Blink spell dangerous to use?

[Mithyrien]

"You can only affect and be affected by other creatures on the Ethereal Plane."

Does this mean that I may be attacked by an ethereal creature while I am walking on the Ethereal Plane?

I mean, imagine that you use Blink and are suddenly faced with another spellcaster who also used Blink, and he is both more powerful and evil, and he casts Power Word Kill on you; Now you have to make another character because your third level utility spell caused you to experience random instant death.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Technically possible, but extremely unlikely. And metagame-wise, if your DM is willing to do that, you need a new DM.

On such a brief trip into the Ethereal Plane, where visibility is almost zero remember, you might see a ghost or harmless ethereal creature maybe 1 time out of 1,000. That would be how I'd play it.

[MaxWilson]

"You can only affect and be affected by other creatures on the Ethereal Plane."

Does this mean that I may be attacked by an ethereal creature while I am walking on the Ethereal Plane?

I mean, imagine that you use Blink and are suddenly faced with another spellcaster who also used Blink, and he is both more powerful and evil, and he casts Power Word Kill on you; Now you have to make another character because your third level utility spell caused you to experience random instant death.

The Ethereal Plane has a one-to-one spatial mapping with the Prime Material plane, so if Blink brings you into proximity with a powerful evil archmage, that means you were already adjacent to a powerful evil archmage before you cast Blink. So it's not making your situation any worse--without Blink he would just have PWK'ed you anyway.

Also, technically he returns to the Prime Material on the start of his turn, so the only way for him to Blink you while he's on the Ethereal plane is to ready an action.

[Mithyrien]

Ah, I suppose I did not do enough research, I was unaware of the visibility limitations of the plane. I do not believe that he would do such though, even still, I am the ADM and as such I give out spell descriptions for the entire table; so it is up to my interpretation and discretion to leave out text such as this, text of which only truly serves (I now know) to stress the inability of the player to interact with the material plane.

*An aside thought, would the Message cantrip function correctly? The planes are touching, you are technically still in the same place as you were when you cast Blink, as such the distance between you and the target has not changed, only the plane of existence; and being as you retain your complete consciousness during the transfer, I would think that thoughts should be able to make the transition between planes without penalty.

[Mithyrien]

The Ethereal Plane has a one-to-one spatial mapping with the Prime Material plane, so if Blink brings you into proximity with a powerful evil archmage, that means you were already adjacent to a powerful evil archmage before you cast Blink. So it's not making your situation any worse--without Blink he would just have PWK'ed you anyway.

Also, technically he returns to the Prime Material on the start of his turn, so the only way for him to Blink you while he's on the Ethereal plane is to ready an action.

I understand that it is extremely unlikely, I was just being thorough and asking whether or not it actually would be possible, not matter how improbable. I thank you for the response and the clarification.

[Ninja_Prawn]

*An aside thought, would the Message cantrip function correctly? The planes are touching, you are technically still in the same place as you were when you cast Blink, as such the distance between you and the target has not changed, only the plane of existence; and being as you retain your complete consciousness during the transfer, I would think that thoughts should be able to make the transition between planes without penalty.

The 'you can only affect or be affected by creatures or effects in the Ethereal Plane' clause seems pretty absolute to me. I would not allow Message to cross the planar boundary.

[JackPhoenix]

The Ethereal Plane has a one-to-one spatial mapping with the Prime Material plane, so if Blink brings you into proximity with a powerful evil archmage, that means you were already adjacent to a powerful evil archmage before you cast Blink. So it's not making your situation any worse--without Blink he would just have PWK'ed you anyway.

Also, technically he returns to the Prime Material on the start of his turn, so the only way for him to Blink you while he's on the Ethereal plane is to ready an action.

Well, Tomb of Horror had a bunch of demons chilling out in Ethereal in the case the characters tried to "cheat", IIRC

[gfishfunk]

It would be very interesting if something entirely unrelated was going on, such as an auction of a castle located in the etheral plane right at that spot was commencing due to a foreclosure.

"Do I hear 1085 Platinum? 1085? 1085 to the wizard that suddenly appeared and is now gone!" Meanwhile, a number of Fey Lords, elemental constructs, and devils glance to where the wizard had appeared and disappeared, all frowning.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Meanwhile, a number of Fey Lords, elemental constructs, and devils glance to where the wizard had appeared and disappeared, all frowning.

"Oh come on! That's the third time this week!"

[tieren]

Also on the topic of Blink,

If I am a paladin riding my mount from the find steed spell, and I cast Blink, the mount gets the benefit of the spell too. Does the mount make checks independent of me (such that he might blink out from under me)? or is just assumed we blink together?

That would be kind of hilarious, but certainly not something I'd want happening in most fights.

[KorvinStarmast]

Also on the topic of Blink,

If I am a paladin riding my mount from the find steed spell, and I cast Blink, the mount gets the benefit of the spell too. Does the mount make checks independent of me (such that he might blink out from under me)? or is just assumed we blink together?

That would be kind of hilarious, but certainly not something I'd want happening in most fights.
From the spell description of Find Steed:


Your steed serves you as a mount, both in combat and out, and you have an instinctive bond with it that allows you to fight as a seamless unit. While mounted on your steed, you can make any spell you cast that targets only you also target your steed.
So no, you blink together.

[tieren]

From the spell description of Find Steed:


So no, you blink together.

I don't see how the quote answers the question. I know the steed becomes a target of the Blink spell, I am wondering if that means he has to make the same checks I do as a target of the spell or if my checks work for both of us.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I don't see how the quote answers the question. I know the steed becomes a target of the Blink spell, I am wondering if that means he has to make the same checks I do as a target of the spell or if my checks work for both of us.

I agree: the RAW doesn't cover it. If it came up while I were DMing, I'd probably put it to a vote.

[Marcelinari]

I think Korvin's response can be generously interpreted as 'it's the same spell targeting both you and your mount - so it's the same effect which either transports you (and everything else it effects) to the Ethereal or not.'