Hobbit in a bag: The trouble with extradimensional spaces

[mvincent]

The whole "bag of holding dimensional explosion thing" always sounded suspiciously like ad hoc DM meddling to me.

Certainly. It sounds like the exact sort of thing Gygax would have decided when a player innocently asked "what happens if...". It did prevent layer upon layer of extra-dimensional spaces from getting out of hand though.

I imagine there are still a few DMs who still believe that if you drink two potions you might explode.

The Potion Miscibility tables have been updated by WotC for 3.5.

 

[Piratecat]

This is the part that gets me. How do you forcibly shove a halfling into a bag of holding (or any container for that matter)?

Oil of Slipperiness and a shoehorn.

 

[Ambrus]

Oil of Slipperiness and a shoehorn.

Throw a grilled cheese sandwich into the bag?

 

[werk]

Throw a grilled cheese sandwich into the bag?

Winner!

I also would have accepted:
- Tell him there is gold/money/treasure in the bag
- Order him inside to disable a trap
- Get him drunk and tell him it's his childhood home
- Animate BoH with Imp. Grab and Swallow Whole
- STFU, he's in the bag, who cares how he got there!

 

[Nail]

It's clear we need an expanded "Put a Halfling Into a Bag" d20 mechanic. Piratecat?

 

[gamecat]

I can't wait for Complete Halfling in a Bag.

 

[pallandrome]

C'mon, I think we all know that a halfling would slide in there like a greased scotsman in a ventilation duct.

 

[bestone]

In the manual of the planes it says things lost in extradimensional spaces like that, and i *believe* it makes a reference to messed up bags of holding. That anything lost like that appears on the astral plane.

Maybey the halfing goes astral?

 

[Henry]

"I recommend that you ignore this reference. Your campaign won't be improved if rope trick effects implode when someone carries a bag of holding or portable hole inside."

Says him. Personally, I find it immensely fun; but then, I frequently DM. Just to be safe, whenever I play a character, I never mix dimensional spaces just to be on the safe side of a DM who pulls out this rule.

 

[0-hr]

A more pertinent question may be "How do you keep a halfling OUT of your Bag of Holding?"

I just read the bag description and noted that a bag opens into a "nondimensional space", not an extra-dimensional one. Also, if he ended up anywhere, I'd guess the Halfling to be in the far reaches of Astral space because of the following notes:

If a bag of holding is placed within a portable hole a rift to the Astral Plane is torn in the space: Bag and hole alike are sucked into the void and forever lost. If a portable hole is placed within a bag of holding, it opens a gate to the Astral Plane: The hole, the bag, and any creatures within a 10-foot radius are drawn there, destroying the portable hole and bag of holding in the process.

Notice how it says a rift to the Astral Plane results in the items being "forever lost". Very similar to the wordage used to describe a pierced bag.