Bags of Holding as transportation devices...

[Matafuego]

I had flashes of an old KodT strip...
And yes, IMC they tried that, until a cohort died... Nowadays no one wants to try it. To overcome weight limits on spells back in 2e we used Feather Fall, in 3.x I don't think you can.

 

[Jhulae]

I think this trick was definitely viable in 3e, but I'm not sure it would actually work in 3.5e.

Teleport allows you to teleport "touched objects or other touched creatures"; the number & mass of objects is limited by your maximum load, and the number of creatures is limited by level. I don't think putting a creature in a bag (or a bag, or probably even a portable hole) turns that creature into an object, and if Creature-In-Bag is still a creature, then the limit on number of creatures still applies.

If Creature-In-Bag is an object -- well, that would open up some interesting situations, no? There'd be a number of spells they'd be immune to, and (IIRC) some spells they could then be targets of -- for example, shrink item on people, anyone? Plus, the people in the bag/hole/whatever wouldn't get saves; they'd have to rely on the saves of the item (if it wasn't being held or otherwise "attended") or the person holding the item (which would often be a wizard, rogue, or the like; could be tough if an enemy wizard zaps the bag with a disintegrate while some low Fort save type is holding it).

I once ruled (in 3e) that an archon could teleport with a bag of holding containing a person (in this case, a child); but I later decided that I was probably wrong.

I think you're overthinking it.

Here's a question for you, Coyote. Do you make teleporters calculate the weight they're teleporting by taking the encumbrence of every item in their bags of holding, or just how much weight the bag exerts (such as the type I weighing '25 lbs.'). If it's the former, it seems definitley aganst the RAW as the rules say the bag can carry X amount and only weigh Y amount. If it's the latter, then who cares what it's filled with? What if the characters wanted to carry a living plant in the bag? would that count against them? I think it's foolish to say it would.

Therefore, it doesn't matter what is in the bag, living or nonliving.

And, having an outsider carry someone in a bag is a fine, imo, and I don't think you were wrong.

And, there's no interesting situations that you describe. Items stored in a bag don't get saving throws when something happens to the bag itself, why would a PC get one? Whatever happens to the bag determines what happens to it's contents.

What gets me is that everyone is assuming the PCs are going to be teleporting into dangerous situations with the party in the bag. I'm pretty sure most parties (mine included) would only use this tactic when going from safe area to safe area or when escaping a dangerous situation. Of course, any party stupid enough to teleport blindly into a BBEG's lair gets what it deserves anyway.

It honestly makes me laugh to see people talking about disintigrating the bag when a low fort person has it or if the wizard gets knocked out/petrified/etc. I'd like to think your groups have some common sense.

 

[Hypersmurf]

You're not actually moving anything that's 'in the bag' with the spell. The stuff 'in the bag' is in a non-dimensional space - your spell doesn't shift that at all. What the spell moves is the bag, which just provides access to that non-dimensional space.

-Hyp.

 

[Jhulae]

You're not actually moving anything that's 'in the bag' with the spell. The stuff 'in the bag' is in a non-dimensional space - your spell doesn't shift that at all. What the spell moves is the bag, which just provides access to that non-dimensional space.

-Hyp.

Wow... That was so much more succinct and better than how I tried to explain it.

 

[coyote6]

That makes sense, Hype, at least in terms of explaining why it could work.

I don't particularly like the flavor of it, though. I think I prefer treating bags of holding simply as ways to carry lots of stuff, rather than as access points to a nondimensional space, and then extrapolating all the effects thereof. It's that extrapolation that leads to my "eh" reaction.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I don't particularly like the flavor of it, though. I think I prefer treating bags of holding simply as ways to carry lots of stuff, rather than as access points to a nondimensional space...

Yeah, but...

The bag of holding opens into a nondimensional space...

It's right there in the item description...

-Hyp.

 

[Jhulae]

That makes sense, Hype, at least in terms of explaining why it could work.

I don't particularly like the flavor of it, though. I think I prefer treating bags of holding simply as ways to carry lots of stuff, rather than as access points to a nondimensional space, and then extrapolating all the effects thereof. It's that extrapolation that leads to my "eh" reaction.

But, that's not 'flavor'. That's how the rules describe them as working. Based on past posts, you're making more rules up to cover situations because you're already extrapolating them as not being what the RAW describes them as.

Seems it would be simpler to just leave it as it is. ::shrug::

 

[Angel Tarragon]

One option is to just have a slew of Bags of Holding, cramming as many people into each bag as possible. Then you can have the spellcaster (the character that has the Bags of Holding in his/her posession) cast any one of the teleport spells. The bags need to be sealed tight.