what is the point of swift etherealness?

[Venger]

so, a number of classes (sor/wiz, cleric, and beguiler) have access to this spell, you or a willing creature in close range become ethereal for a round.

when would one use this?

ethereal creatures can't attack or do anything to material opponents.

if you're fighting ethereal enemies then you'd just use force effects rather than this

there are a zillion easier ways to get through locked doors by the time this is online

I'm sort of drawing a blank for when/why one would actually want to use this spell. as far as I can see it, it appears to be like a weaker version of time stop for all practical purposes. what am I missing? people talking about this spell (and ethereal jaunt, etherealness) always rave about how great they are. why?

[Jarian]

I'm sort of drawing a blank for when/why one would actually want to use this spell. as far as I can see it, it appears to be like a weaker version of time stop for all practical purposes. what am I missing? people talking about this spell (and ethereal jaunt, etherealness) always rave about how great they are. why?

Does your enemy have force attacks? If no, attack, become ethereal. Repeat. If yes, attack, phase into wall, eject on your turn. Repeat.

[Person_Man]

It's an amazingly useful spell.

As Jarian suggests, you can use as part of "hit and run" tactics.

You can also use is as a "panic button." When it looks like you're about to die, you can cast a spell that's likely to delay enemies (Summon, Solid Fogs, Evard's Tentacles, etc), then cast Swift Etherealness, then retreat.

You could also use it during combat to protect yourself while casting a spell with a long casting time. Cast Swift Etherealness, then start casting a spell with a 1 round casting time, then at the start of your next turn you're no longer ethereal and the spell goes off.

And I'm sure there are other obscure tricks as well - Charm or Suggest a creature so that they're willing creatures, use Swift Etherealness on them, and "ask" them to Run away in a strait line (through wall and/or floors) "for their own safety." Next round the Etherealness runs out, and if you were inside of a dungeon they're basically removed from combat for multiple rounds - and possibly killed outright - most creatures can probably Run 100+ feet in one round. If you tell them that there's a safe place for them to be 100 feet strait down through the ground (but there really isn't), that's 20d6 damage that they take when they rematerialize back into the material world. If you use it on a creature with a high movement rate, it could be a lot more.