Rope Trick and Handy Haversack

[lottrbacchus]

So what exactly happens when you crawl up the rope into that extra dimensional space with your handy haversack.

 

[blargney the second]

IMG nothing, unless I feel the need for a plot hook.

 

[MarkB]

Blargney II's ruling matches what's been suggested in rules articles coming from WotC's website recently, and is how I'd play it myself.

A reasonable compromise, if you don't wish to totally ignore the issue, is to rule that "nothing happens if you take an extradimensional storage item inside a rope trick, but bad/weird things start happening if you attempt to open it and access its contents whilst still inside."

 

[blargney the second]

Come to think of it, it's a good excuse to throw an etheral maurader at the PCs when they're not expecting it.

 

[Nyeshet]

Blargney II's ruling matches what's been suggested in rules articles coming from WotC's website recently, and is how I'd play it myself.

A reasonable compromise, if you don't wish to totally ignore the issue, is to rule that "nothing happens if you take an extradimensional storage item inside a rope trick, but bad/weird things start happening if you attempt to open it and access its contents whilst still inside."

By this logic, why couldn't a PC place a portable hole (or even a handy haver sack, or a bag of holding) inside a handy haver sack (or bag of holding, or portable hole, etc) - so long as they do not open the second bag while it is still within the first bag?

Many DMs seem to ignore encumbrance anyway, so why worry about how many bags of holding are within their (main) bag of holding? I would just rule that if they attempted to open one whilst it was within another a "BAD THING" would happen, but otherwise they were fine - and would need a standard action or move action to remove the bag 1 from within bag 2 and then open it. As a swift action they could, of course, flip open the top of one, reach in, and flip up the top of another - and suffer the consequences, of course. On the other hand, perhaps there are times when they wouldn't mind being randomly plane shifted due to the resulting planar rift . . . .

 

[javcs]

By this logic, why couldn't a PC place a portable hole (or even a handy haver sack, or a bag of holding) inside a handy haver sack (or bag of holding, or portable hole, etc) - so long as they do not open the second bag while it is still within the first bag?

Many DMs seem to ignore encumbrance anyway, so why worry about how many bags of holding are within their (main) bag of holding? I would just rule that if they attempted to open one whilst it was within another a "BAD THING" would happen, but otherwise they were fine - and would need a standard action or move action to remove the bag 1 from within bag 2 and then open it. As a swift action they could, of course, flip open the top of one, reach in, and flip up the top of another - and suffer the consequences, of course. On the other hand, perhaps there are times when they wouldn't mind being randomly plane shifted due to the resulting planar rift . . . .

Rules for portable hole in bag of holding and vice versa are given in their descriptions.

Nothing is given for portable hole in portable hole or bag of holding in bag of holding. Or for any other interaction. Hence the query, and Blargney II's reasoning.

In one of the previous threads on this topic, IIRC, one of the more common replies was that if anything happens, it catches the attention of nearby astral/ethereal planar denizens, who would then drop in to investigate.

 

[Xiam]

I think as a DM you have to consider the thoughts behind this extradimensional-space-in-extradimensional-space-ruling. In my opinion its mainly to prevent players from exploiting Handy Haversacks and Portable Holes in a way to give their characters unlimited carrying capacity.

What about the PC with the Handy Haversack on his back who accidentially steps into a location which is actually placed in an extradimensional space without the character noticing it?

"When the door to the mage's tower opens, it looks in a strange way larger than exspected from the outside. When [enter PC-name with the Handy Haversack on his back] enters the room, suddenly darkness rises...
Okay guys, get out your dice, let's roll up new characters."

That's IMHO not what the designers had in mind when they wrote the rules.

 

[Vrecknidj]

A simple solution is to just say that an item like the Handy Haversack cannot be opened while within the space provided by the rope trick spell. Go so far as to say even a wish, nay, even a god, cannot do it.

Besides, it'll make your players crazy trying to come up with ways to open one in there then.

Dave

 

[CleverNickName]

So what exactly happens when you crawl up the rope into that extra dimensional space with your handy haversack.

Practicing a little bit of threadromancy here, because this issue just came up in my game this weekend. Here is how I ruled it.

I decided that since an extradimensional space could not exist in another extradimensional space, the HHH would stop just short of the entrance to the Rope Trick. The character kept trying to climb up, but felt the haversack snagging on something. After much struggle, he realized that he couldn't bring his haversack inside the space no matter how hard he pulled or pushed. He had to leave it sitting outside.

 

[N'raac]

Pathfinder adopted the simple solution that the smaller ED space is inaccessible inside the larger one. Sure, you can toss Bags of Holding into the Haversack, but you have to take the bag back out to access the contents. Can you have unlimited carrying capacity? I guess - but you have to keep buying the items, so it soaks up some wealth. How much capacity do you need before additions have no real utility?

Of course, this may still be a concern in the Rope Trick. Was your food, water, spell book, etc. inside the Haversack? You need a way to extract it outside the ED space and bring it back up the rope.