Advice on etheral creatures

[Balor01]

First of all, do not go berserk. Do not.

Somehow, somewhere, due to fierce derailment, my lvl 5 PCs are now facing a creature, able to cast etheralness and flee every single time they meet. That is a problem: it can and will flee every fight, but they must track her down and kill her. (because it is a serial killer, just floating trough walls, massacring entire families. But it is exceptionally covardly)

Soon they may or may not consult some decent caster/itemcrafter on the issue.

What sort of advice do you suggest this caster should give them? How can they approach taking this beast down?

[Hunter Noventa]

Dimensional Anchor is the way to go. It's a Level 4 Spell, and will stop their foe cold if they can hit her with it before she goes Ethereal. It can be put in a wand too, so they needn't only have one shot with it.

[missmvicious]

Ethereal Jaunt or Etherealness would help too. An ethereal can fight other ethereal creatures.

Force Magic hits ethereal creatures.

Magic weapons have a % chance of hitting an ethereal creature. (I'm not 100% on that... I feel like I've read that somewhere but I can't find the resource.)

[Flickerdart]

Magic weapons have a % chance of hitting an ethereal creature. (I'm not 100% on that... I feel like I've read that somewhere but I can't find the resource.)
You're thinking of incorporeal.

[missmvicious]

You're thinking of incorporeal.

Ah. You're right.

[Psyren]

See Invisibility + Magic Missile/Lesser Force Orb spam

Transdimensional Spell can let other spells hit him too

[Lateral]

See Invisibility + Magic Missile/Lesser Force Orb spam

Transdimensional Spell can let other spells hit him too

...Not to derail, but dude, what happened to your punctuation? I've never seen you drop periods before. :smallconfused:
_________________________
Any [force] spell would help. These are all the ones I could find on the SRD:


Blade Barrier
Clenched Fist
Crushing Hand
Explosive Runes
Forcecage
Forceful Hand
Grasping Hand
Interposing Hand
Mage's Sword
Magic Missile
Resilient Sphere
Spiritual Weapon
Telekinetic Sphere
Wall of Force
(Minus the irrelevant ones, of course.)

[Psyren]

...Not to derail, but dude, what happened to your punctuation? I've never seen you drop periods before. :smallconfused:

Nothing, just didn't feel like it

[Jack_Simth]

First of all, do not go berserk. Do not.

Somehow, somewhere, due to fierce derailment, my lvl 5 PCs are now facing a creature, able to cast etheralness and flee every single time they meet. That is a problem: it can and will flee every fight, but they must track her down and kill her. (because it is a serial killer, just floating trough walls, massacring entire families. But it is exceptionally covardly)

Soon they may or may not consult some decent caster/itemcrafter on the issue.

What sort of advice do you suggest this caster should give them? How can they approach taking this beast down?

Let's see... level 5, so they probably have access to 3rd level Arcane / Divine spells... assuming a 'standard party', of course.

You have a lot of options... if the serial killer at least hangs around long enough for initiative to be rolled.

1) Readied actions to deal damage, and thus disrupt casting (assuming the killer is casting herself, and not using a Supernatural or Extraordinary ability). This can be done by any party, and a mage would know about it (possibly having been on the receiving end at some point).
2) Scrolls / Wands of Dimensional Anchor.
3) Any low-level save-or-lose effect that would prevent the action type needed - Suggest (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/suggestion.htm) to the baddie that she doesn't need to run, as the party is so weak. Command (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/command.htm) her to do something other than flee (causing her to waste her action). Nauseate her with noxious fumes (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/stinkingCloud.htm) (which prevents her from acting (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#nauseated)).
4) As mentioned, Force effects hit things on the Ethereal plane. See Invisibility + Magic Missile, Lesser Orb of Force, or Spiritual Weapon do wonders.

[Darrin]

I'd probably advise the PCs to look into getting ahold of some Ghostwall Shellac (Dungeonscape p. 35). Takes a little prep: mix with water, apply it as paint, then wait 1 hour for it to dry. After that, it lasts 4d6 hours. Relatively cheap, too: 150 GP, or make your own with 50 GP and a DC 30 Craft: Alchemy check.

Coated surfaces become solid to incorporeal and ethereal creatures. The PCs could use it to lay a trap for the ghost: coat a 10'x10'x10' room, put some bait inside and leave the door open, once the target is lured inside, close the door and wail on it with force effects.

It may also occur to clever PCs to coat their weapons and armor with ghostwall shellac. Unfortunately, the rules don't say exactly what the effects of this would be, so you'd need a DM ruling to determine how they interact with incorporeal/ethereal opponents. But in my mind, the surface of a weapon includes the striking surface, so that should damage incorporeal/ethereal. And if a coated wall can stop an incorporeal/ethereal creature from moving through it, then coated armor would stop any attacks as it normally would.