implements ItemMeta, Damageable, Repairable, BlockDataMeta {
      }
  
@@ -386,6 +395,15 @@ index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..00000000000000000000000000000000
                  clone.attributeModifiers = LinkedHashMultimap.create(this.attributeModifiers);
              }
              if (this.customTag != null) {
+@@ -0,0 +0,0 @@ class CraftMetaItem implements ItemMeta, Damageable, Repairable, BlockDataMeta {
+     }
+ 
+     static void serializeModifiers(Multimap<Attribute, AttributeModifier> modifiers, ImmutableMap.Builder<String, Object> builder, ItemMetaKey key) {
+-        if (modifiers == null || modifiers.isEmpty()) {
++        if (modifiers == null/* || modifiers.isEmpty()*/) { // Paper - null and an empty map have different behaviors
+             return;
+         }
+ 
 @@ -0,0 +0,0 @@ class CraftMetaItem implements ItemMeta, Damageable, Repairable, BlockDataMeta {
      // Paper start - improve checking handled tags
      @org.jetbrains.annotations.VisibleForTesting