I am designing a boss fight for my player and the theme of the dungeon is crafting. This guy crafts everything, golems, wondrous items, rods, weapons that I want to make him a regular guy who happens to have a lot of magic items.
So what happens when he either: Throws out a portable hole as a readied action, a player falls into one that had been disguised on the ground, or gets pushed in by an explosion/golem attack, or something my players do.
"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."
If the player just happens to have a bag of holding on their person (in the group 2/4 players have one) does it create the Astral explosion in the description? Does this have to be on purpose or will it just happen if a player holding one falls in?
If the bag is on a player, and the player goes into the hole, the bag goes into the hole and a rift to the Astral Plane is torn in the space.
I like it. How are you going to get the whole party to be standing within 10 feet though?
Another way said wizard could weaponize a portable hole/bag of holding combo is using two unseen servants, one carrying the former item, one carrying the latter. Wait until the party is within the appropriate radius, send the servants over with the relevant objects, insert Tab A into Slot B and WOOSH!
The advantage to this tactic is that you don't have to rely on the player falling into said hole - and (this depends on your players), but some players might feel like they should at least have some mitigation strategy before their gear (and all the gear inside their gear) blows up.
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my plan i came up with in brainstorming, again the beginning is still in the rough draft phase been more working on what happens after. But it goes like this, PCs investigate wizard who is suspected of doing nefarious things, battle in sues with said wizard at some point. Entire tower is booby trapped with dozens of portable holes and bags of holding that suck the entire tower and all inhabitant into the astral plane, the adventure starts at lvl 8.
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I'd be very careful in running a battle where you have already chosen the outcome, particularly when it is that the players lose. There is no faster way to convince your players that they are on a railroad and they have no control over the story than that. For many players, this can really ruin the fun of a game.
I'd be more inclined to have the bad guy flee into the astral plane through or portal or something, and let the PCs choose to follow him. With a bit of build up, you can ensure that PCs will chase a hated foe to the abyss itself if it means keeping him from getting away.
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I'd be very careful in running a battle where you have already chosen the outcome, particularly when it is that the players lose. There is no faster way to convince your players that they are on a railroad and they have no control over the story than that. For many players, this can really ruin the fun of a game.
I'd be more inclined to have the bad guy flee into the astral plane through or portal or something, and let the PCs choose to follow him. With a bit of build up, you can ensure that PCs will chase a hated foe to the abyss itself if it means keeping him from getting away.
This.
Also, for a bad guy, throwing a Hole at someone doesn't make a lot of sense. For one, Holes are quite expensive; for another, throwing it so that it spreads open beneath a character's feat is a bit unlikely. As a pit trap, it's a lot worse than just Create Pit.
Also, if he knows the PCs will be carrying Bags, it's basically setting fire to any loot he might gain and/or the PCs' inventory. Might get some sour faces over that.
Also, throwing a piece of cloth - the range on that can't be very good. Compare to the range increment on a net (10); this thing is even less suited to throwing. So quite likely the thrower would be caught in the blast radius.
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What would happen is pretty clear, but the real question is are you ok with the outcome?
My guess is if using it as a trap or an attack the only things preventing the player from falling in is a dice roll. It is a very real potential of save or die, or go on an adventure to recover. Is the plot of the adventure ok with that sort of outcome? If so then please see the best arrow ever.
Link is dead and I'm really curious.
Had this discussion with a GM once , then both sides decided to not use this :P.
Dont forget OP , this is costy , but the players might decide it is just worth it to destroy a high level boss.
I'd say turn this around: Party fights boss, is winning, aand then boss quite visibly drops a Portable Hole into a Bag of Holding. The PCs barely avoid being sucked into the Astral Plane, and go home to celebrate their victory (and perhaps mourn lost loot). A few months later, [i]the same boss shows up again[i] . . . .
Note that the descriptions of the bad things that happen when you combine a Bag of Holding and a Portable Hole don't actually say what happens to things other than these items that get sucked into the rift once the process is complete. For someone who has plane-traveling abilities, this may be a valid last-ditch escape system, even though expensive and risky. I wonder if Dimensional Anchor and Dimensional Lock would be enough thwart this . . . Probably would, since these spells seem to have no problem blocking much higher level spells (in other words, like Anti-Magic Field, they are overpowered). On the other hand, Blackfire Adepts eventually gain Breaching, which gives them a chance to get through such dimensional barriers -- maybe this kind of trick is part of their research (or the fruits thereof).