Okay, so when a regular Class holder (like a Rogue or Warrior, perhaps even a Dancer) is Chosen as an adventurer, they gain the mysterious Respawn ability (gaining two additional lives) and an Adventurer's Bag, a regular (but very durable) hiking pack with a piece of the Abyss (These Bags generally aren't owned by non-Adventurers, unless they are granted to such a person by an Adventurer's Will, sold, or found by a non-adventurer after its will-less Adventurer owner died.) When this Bag is equipped on one's person, they have the following actions:
1. Equip
Someone can teleport an item (only one) from their Bag to their hand by simply thinking of an object in said Bag and pantomiming reaching for and grabbing that object. Putting on armor or clothing is similar, but one must pantomime putting on the armor or clothing instead of reaching for and grabbing an object.
If someone were to pour lava or acid into their Bag (more on that later), they couldn't take it out, because it cannot be Equipped or taken out without special equipment. It would have to be sacrificed to the Abyss (again, more on that later) or dumped out.
2. Collect
If an object is within reach, one can teleport it to their bag by concentrating on that object and vividly imagining putting it inside the Bag. This requires mental focus and a lot of attention to detail (specifically on the feel of the bag, the experience of taking it off, opening it, and putting an object inside) so you can't do it when you're too tired, sleepy, or distracted.
This object must be something small enough for someone to grab it and put in the Bag and must be something that can be grabbed (nothing too spiky or sharp, acidic, caustic, or so forth). Collecting a boulder, in other words, is virtually impossible. So is a puddle (of water or acid) or a bit of lava. If one must use tongs to grab the object (like a blacksmith does for red-hot iron), one must put it in the Bag manually.
You also cannot Collect something affixed to something else, like a railroad track or a note nailed to a door (for the latter, it will need to be torn off before it can be Collected). You can, however, Collect a living, sentient creature (like a human) but it requires so much exertion (physical and mental, if they're struggling) that it just isn't feasible and you should just do it manually.
What Can These Bags Hold?
Just about anything. Food, weapons, armor, miscellaneous objects, even a bucket of lava or acid. Time essentially stops (and momentum is canceled) inside the Bag, so food inside stays as fresh as it was when it came in, flaming objects stop combusting inside it (but resume as soon as they are taken out), and frozen objects inside stop thawing.
Furthermore, every item inside a Bag, if one could see inside it, floats in a separate place, never moving unless they've been taken out or another item came in. So if someone were to pour a bucket of lava or acid into their Bag, a bucket's worth of that substance would just float around in there, causing no harm but doing no good.
Living things do not age or require food, air, water-their biological processes essentially freeze, but they don't die; they can still move, think, and perceive what's around them. Think of an astronaut in space. However, unlike items, living creatures can break free from the Bag, namely by pushing the Bag open (Adventurer's Bags are typically of the drawstring or flap bag variety).
That also requires the Bag to be legally passed on to someone else, because only the Bag's legal owner can use or access it, unless someone else has permission to use or access the Bag.
Bag Upgrading:
These Bags are upgraded by sacrificing items to the Abyss (a void, a great dark nothingness) connected to this world since part of the Abyss dwells inside each Adventurer's Bag. Sacrificing an item means losing it forever (and that's difficult to do, see #4 below), you receive no reward except for getting closer to an upgrade.
It's expensive and gets even more expensive as you gain Bag upgrades. Fully upgraded (at Lvl. 14), a Bag can hold a castle's worth of items, but few ever get to that point.
Putting a regular Adventurer's Bag inside another Adventurer's Bag causes them to fuse into one Better Bag, but this forces the two Bag owners to share custody of the one, allowing each one to Equip or de-Equip items from said Bag even when they're in the other person's hotbar or hands! Even if the Bag owner is killed, Adventurer's Wills pretty much ensure that you'll always end up sharing a bag upgraded this way, so you might as well arrange something with a friend if you want to go that route.
Hotbar:
Some items are more often used than others, so an Adventurer can set up a hotbar (of nine items max) by lucid dreaming about their Bag, specifically a rectangle split into nine squares, with the desired Bag-held items each resting on a separate square. One's hotbar can hold nine items total, regardless of whether their Bag is at Lvl. 1 or 14.
This creates a sort of pocket dimension connected to the adventurer that acts almost exactly like the Bag, except it can't be upgraded and one just has to focus and exert will (think "My trusty ax, come to my hand") to Equip or de-Equip items in their hotbar.
This pocket dimension is separate from one's Bag, so even if the Bag is destroyed or taken away, one can still use their Hotbar, they just can't add or take away items from their hotbar. Instead, they can only take their chosen nine items out of their Hotbar and put them back. This may seem game-breaking, but remember, if your hands are tied behind your back, being able to summon your battleax into said hands isn't exactly useful. In fact, doing so would be dangerous, if not downright stupid, depending on the handle length.
Considering all of the above, I have one question:
Are Adventurer's Bag's Balanced?
Clarification: As pointed out by Punintended, my question was not clear. I'm specifically looking for "abusable/hackable loopholes" within the boundaries above. If there are ways to game the system, but nothing huge or game-changing, then I'm good. However, if there's potential for something huge or game-changing due to an unforeseen loophole, I want to know. Thank you.
Additional Clarification:
- Isn't forgetting items a potential problem?
Forgetting items is not a problem, because magic is symbolic. When you get something out of a bag, you're looking inside it right? Similarly, when an Adventurer chooses to Equip something from their Bag, they can see it's contents in their mind's eye.
- Is the Abyss Sentient?
No, the Abyss is not sentient. It is a place and a force, a shadow of Alendyias, specifically the void formed as worlds are sucked into (and subsequently destroyed and reformed by) the Fracture in Reality.
- Thievery
Thanks to the Enforcer Class, thieves stowing items in their bag is not so much a problem as you'd think. Such individuals have literal power derived from the law, so with a warrant they can track down whoever stole an item and magically take it from their Bag to their own. The Bag must be within reach, however, in order for the stolen item to be 'claimed by the law,' so to speak.
- Bag Upgrading
After much thought, I've decided any item you sacrifice to the Abyss must A) be something you do not want to lose and B) have either sentimental or monetary value. A good example of a valuable item would be a huge diamond, one you believe will allow you to finally escape your dirt-poor past and fulfill your dreams of glory.
Sacrificing that gets you at least a house's worth of Bag capacity, if not a castle's worth. However, sacrificing a rock you're fond of but would definitely leave behind if needed does basically nothing for upgrading your Bag. A treasured memento, however, will generally get you 1/4 to 2/3 of the way to the Upgrade you seek, up until you reach a two-story house's worth of Bag capacity.
- Balancing Equipping
It's very simple; like for regular Bags, the deeper something is placed in your Bag, the longer it takes to get it out. It also takes concentration to enter the meditative state necessary to shift an item's position in the Bag.
Something similar happens for Hotbars; for them, placement is key. The closer an item is to the Bag owner's dominant side (ie. the side of their dominant hand), the faster it is to Equip, and vice versa. Once again, it takes concentration to enter the meditative state necessary to shift an item's position in one's hotbar.
- Inheriting Bags
When a Bag owner dies, the Bag goes to their eldest child by default. However, if a Bag owner stipulates in their will that a specific person gets their Bag when or if they die, that person gets it instead.
- Can Items Return From the Abyss?
Not exactly. A powerful Mage can, through sheer force of will, summon an object or creature from the Abyss. However, it's usually impossible to do that unless you know how, since this kind of magic only works if you honestly believe you can do it.
It's also possible for a powerful magical creature to summon an item back from the Abyss for you, and since magic is symbolic (and the past has a way of returning to you), adventurers have randomly discovered items they sacrificed throughout their careers, generally in the hands of less experienced adventurers or as knickknacks in a business or home.
- Do Things Live In The Abyss?
Yes, and for various reasons. Many an adventurer has put a monster in their bag and sacrificed it to the Abyss as a quick, relatively hassle-free way to deal with it. Plenty of people have sacrificed soil, water, and even living things to the Abyss, so unbeknownst to most, there is a growing ecosystem in there!
Thanks everyone, I think I have Bags figured out now!