Item in a Bag of Holding and distance

[Anassi]

Hi guys (and girls)!

I got a question about what happens when you put an item in a bag of holding (or something similar for that matter).

In one of the Adventure Paths there is a certain enemy that is severely weakened if a specific magic item is within a certain distance of his position but not in his possession. Now, what happens if the party gets said item but puts it into a Bag of Holding? If I read it correctly the Bag of Holding counts as an extradimensional space, so is the item still at the position of the party or somewhere else completely?

[Xaratherus]

I don't know of an official answer for a question like this, to be honest. It would require a far more in-depth analysis of how the dimensions within Pathfinder relate to one another, and if they even have any geographical correspondence.

How far apart are two seconds in space? ;) And is the cat alive or dead inside the box?

[edit]
Thinking about this further: Using a spell like Locate Object would fail with a sense that the item was out of range (i.e., it's on another plane of existence). Therefore from a DM perspective I would probably rule that the item was essentially an infinite distance from the actual bag.

[Claxon]

If put into a bag of holding the item is on a different plane of existence than the BBEG. Geographically speaking he could walk all across the the material plane and never ever reach it becasue it's not there. SO...infinite distance?

[Ansel Krulwich]

Claxon wrote:

If put into a bag of holding the item is on a different plane of existence than the BBEG. Geographically speaking he could walk all across the the material plane and never ever reach it becasue it's not there. SO...infinite distance?

The distance is however far it is from their current position to where they'd have to stand such that they're close enough to stick their hand into your bag and touch the item. :)

[zrandrews]

I am inclined to believe that because it is on another plane of existence, it would not be considered near. However, I could understand that someone might say that because you can cross into that demention from a specific point (the opening of the bag) you could measure distance to the opening, then through the opening into the other plane to the object.

Given the way dimensions and planes of existence work though, I'd say affects wouldn't cross that boundry, much like the way Locate Objet would fail. It seems to be that those dimensional boundries are ment to work that way.

[Malachi Silverclaw]

Depends if the bag were open or closed.

Open = measure distance between bag and BBEG

Closed = on another plane = infinite distance

[SteelDraco]

I've always ruled that an item in a Bag of Holding is effectively on another plane. It's at an infinite distance from all points on the plane.

Also, remember that if you really want to make sure they don't get the item, you can cut the bag from the outside. This severs the link and dumps the items on another plane.

[Xaratherus]

SteelDraco wrote:

I've always ruled that an item in a Bag of Holding is effectively on another plane. It's at an infinite distance from all points on the plane.

Also, remember that if you really want to make sure they don't get the item, you can cut the bag from the outside. This severs the link and dumps the items on another plane.

The latter case doesn't sound like it would help them; it has to be near the owner of the object, but not in his possession in order to weaken him.

I'm assuming that the OP's hope was that placing it in a bag of holding would count as being in the physical proximity of the BBEG, but that he would not be able to detect it since it's on another plane.

If I allowed it to count as 'near' to him, I would also allow him to detect it, but personally I think it would count as being a completely indeterminate distance from him instead.

[Anassi]

SteelDraco wrote:

I've always ruled that an item in a Bag of Holding is effectively on another plane. It's at an infinite distance from all points on the plane.

Also, remember that if you really want to make sure they don't get the item, you can cut the bag from the outside. This severs the link and dumps the items on another plane.

It's not about screwing over my players, if they remember to take the item out and use it against the BBEG (they can do that to screw with him even further) I'm absolutely fine with it. The BBEG would rather try to get his hands on it than to dump it in a random plane anyway.

The question is if the BBEG is still weakened if the item is inside the bag or if he regains his strength for as long as the item is not pulled out.

Right now I'd tend to go with "regains his strength".

[Claxon]

If he's only weakened while the item is near him but not in possession I'd have to go with the item being inside the bag of holding would not count as "near" and he wouldn't be weakened at all.

[Troubleshooter]

IIRC, magical effects generally do not cross planar boundaries unless they specifically say so. I would treat the contents of the bag as not being 'near'.