Can the Portable Hole magic item be used to get around the 10-foot movement restriction on the Glyph of Warding spell?

Question

The description of the Glyph of Warding spell states, in part (emphasis mine):

When you cast this spell, you inscribe a glyph that later unleashes a magical effect. You inscribe it either on a surface (such as a table or a section of floor or wall) or within an object that can be closed (such as a book, a scroll, or a treasure chest) to conceal the glyph. The glyph can cover an area no larger than 10 feet in diameter. If the surface or object is moved more than 10 feet from where you cast this spell, the glyph is broken, and the spell ends without being triggered.

The description of the Portable Hole magic item states, in part (emphasis mine):

You can use an action to unfold a portable hole and place it on or against a solid surface, whereupon the portable hole creates an extradimensional hole 10 feet deep. The cylindrical space within the hole exists on a different plane, so it can't be used to create open passages. Any creature inside an open portable hole can exit the hole by climbing out of it.

Say I climb into the Portable Hole, cast Glyph of Warding, climb out, and fold up the Portable Hole.
Can I then travel around with the Portable Hole, and still have the glyph function when I retrieve it out of the hole?
Alternately, can I jump into the Portable Hole and activate the glyph myself for a buff?

Answer 1

I would rule that the glyph would still function, as long as you jump into the hole, for the following reasons:

1. As written, the portable hole creates a space that exists on a different plane. What this means is that the hole is effectively a portal to another plane. In this case all that has moved is the entrance to the plane, and not the plane itself. Given this, the glyph hasn’t moved at all.

2. This is an inventive use of a spell and a magical item and as such the player should be rewarded.

3. If following the ruling it turned out that it was too powerful, or that it was in some way breaking the game, it is easy enough to put a stop to as a DM.

   As an example, after a few times of you disappearing into this hole and coming out super buffed, your enemies are going to have heard about your tactics in advance and as soon as you jump in, they will move hell and earth to get to the hole and fold it up with you still inside!

TL;DR

There is no reason that this wouldn’t work. You are placing the glyph on another plane of existence and then moving the entrance to the plane.

Based on a comment from @David Coffron (thank you!), I would add that removing the item that the glyph is cast on is a different matter. In removing the surface on which it the glyph is cast from the hole the glyph would be moved more than 10 feet. The spell specifically says

is moved more than 10 feet from where you cast the spell

I suspect that this is to stop players casting it on an object and then teleporting.

Answer 2

The wording of the spell is weird. If you cast it on a surface, it references a table……but technically speaking, a table is an object.

Now about the 10ft restriction: that only applies WHEN you cast a spell and only if you cast it on an object. So, this restriction of not being able to move it more than 10ft has limitations of its own: the restriction activates WHEN you cast it, and only if you cast it on an object that can be closed.

Here is a work-around: cast a glyph about 1-2 inches in diameter on a wall/floor/rock surface, then once the spell has been cast, cut out the glyph from the surface and carry it with you. Since you cast it on a surface, the glyph has no range restriction, even if a DM wants to say that it’s an “object” once you cut it off, it can still be moved more than 10ft since when the spell was cast, it was on a surface. The rules and restrictions don’t change even if the surface changes to an object when cut out.

Additionally, going back to the table reference, since you put the glyph on a surface, the 10ft restriction doesn’t apply so you could just take the table anywhere. This also applies to buildings and ships. If you cast the glyph on your ship’s wall or floor, it stays there. The 10ft restriction is only applied WHEN you cast it on an object that can be closed. The restrictions don’t change if the status of the surface changes and it doesn’t change if you move the surface.