What is the point of a portable hole?

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How does a Portable Hole work? (See first comment)

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VulcanHero of Dragonsfoot

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Parzival wrote:Option 1. If something’s sticking out, the hole can’t be closed.

Though I rather like the idea which I had long assumed inspired the portable hole— the Roadrunner hole. I don’t remember this being represented as being able contain anything, but was an actual hole through whatever surface it was placed upon. There did seem to be a practical limit to its depth (as it never produced a huge eruption of magma from the Earth’s core...), but it could pass through several feet of solid rock. I love the idea of this thing being a passage through any surface, even a vertical surface (like a wall). Of course, the instant passage element of this would make it an extremely powerful device, probably game-breaking (at least at low levels), and certainly therefore assumes that it would be extremely rare or even unique— practically an artifact, probably produced by a god of mischief.

I wonder if anybody ever wrote one up?

In other words, a portable passwall.

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by EOTB » Thu Nov 28, 2019 7:46 pm

Xabloyan wrote: I just don't get why you come across as unnecessarily prescriptive and dogmatic on what the item can and can't do.

My post was in the voice of a DM making a final ruling in their campaign, as much as a reply. The question put me in the same frame of mind. The dogmatic nature wasn't due to the people I was replying to, if that makes sense.

Xabloyan wrote:Thinking of things to do is part of the fun...a big part of the joy of players thinking of uses for the item is gone.

I get that - there's both a creative exercise to this stuff and a practical one. When I put this this idea-disk in the plinko machine and follow it down the pegs, it always seems to end up a slot where I'm envisioning things that alter the challenge dynamic in ways that I suspect cross over from fun to not-fun; it's not all that fun to have an easy button against some obstacles, or for your enemies to have one against the obstacles you can put against them. That's all. If a portable hole had charges that plinko machine path would be entirely different. Yeah, it's cloth, and item saves aren't great, but when players have had one they've managed to stay around for a while.

If it helps, even though these two things are not the same, in terms of the dynamic coming out of their use that I dislike - I would equate a not-there screen to an item that could teleport groups of people without either risk or charges. Both of them have very creative uses which I don't think makes playing the game a more interesting activity.

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VulcanHero of Dragonsfoot

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Vulcan » Thu Nov 28, 2019 7:49 pm

Xabloyan wrote:

EOTB wrote:

Xabloyan wrote:It's interesting to me that your dogmatic stance isn't supported by the rules themselves.

I mean, "the portable hole is only intended to allow increased carrying capacity" is such a reduction of the potential applications of the item. It clearly says right in the item text that you can climb in, fold it up, and bring the entrance in with you, leaving nothing behind, but that you can only stay in if you do that for a turn or so. That's a refuge for multiple people, not a carrying capacity thing at all. But you seem insistent on denying any refuge or defensive use of the item. Is it because you think you fail to have the imagination to adjudicate it fairly?

I've already said that "refuge" is within what I see as carrying capacity. Clearly the "space" aspect of it is not what I've been talking about. We disagree on this; no need for your last sentence.

I just don't get why you come across as unnecessarily prescriptive and dogmatic on what the item can and can't do. I mean, I can see where people are coming from when they say "the hole only works when it's lying flat" - that's not how I interpret the item, but I understand if somebody else wants to rule that way. What I don't get is your "it can only do these things and not any other things because I say so" approach. It seems like a failure of the imagination, and it seems like the same approach, when you take some other DMG items that are even more poorly defined, like Nolzur's pigments or the Quaal's feather tree, would lead to even more unnecessary limitations. These items are written up in the DMG as pretty open-ended for a reason - to allow player creativity with them.

I mean: You have a feather that turns into a 100' tall oak tree on command? What can you do with that? Thinking of things to do is part of the fun.
If the DM says "Yeah, it's intended to be a barrier, and you can only use it as a barrier" and then refuses to allow players to use it for other things (climbing over a cliff, breaking open a stockade, rupturing a purple worm to escape once swallowed, etc) a big part of the joy of players thinking of uses for the item is gone.
Same with considering the portable hole just an extra-large bag of holding with no other uses, at least for me.

My players tend to abuse such things when left too open-ended. It takes all the challenge out of the game for them, and ultimately winds up being not much fun for everyone after a couple sessions.

Your mileage may vary, of course. You do what's the most fun for your games; I'll do what's the most fun for mine.

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Varl » Thu Nov 28, 2019 8:51 pm

garhkal wrote:IIRC its only the hewards handy haversack, that 'puts what you are looking for on the top of the pile of stuff inside it'.. SO extending that to both portable holes and bags of holding, imo is kind of neutering one of the few special things the HHH has going for it.

The Portable Hole, and the largest Bag of Holding, each create one quite large extradimensional space, so without actually jumping inside, how would I retrieve my cushy chair and cask of wine to share with the party if the magic of these items doesn't retrieve them for me? An HHH has three bags in one item.

I'm on a permanent vacation to the soul. -Tash Sultana, Cigarettes.

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Xabloyan » Thu Nov 28, 2019 9:15 pm

Varl wrote:

garhkal wrote:IIRC its only the hewards handy haversack, that 'puts what you are looking for on the top of the pile of stuff inside it'.. SO extending that to both portable holes and bags of holding, imo is kind of neutering one of the few special things the HHH has going for it.

The Portable Hole, and the largest Bag of Holding, each create one quite large extradimensional space, so without actually jumping inside, how would I retrieve my cushy chair and cask of wine to share with the party if the magic of these items doesn't retrieve them for me? An HHH has three bags in one item.

The PH, you pretty much have to jump in to look for something. Like going into your walk-in closet, it's about as big.
The BoH, you can't really fit in unless you're halfling sized, but you can dump it out or reach in and rummage through things to find what you want.

The UA magic items (HHH, Pouch of Accessibility, Girdle of Many Pouches, Quiver of Ehlonna etc) all have this extra utility that the content you desire is always to hand when you reach in for it. That's specific to them, and divides them from the hole and bag, which have much larger capacity to make up for their lack of a search function.

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Mock26 » Thu Nov 28, 2019 10:24 pm

Varl wrote:

garhkal wrote:IIRC its only the hewards handy haversack, that 'puts what you are looking for on the top of the pile of stuff inside it'.. SO extending that to both portable holes and bags of holding, imo is kind of neutering one of the few special things the HHH has going for it.

The Portable Hole, and the largest Bag of Holding, each create one quite large extradimensional space, so without actually jumping inside, how would I retrieve my cushy chair and cask of wine to share with the party if the magic of these items doesn't retrieve them for me? An HHH has three bags in one item.

I run things that with a bag of holding you can reach in and pull out what you need, much like you would pulling something out of a normal sized sack. For a portable hole you have to climb inside to get what you need. One of the things I like about this approach for the portable hole is that it allows for more creative use than just a place to carry things. Having to climb inside is a small price to pay for all that weight-less carrying capacity.

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Varl » Fri Nov 29, 2019 6:07 am

Mock26 wrote:I run things that with a bag of holding you can reach in and pull out what you need, much like you would pulling something out of a normal sized sack. For a portable hole you have to climb inside to get what you need. One of the things I like about this approach for the portable hole is that it allows for more creative use than just a place to carry things. Having to climb inside is a small price to pay for all that weight-less carrying capacity.

Okay, I can live with yours and Xab's rationale on these. The only thing I have issue with regarding having to get inside a Portable Hole to retrieve things is if you place it on the ground. That's not a step in situation; it's more like a fall down one. Now if it can be used as Xabloyan explains, where it is akin to a walk-in closet, I can get behind that. I used to work construction, and I've been inside a four foot deep hole to remove large rocks that were in the way. Even in my 20s, I couldn't just climb right out. I needed a hand. Good thing a character never uses this item alone, eh?

I'm on a permanent vacation to the soul. -Tash Sultana, Cigarettes.

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by garhkal » Fri Nov 29, 2019 6:24 am

Xabloyan wrote: I just don't get why you come across as unnecessarily prescriptive and dogmatic on what the item can and can't do.

Maybe because that's how we envision that item to be?

Varl wrote:

garhkal wrote:IIRC its only the hewards handy haversack, that 'puts what you are looking for on the top of the pile of stuff inside it'.. SO extending that to both portable holes and bags of holding, imo is kind of neutering one of the few special things the HHH has going for it.

The Portable Hole, and the largest Bag of Holding, each create one quite large extradimensional space, so without actually jumping inside, how would I retrieve my cushy chair and cask of wine to share with the party if the magic of these items doesn't retrieve them for me? An HHH has three bags in one item.

You answered your own question... You'd jump inside.

Confuscious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Mock26 » Fri Nov 29, 2019 6:56 am

Varl wrote:

Mock26 wrote:I run things that with a bag of holding you can reach in and pull out what you need, much like you would pulling something out of a normal sized sack. For a portable hole you have to climb inside to get what you need. One of the things I like about this approach for the portable hole is that it allows for more creative use than just a place to carry things. Having to climb inside is a small price to pay for all that weight-less carrying capacity.

Okay, I can live with yours and Xab's rationale on these. The only thing I have issue with regarding having to get inside a Portable Hole to retrieve things is if you place it on the ground. That's not a step in situation; it's more like a fall down one. Now if it can be used as Xabloyan explains, where it is akin to a walk-in closet, I can get behind that. I used to work construction, and I've been inside a four foot deep hole to remove large rocks that were in the way. Even in my 20s, I couldn't just climb right out. I needed a hand. Good thing a character never uses this item alone, eh?

Put a ladder inside the portable hole and build shelves around the inside and on the top shelf secure some boxes or chests and put important items inside (making sure the top of the storage device does not rise up above the lip of the hole). Then when you lay out the portable hole your important stuff is right there within quick reach and if you need something else just climb down the ladder.

To me the portable hole has its own internal gravity so that for general usage things inside do not move around or fall down. When you open it up "normally" everything inside is just as you left it. You can deliberately open the portable hole upside down or vertically and have things inside fall all over the place, but as I said, through normal use the items inside do not move around.

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by garhkal » Fri Nov 29, 2019 7:20 pm

I've had some use walls to put it on, and have the inside, organized with shelving in... Sort of like their own walk in closet.

Confuscious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Xabloyan » Fri Nov 29, 2019 7:55 pm

idk about you guys but it's a "portable hole" not a portable shed. building shelves and so on inside it seems kinda twee

I wonder, though, about the nature of the sides and floor of the hole itself, within the extradimensional space. I mean I doubt they are the kind of thing that you can bolt or nail stuff to

I've always kind of envisioned it like the insides of a rope trick space. Rather than having "walls" per se (leading to the question of what is outside the walls) it just kinda ends, magically. nothing to touch, no sort of barrier, but it has finite size.

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Mock26 » Fri Nov 29, 2019 8:04 pm

Parzival wrote:Portable passage: This appears to be a round black cloth roughly 3’ in diameter. If placed on a relatively contiguous, non-magical surface, as the ground, the floor, a wall, or even a ceiling, or any other similar consistent surface, the cloth will adhere to the surface and create a smooth-sided circular passage through the surface. The passage will be exactly the thickness of the surface itself, to a maximum length (or depth) of 10’. If placed on a surface thicker than 10’, the passage will instead be a cylindrical hole 3’ in diameter by 10’ deep. The entire diameter of the hole must be able to be spread across the surface for the magic to work. The surface can be curved, wavy or even rough, so long as no protuberances extend further than 1/2” from the bulk of the surface. The portable passage cannot wrap around an angled corner.
The passage can be removed from either side, returning to the appearance of a black cloth. If the passage is used to create a cylindrical hole with no other exit, the passage cannot be closed as long as something is in the hole.
Stretching the passage in mid-air does not create a hole— it must fully adhere to a surface to function.

How about that one?

Very nice. I am definitely incorporating this into my game, but I am going to have it come in various "depths" at 5' intervals. So it could be 5' deep, 10', 15', etc. There really is no limit on how deep it would be, but the cost soon becomes extremely prohibitive. And, when you use it as a passage you have to travel the entire distance. So if you have one that is 30' deep and place it on a 1" thick door you still have to travel 30' to get through the door.

VulcanHero of Dragonsfoot

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Vulcan » Sat Nov 30, 2019 12:06 am

Varl wrote:

garhkal wrote:IIRC its only the hewards handy haversack, that 'puts what you are looking for on the top of the pile of stuff inside it'.. SO extending that to both portable holes and bags of holding, imo is kind of neutering one of the few special things the HHH has going for it.

The Portable Hole, and the largest Bag of Holding, each create one quite large extradimensional space, so without actually jumping inside, how would I retrieve my cushy chair and cask of wine to share with the party if the magic of these items doesn't retrieve them for me? An HHH has three bags in one item.

Ah... by jumping inside. That's how they work BTB. Getting stuff out of them can be quite time-consuming if there's a lot of junk in there.

The volume those items contain make them more portable closets than anything else. Or if you're playing a halfling, a two-story apartment fits in a portable hole quite nicely. A featherbed will fit quite nicely in a large bag of holding; you just have to assemble it inside the bag.

VulcanHero of Dragonsfoot

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Vulcan » Sat Nov 30, 2019 12:08 am

Varl wrote:

Mock26 wrote:I run things that with a bag of holding you can reach in and pull out what you need, much like you would pulling something out of a normal sized sack. For a portable hole you have to climb inside to get what you need. One of the things I like about this approach for the portable hole is that it allows for more creative use than just a place to carry things. Having to climb inside is a small price to pay for all that weight-less carrying capacity.

Okay, I can live with yours and Xab's rationale on these. The only thing I have issue with regarding having to get inside a Portable Hole to retrieve things is if you place it on the ground. That's not a step in situation; it's more like a fall down one. Now if it can be used as Xabloyan explains, where it is akin to a walk-in closet, I can get behind that. I used to work construction, and I've been inside a four foot deep hole to remove large rocks that were in the way. Even in my 20s, I couldn't just climb right out. I needed a hand. Good thing a character never uses this item alone, eh?

After finding a portable hole, your next purchase should always be a ladder for that very reason.

VulcanHero of Dragonsfoot

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Vulcan » Sat Nov 30, 2019 12:10 am

Xabloyan wrote:idk about you guys but it's a "portable hole" not a portable shed. building shelves and so on inside it seems kinda twee

I wonder, though, about the nature of the sides and floor of the hole itself, within the extradimensional space. I mean I doubt they are the kind of thing that you can bolt or nail stuff to

I've always kind of envisioned it like the insides of a rope trick space. Rather than having "walls" per se (leading to the question of what is outside the walls) it just kinda ends, magically. nothing to touch, no sort of barrier, but it has finite size.

No, you certainly don't want to nail anything to the material of the portable hole itself.

Nothing says you can't make a wooden cylindrical liner for it, though, and nail stuff to the liner...

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Ravens Craig » Sat Nov 30, 2019 2:12 am

Vulcan wrote:No, you certainly don't want to nail anything to the material of the portable hole itself.

Nothing says you can't make a wooden cylindrical liner for it, though, and nail stuff to the liner...

A portable hole makes no mention of being subject to punctures, nor does it have a weight limit or any means of being ruptured other than another extra-dimensional space.. It is a very well defined space though so building an interior seems to be the best idea. Even adding a fresh water storage tank to the bottom wood be a good idea.

If done right, it would make a great refuge provided no one folds you in.

I would also point out that a portable doesn't form an extra-dimensional space until it is spread out, one cannot "wear" a normal one, though there was one that was made to be worn which only provide an AC benefit of +1. This version, known as a personal portable hole made its appearance in 2nd edition.

There is a specific way the game was designed and intended to be played upon which all the expansion supplements and rules are contingent.

"The AD&D game system does not allow the injection of extraneous material. That is clearly stated in the rule books. It is thus a simple matter: Either one plays the AD&D game, or one plays something else, just as one either plays poker according to Hoyle, or one plays (Western) chess by tournament rules, or one does not." - Gary Gygax

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Mock26 » Sat Nov 30, 2019 5:20 am

Ravens Craig wrote:I would also point out that a portable doesn't form an extra-dimensional space until it is spread out,

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Son of Bear » Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:39 am

I voted option three. I use the standard D&D usage plus

the Acme Portable Hole usage

plus see this link

and I like the liquid portable hole paint that is a magic item you can also manufacture and use.

I think all of these are a lot of fun, because the players find so many ways to get themselves into a pickle with it.

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Ravens Craig » Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:46 am

Mock26 wrote:

Ravens Craig wrote:I would also point out that a portable doesn't form an extra-dimensional space until it is spread out,

Please go point that out somewhere else. I am not interested in the official item description in the Dungeon Master's Guide. I am already familiar with how the item works. I am asking how individuals run the item, as evidenced by the first three words of this discussion, "In your game."

Well it is an open forum and we are free to address other comments made which I was doing, not actually responding to your initial post. Hopefully that clarifies your confusion.

You asked how people use it, and "in my game" it is as per the rules with the additional errata to prevent silly occurrences, misuse, and inconsistency. Allowing things to be misused generally creates abuse and misuse that some have pointed out and have also stated that they won't allow the item to be used in such a way. As to what happens when an extra-dimensional space entrance disappears, it sounds like it does not necessarily sever things as one can pick up the edges of the cloth from the inside which one would have reach outside of portable hole to grab. Perhaps if something is caught between the two planes and cannot be displaced one way or the other than yes.

There is a specific way the game was designed and intended to be played upon which all the expansion supplements and rules are contingent.

"The AD&D game system does not allow the injection of extraneous material. That is clearly stated in the rule books. It is thus a simple matter: Either one plays the AD&D game, or one plays something else, just as one either plays poker according to Hoyle, or one plays (Western) chess by tournament rules, or one does not." - Gary Gygax

MOTPLesser Deity of Dragonsfoot

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by MOTP » Sat Nov 30, 2019 7:25 am

I didn't know that the person who starts a thread becomes a mod for it. I very much like how most DF threads wander around, just like good conversations with smart people who think for themselves.

"Lord, when shall we be done growing? As long as we have anything more to do, we have done nothing. So, now let us add Moby Dick to our blessing, and step from that. Leviathan is not the biggest fish; - I have heard of Krakens."
- Herman Melville, writing to Nathanial Hawthorne

Post by medallion of thought projection

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by skalding » Sat Nov 30, 2019 3:26 pm

Xabloyan wrote:idk about you guys but it's a "portable hole" not a portable shed. building shelves and so on inside it seems kinda twee.

IMC a party used a box/bag-within-a-bag approach for a bag of holding. Meaning they simply had a large box with all their "domestic" stuff in it, and another box with their cookware, etc. That way they weren't pulling out the skillet, then the tongs, then the spare bow strings, before finally getting to that bundle of crossbow quarrels. There's no reason a portable hole couldn't hold several trunks with segregated items in them.

(PS - Didn't say overtly, but completely agree re: modular shelving and hook image. But the DM could always place a "shrinkable shed" for the longstanding players who really wanted that particular ongoing itch scratched. If any such exist. )

MOTP wrote:I didn't know that the person who starts a thread becomes a mod for it. I very much like how most DF threads wander around, just like good conversations with smart people who think for themselves.

Depends. Some threads are curated more by their creators than others, especially if the thread is devoted to a specific narrow topic or request for information or a particular problem. Also, while the various rule iterations are always a good touchstone or datapoint for ongoing discussions, some posters occasionally add a dash of stridency, a pinch of dogmatism, and a sprinkle of foolish consistency, making the community sourced dish taste like a hobgoblin's ampit.

Last edited by skalding on Sat Nov 30, 2019 4:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: How does a portable hole work in your game?

Post by Mock26 » Sat Nov 30, 2019 4:45 pm

Xabloyan wrote:idk about you guys but it's a "portable hole" not a portable shed. building shelves and so on inside it seems kinda twee

I started doing that because I once had a DM who told me it would take up to several hours for my character to find something inside that character's portable hole, because he just assumed that everything was randomly thrown in and accumulated in a pile at the bottom. He also required fragile items to make saving throws every time they were "dropped" into a portable hole or something else was "dropped" inside. He also required a strength check to get inside and another to get out, and if you failed you took falling damage. Yeah, I know full well that he was nowhere near to being a normal DM but ever since him I figured it is better to play it safe. Besides, saying that there are shelves inside takes seconds to write on your character sheet and can easily be hand waived by the DM and take less than a minute. "Fine, you build the shelves, they cost 2 gold pieces." Plus, it is fun to personalize a character and/or his items

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Zalman » Sat Nov 30, 2019 5:57 pm

Mock26 wrote:And, when you use it as a passage you have to travel the entire distance. So if you have one that is 30' deep and place it on a 1" thick door you still have to travel 30' to get through the door.

That's really good, thanks for sharing!

For the sake of alliteration, "Portable Passage" trumps "Portable Tunnel", and for that matter "Portable Pit" tops "Portable Hole".

Old School? Back in my day we just called it "School".

Re: How does a portable hole work?

Post by Zalman » Sat Nov 30, 2019 5:59 pm

ricks03 wrote:I use the BOH as L. Watt-Evans does - stuff comes out in the order it goes in.

I'm not familiar with L. Watt-Evans, but I like this a lot, very Mary Poppins. I would do last-in-first-out; maybe that's what you mean too.

Old School? Back in my day we just called it "School".

Re: How does a portable hole work in your game?

Post by Rune of Doom » Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:05 pm

Huh. I'd always assumed BtB portable holes needed to be laid flat to work, in addition to being opened to their full extent. But upon re-reading the description, I see it just says "When spread upon any surface" which should allow a curved surface of sufficient size. Anyway, I think it has to be fully opened in order for the access to the extra-dimensional space to be available, because as soon as you start folding (I would count even a little rolling as equivalent to folding) the "entrance disappears".

Rather than be a Killer DM and/or give the PCs a handy monomolecular slicer, I'd rule than anything sticking out (or sticking in) would be ejected in the direction of the larger part of the object (but not so forcefully as to cause damage), going in favor of the thing's 'side of origin' to resolve any edge cases. I.e. MU sticking their head and arms out when a gnome flips an edge up gets shunted down into the hole. Probing with the tip of a weapon when the hole closes gets the weapon pushed back as the entrance disappears and the extra-dimensional space becomes inaccessible. I would have someone or something get chopped in twain only if the hole is destroyed while they are partway through. I.e. if the MU using the hole as a sort of foxhole in the above example is affected by Mordenkainen's Disjunction that destroys the hole, they'd be decapitated. (Or possibly given a save vs. spell to drop into the hole safely. For definitions of "safely" that involve being stuck in an inaccessible pocket dimension with 10 minutes of air.)

I don't always use BtB portable holes though. I've had ones that are fold-able always-on gateways to their pocket dimensions, and ones that lead to pocket dimensions of different sizes. (Anywhere from a handkerchief with the internal volume of a large sack, to a regular seeming portable hole that was actually the gateway to a lich's lost fortress-tomb.) I've also used Knights of the Dinner Table's Bagworld approach on occasion, although the player have never noticed what I was doing.

One final note - I always have the gravity inside the hole be the same as that outside (except for Bagworld portals)... which means the contents can be tossed around when the hole is opened. (If, for example, the PCs fill the hole on a floor, but then spread it on a wall to access it later.) This does have the effect that the hole can always be "emptied out" by opening it on a ceiling. (Its made partly from the "webs of a phase spider" so of course it'll can be unfolded onto almost any suitable surface.)

Re: How does a portable hole work in your game?

Post by osrgamer » Sat Nov 30, 2019 8:29 pm

Option 4:

However it works when Wile E. Coyote uses it.

Crom is your god, Crom and he lives in the earth. Once, giants lived in the Earth, Conan. And in the darkness of chaos, they fooled Crom, and they took from him the enigma of steel. Crom was angered. And the Earth shook.

Re: How does a portable hole work in your game?

Post by garhkal » Sat Nov 30, 2019 9:56 pm

Looking into all these answers, i think from now on, i'll have portable holes (FOR GAMES I RUN) work thusly.

A portable hole is a circle of magical cloth spun from the webs of a phase spider interwoven with strands of ether and beams of Astral plane luminaries.
When opened fully, a portable hole is 6 feet in diameter, but it can be folded as small as a pocket handkerchief. When spread upon any FLAT surface (Wall, floor, ceiling, large door) that can accommodate the full opening, it causes an extra-dimensional, “Pocket space, of 10 feet Cube feet (10x10x10). It cannot be spread out on a round/curved surface, or used to “wrap up a person”.
This hole can be "picked up" from inside or out by simply taking hold of the edges of the magical cloth and folding it up. Either way, the entrance disappears, but anything inside the hole remains.
Anything sticking out less than half a foot, when the edges are curled in, to close it (or someone starts folding it), gets shunted inside, while anything sticking out longer, gets ejected OUTWARD.
Unlike bags of holding, a Portable Hole, does not need worry about getting 'pierced' by sharp objects, and often those who own them, put in shelves/ladders and the like, to make it easier to get in/out to grab stuff.
While a person can step inside (or drop inside), and fold it up from the inside, they are unable to move the opening, for when they re-open the 'door-way'.
The only oxygen in the hole is that allowed by creation of the space, so creatures requiring the gas cannot remain inside for more than a turn or so without opening the space again by means of the magical cloth. The cloth does not accumulate weight even if its hole is filled (with gold, for example). Each portable hole opens on its own particular non*dimensional space.
If a bag of holding is placed within a portable hole, a rift to the Astral Plane is torn in the space, and the bag and the cloth are sucked into the void and forever lost. If a portable hole is placed within a bag of holding, it opens a gate to another plane, and the hole, bag, and any creatures within a 10-foot radius are drawn to the Astral Plane, the portable hole and bag of holding being destroyed in the process.

Confuscious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

Re: How does a portable hole work in your game?

Post by Ravens Craig » Sat Nov 30, 2019 10:53 pm

garhkal wrote:Looking into all these answers, i think from now on, i'll have portable holes (FOR GAMES I RUN) work thusly.

A portable hole is a circle of magical cloth spun from the webs of a phase spider interwoven with strands of ether and beams of Astral plane luminaries.
When opened fully, a portable hole is 6 feet in diameter, but it can be folded as small as a pocket handkerchief. When spread upon any FLAT surface (Wall, floor, ceiling, large door) that can accommodate the full opening, it causes an extra-dimensional, “Pocket space, of 10 feet Cube feet (10x10x10). It cannot be spread out on a round/curved surface, or used to “wrap up a person”.
This hole can be "picked up" from inside or out by simply taking hold of the edges of the magical cloth and folding it up. Either way, the entrance disappears, but anything inside the hole remains.
Anything sticking out less than half a foot, when the edges are curled in, to close it (or someone starts folding it), gets shunted inside, while anything sticking out longer, gets ejected OUTWARD.
Unlike bags of holding, a Portable Hole, does not need worry about getting 'pierced' by sharp objects, and often those who own them, put in shelves/ladders and the like, to make it easier to get in/out to grab stuff.
While a person can step inside (or drop inside), and fold it up from the inside, they are unable to move the opening, for when they re-open the 'door-way'.
The only oxygen in the hole is that allowed by creation of the space, so creatures requiring the gas cannot remain inside for more than a turn or so without opening the space again by means of the magical cloth. The cloth does not accumulate weight even if its hole is filled (with gold, for example). Each portable hole opens on its own particular non*dimensional space.
If a bag of holding is placed within a portable hole, a rift to the Astral Plane is torn in the space, and the bag and the cloth are sucked into the void and forever lost. If a portable hole is placed within a bag of holding, it opens a gate to another plane, and the hole, bag, and any creatures within a 10-foot radius are drawn to the Astral Plane, the portable hole and bag of holding being destroyed in the process.

Why did you make it 10' cube instead of a 6' diameter by 10' deep hole?

I do like that you went with laying it out flat, could be interesting on spreading it out on a wall as you might need a few people to hold it in place. If one were to enter it from a vertical position, would you change the orientation of the relative gravity as well? Or would down always be perpendicular to the opening?

There is a specific way the game was designed and intended to be played upon which all the expansion supplements and rules are contingent.

"The AD&D game system does not allow the injection of extraneous material. That is clearly stated in the rule books. It is thus a simple matter: Either one plays the AD&D game, or one plays something else, just as one either plays poker according to Hoyle, or one plays (Western) chess by tournament rules, or one does not." - Gary Gygax

What is a portable hole used for?

How long can you survive in a portable hole?

What happens when a portable hole is destroyed?