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On pg. 291 of the Players Handbook (Appendix A: Conditions) it states that:

A petrified creature is transformed, along with any nonmagical object it is wearing or carrying, into a solid inanimate substance (usually stone). Its weight increases by a factor of ten, and it ceases aging.

(emphasis mine).

A Bag of Holding is a magical item, so it is not transformed when a creature carrying it is petrified.

But what happens to nonmagical items carried inside the Bag of Holding?

Are they protected from transformation because they are inside the untransformed magical bag?

Or do they become petrified inside the bag - increasing their weight by a factor of ten, and potentially causing the bag to exceed 500 pounds, the bag to rupturing, and its contents being scattered in the Astral Plane (PHB pg. 153) - because they are nonmagical items being carried by the petrified creature?

neek
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2 Answers2

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Objects on another plane are not being carried unless they are being carried on that plane.

First, it is important to observe that the interior of a bag of holding is another plane of existence. It is as much a different world as the Astral Sea or Avernus. Ergo, a bag of holding is nothing like a mundane satchel, except that on this side, it looks like one. Rather, it is a portal to another world, shaped like a bag. So step into that world and look at what’s inside: are its contents being carried or not? From that perspective, it should be obvious: objects inside a bag of holding are only being carried if they are being carried by a creature inside the pocket dimension. And in that particular case, they are being carried by that creature not the holder of the bag.

To use a reductio ad absurdum argument, suppose we had a bag of holding, except instead of leading to a pocket dimension, it leads to the Feywild. Are you now carrying everything in the Feywild? Obviously not. Such a phenomenon would be a way to petrify every nonmagical object in the Feywild, which is obviously not how any of this works.

And finally, we can observe that spells or effects that can effect creatures on another plane typically tell you how that works. For example, sending:

You can send the message across any distance and even to other planes of existence, but if the target is on a different plane than you, there is a 5 percent chance that the message doesn't arrive.

So to directly address the title question based on these observations, *nothing happens to things inside the bag when it’s holder is petrified.

Thomas Markov
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This depends on if you consider items in the bag to be carried

If the items count as carried, they will be petrified. If they do not, they will not be petrified. Unfortunately, there is no conclusion about the question Is something in a Bag of Holding carried?, so your DM must make a call.

Nobody the Hobgoblin
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  • To give some feedback on my downvote, it seems to me pretty obvious that I’m not carrying objects that are on an entirely different plane of existence. – Thomas Markov Jul 07 '23 at 09:00
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    (I also downvoted everyone on the linked question that wasn’t sure about this obvious fact). – Thomas Markov Jul 07 '23 at 09:19
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    @ThomasMarkovisonStrike Re: "this obvious fact". See: Facts, Inferences, and Judgements – Kirt Jul 07 '23 at 13:53
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    @ThomasMarkovisonStrike The conclusion that the inside of a bag of holding is another plane of existence requires some leaps of logic. It isn't explicitly stated anywhere. Some extradimensional spaces are clearly intended to be other planes, but some of them are "folds of reality", and folded space that defies dimensionality is not unambiguously another plane of existence. I think ruling that all extradimensional spaces are planar in nature causes a lot more problems than it solves. – Darth Pseudonym Jul 10 '23 at 13:25