Ethereal Blockade

[phillipjp]

Ever since my 13th level players have discovered Etherealness, a frequent offensive tactic has been to:

1. Surround the BBEG while Ethereal
2. Pop in gaining surprise
3. Annihilate the BBEG before the second round
4. Mop up the BBEG's lackey's at leisure

I applaud them for coming up with a tactic that works, and works well. Most monsters, even high CR ones, don't have a defense for this, so bravo.

However, creatures like Dragons and high-level named NPCs should be aware of this tactic and have a defense for it. What will prevent an ethereal surprise assault? I don't want to completely block them out, like with Wall of Force. I still want them coming in for the climactic battle scene--I just don't want it ending in the surprise round!

Forbiddance looked promising, but if they make their Will saves, they can still enter and the BBEG is none the wiser. Even if the BBEG has See Invisibility running, he still couldn't defend against the coordinated pop-in assault.

Any suggestions?

 

[Shayuri]

Probably the easiest way is to have sentries or items that have abilities to See Invisible. Several types of creatures have innate abilities to See Invisible, or can cast it at will. Items of See Invisible aren't terribly expensive to create. That effect allows one to perceive lurking ethereal and astral folk as well, mind.

An enterprising villain/dragon/etc can even use the rules from Stronghold Builder's Guide to design whole areas of their lairs that continually reveal invisible beings within it.

True Sight can work too, but it's higher level.

 

[Cheiromancer]

There is also the possibility of putting hazards and monsters in the ethereal itself. A number of them are given in the MMII. Some are quite nasty. If you don't have the MMII, just tuck a few demons into the ethereal.

 

[Caliban]

Ever since my 13th level players have discovered Etherealness, a frequent offensive tactic has been to:

1. Surround the BBEG while Ethereal
2. Pop in gaining surprise
3. Annihilate the BBEG before the second round
4. Mop up the BBEG's lackey's at leisure

I applaud them for coming up with a tactic that works, and works well. Most monsters, even high CR ones, don't have a defense for this, so bravo.

However, creatures like Dragons and high-level named NPCs should be aware of this tactic and have a defense for it. What will prevent an ethereal surprise assault? I don't want to completely block them out, like with Wall of Force. I still want them coming in for the climactic battle scene--I just don't want it ending in the surprise round!

Forbiddance looked promising, but if they make their Will saves, they can still enter and the BBEG is none the wiser. Even if the BBEG has See Invisibility running, he still couldn't defend against the coordinated pop-in assault.

Any suggestions?

Etheral solids, from the Stronghold Builders Guide.

Permanent Walls of force.

Have the bad guy encase himself in an Otiluke's Resilient sphere or teleport away if he survives the initial assault. Then have re-inforcements teleport in.

Have a higher level version of the alarm spell that also detects ethereal intruders.

 

[Hannibal Barca]

The Manual of the Planes has some optional rules that are probably best used as standard. The use of dense metals (ala 2nd edition) or living organisms (moss, ivy, fungi) might be a simple unobtrusive way to remedy an otherwise vulnerable lair.

 

[mkletch]

Manual of the Planes has an improved alarm spell, plus several spells that force creatures in overlapping planes (ethereal, astral, shadow, etc.) back to the material plane. This way, the BBEG can choose when to fight.

Note, also, that spell effects do not extend from the ethereal to the material. So, if the BBEG becomes invisible on the material, the party on the ethereal cannot see him, even with see invis. Illusions like major image, project image and even silent image could very easily fool the party, let alone the spell mislead. Take advantage of this rule, especially if the BBEG knows that this 'attack from ethereal' cheese is really popular.

-Fletch!

 

[Piratecat]

I hope they're not plane shifting in! Nasty amount of displacement - 5-500 miles - with that spell in 3e.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

I hope they're not plane shifting in! Nasty amount of displacement - 5-500 miles - with that spell in 3e.

Yeah, you'd need at least an etherealness spell to pull this trick.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

Even if the BBEG has See Invisibility running, he still couldn't defend against the coordinated pop-in assault.

Sure he could. He could teleport away. Nobody says he has to stand there like a dummy and bare the target painted on his chest while the ethereal party gets into position.

He could duck into an alcove, so the invaders couldn't drop out of the ethereal in positions that surrounded him. For extra fun, he can have surrounded his defensive position with invisible blocks, so the ethereal attackers will try it anyway, and be shunted into disarray. Or he can have surrounded it with traps.

Also, etherealness doesn't have such a hot duration (1 minute/level). Twenty minutes isn't all that long to even find a specific person in an area you're unfamiliar with, so unless your party scouts very patiently (which the situation may not give them time to do), they're going to have a hard time keeping someone from knowing there's an attack going on.

 

[Sejs]

Hallow (or Unhallow) with Dimensional Anchor loaded as it's defensive spell.

It wouldn't stop them from moving around while etherial, but it would prevent them from returning to the material plane.