Destroying someone/something

[ImSAMazing]

I have a question. How can you kill a creature, and leave nothing behind(no ash, no body, etc)?

[TurboGhast]

The body could disintegrate into nothingness. The body could be cremated with some chemical I don't remember the name of to light the ash on fire.

However, usually something gets left behind from destroyed stuff, it's just so useless that the game can easily fudge it away as nothing left.

[Slipperychicken]

Sphere of Annihilation.

Also, does it count if you incinerate a creature, then dump its ashes in a river? It may help to have a high intelligence(investigation), disguise, survival, and alchemists' kit. If you're trying to avoid the law, that could help you cover your tracks both literally and figuratively.

[Naanomi]

Infinite Eldritch Blasts and nothing else to do that day?

[ImSAMazing]

An example: Let's say I got the task to completely destroy an object. No ash can be left behind(nor dumped somewhere) or a body. Is there a way without Sphere of Annihilation?

[Slipperychicken]

An example: Let's say I got the task to completely destroy an object. No ash can be left behind(nor dumped somewhere) or a body. Is there a way without Sphere of Annihilation?

Bag of Devouring (cursed item, DMG 153) says that a creature which starts it's turn inside of it "is devoured, its body destroyed."

[Shining Wrath]

Feed them to a barghast.

Disintegrate, air elemental scoops up the ashes, carries them as far as it can go into the border regions between Plane of Air and Plane of Fire, scatters them to swirl about in the howling winds until they land in fire.

[Mr.Moron]

It should be sufficient to transform the remains into something else. Say grinding it up and feeding it 10 different creatures.

When I eat chicken, the chicken's remains cease to be in any meaningful sense. Some of it goes to form my body, some if it gets exhaled as part of my metabolic process, some if it I poop out. Even those products go on to be come other things, it has been so wholly severed and transformed it no longer exists.

I guess what I'm saying is feed it to a fat lot of pigs, kill those pigs and feed them to another fat lot of pigs, then kill that lot of pigs and distribute the meat to the poor across the countryside. Even with something with an uncanny ability to resolve and trace objects on an atomic level wouldn't be able to put together any information that amounts to "The Remains of <Thing you destroyed>"

[Ninja_Prawn]

I guess what I'm saying is feed it to a fat lot of pigs, kill those pigs and feed them to another fat lot of pigs, then kill that lot of pigs and distribute the meat to the poor across the countryside. Even with something with an uncanny ability to resolve and trace objects on an atomic level wouldn't be able to put together any information that amounts to "The Remains of <Thing you destroyed>"

Try telling that to a homeopath!

To the OP: what is the creature and who asked you to annihilate it? You could find a way to hide it untraceably (Demiplane, portable hole, etc) and just lie about destroying it.

[ImSAMazing]

No remains. That is the mission in this example. Eatinf it does not count.

[Demidos]

There's a 9th level spell that emulates a sphere of annihilation, Black blade of disaster?
Alternately, i seem to remember a SPC sphere of annihialation

[Jermz]

Wish might be able to pull it off, at the DM's discretion.

[Mr.Moron]

No remains. That is the mission in this example. Eatinf it does not count.

For what purposes, exactly. Why does eating not count what are the standards here?

Must every molecule that was ever a part of them cease to exist?
Just the molecules that were a part of them at the time they died?
What matter that may have transferred to the murder weapon? If the corpse looses it's bowels on death does the poop need to be cleaned up?
Do there need to be no remains in 3 dimensions, or just 4 (must we erase them from all time?)
Do we need to destroy every object that absorbs their body heat as the corpse cools?
If prior to us killing them they clipped their toenails do those need to be hunted down?


Is it just that some rule in the book somewhere needs to say "No trace remains" or something? You need to give clearer guidelines on the standards here.

[Shining Wrath]

If you drop the person on a trajectory such that they achieve escape velocity for your planet and will eventually intersect with a black hole, does that count?

[Mr.Moron]

If you drop the person on a trajectory such that they achieve escape velocity for your planet and will eventually intersect with a black hole, does that count?

Well, if we're operating on those scales we need only wait. The heat death of the universe will take care of the matter eventually.

[Mellack]

Mr Moron had what I think is the best answer, transform the remains by eating. If that were not to count, one could just scoop up a cup of water, and odds are at least one of those hydrogen atoms was part of that person at some time.
On a different track, you could try using alchemical acid. That would break the body down fairly well.

[Inevitability]

Feed them to a barghest.


There's a 9th level spell that emulates a sphere of annihilation, Black blade of disaster?
Alternately, i seem to remember a SPC sphere of annihialation

These both only work in 3.5, aren't they?

[Slipperychicken]

These both only work in 3.5, aren't they?

Far as I can tell, I don't see any barghests in the 5e monster manual, and black blade of disaster doesn't appear in the PHB.

[SharkForce]

if your DM prefers the planes of previous editions to 4th, i believe objects sent to the negative energy plane undergo rapid entropy if i remember correctly.

[ImSAMazing]

For what purposes, exactly. Why does eating not count what are the standards here?

Must every molecule that was ever a part of them cease to exist?
Just the molecules that were a part of them at the time they died?
What matter that may have transferred to the murder weapon? If the corpse looses it's bowels on death does the poop need to be cleaned up?
Do there need to be no remains in 3 dimensions, or just 4 (must we erase them from all time?)
Do we need to destroy every object that absorbs their body heat as the corpse cools?
If prior to us killing them they clipped their toenails do those need to be hunted down?


Is it just that some rule in the book somewhere needs to say "No trace remains" or something? You need to give clearer guidelines on the standards here.

Erased from existence.

[JNAProductions]

Wish it gone.

[Mr.Moron]

Erased from existence.

This is an entirely abstract concept that has no meaning unless defined more granularly. I'll assume it means:

"Every atom that is and ever was once a part of this being in some capacity is voided from reality"

This is probably impossible. Even a sphere of annihilation or magic that explicitly erases the creature will fail because we leak too much of ourselves out into the world. If anything that is part of something becomes tainted as "That thing" you'll almost certainly have annihilating-sphere the entire plane of existence that creature was once to have any level of certainty.

In other words without a narrower definition of what counts as the creatures "Remains" you have to destroy all of reality to be certain in any meaningful sense.

Your best bet would be to find a way to create a never-ending conjuration loop such that you're generating infinite mass at high rate. This should form a black hole you can then throw your annihilating sphere or whatever into . Assuming it's perfectly indestructible and thus retains form it will bore it's way into the center of the black hole. So long as the rate of matter creation in your infinite conjuration loop is greater than the rate of matter destroyed by it falling into sphere the black hole it will keep expanding. Over long timescales it should approach consuming all matter that originally composed the plane.

Even this isn't a guarantee though, unless you have some way to assure the destruction is ordered in some way.

[Naanomi]

Two options exist for this level of destruction:

One is time travel, preventing the person's birth. While you won't remove him fully from the 'timescape' as a potential person, you effectively remove him from all normal definitions of reality. Try one of the three 'Planes of Time', or get the help of a Greater God in charge of Time (Mystra and Aumantor share the job on Toril). Barring that the Faerie Realms and Far Realm both often mess with time, though are not predictable in how they do so.

Beyond this, using some sort of 'Truenaming' effect to remove even the concept of the being existing is potentially even more final; the Egyptian Pantheon God Ptah is good at this, as are multiple Far Planes horrors.

[Vogonjeltz]

I have a question. How can you kill a creature, and leave nothing behind(no ash, no body, etc)?

Conservation of matter is not your friend in this instance.

The law of conservation of mass, or principle of mass conservation, states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy (both of which have mass), the mass of the system must remain constant over time, as system mass cannot change quantity if it is not added or removed.

So the only way to completely destroy the body and leave no remaining trace is to fully convert it into energy. If you're willing to leave some trace, burning it and scattering the ashes is probably good enough. Otherwise, as mentioned Sphere of Annihilation or some other type of extreme magic. Wish could do it, but as a non standard use it would risk burning the character out.


An example: Let's say I got the task to completely destroy an object. No ash can be left behind(nor dumped somewhere) or a body. Is there a way without Sphere of Annihilation?

Essentially, no.

[Spojaz]

Just jam 'em in a (preferably empty) bag of holding, then shred the bag. Bam, erased from existence.

[Steampunkette]

Technically this task is impossible without magic as matter cannot be destroyed, only converted, under the standard laws of physics.

Wish, Miracle, Black Blade, Sphere of Annihilation, Place of Power which has the express purpose of being the endpoint of the quest to destroy objects, and Bag of Devouring are your options.

Though if your DM is setting up this challenge I'm betting there's a Place of Power you're supposed to track down and use. Unless he wants you to work with a fiend or celestial or other mystical patron who can destroy it for you.

[Slipperychicken]

Just jam 'em in a (preferably empty) bag of holding, then shred the bag. Bam, erased from existence.

In 5e, this actually dumps them in the Astral plane. Source is DMG 153-154.

[Shining Wrath]

I think we're at the level of Wish, some sort of divine intervention, or utter annihilation of the planet of residence at the atomic level - and even that might not be perfect, a few air atoms do achieve escape velocity, and that O2 molecule might have been part of the target once upon a time.

[Spojaz]

In 5e, this actually dumps them in the Astral plane. Source is DMG 153-154.

Oh, wrong edition. In that case also put in a portable hole (creates new problems, but solves this one), or use a bag of devouring in the first place.

[Slipperychicken]

Oh, wrong edition. In that case also put in a portable hole (creates new problems, but solves this one), or use a bag of devouring in the first place.

Bag of devouring does completely destroy bodies (as I and Steampunkette both mentioned earlier), but dumps inanimate objects into other planes of the DM's choice (or a random location on the Astral if the bag is damaged). DMG 153.

Sticking a bag of holding into a portable hole also dumps their contents into the Astral plane (DMG 154). You might want to read these items' entries more carefully.

[Easy_Lee]

I think what you really want to do is remove the chance that the body is found and identified by the DM an NPC. If you want to be truly complete about it, you have to not only destroy the body, but also be able to beat Detect Lies if your DM decides to be a jerk.

So first, decide how you will destroy the body.

Do you have access to a memory wiping effect? You can kill the person then forget you did it, successfully passing any lie detection.
If not, knock the person unconscious (nonlethal damage) and then summon a creature to do the deed for you, or let a wild animal do it. Make sure not to order them to do it, because that could come up too. Or:
Set up a reasonable excuse to kill the target, such as using suggestion to make the person attack you in a public place.

Now, if you need to get rid of the body.

Use a bag of holding or similar to move it. Worst case: resort to something cheesy, like declaring the thing as your pact weapon and then shunting it to a sub dimension.
Put the thing in a pit or glass container and repeatedly cast acid globe until it's fully devolved. Or:
Send the thing to another dimension. Casting rope trick into an existing rope trick might create the dimensional anomaly you need. See what your DM thinks. Or:
Feed it to conjured creatures, then dismiss them. Don't directly order them to do it, or memwipe yourself if you do, so you can't fail interrogation. Or:
Toss the body into a place where no one can retrieve it, such as the fire primordial put in Guantlgrym.

There are many options for doing all of this, most of them made easier with careful application of a wizard. Why do you need to do this?

Edit: also, polymorph may do the trick if you can make it permanent.

[KorvinStarmast]

So first, decide how you will destroy the body.

Set up a reasonable excuse to kill the target, such as using suggestion to make the person attack you in a public place.

Now, if you need to get rid of the body.

Use a bag of holding or similar to move it. Worst case: resort to something cheesy, like declaring the thing as your pact weapon and then shunting it to a sub dimension.
Put the thing in a pit or glass container and repeatedly cast acid globe until it's fully devolved. Or:
Send the thing to another dimension. Casting rope trick into an existing rope trick might create the dimensional anomaly you need. See what your DM thinks. Or:
Or:
Toss the body into a place where no one can retrieve it, such as the fire primordial put in Guantlgrym.

There are many options for doing all of this, most of them made easier with careful application of a wizard. Why do you need to do this?

If this is a living creature and not an object, another idea is to let a basilisk do your dirty work for you.
Tie up or otherwise restrain the creature.
Get it near to a basilisk.
Basilisk gazes at it, and it eventually fails two saves and turns to stone. IIRC Bane creates disadvantage on attacks and saves. (If it doesn't, then Bestow Curse might be helpful).
Eventually, it fails its save versus basilisk gaze. You may need to use Suggestion or Charm to get them to look at the pretty basilisk rather than avert eyes.
Basilisk turns creature into stone.
Then, the basilisk does what it says in the 5e monster manual, which is eat the stone statues that it has made.
As it is eaten, it transforms into basilisk feces and is passed out of the basilisk as a turd.
The description is that when it consumes the stone, the stone gets converted into organic matter ... which I read as not the same thing as the creature. (This interpretation may not match with what you DM rules, however).

How you can get the basilisk to cooperate with your plan is another matter, since it is a low intelligence creature. Oh, and you need to be careful not to gaze at the basilisk yourself ... :smallbiggrin:

[ImSAMazing]

If this is a living creature and not an object, another idea is to let a basilisk do your dirty work for you.
Tie up or otherwise restrain the creature.
Get it near to a basilisk.
Basilisk gazes at it, and it eventually fails two saves and turns to stone. IIRC Bane creates disadvantage on attacks and saves. (If it doesn't, then Bestow Curse might be helpful).
Eventually, it fails its save versus basilisk gaze. You may need to use Suggestion or Charm to get them to look at the pretty basilisk rather than avert eyes.
Basilisk turns creature into stone.
Then, the basilisk does what it says in the 5e monster manual, which is eat the stone statues that it has made.
As it is eaten, it transforms into basilisk feces and is passed out of the basilisk as a turd.
The description is that when it consumes the stone, the stone gets converted into organic matter ... which I read as not the same thing as the creature. (This interpretation may not match with what you DM rules, however).

How you can get the basilisk to cooperate with your plan is another matter, since it is a low intelligence creature. Oh, and you need to be careful not to gaze at the basilisk yourself ... :smallbiggrin:

Finally, a good advice. Thanks dude! Sadly, my character died and no longer has to do the destroying xD. An other way is just knock the creature out, and then bind his head to a wall so it looks straigth at the basilisk.

[Vogonjeltz]

I got it.

We just need to turn them into water or fog and then use Create or Destroy Water and destroy them utterly.

So, here's a method:
1) Cast Charm Person and convince the target to let you show them this one neat trick you've learned.
2) Cast Gaseous Form on your new friend to show them how awe inspiring it is to be able to go around doors or whatever.
3) Betray their trust by casting Create or Destroy Water and annihilating their foggy form from existence.

Presto: Target is completely gone with no residue.
Downside: No loot. And C&D Water

[Easy_Lee]

I don't think that works. Usually, when a polymorphed target is killed, they simply revert.

[KorvinStarmast]

Finally, a good advice. Thanks dude! Sadly, my character died and no longer has to do the destroying xD. An other way is just knock the creature out, and then bind his head to a wall so it looks straigth at the basilisk. Sorry I was late with the advice. As to the knocking out, I guess you'd need to somehow get his eyes open or the "being knocked out" might leave the eyes closed ... is there duct tape in the D & D multi-verse? :smallbiggrin:

That's another thing to always bring on an adventure:

50' of rope
10' pole
flint and steel
torches
duct tape

*ducks*

(or is that *ducts*?)

[1Forge]

Can the remains be sent to the ethereal plane? then its matter "doesn't exist" seeing as the etherial plane is a plane of no matter.

create a portal by putting using ropetrick in a bag of holding, bag of devouring, or portable hole. that will make a hole in your plane for a few seconds.

EDIT: oh nvm didnt realize you finished

[Inevitability]

I got it.

We just need to turn them into water or fog and then use Create or Destroy Water and destroy them utterly.

So, here's a method:
1) Cast Charm Person and convince the target to let you show them this one neat trick you've learned.
2) Cast Gaseous Form on your new friend to show them how awe inspiring it is to be able to go around doors or whatever.
3) Betray their trust by casting Create or Destroy Water and annihilating their foggy form from existence.

Presto: Target is completely gone with no residue.
Downside: No loot. And C&D Water

I don't think Gaseous Form turns the target in water vapors. I think it's another substance.

[Shining Wrath]

Easy Lee may be on the right track, though; if you can polymorph someone into a minor water elemental and then hit it with Destroy Water repeatedly, that ought to work.

[Easy_Lee]

Easy Lee may be on the right track, though; if you can polymorph someone into a minor water elemental and then hit it with Destroy Water repeatedly, that ought to work.

It's a DM thing. Usually, polymorphed targets revert to their original form when killed, so killing them is actually doing a favor. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and I know how I would rule (high damage + revert).

[CantigThimble]

Perhaps, disintegrate them, dissolve the ash into water and then Create/Destroy Water? It basically comes down to the DM if the spell just removes the H2O or all the stuff dissolved into water. If he rules that it doesn't, then start panning for gold!

I realize this is a moot point for you but this seems like a handy method to know.

[Vogonjeltz]

I don't think Gaseous Form turns the target in water vapors. I think it's another substance.

It says "a misty cloud"...what else is mist (without any other accompanying adjectives) than water vapor?

My thought was, if it doesn't specify that it's a bloody mist or whatever, then it's just water vapor, and thus susceptible to create and destroy water.
In further support of this position, applying the normal understanding/definition of what mist is (Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in air.) is also in line with how 5th edition is intended to be played/read.

[Mellack]

I would instead argue that gaseous form merely does what its name says, it makes all of your bits turn into their gaseous state. So about 65% of the cloud is water, with the rest being mostly proteins and fats.

[Easy_Lee]

I would instead argue that gaseous form merely does what its name says, it makes all of your bits turn into their gaseous state. So about 65% of the cloud is water, with the rest being mostly proteins and fats.

Oh man, that would be really bad. You have to heat up a body a lot for the whole thing to turn into gas, even in an artificial vacuum. Then again, D&D, real world physics, don't mix them, etc. etc.

[caden_varn]

It says "a misty cloud"...what else is mist (without any other accompanying adjectives) than water vapor?



It could be a lot of things, a misty cloud could be any kind of vapour, which is just a gas cooled below it's critical point (according to Wikipedia). It could easily be ethanol vapour, which opens up lots of spirit-based puns :smallsmile:

I would not particularly expect the cloud to be water, or vulnerable to Destroy Water, so I thik we are in DM's ruling territory. Some DM's will allow it, some doubtless will not.

[Vogonjeltz]

It could be a lot of things, a misty cloud could be any kind of vapour, which is just a gas cooled below it's critical point (according to Wikipedia). It could easily be ethanol vapour, which opens up lots of spirit-based puns

I would not particularly expect the cloud to be water, or vulnerable to Destroy Water, so I thik we are in DM's ruling territory. Some DM's will allow it, some doubtless will not.

We must be looking at different Wikipedia pages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mist

That one doesn't say anything about any kind of vapor, it specifically says: "Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in air."

The Merriam-Webster page says:
": water in the form of very small drops floating in the air or falling as rain"

"1 : water in the form of particles floating or falling in the atmosphere at or near the surface of the earth and approaching the form of rain"

Now, definition 4b is "a suspension of finely divided liquid in a gas", but a) that's the 4th sub defition, and b) it doesn't actually contradict the base definition of it being water.

Here's the google definition: a cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth's surface limiting visibility, but to a lesser extent than fog; strictly, with visibility remaining above 1.5 miles (1 km).

Without using an adjective to modify it (for example: a blood mist; a mist of alcohol; etc...) why would we suddenly assume that mist is anything but water particles when that is the definition of mist?

[Steampunkette]

Because the mist is made of PEOPLE in this case.

Not water vapor. People Vapor.

We assume it's made of what it's made from, rather than a similar quantity of a different substance.

[caden_varn]

I was looking at the page for vapour, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapor, but I mainly brought it up for the potential for bad puns around spirits.

If your DM would accept that it is water vapour, that is fine, but I think it is far from clear whether it is water or not. I would not expect all DMs to rule the same way on it, is the only sensible point I was making.

[ruy343]

Disintegrate the disintegrated remains?

[Vogonjeltz]

Because the mist is made of PEOPLE in this case.

Not water vapor. People Vapor.

We assume it's made of what it's made from, rather than a similar quantity of a different substance.

Except the spell says: "You transform a willing creature you touch, along with everything it's wearing and carrying, into a misty cloud"

So although it used to be a person, now it's mist, not a mist-shaped person. If I were to accept your argument, then polymorph (uses similar wording) would turn someone into a frog...made of human. That just doesn't scan.

Part of the benefit of gaseous form is that it's indistinguishable from mist, thus it can be used to hide, escape, or stealthily enter a locale. The downside is you can be insta-gibbed by destroy water.

In any event, this all hinges upon tricking someone into accepting a form changing spell and then exploiting a weakness of that form, it's not significantly different then turning someone into a small animal and drowning them.

[ImSAMazing]

The body could disintegrate into nothingness. The body could be cremated with some chemical I don't remember the name of to light the ash on fire.

However, usually something gets left behind from destroyed stuff, it's just so useless that the game can easily fudge it away as nothing left.
Well, the task isn't to leave ash, it's to destroy the object/creature.


Sphere of Annihilation.

Also, does it count if you incinerate a creature, then dump its ashes in a river? It may help to have a high intelligence(investigation), disguise, survival, and alchemists' kit. If you're trying to avoid the law, that could help you cover your tracks both literally and figuratively.

Ash dumping doesn't count. Sphere of Annihilation might work.

Infinite Eldritch Blasts and nothing else to do that day?
This doesn't destroy the creature...


There's a 9th level spell that emulates a sphere of annihilation, Black blade of disaster?
Alternately, i seem to remember a SPC sphere of annihialation

There isn't.

[ImSAMazing]

Disintegrate the disintegrated remains?

Disintegrate leaves ash. Ash disintegrated leaves also ash.

[KorvinStarmast]

Chemical weapons. Often are deployed as an aerosol. Misty vapor? Check.

If you live near a chemical plant, and there is a major chemical spill, much of the danger is from the vapors.

Semantics begins now.

A "misty vapor" isn't necessarily composed of mist, which is another word for fog, which is suspended water droplets in the air.

The misty vapor is like mist, so it is misty, but it is not necessarily water.

Then there was the old spell Cloudkill ... which I think was the D&D version of chemical weapons/mustard gas.

[Lord Torath]

Cover it in Green Slime. Or Grey Ooze. Or Black Pudding. Or Gelatinous Cubes. Unless it's made of stone/ceramic/glass. I think metal might survive inside a G-cube. Or have a Fireshadow turn it entirely to green flame. Has anyone ever tried feeding the Tarrasque to a green slime? Or use Balefire if playing in The Wheel of Time. You can have the wizard Polymorph Other a bug or snail or slug into your favorite slime creature.

Again, why the need to completely obliterate the thing? Aside from "it's the mission." Why is it the mission? What counts as obliterated? How about Disintegrate, followed by a reversed Transmute Water to Dust, followed by a reversed Create Water?

[KorvinStarmast]

Cover it in Green Slime. Or Grey Ooze. Or Black Pudding. Or Gelatinous Cubes. Unless it's made of stone/ceramic/glass. I think metal might survive inside a G-cube. Or have a Fireshadow turn it entirely to green flame. Has anyone ever tried feeding the Tarrasque to a green slime? Or use Balefire if playing in The Wheel of Time. You can have the wizard Polymorph Other a bug or snail or slug into your favorite slime creature.

Again, why the need to completely obliterate the thing? Aside from "it's the mission." Why is it the mission? What counts as obliterated? How about Disintegrate, followed by a reversed Transmute Water to Dust, followed by a reversed Create Water?
Polymorph it into a bug.
Feed it to a lizard.
Lizard eventually transforms it into poop. If need be, toss lizard poop into lava/magma pool. It will be entirely consumed.

Apologize to magma men for the lousy hors d'ouvre.

[TurboGhast]

Polymorph it into a bug.
Feed it to a lizard.
Lizard eventually transforms it into poop. If need be, toss lizard poop into lava/magma pool. It will be entirely consumed.

Apologize to magma men for the lousy hors d'ouvre.

Just to be safe, throw the lizard in the magma. This also sidesteps having to wait for it to poop. For extra annihilation, use liquid tungsten, which is so hot it freezes if put in lava.

[KorvinStarmast]

Just to be safe, throw the lizard in the magma. This also sidesteps having to wait for it to poop.
Good point. (however, the flair/style points for transforming one's enemy into feces is lost).

For extra annihilation, use liquid tungsten, which is so hot it freezes if put in lava.
This makes us ask: what kind of container will hold liquid tungsten?

Leomund's Tiny Beaker? :smallbiggrin:

[1Forge]

I'm still posting this despite the fact you finished.

Can the remains be sent to the ethereal plane? then its matter "doesn't exist" seeing as the etherial plane is a plane of no matter. Edit: everything would be turned into an etherial equivilent of a non-corporeal version of matter. When there It wil turn into nothingness that will turn into something if it reaches the "real world."

create a portal by putting using rope trick in a bag of holding, bag of devouring, or portable hole. that will make a hole in your plane for a few seconds.(or plane shift)


You could also put it in leomunds tiny chest (I think thats what it's called) then destroy the chest, causing it to not exist.

[JNAProductions]

That'll just send it somewhere to the Astral Plane. Lost forever, maybe, but not destroyed.

[1Forge]

That'll just send it somewhere to the Astral Plane. Lost forever, maybe, but not destroyed.

Oh your right....Though in the DMG it says there are astral storms that roam, they send anything caught in it to the ethereal plane...Though you'd have to get it in a storm without going in yourself...

[Naanomi]

Yeah if it has to be destroyed absolutely, with no trace at all, it has to be 'unmade' as if it never existed... Unnamed, time-traveled out of existence; I'm sure there are a variety of artifacts and horrid beings/places in the multiverse to do the job for you

[Vogonjeltz]

Disintegrate leaves ash. Ash disintegrated leaves also ash.

Enlist the aid of a Transmuter, get them to use a Major Transformation to convert the ash into something else, like water. Then destroy the water with Create and Destroy Water. Presto chango, no remains....o.