How long before I would suffocate in a bag of holding?

[Mad Humanist]

In 476 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0476.html) Haley will not put O-Chul in the bag of holding because he would suffocate. In 1091 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1091.html) Belkar puts the dinosaur in a bag of holding. What gives?

[Kantaki]

Well, I would guess a Bag of Holding contains some air.
Enough that a Allosaur in the body of a lizard can survive a bit when his owner can open it regulary to refill the supply, but not enough for a human to last through a desperate escape through a city without time for the rescuers to do the same.

[Fyraltari]

O-chul is bigger than the lizard, he'd consume oxygen much faster than Bloodfeast.
Alternatively after that fiasco Haley asked V about surviving in a Bag of Holding and learnt that she was wrong and there is plentyof air to go around for extended periods of time.

[Peelee]

Wheeeeeee!

Bag of Holding

If living creatures are placed within the bag, they can survive for up to 10 minutes, after which time they suffocate.

[Emanick]

Wheeeeeee!

If I were DMing, I would houserule this to vary by size category. It’s possible that Rich thought along similar lines (if he gave it any thought at all, which is unlikely).

[Keltest]

If I were DMing, I would houserule this to vary by size category. It’s possible that Rich thought along similar lines (if he gave it any thought at all, which is unlikely).

More likely, Belkar just left the bag open.

[Emanick]

More likely, Belkar just left the bag open.

Does air flow freely in and out of the bag? I would guess so, but I’m not sure, and the rules imply otherwise.

[Mad Humanist]

More likely, Belkar just left the bag open.

Surely then in subsequent strips we'd see Belkar holding the bag.

[RatElemental]

If he had just sprung for a bottle of air (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Bottle_of_Air) there'd be no issues at all!

[Mad Humanist]

If he had just sprung for a bottle of air (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Bottle_of_Air) there'd be no issues at all!

So either Belkar's bottle of air is gratuitously invisible or it doesn't exist.

[Emanick]

So either Belkar's bottle of air is gratuitously invisible or it doesn't exist.

I would guess that the dinosaur wouldn’t be smart enough to grasp the possibility of taking breaths from the bottle of air, though I suppose it’s possible that Belkar could explain it to him/train him to do so.

[Mad Humanist]

I am wondering if 10 minutes have passed since Belkar closed the bag. Taking him out whilst still in the forcecage would have been smart.

[Fyraltari]

I am wondering if 10 minutes have passed since Belkar closed the bag. Taking him out whilst still in the forcecage would have been smart.

I'm gonna assume Blackwing reminded him to let Bloodfeast breath off panel before they left the temple.

[RatElemental]

So either Belkar's bottle of air is gratuitously invisible or it doesn't exist.

Was just being facetious/saying it would have been smart for him to have one.


I would guess that the dinosaur wouldn’t be smart enough to grasp the possibility of taking breaths from the bottle of air, though I suppose it’s possible that Belkar could explain it to him/train him to do so.

For some reason I was under the impression that one could simply uncork a bottle of air and it would make the atmosphere breathable if the volume you needed it to affect was small enough, but I can't find anything that would confirm this. Guess that's up to the DM.

[martianmister]

He's dead.

[PopeLinus1]

Step 1: Stick your hand in the bag.
Step 2: Say Carbon Dioxide.

[Draconi Redfir]

Alternate theory:

It's not a bag of holding. it's just a regular old mundane bag.
but it HOLDS stuff, so Belkar calls it a "Bag of holding".

air passes through freely with no issue.

[Mad Humanist]

I am wondering if 10 minutes have passed since Belkar closed the bag. Taking him out whilst still in the forcecage would have been smart.

I just noticed that in 1107 Minrah says she joined up "ten minutes ago". I guess it could easily be less than that as this utterance came under some emotional pressure, but it would drive one to the conclusion that...


He's dead.

[RatElemental]

Step 1: Stick your hand in the bag.
Step 2: Say Carbon Dioxide.

Think that would only work with a haversack. :smallbiggrin:

[D.One]

Surely then in subsequent strips we'd see Belkar holding the bag.

Of course we will, after all, that's what it's made for. It's not a bag of not-holding... :smallbiggrin:

[Peelee]

Think that would only work with a haversack. :smallbiggrin:

Those things sound handy.

[brian 333]

Yeah, ten minutes according to the SRD.

Even if that were not the case, the maximum volume of the bag, minus the volume of items inside, is very small. Filling an empty BoH with fresh air, or even pure oxygen, won't end well.

For example, a volume of 250 cubic feet is a cube of 75 inches on each side, (so a 2 meter box for our Euro friends.) Cells in Alcatraz are bigger. And it's more likely you'd quickly asphixiate due to CO2 accumulation rather than lack of oxygen.

In an industrial job such a space would be considered far too dangerous for occupation by a worker without forced air ventillation. If one of my guys went in before such a space was cleared by the safety department, with air quality monitoring in place, I would have to send that employee home and evaluate what corrective action will prevent such an act from being repeated.

[Sermil]

In an industrial job such a space would be considered far too dangerous for occupation by a worker without forced air ventillation. If one of my guys went in before such a space was cleared by the safety department, with air quality monitoring in place, I would have to send that employee home and evaluate what corrective action will prevent such an act from being repeated.

Somehow, I doubt that reading up on OSHA regs was at the top of Belkar's to-do list. :smallwink:

[Liquor Box]

O-chul is bigger than the lizard, he'd consume oxygen much faster than Bloodfeast.


In addition to the lizard being smaller, I believe that reptiles respire more efficiently than humans. I'm not sure that it was the Giant's thinking, but it would have been reasonable to allow the Bloodfeast to live perhaps 100 times longer in the bag than O-Chul.

[brian 333]

The spell description says 10 minutes with no other qualifier. A stickler would say, "it's alive, ten minutes."
As DM, I'd allow it if it was a setup for a joke.

[Peelee]

The spell description says 10 minutes with no other qualifier.

It actually says "up to ten minutes." So there is a qualifier.