D&D General How long does a body take to decompose in a bag of holding? (Asking for a friend...)

[Li Shenron]

If time does not pass in the bag... how does one suffocate in it? They are very clear that the bag has a limited amount of air - that only matters if time is passing, and you need to take a next breath.

Ask the Wizard who created the bag.

 

[Umbran]

Ask the Wizard who created the bag.

The wizard who created the bag is not the one making the ruling that does not seem logically consistent with the description of the item.

 

[Li Shenron]

The wizard who created the bag is not the one making the ruling that does not seem logically consistent with the description of the item.

Everything that is in the description still works as written.

 

[Ancalagon]

OK, so let's start with this line from the description of the bag of holding, "Breathing creatures inside the bag can survive up to a number of minutes equal to 10 divided by the number of creatures (minimum 1 minute), after which time they begin to suffocate."

So, very limited oxygen supply, and it's sealed from the outside world. Which means it's a pretty sterile environment. Not perfect, but fairly sterile.

As a rule of thumb I'd say double the number of days organic matter can survive without rotting while it's in the bag.

ooooooh no my friend. The lack of oxygen will slow things down a little bit, but it will also promote the growth of anaerobic bacteria - germs that don't need oxygen. Normally they are out-competed by their oxygen loving neighbors, but when those die because of the lack of oxygen, they take over, and they are NASTY. They can be highly toxic too (ever heard of botulism?)

Real life story that happened to me: I had a summer job as a university student in a government lab that did safety testing on shellfish. We would get dozens of samples every day to analyse for phytotoxins. About half a dozen were in the lab that morning. It wouldn't be uncommon that we would get one or two dead shellfish in the lot, and mud, and various critters, we were used to funky smells.

But that morning, I had one shellfish - a mussel - that had died. This was nothing unusual, but what was VERY unusual was that it had, somehow, managed to seal itself shut before dying. So there was no oxygen in there, ie the bacteria that were eating and rotting the mussel, were anaerobic. Unknowing of this, thinking it was healthy, I opened it and this goo just came out. And the smell was .... vile.

PANDEMONIUM erupted in the lab. Grown-ass adults fled screaming. My immediate supervisor shrieked at me "DO SOMETHING". Gagging, I started spraying the air with alcohol in an attempt to kill the smell. It was revolting - this happened more than 20 years ago and I still remember it vividly.

And that's from what, an ounce (or few dozen grams) of flesh? Bodies going into anaerobic decomposition? The horror, the absolute horror.

So from both scientific knowledge and personal experience, that is essentially how you make the stinking cloud spell without casting a spell.

edit: I somehow missed a lot of other replies mentioning this, but I hope that this story will entertain and illustrate

 

[Mistwell]

ooooooh no my friend. The lack of oxygen will slow things down a little bit, but it will also promote the growth of anaerobic bacteria - germs that don't need oxygen. Normally they are out-competed by their oxygen loving neighbors, but when those die because of the lack of oxygen, they take over, and they are NASTY. They can be highly toxic too (ever heard of botulism?)

Real life story that happened to me: I had a summer job as a university student in a government lab that did safety testing on shellfish. We would get dozens of samples every day to analyse for phytotoxins. About half a dozen were in the lab that morning. It wouldn't be uncommon that we would get one or two dead shellfish in the lot, and mud, and various critters, we were used to funky smells.

But that morning, I had one shellfish - a mussel - that had died. This was nothing unusual, but what was VERY unusual was that it had, somehow, managed to seal itself shut before dying. So there was no oxygen in there, ie the bacteria that were eating and rotting the mussel, were anaerobic. Unknowing of this, thinking it was healthy, I opened it and this goo just came out. And the smell was .... vile.

PANDEMONIUM erupted in the lab. Grown-ass adults fled screaming. My immediate supervisor shrieked at me "DO SOMETHING". Gagging, I started spraying the air with alcohol in an attempt to kill the smell. It was revolting - this happened more than 20 years ago and I still remember it vividly.

And that's from what, an ounce (or few dozen grams) of flesh? Bodies going into anaerobic decomposition? The horror, the absolute horror.

So from both scientific knowledge and personal experience, that is essentially how you make the stinking cloud spell without casting a spell.

edit: I somehow missed a lot of other replies mentioning this, but I hope that this story will entertain and illustrate

That was a great story and I am glad you related it!

 

[Umbran]

Everything that is in the description still works as written.

But the whole is not logically consistent - if the inside is so timeless that things don't rot, that means biological processes are halted within the bag. This is not consistent with being able to breathe, much less needing to do so... and makes the bag a powerful weapon. Just pop it over the enemy's head - their brain is in a timeless space, but their body is not... and they die as no more neural input gets from brain to body.

And "its magic" doesn't really cut it, as the players really need some consistency to be able to engage with their surroundings.

 

[Li Shenron]

But the whole is not logically consistent - if the inside is so timeless that things don't rot, that means biological processes are halted within the bag. This is not consistent with being able to breathe, much less needing to do so... and makes the bag a powerful weapon. Just pop it over the enemy's head - their brain is in a timeless space, but their body is not... and they die as no more neural input gets from brain to body.

And "its magic" doesn't really cut it, as the players really need some consistency to be able to engage with their surroundings.

It's easy if you try.

I am thinking that I would rule it that way because it amuses me. And I think "it's magic" in this case does cut it, since we're literally talking about how a magic item that challenges the laws of physics works on the inside. I don't think most players would need more consistency other than just being told how it works, or have their PCs figuring it out by some experimentation. In fact, I am quite sure that you wouldn't need more consistency if we were actually playing the game at the table, you would just play along with it, and maybe the unexpected possibilities would amuse you too*. So why aren't you playing along or simply ignoring my idea? What bothers you so much about my different ruling? It's not like I am trying to tell others they should rule it the same way.

*although, speaking of that specific example, I think I would rule that popping over someone's head or partially inserting something does nothing special, it needs to be wholly inside, and throwing someone into a bag of holding to suffocate seems possible and powerful with either ruling, unless we want to start another discussion on whether it is more "logically consistent" that they can or cannot climb out of the bag on their own (hint: I would rule they cannot!)

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Thanks again for the input.

I don't really agree that you can stop time in a bag of holding, but I can see the argument where the Astral is adjacent to it and is timeless. Nonetheless, I don't really think that dimensional spaces really do that. I could see certain Planes of Existence having different time streams but not pocket dimensions, unless specifically designed that way.

So, from what I can see here, the rotting process doesn't really stop. It's going to be gross or grosser and the time won't change much. Even if it's air-tight, it's not a vacuum and I'm fairly certain he opens the bag. I'm worried because my character keeps some of his rations in that bag...

I love the idea of an Soup undead coming out or the bag of devouring. Just fun stuff.

 

[Thavus]

So, with all the heavy conversations on the board lately, I thought I'd post a fun, uplifting topic.

But, yeah, seriously. Our kobold PC artificer has been secretly stashing body parts in his bag of holding to use for his future...creations.

I didn't realize this until we were talking out of character and someone mentioned that a bag of holding can preserve stuff and I said, "Uh, no it can't, the magic affects space, not time". Then he dropped the bomb of, "oh, that's not good, what will happen to all the bodies?!"

So we have this long conversation of, "how dry is it in a bag of holding? Is there bacteria? It's airtight when sealed, will that effect the rate of decomposition?" etc, etc...

Essentially, how many days will it be before he opens the bag and a horrible, horrible smell wafts out and hard questions start being asked?

Thanks in advance, I look forward to your answers!

Why not reanimate first, and then put them in the bag? Undead don’t need to breath.

 

[Blue]

@TaranTheWanderer I believe you legally need to extend the subject of this post to:

How long does a body take to decompose in a bag of holding? (Asking for a friend.)​