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Noir-Neko
2008-05-09, 07:52 PM
Mmmmk, I've had a few different descriptions handed to me over the years, so I ask you now. What is/an Ethereal?

A Ghost thinggy?
A Mana/Magically sustained creature or object?
Just a cool seethrough material?
Ninja Panda?

SilentNight
2008-05-09, 07:56 PM
Anything residing on the ethereal plane. Anything else is wrong. I would love to see a ninja panda though.:smallbiggrin:

senrath
2008-05-09, 07:57 PM
In the DnD cosmos, anything ethereal just means it dwells on the ethereal plane.

Otherwise, for me it would be pretty much anything that only partially interacts with the physical plane in such a way that it is visible, but not tactile. Oh, and it can't be comprised entirely of light, either.

Noir-Neko
2008-05-09, 08:05 PM
Anything residing on the ethereal plane. Anything else is wrong. I would love to see a ninja panda though.:smallbiggrin:

Ethereal Plane, ok, what is that?


I'll see if I can find you a good pic of a Ninja Panda. Shouldn't be to hard to find.

SilentNight
2008-05-09, 08:13 PM
Ethereal Plane, ok, what is that?


I'll see if I can find you a good pic of a Ninja Panda. Shouldn't be to hard to find.

Not a D&D player then?:smallconfused: It's okay. The ethereal plane is basically a second matierial plane. Things on it can see the real world but can't interact with it. People on the prime plane can't see or interact with the ethereal plane. Anything else I'm missing?

averagejoe
2008-05-09, 08:15 PM
It's a plane that overlays and is mostly the same as the prime material plane (the one where everyone does most of their stuff) but it cannot be seen. That is, a creature on the etherial plane can see what is going on on the prime material plane, but they cannot themselves be seen except when stated otherwise. For the most part the plane's can't interact either; on the etherial plane you can go through almost anything on the prime material and vice versa, with a few exceptions, most notably spells with the 'force' descriptor, such as wall of force and magic missile.

SilentNight
2008-05-09, 08:27 PM
It's a plane that overlays and is mostly the same as the prime material plane (the one where everyone does most of their stuff) but it cannot be seen. That is, a creature on the etherial plane can see what is going on on the prime material plane, but they cannot themselves be seen except when stated otherwise. For the most part the plane's can't interact either; on the etherial plane you can go through almost anything on the prime material and vice versa, with a few exceptions, most notably spells with the 'force' descriptor, such as wall of force and magic missile.

Damn people taking what I want to say and saying it so much better.:smallannoyed:

Noir-Neko
2008-05-09, 10:05 PM
Hmm, so what could you do with it?

Prince_of_Blades
2008-05-09, 10:14 PM
Material structures don't exist in the Ethereal Plane, and creatures float around at 30 ft/round. If you were to come across an obstacle (wall, creature, etc.), you could briefly turn ethereal and pass through a wall/floor/ceiling. Note that the Ethereal Plane has an ecology all its own. Ethereal filchers, thought eaters, ethereal dragons, ghosts and other creatures are all natives to the plane, and you could also stumble on other ethereal travellers as well.

bosssmiley
2008-05-10, 05:31 AM
Hmm, so what could you do with it?

See the Planescape "Guide to the Ethereal Plane" (a 96 page sourcebook chockful of reasons why the Ethereal isn't dull). Personal favourites include that weird phase spider culture (think the Weaver from "Perdido Street Station" except more bunny-boiler), spontaneously awakening spell fragments (like Living Spells, only creepier), demi-planes, and stable ether.

Talic
2008-05-10, 05:47 AM
Traits of the Ethereal plane:

1) Anything on the ethereal plane is invisible to the material plane. True Seeing and See Invis help.

2) Force effects go from the material plane to the ethereal, but not vice versa.

3) Creatures on the ethereal plane see the material plane to a range of 60 feet. It's grayed out, like a ghost world.

4) Creatures on the material plane move at half movement, but may move in any direction, including straight up.


This is different from incorporeal. Incorporeal creatures can also be hit by magic weapons (50% miss chance), energy effects (50% miss chance), and the like.

Further, they can be hit by ghost touch abilities, positive and negative energy, and force effects with no miss chance.


Think of ethereal as "In a ghost dimension, out of phase".

Think of incorporeal as "Half there, half not, in the material plane".

The only complex critter I know of is the ghost, which is ethereal, but can manifest as an incorporeal critter on the material plane (while staying ethereal).

Illiterate Scribe
2008-05-10, 06:30 AM
http://oz.games-workshop.com/games/40k/tau/painting/aunshi/images/aunshi-sm.jpg
Y helo thar ...

Inyssius Tor
2008-05-10, 09:18 AM
Old Kentucky Shark over on RPGnet summed up the Ethereal Plane rather well, I think. Let's ask him!

... Ghost, mists, ethereal curtains (portals to other planes), and sweet **** all else. Oh, and the Material plane. It overlaps the matierial plane, see, much like the plane of Shadow, and you can see the material plane the entire time that you're in the Ethereal.

The bugger of it was, there was an insane amount of overlap between Ethereal and Incorporeal, to the point where hardly anybody remembers that they're two completely different properties. Yopu can be Ethereal without being incorporeal (wizards casting Ethereal Jaunt), or incorporeal without being ethereal (shades, spectres). Or you can be like ghosts, which are both at once, except when they're not. When they stop being ethereal, they're still incorporeal (unless they possess a mortal body). Either way, they can walk through walls. But they can't SEE through, walls, which really sucks for them. Incorporeal creatures can freely affect corporeal creatures (but not objects!), while ethereal creatures can't, unless those creatures (or objects!) are also ethereal. Ethereal creatures can't affect incorporeal creatures, regardless of whether they're ethereal or not. Force effects can affect ethereal creatures regardless of the plane that they're manifested on, but force effects on the ethereal plane can't affect the material plane, despite the reverse being true.

And that's why there's no ethereal plane any more.
(4th edition is replacing it with the Shadowfell and the Feywild, that is.)

Noir-Neko
2008-05-12, 01:53 AM
Ok, so what I've gathered is,

Incorporeal: Cannot be effected by physical attacks of a non magical nature and grants a 50% chance for all attacks to miss. This also grants the ability to walk through walls?

Ethereal: Can see through walls but is unable to walk through them or interact with anything not, Ethereal, anc can only be harmed by other Ethereals and "Force" abilities?


And now something called plane of Shadow?


I'm sure a lot of this should be common knowledge, but please indulge my ignorance.:smallredface:

Chosen_of_Vecna
2008-05-12, 02:22 AM
Ok, so what I've gathered is,

Incorporeal: Cannot be effected by physical attacks of a non magical nature and grants a 50% chance for all attacks to miss. This also grants the ability to walk through walls?

Ethereal: Can see through walls but is unable to walk through them or interact with anything not, Ethereal, anc can only be harmed by other Ethereals and "Force" abilities?


And now something called plane of Shadow?


I'm sure a lot of this should be common knowledge, but please indulge my ignorance.:smallredface:

Ethereal creatures can walk and see through walls. Incorporeal creatures can not see through walls, they can move through walls that are only 5ft thick, but not through walls 10 or more feat thick.

The Plane of Shadow is another plane entirely.

The important thing is that Incorporeal creatures are on the Prime Material Plane (or whatever plane you happen to be on) The Astral, Shadow, and Ethereal Planes are separate planes that overlap somewhat with the Prime. This means different things for each one.

Then there are 30 some odd planes that don't overlap featuring the various afterlives, and the Elemental planes.