Portable Holes, Ring Gates.

[Mastaziel]

So, as I level the value and quality of Loot goes up. But there are times when I get that value in low denominations, and every copper adds weight. Bags of holding are great, but still max out after a long crawl with alot of copper and heavy valuable Loot.

Note: I'm playing a Dwarf, with Greed as a domain. In the past he spent 3-4 game days, slowly removing 100gp pearls from the top of a Sarcophagus. So leaving even a single copper behind goes against his world view. Another PC uses copper coins to attempt to incite responses from traps and possible hidden monsters. After the coast is clear, my character always pockets the coin.

Also, I currently have a clone. So if I die, I don't want to lose accumulated loot as well as my gear. (Though looking at getting my gear set up with a contingency, too Teleport Object/s if I die or something).

The Point: I had the idea of a Ring Gate, set up in a moving ceiling. The ceiling would move the Ring Gate from vault to vault. Each vault would have guardians, and/or inhospitable environment. Pour Loot in until the vault is full, and trigger the ceiling to move to the next vault ready to be filled.

Problem: But Ring Gates can only move 100lbs/day.

Ring Gates

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These always come in pairs—two iron rings, each about 18 inches in diameter. The rings must be on the same plane of existence and within 100 miles of each other to function. Whatever is put through one ring comes out the other, and up to 100 pounds of material can be transferred each day. (Objects only partially pushed through and then retracted do not count.) This useful device allows for instantaneous transport of items or messages, and even attacks. A character can reach through to grab things near the other ring, or even stab a weapon through if so desired. Alternatively, a character could stick his head through to look around. A spellcaster could even cast a spell through a ring gate. A Small character can make a DC 13 Escape Artist check to slip through. Creatures of Tiny, Diminutive, or Fine size can pass through easily. Each ring has a "entry side" and an "exit side," both marked with appropriate symbols.

Strong conjuration; CL 17th; Craft Wondrous Item, gate; Price 40,000 gp; Weight 1 lb. each.

I could teleport myself out of the location and stash my Loot. And other than dungeons that may be dimensionally locked, that'd work. But stopping mid crawl, to pop home to have tea and crumpets, seems a bit wrong.

Portable Holes are good, but still have a limited amount of storage.

Portable Hole

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A portable hole is a circle of cloth spun from the webs of a phase spider interwoven with strands of ether and beams of starlight. When opened fully, a portable hole is 6 feet in diameter, but it can be folded up to be as small as a pocket handkerchief. When spread upon any surface, it causes an extradimensional space 10 feet deep to come into being. This hole can be picked up from inside or out by simply taking hold of the edges of the cloth and folding it up. Either way, the entrance disappears, but anything inside the hole remains.

The only air in the hole is that which enters when the hole is opened. It contains enough air to supply one Medium creature or two Small creatures for 10 minutes. The cloth does not accumulate weight even if its hole is filled. Each portable hole opens on its own particular nondimensional space. If a bag of holding is placed within a portable hole, a rift to the Astral Plane is torn in that place. Both 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 the Astral Plane. The hole, the bag, and any creatures within a 10-foot radius are drawn there, the portable hole and bag of holding being destroyed in the process.

Moderate conjuration; CL 12th; Craft Wondrous Item, plane shift; Price 20,000 gp.

So...., can I fill a Portable Hole with Loot, pass it safely through a Ring Gate, and either drop it, or open the Portable Hole against the ceiling and let the contents fall out?

I'm gonna talk to the Google about making a Ring Gate with greater/unlimited transfer rate. And if not pose the question to her.
Just interested in what everyone thinks.

Thanks

[Cruiser1]

can I fill a Portable Hole with Loot, pass it safely through a Ring Gate, and either drop it, or open the Portable Hole against the ceiling and let the contents fall out?

This is what you want. Pass the Portable Hole through the Ring Gate, empty it out once on the other side, then pull the Portable Hole back through. A Portable Hole is so light that it has no listed weight, therefore you can dump many Portable Holes filled with loot before reaching the 100 pound daily limit of the Ring Gates. (The weight of your hands holding the Portable Hole will contribute more to the limit than the weight of the Portable Hole itself.)

[Zakerst]

As Cruiser1 said this is likely the best stratagem, however be sure to be able to manipulate things through the other side (long poles, or shape sand, or super long tongs ect.) also be careful of how you set up your revolving safes or else you may find your ring gates not functioning as intended, after all as it seems to be set up there is no way to retrieve items assuming once passed through they can't go back through the entrance side of a ring gate.

[Rubik]

There're planar gates, which have a MUCH higher capacity, but each gate must be on a different plane to function, and they're a LOT more expensive.

Since the MIC gives pricing rules for combining magical item qualities, how about combining a glove of the master strategist (3,600 gp, Ghostwalk) and a handy haversack? You use the glove, it shrinks the item and stores it in your haversack at 1/4,000 the mass (which multiplies your storage capacity by that much). You can then retrieve it to your hand as a free action (IIRC).

Combine with an eveloping pit for a ridiculous amount of storage space for cheap.

[Mastaziel]

As Cruiser1 said this is likely the best stratagem, however be sure to be able to manipulate things through the other side (long poles, or shape sand, or super long tongs ect.) also be careful of how you set up your revolving safes or else you may find your ring gates not functioning as intended, after all as it seems to be set up there is no way to retrieve items assuming once passed through they can't go back through the entrance side of a ring gate.

Yeah, the vaults would be in my stronghold. So I'd retrieve the loot manually when needed. Had thought about setting constructs in the vaults to sort and categorize Loot etc.

Also, the whole one way thing is a bit weird. It states you could put your head in and look around, but if matter can't go back out... How does that work? You'd have your head stuck.
It could be, one ring is the entry ring and the other the exit, or each ring has an opening on one side only. So left to right through the ring is a gate, right to left is nothing(a normal mundane ring)?

There're planar gates, which have a MUCH higher capacity, but each gate must be on a different plane to function, and they're a LOT more expensive.

Since the MIC gives pricing rules for combining combining magical item qualities, how about combining a glove of the master strategist (3,600 gp, Ghostwalk) and a handy haversack? You use the glove, it shrinks the item and stores it in your haversack at 1/4,000 the mass (which multiplies your storage capacity by that much). You can then retrieve it to your hand as a free action (IIRC).

Combine with an eveloping pit for a ridiculous amount of storage space for cheap.

Nice idea. I've also wondered... If a Portable Hole is kind of a demiplane, could one be constructed as a coexistent demiplane, linked to a personal demiplane? Not for travel. But if I had a demiplane, could I link the Portable Hole to a room within that demiplane?

I like the linked glove and backpack idea, gonna have a think about additional uses.

[Rubik]

Nice idea. I've also wondered... If a Portable Hole is kind of a demiplane, could one be constructed as a coexistent demiplane, linked to a personal demiplane? Not for travel. But if I had a demiplane, could I link the Portable Hole to a room within that demiplane?

Store a resized planar ring gate (make one Small sized or smaller) in the hole, and the other in your demiplane. Voila. Planar portals.

I like the linked glove and backpack idea, gonna have a think about additional uses.

I rather like it.

Don't forget the caster glove (20,000 gp, from the MIC). If you take off the cost for the glove of storing and add the GotMS I mentioned above instead, you get a lot of very nice benefits for 10,000 gp.

[JET73L]

The main problem with this would be making sure the entirety of the portable hole doesn't go through the ring, so it can be pulled back. I don't know if portable holes can be opened while crossing an intra-plane portal, but tossing one through shouldn't be a problem. It would be expensive to carry around multiple portable holes and toss one through each time it fills up, but since you could retrieve them between dungeon crawls it would be a one-time expense, unlike the spell slots spent on Teleporting to and from your fortress (multiplied by however many hundreds of miles away it is). If you're tossing them through inter-planar portals, that would probably have the same issue as putting a portable hole into a bag of holding, but I don't see a problem with putting a permanent inter-planar portal inside of a portable hole.

[Rubik]

If you're tossing them through inter-planar portals, that would probably have the same issue as putting a portable hole into a bag of holding

No. That only happens if you're, y'know, tossing a portable hole into a bag of holding.

Tossing a portable hole into any other container has no effect whatsoever (unless said container's description says otherwise, of course).

[Segev]

On the plus side, I believe your hands - as part of you - would count as things passed partially through and then retracted, which, IIRC, specifically don't count against the daily weight limit. What you might want is to have an Unseen Servant on the other side whose job it is to set up the portable hole, dump out the contents, and then return the portable hole to you. It can then sort out the mess it just made while you go back to adventuring.

Heck, such a servant could carry the ring gate for you; probably cheaper than a moving ceiling with a permanently mounted ring gate.