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Old 01-04-2019, 11:57 PM   #1
scc
 
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Default [Magic] A Pound Takes Up 2 Cubic FEET?!

So I was doing some research on the Hideaway spell when I spotted this bit: "while increasing the size of the “inside” by 2 cubic feet for each pound;"

For those unaware of how absurd this is, a pound is roughly half a kilo. A litre of water weighs 1 kilo. A litre is a 10 centimetre cube and a cubic foot is a 30 centimetre cube, so there are 27 litres in a cubic foot and 54 litres in two cubic feet, so the amount of space given is 108 times what is need to store that much material.
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Old 01-05-2019, 12:25 AM   #2
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Default Re: [Magic] A Pound Takes Up 2 Cubic FEET?!

This spell is directly copied from the previous edition of Gurps Magic, and I think the writer was trying to emulate the D&D stand by "bag of Holding" which weighs a constant amount but can hold a predetermined volume of stuff based on that given "weight".
The way I read this is you can make a 2 pound bag for 200 mana (and take up no encumbrance) that can hold 4 cubic feet of stuff and will always weigh 2 pounds no matter what is put in it.
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Old 01-05-2019, 01:15 AM   #3
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Default Re: [Magic] A Pound Takes Up 2 Cubic FEET?!

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Originally Posted by pestigor View Post
The way I read this is you can make a 2 pound bag for 200 mana (and take up no encumbrance) that can hold 4 cubic feet of stuff and will always weigh 2 pounds no matter what is put in it.
No, I'll quote the entire sentence this time: "The caster may add any amount of pound-capacity he can afford, while increasing the size of the “inside” by 2 cubic feet for each pound;"

So two cubic feet are added to the bags inside for every pound of increased weight it can carry.
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Old 01-05-2019, 01:18 AM   #4
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Default Re: [Magic] A Pound Takes Up 2 Cubic FEET?!

Look at it this way - it lets you store very low-density objects without needing a lot of wasted mass limit.
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Old 01-05-2019, 01:31 AM   #5
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Default Re: [Magic] A Pound Takes Up 2 Cubic FEET?!

Quote:
Originally Posted by scc View Post
So two cubic feet are added to the bags inside for every pound of increased weight it can carry.
Yes. You have two limits, one of size and one of weight, stay within both when trying to stuff it full.
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Old 01-05-2019, 01:32 AM   #6
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Default Re: [Magic] A Pound Takes Up 2 Cubic FEET?!

You can't expect adventurers to just carry their Styrofoam out in the open, can you?

It does sound like it's intended to make volume a non-issue, so players could focus only on mass allowed.
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Old 01-05-2019, 01:48 AM   #7
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Default Re: [Magic] A Pound Takes Up 2 Cubic FEET?!

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You can't expect adventurers to just carry their Styrofoam out in the open, can you?
I've run the numbers and it's too much for even Styrofoam, that's got a density of 11g for litre at it's lightest, so 54 litres is 594g, noticeably more then a pound.

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It does sound like it's intended to make volume a non-issue, so players could focus only on mass allowed.
Then you make it an extra dimensional pocket that only cares about weight.
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Old 01-05-2019, 01:52 AM   #8
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Default Re: [Magic] A Pound Takes Up 2 Cubic FEET?!

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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
You can't expect adventurers to just carry their Styrofoam out in the open, can you?

It does sound like it's intended to make volume a non-issue, so players could focus only on mass allowed.
A much simpler way to do that would be to state a weight limit and note that the space will be enough for this to fit.

It might be that this limit is meant to provide a way to measure the air available to someone living in there, but in the absence of any guidelines on how volume and air supply interact, it would probably be simpler to add a note on air supply in minutes.

After all, there's no compelling reason for the magical extradimensional space to be defined by physical volume, it's functionally Payload.
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Last edited by Icelander; 01-05-2019 at 01:56 AM.
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Old 01-05-2019, 02:37 AM   #9
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Default Re: [Magic] A Pound Takes Up 2 Cubic FEET?!

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Then you make it an extra dimensional pocket that only cares about weight.
And what if you're trying to smuggle helium out of a restricted zone? You might need to know how much the smugglers can manage per trip.
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Old 01-05-2019, 04:00 AM   #10
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Default Re: [Magic] A Pound Takes Up 2 Cubic FEET?!

What is the volume of a pound of air at , say , sea level ?
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