Does an object count as "being moved" when placed in a Bag of Holding before its wielder moves, and then after moving they take the object out again?

Question

Context

The Eldritch Knight in my game is looking for ways to make the spell magic circle be used quickly in battle, since casting it takes one minute. He came up with casting glyph of warding on his armor, choosing the Spell Glyph option. So when needed, he could trigger the glyph for quick use of the stored spell. If I understand the glyph spell correctly, this would work, but it would also greatly limit his mobility:

When you cast this spell, you inscribe a glyph that later unleashes a magical effect. You inscribe it either on a surface (such as a table or a section of floor or wall) or within an object that can be closed (such as a book, a scroll, or a treasure chest) to conceal the glyph. The glyph can cover an area no larger than 10 feet in diameter. If you choose an object, that object must remain in its place; if the object is moved more than 10 feet from where you cast this spell, the glyph is broken, and the spell ends without being triggered. [...]

(emphasis mine)

Since mobility is quite useful in combat, he's now thinking of casting the glyph on some small object, which he then places inside the party's Bag of Holding:

This bag has an interior space considerably larger than its outside dimensions, roughly 2 feet in diameter at the mouth and 4 feet deep. [...]

Question

With this interaction, would he be able to use an action to retreive the item from the bag and then (for example) use Action Surge to trigger the glyph, instantly casting a stored spell (magic circle in this case)?

We're curious about how to interpret this by RAW, if possible.

Related: "Can a portable hole be used to get around the 10' movement restriction on Glyph of Warding? — Exempt-Medic, Aug 21 '19 at 12:36
@Vadruk I don't think that this question is a dupe. Bag of holding is different from the portable hole. The description of the bag does not say anything about its inside existing on a different plane so the reasoning applied in the other question is not necessarily valid. — Deeps, Aug 21 '19 at 13:12
Right, it looks like our table has been under the assumption that the inside of a Bag of Holding is a pocket dimension... for almost two years, woops. — Vadruk, Aug 21 '19 at 15:23
Semi-related: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/147013/38834 - The original question is about movement with something halfway-in/halfway-out, but may answer deals with moving a bag of holding and how it effects the contents. — MivaScott, Aug 21 '19 at 17:56

Ryan C. Thompson · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-21T15:32:46.017

26

This won't work, for several reasons

It's debatable whether a bag of holding's interior counts as a separate plane of existence in the way a portable hole does. If the bag doesn't open into a separate plane, then this plan obviously doesn't work. However, even if it does, the plan still doesn't work. First of all, measuring distance across planes is completely unspecified, so it's entirely up to the DM what happens when the glyph is placed into the bag after casting it. However, even if that works, as soon as the object with the glyph is removed from the bag, it has been "moved more than 10 feet from where you cast this spell", so the spell will end without the glyph activating. In short, even though the rules are ambiguous on the precise mechanics of what will happen, none of the ambiguities in the rules give you a way to move the glyph more than 10 feet away from where it was cast.

(Personally, if I were a DM, I would rule that bringing a glyph to another plane counts as moving it more than 10 feet away from where it was cast.)

edited Aug 21 '19 at 15:32

answered Aug 21 '19 at 15:07

Ryan C. Thompson

61,571
10
212
350

Unless you cast the glyph within the pocket dimension, and then take it out? – Vadruk Aug 21 '19 at 15:27
3

@Vadruk Enjoy casting a 1-hour spell with a verbal component with only 10 minutes of air, assuming you can even get into the bag. And once again, cross-planar distance is up to the DM. – Ryan C. Thompson Aug 21 '19 at 15:28
4

It pretty clearly is a separate plane of existence in the same way as a portable hole, because the portable hole's description mentions "Placing a portable hole inside an extradimensional space created by a bag of holding, handy haversack, or similar item..." – Mark Wells Aug 21 '19 at 15:35
1

@MarkWells I believe there's some ambiguity as to whether an "extradimensional space" is the same as a separate plane. Regardless, my answer is that it doesn't matter, because neither ruling gives you a way to move the glyph on the material plane. – Ryan C. Thompson Aug 21 '19 at 15:39
@RyanThompson The PC in question is a construct (homebrew animated armor), so he doesn't require air to breathe ;) – Vadruk Aug 21 '19 at 16:41
2

@RyanThompson Just to settle that tangent: Extradimensional spaces are separate planes (specifically, demiplanes). – SevenSidedDie Aug 21 '19 at 23:19
It's definitely unambiguous that extradimensional spaces are separate planes. – Thomas Markov Mar 18 '21 at 12:15

score 7 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 22 '19 at 02:31

7

Yes, this still counts as "being moved"

Unlike in the linked question Can a portable hole be used to get around the 10' movement restriction on Glyph of Warding?, the bag of holding's description does not say it creates a space on a different plane of existence.

Nothing in its description says that when you move the container, you don't also move the inside of it. Therefore, moving the bag breaks the Glyph of Warding movement condition.

edited Aug 22 '19 at 02:31

V2Blast

49,864
10
220
304

answered Aug 21 '19 at 13:19

Deeps

5,827
2
22
47

1

the bag of holding description does not say it creates a space on a different plane of existence this alone does not mean the gag does NOT creates such a space tho — https://twitter.com/mikemearls/status/753684706135191552 – enkryptor Aug 21 '19 at 15:32
The question specifically asks about RAW perspective. – Deeps Aug 21 '19 at 18:15

Dan Gravdahl · Answer 3 · 2021-03-18T16:03:04.810

Actually, the Bag of Holding and the Handy Haversack both count as extradimensional spaces, according to Portable Hole's own description text.

Last Paragraph Portable Hole's 5e item description:

Placing a portable hole inside an extradimensional space created by a Bag of Holding, Handy Haversack, or similar item instantly destroys both items and opens a gate to the Astral Plane. The gate originates where the one item was placed inside the other. Any creature within 10 feet of the gate is sucked through it and deposited in a random location on the Astral Plane. The gate then closes. The gate is one-way only and can't be reopened."

Handy Haversack and Bag of Holding also have similar paragraphs.

Whether moving between dimensions counts as more than 10 feet would have to be determined by you and the DM.

Does an object count as "being moved" when placed in a Bag of Holding before its wielder moves, and then after moving they take the object out again?

Context

Question

3 Answers3

This won't work, for several reasons

Yes, this still counts as "being moved"

Linked