Bag of Holding and Detect Magic

[fusangite]

I have an important technical question. I fear that I have been misinterpreting the rules and allowing the contents of a PC's Bag of Holding to show up on NPCs' detect magic spells. Have I done wrong?

 

[Dinkeldog]

Take a ride on the Rules Railroad. If you pass Go, you may collect $200.

 

[Vaxalon]

The bag itself would radiate magic.

 

[Simplicity]

I think the question was: Would the items IN the bag show up (i.e. say there was an artifact in there... would there be a very strong aura?).

In general, detect magic can penetrate barriers (see the spell description). So, you would see the aura through a normal bag.

The question lies in whether the stuff in the bag is residing in your plane, or whether it is in some other plane when inside the bag. The description of the bag of holding says that the bag opens into a 'non-dimensional space', rather than specifically saying that the stuff inside the bag is on another plane. In that case, I would say that yes, you can see the auras of items within a bag of holding.

 

[Tessarael]

My basic assumption is that when you Detect Magic, you get the aura of the Bag of Holding, not what is in it. Now if you cast Detect Magic and looked into the Bag of Holding while holding it open, you see everything in the extradimensional space and can detect their auras.

Up to the DM really. Do you want characters being able to hide items with strong auras in a Bag of Holding? Keep in mind that they could just cast a 1st level spell, Nystul's Magic Aura to hide the aura.

 

[Steverooo]

I have an important technical question. I fear that I have been misinterpreting the rules and allowing the contents of a PC's Bag of Holding to show up on NPCs' detect magic spells. Have I done wrong?

IMO, yes.

The bag radiates magic, of course. Things within extra-/non-dimensional spaces are (basically) on another plane(let). I don't allow them to be detected.

 

[Moonglum]

I agree with Steveroo. It's a non-dimensional space, meaning it's not of this dimension. My interpretation of the detect magic spell is that it can not see through dimensional barriers. Of course, if the Bag of Holding is open at the time that detect magic is used, then I would probably allow the caster to detect the items inside.

 

[jgsugden]

OTOH, perhaps they can see through the bag and into the 'non-dimensional' space.

In other words, there is no firm answer for this question. Feel free to make any decision you want. Just use it consistently.

 

[fusangite]

Thanks for these responses guys. I'll give my player an apology at tonight's game.