D&D General Finding Stuff in a Bag of Holding

[TarionzCousin]

Did previous editions mention how easy/difficult it was to find something in a bag of holding? 5E Doesn't address this issue.

What if your group finds a bag of holding and it already has stuff in it? How difficult is it to pull out something that you don't know is there?



Other commenters here think everything inside would fall out if you turned the bag inside out. I don't see that anywhere official.

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

Retrieving an item from the bag requires an Action.

So, it is apparently not very difficult, as it takes < 6 seconds to complete.

Given how much stuff typically gets put into a Bag of Holding, I interpret this as "it's magic", and "items magically find their way to your hand". But I think you are free to color that differently. For example "the bag magically improves your brain and allows you to find and grab any item among the huge mess inside the bag within 6 seconds" works just fine. Personally, I like it that we get this freedom to color the story ourselves.

If the bag is turned inside out, its Contents spill forth, unharmed, but the bag must be put right before it can be used again.

That's what it says in the description in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Ok, somebody needs to write an app that randomly generates existing contents, with (small) chances for cool stuff. Maybe a couple input parameters like party level and how it was found/who was using it.

 

[aco175]

Other commenters here think everything inside would fall out if you turned the bag inside out. I don't see that anywhere official.

I was thinking this when I was reading it, but then I saw @Baldurs_Underdark clarify from the DMG.

My PCs once solved a string of murders by finding a BOH and turning it inside out and a dead body fell out. They were careful since another BOH was filled with acid before that and a PC reached into it. This was back in 2e days though and I may have grown some since then.

 

[TarionzCousin]

That's what it says in the description in the Dungeon Master's GuGuide.Aha!

Aha! Thanks.

Reading skill check failure on my part.

 

[Stormonu]

I was thinking this when I was reading it, but then I saw @Baldurs_Underdark clarify from the DMG.

My PCs once solved a string of murders by finding a BOH and turning it inside out and a dead body fell out. They were careful since another BOH was filled with acid before that and a PC reached into it. This was back in 2e days though and I may have grown some since then.

Oh - guess whose PCs are going to acquire a BOH with a couple hostile animated skeletons/zombies left behind in it to guard its contents…

 

[Ancalagon]

a used bag of holding could be a hoarder's delight - a lot of heavy "just in case" stuff

 

[James Gasik]

I remember when Giants had a table to determine what random stuff they had stashed in their bags.

Or there was this small sized race from a popular campaign setting...ah, I'd better stop there.

 

[Oofta]

It's an action to retrieve items from a bag of holding, what's odd is that it's also an action to retrieve from a handy haversack even though the haversack has lower capacity and is rare instead of uncommon. So I've house ruled that the haversack just requires an object interaction.

 

[James Gasik]

It is strange, given that the Haversack used to have the ability "whatever you look for is always at the top" and the Bags of Holding did not.