Bags of Holding...how to keep track?

[Krazzman]

Hello again Playground,

I've got a question about keeping track how much fits in those stupid bags.

How do you measure Money, at what point does Copper/Silver/Gold/Platinum Pieces encumber your movement, how many can you fit in a Bag/Bag of Holding I-IV/Handy Haversack? And how do you rule the point of fulfillment (Bag full, you toss a coin into it, does it burst or does the coin get repelled?)?

I once had a Red (Mage-)Hat that had a bag of this sort in it. I stored just 20 bolts and a crossbow in it, because I was afraid to reach the point where it was full.

I hope you can help me.

Have a nice Day,
Krazzman

[Qwertystop]

I'd say if it's full, then when you open it you see the top of the pile. There's no room to put anything else in. The bag just opens onto a really big bag-shaped space, so when there's no room left, the top of the pile will reach to the top of the space, and be at the opening.

What happens when the weight limit is reached, I'm not sure. I'd say the space shrinks to produce the same result.

[McToomin]

50 coins = 1 lb.

Your carrying capacity (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Carrying_Capacity) is based on your Strength score. Haversacks hold a capacity of 120 lbs. total (one main 80 lb. compartment, and two smaller 20 lb. compartments), but only weigh 5 lbs.

I don't know what happens if you overfill it though. I would imagine that whatever you try to put in there simply wouldn't go in, as if you had a fully-stuffed backpack. At that point, even though it's extradimensional space and whatever you want is on top, it simply can't take any more, and whatever you're trying to put in will be expelled immediately. That'd be my take on it, unless there's an official ruling somewhere.

[Keneth]

Let's ignore coppers, silvers, plats and electrons for a sec and take a look at gold pieces. A standard gold piece weighs around a third of an ounce meaning there's about 50 gp in a pound (48 but they weren't exactly measured back then). A type IV Bag of Holding can carry some 1,500 lb. of material, which means that at most you can stash about 75,000 gold pieces into a bag of holding. Worth noting is that 110,000 gp weighs about a metric ton and that a metric ton of gold is a cube with only a 0.375 meter side. There's a lot of misconceptions about gold, so when you find a dragon's hoard and the DM tells you that the mountain of gold amounts to 100,000 gp, call him on it. :smallbiggrin:

Edit: Swordsage'd a bit.

[legomaster00156]

Let's ignore coppers, silvers, plats and electrons for a sec and take a look at gold pieces. A standard gold piece weighs around a third of an ounce meaning there's about 50 gp in a pound (48 but they weren't exactly measured back then). A type IV Bag of Holding can carry some 1,500 lb. of material, which means that at most you can stash about 75,000 gold pieces into a bag of holding. Worth noting is that 110,000 gp weighs about a metric ton and that a metric ton of gold is a cube with only a 0.375 meter side. There's a lot of misconceptions about gold, so when you find a dragon's hoard and the DM tells you that the mountain of gold amounts to 100,000 gp, call him on it. :smallbiggrin:

Edit: Swordsage'd a bit.

I advise everyone to NOT call your DM out on that. If he's evil, he'll simply do the following.

DM: So, we're looking for correctiveness here? Alright. *snaps fingers* You see a gold coin lying on the ground. Correct enough for you?

[Keneth]

And that will be the last adventure in that particular campaign. :smallbiggrin:

[Krazzman]

So, you say:

The extra dimensional room is either too fragile to hold that amount of weight or too small to hold that much volume, right?

And since it happens to be some sort of misunderstanding that happens to be in our parties, I can store a bag of holding into another bag of holding, right? Because of some stories my DM told me, his Dwarf Barbarian/Ranger/Fighter is now in the Abyss because he was stuffed into a bag of holding, while wearing one... is this an old rulefrom 3.0 or is this still accurate for PF and 3.5?

Have a nice Day,
Krazzman

[Fouredged Sword]

It is a DM made extension from the effect of a portable hole and a bag of holding interacting and sucking you into the asteral plane.

The above dragon issue is why my parties have donkies just to carry thier large amount of copper coins out of the blasted dragon cave. Gold is rare in my games and copper pieces are the normal unit of trade. Gold is for the rich and adventureres, to get it you need to go to a money changer and exchange it for gold or (if you trust the exchanger and/or have a good apraise skill) gems.

[Gullintanni]

I advise everyone to NOT call your DM out on that. If he's evil, he'll simply do the following.

DM: So, we're looking for correctiveness here? Alright. *snaps fingers* You see a gold coin lying on the ground. Correct enough for you?

A cruel DM would preserve the value of the hoard, but would convert all the gold pieces to their equivalent value in copper pieces. Or worse yet, Firewood. 20 lbs per day of firewood valued at 1 cp/day. Have fun carrying your newly acquired dragon hoard.

[Fouredged Sword]

Now I have pictured a red dragon with a giant iron pot filled with boiling water over several tons of burning wood takeing a bath with scrubber in hand just as the adventureres arive.

[Dusto]

50 coins = 1 lb. Doesn't matter if they are cp, sp, gp or pp.

[McToomin]

Now I have pictured a red dragon with a giant iron pot filled with boiling water over several tons of burning wood takeing a bath with scrubber in hand just as the adventureres arive.

Sounds like the end of Mario Sunshine.

[Telonius]

Hello again Playground,

I've got a question about keeping track how much fits in those stupid bags.

How do you measure Money, at what point does Copper/Silver/Gold/Platinum Pieces encumber your movement, how many can you fit in a Bag/Bag of Holding I-IV/Handy Haversack? And how do you rule the point of fulfillment (Bag full, you toss a coin into it, does it burst or does the coin get repelled?)?



Honestly? I houserule away all these problems.

How do you measure Money Count 'em up, that's how many there are.
at what point does Copper/Silver/Gold/Platinum Pieces encumber your movement It doesn't.
how many can you fit in a Bag/Bag of Holding I-IV/Handy Haversack? As many as you like, and you get a free, unsellable Haversack at level 1.
And how do you rule the point of fulfillment (Bag full, you toss a coin into it, does it burst or does the coin get repelled?)? Usually it doesn't. If it seems funny enough, it might explode in a shower of coins.

Encumbrance is one of those things that (at least for me) strives for realism at the expense of fun. I don't like keeping track of how many arrows are in my quiver, how many trail rations I've used, or if my Wizard has to choose between carrying his spellbooks and wearing pants because of his 8 Str. Nobody I know actually likes keeping track of that sort of thing either. So I don't force my players to worry about it. If things get really ridiculous (fighter carrying three ballistas on his back, etc) or if somebody gets hit with a Ray of Enfeeblement or somesuch, I'll step in, but otherwise I toss those rules out the window.