2 questions

[Rat Army]

I have a barbarian in my current campaign, he has taken the Shadow Touched feat from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. It does not have a prerequisite of any kind listed, so I assume he can take it. Another player brought this up, does he need any kind of spell casting focus to cast the spell that come along with it? That feat allows him to cast invisibility once a day, he doesn't need a spell casting focus for that right?

On to the more complicated question, incorporeal beings and interacting with the environment. I have a player who has acquired the Ghost Step Tattoo, also from Tasha's. This allows him to become incorporeal for a short period of time. He would like to use this to steal things, but can he? Initially I thought, sure, he still has to get away with it. His incorporeal state only last one turn of combat, so only about 6 seconds. But if he can interact with the corporeal world freely, he also wants to try and rip people's hearts out by ending his turn with his hand in someone's chest. I don't plan on letting him rip an NPC heart out at will, but if incorporeal beings can interact with the world, I'd like to be able to justify why he can grab an object, but not an organ, and not just say, “Because I said so.”

I know incorporeal being and their interaction with the corporeal world is a bit of a gray area, and a well debated topic across the internet. But has anyone ever dealt with it in their campaign?

[kazaryu]

I have a barbarian in my current campaign, he has taken the Shadow Touched feat from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. It does not have a prerequisite of any kind listed, so I assume he can take it. Another player brought this up, does he need any kind of spell casting focus to cast the spell that come along with it? That feat allows him to cast invisibility once a day, he doesn't need a spell casting focus for that right?

On to the more complicated question, incorporeal beings and interacting with the environment. I have a player who has acquired the Ghost Step Tattoo, also from Tasha's. This allows him to become incorporeal for a short period of time. He would like to use this to steal things, but can he? Initially I thought, sure, he still has to get away with it. His incorporeal state only last one turn of combat, so only about 6 seconds. But if he can interact with the corporeal world freely, he also wants to try and rip people's hearts out by ending his turn with his hand in someone's chest. I don't plan on letting him rip an NPC heart out at will, but if incorporeal beings can interact with the world, I'd like to be able to justify why he can grab an object, but not an organ, and not just say, “Because I said so.”

I know incorporeal being and their interaction with the corporeal world is a bit of a gray area, and a well debated topic across the internet. But has anyone ever dealt with it in their campaign?

Q1: it depends on the spell. some spells don't have a material component. invisibility does. so yes, he'd need to provide the material component. in fact, as he's not a caster, there's no clear way for him to use a spellcasting focus. as all the spelcasting focuses are tied to specific classes (most likely an oversight on the part of the writiers. not thinking about those rules when they wrote the feats.). so you may need to come up with a focus for him to use (or force him to procure the casting ingrediants (should be fairly cheap/easy, since they'd be assumed to come as part of a spell components pouch, which are fairly cheap. however, at the very least getting a 'ruby of the warmage' would allow him to use a weapon as a focus. although...it would take up an attunement slot, which is, IMO, bull****.

Q2: most incoporeal beings can pass through objects, but not stay within them (they take damage and get shunted out if they end their turn inside something, usually). so its pretty clear that they aren't actually as 'ghostly' as we see commonly in media. and based on the wording of the tatoo, it seems that that remains the case. if he tries to let the effect end with his hand in someones chest, his hand would get shunted out, probably taking some damage in the process. but he wouldn't be able to get a grip and rip someones heart out. there's no indication that the thing you end up in is harmed, only you.

as far as him stealing stuff...i mean, when he becomes incoporeal, presumably his equipment does too. although this is another example of lazy writing imo. other effects that change a creatures state usually specify what happens to their equipment. but thats being a bit pedantic. point is, you *could* rule that if he's able to successfully move equipment from someone else, to himself, it join him in his incoporeal state, allowing him to steal things that he might otherwise be unable to. However, body parts aren't just random objects that a person posseses, and are therefore immune to such things. However, its also not unreasonable to just say 'no, you can't use your incoporeal form to steal things. unfortunately thats not how it works' (obviously bypassing barriers like walls is a difference story, im assuming you're more meaning like reaching into a sealed wallet).

edit:
Q1: while technically he would need to satisfy material components, depending on the spell he chooses. (misty step is a great example of a spell that wouldn't need it) i don't think it'd be all that gamebreaking to let him forego that specific component, unless it has a gold cost.

Q2: i don't think its gamebreaking to let him use to ghost tatoo to steal things, since really all it does is enable the check, not make it any easier. the big challenge in pickpocketing isn't the actual theft, its avoiding detection.

[Foolwise]

Incorporeal means not composed of matter, having no material existence. When P2 is in ghost form, they should not be allowed to steal things or rip hearts out. A side effect from being allowed to pass through things is that they cannot interact with them either, as they are incorporeal. Books I've read portray ghosts who attempt to interact with real world objects as going insane. The devs sorted covered this by the damage taken if still inside something- I would flavor the damage as psychic.

That said the ghost step tattoo doesn't expressly prohibit interactions while in ghost form. In reality, the player should not be allowed to take actions and have immunity instead of resistance to nonmagical weapons. It would be basically be used as a Get Free Out of Jail card. Also in this case I would rule the player can choose to dismiss ghost form early so they could use it at the start of their turn to bypass an obstacle and then attack afterwards.

Ripping hearts out? No way.
Stealing things? I would rule against.
Casting magic? That's fine.
Attacking with a weapon? RAW okay, but I would rule against, assuming the weapon is also incorporeal.


As for your barbarian, the shadow touched feat's flavor text says the character gained the spells after being exposed to the Shadowfell. It might be too late, but you could work this exposure into the campaign. Perhaps after the exposure, the barb captured some of the shadow essence in a vial and found that when they touched the vial, they could go invisible? Basically create the spellcasting focus when you explain how they were exposed.

[Bobthewizard]

I have a barbarian in my current campaign, he has taken the Shadow Touched feat from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. It does not have a prerequisite of any kind listed, so I assume he can take it. 1. Another player brought this up, does he need any kind of spell casting focus to cast the spell that come along with it? That feat allows him to cast invisibility once a day, he doesn't need a spell casting focus for that right?


On to the more complicated question, incorporeal beings and interacting with the environment. I have a player who has acquired the Ghost Step Tattoo, also from Tasha's. This allows him to become incorporeal for a short period of time. 2. He would like to use this to steal things, but can he? Initially I thought, sure, he still has to get away with it. His incorporeal state only last one turn of combat, so only about 6 seconds. 3. But if he can interact with the corporeal world freely, he also wants to try and rip people's hearts out by ending his turn with his hand in someone's chest. I don't plan on letting him rip an NPC heart out at will, but if incorporeal beings can interact with the world, I'd like to be able to justify why he can grab an object, but not an organ, and not just say, “Because I said so.”

I know incorporeal being and their interaction with the corporeal world is a bit of a gray area, and a well debated topic across the internet. But has anyone ever dealt with it in their campaign?

Question 1. He can't use a focus as a barbarian, so if a spell has a material component, he either needs the specific components or he needs a component pouch, which works for any class.

Question 2. In 5e you can interact with your environment while incorporeal, but not while ethereal. So he could go and steal something. But whatever he steals wouldn't become incorporeal since he wasn't carrying it when he transformed. So he could go up and steal something from someone's pocket. But he couldn't go through a wall, take something from the other side, and then bring that back through the wall without using another charge.

Question 3. I wouldn't let him interact with something inside a creature he was passing through. It would be all or nothing. "Move through" is not the same as "reach through" or "reach into". Either interact with it or not. If he tried to end his turn with his hand inside someone, his hand would be shunted out and he would take d10 damage. The target would take no damage.

[Chronos]

Even some actual casters can't use a focus: Arcane trickster rogues, for instance. But it's no matter. You always have the option of using the actual specified components, bat guano or spiderwebs or whatever, and you also always have the option of just getting a spell component pouch (they're cheap). The only reason to want a focus specifically is either because it's thematic (it looks cool to wave a wand around or whatever), or because it can serve as something else as well (like a staff that can also be used to thwack someone with, or a holy symbol shield).

[JonBeowulf]

And some folks wonder Why do people hate Tasha's?

For the Barb, keep it simple. Either he got the silly eyelash encased in gum arabic or he got some other trifle that lets him cast without it. Don't punish him for choosing a feat over an ASI.

I'd keep it even simpler for the other character: No. He's incorporeal, he can't interact with anything. The stuff he's wearing or carrying goes with him, but he can't move or grab anything while incorporeal because he can't touch anything. He can't even attack because he doesn't gain the ability to inflict psychic or necrotic damage.

If he wants to use it to escape after a theft, then go nuts! He can grab the whatzit, go Casper, and escape.