TOPIC: Ethereal & Incorporeal

Hi,

Quick question. I see Ethereal and Incorporeal mentioned recently.

Are Ethereal and Incorporeal the same in TD? I see Incorporeal mentioned in the PHB, but not Ethereal.

I see tokens that aid in targeting Incorporeal creatures, but none that mention Ethereal. For example, Lenses of the Fae eliminate the 50% miss chance to Incorporeal. Does that mean the Lenses do not affect Ethereal?

The only mention of Ethereal is in the name of the monster bit: Ethereal Ooze

Thanks.
Dave

dave romanin wrote: Hi,

Quick question. I see Ethereal and Incorporeal mentioned recently.

Are Ethereal and Incorporeal the same in TD? I see Incorporeal mentioned in the PHB, but not Ethereal.

I see tokens that aid in targeting Incorporeal creatures, but none that mention Ethereal. For example, Lenses of the Fae eliminate the 50% miss chance to Incorporeal. Does that mean the Lenses do not affect Ethereal?

The only mention of Ethereal is in the name of the monster bit: Ethereal Ooze

Thanks.
Dave

And we had reports of some DMs ruling that they were not the same for the purposes of avoiding the 50% miss chance

Several possibilities

1. Ethereal and Incorporeal are the same, but the unfamiliar term resulted in some DMs applying incorrectly.

2. E&I are not the same, DMs were instructed to interpret differently, then changed

3. E&I were not the same, DMs were correct per module, it was changed when players complained

I'm sure there are several others.

As Wade noted, there seem to be a couple of possibilities. It's not really clear which answer is correct.



FWIW, the only token that explicitly makes it possible to hit Ethereal beings is the 2007 and 2008 Oil of Ghost Touch . Even so, that token's text addresses Ethereal creatures, but its TokenDB entry discusses "non-corporeal" creatures.

In the current Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide only incorporeal shows up. Ethereal is not mentioned in either book. It does refer to incorporeal undead.

Wade Schwendemann (Dr. Uid) wrote: Several possibilities

1. Ethereal and Incorporeal are the same, but the unfamiliar term resulted in some DMs applying incorrectly.

2. E&I are not the same, DMs were instructed to interpret differently, then changed

3. E&I were not the same, DMs were correct per module, it was changed when players complained

I'm sure there are several others.

I would say 1 due to the current PHB and DMG.