Blink spell and outer planes

[gfunk]

Although I have and use Manual of the Planes, it seems relatively clear to me that even without it, the Blink spell cannot work on the Outer Planes b/c of lack of connection to the Ethereal.

However, several published modules seem to give NPC Wizards or Sorcerers this spell even though they would be using it in an Outer Plane. What's the deal?

Is this really not stated anywhere in the Core Rules ore are the module designers not paying attention to the rules?

 

[hong]

The part about outer planes not being connected to the ethereal is a property of the Great Wheel cosmology. It's not something that's part of the rules as such. If your campaign doesn't use the Great Wheel, then the outer planes could be connected to the ethereal, or they might not, or there may not even be any outer planes, or an ethereal plane, or both.

 

[Murrdox]

That's an excellent question.

I admit that I don't have the manual of the planes.

However, I had always been under the impression that the astral plane and the etherial plane were accessible from anywhere. They were always parallel to whatever plane you were on.

Does this mean that you can't have ghosts in the Outer Planes since they exist in the etherial?

 

[Tiberius]

According to the Great Wheel cosmology presented in the 3e Manual of the Planes, the Astral, Etherial, and Shadow planes are accessable from all planes. If you take a look at the sidebars discussing the colors of color pools and etherial curtains, you will see that in both planes they have colors for the elemental, energy, and outer planes, thus implying their connectivity if they do not state it outright in some other place. I don't like this, as it differs too much from the 1e version, so I changed it back to the way it should be.

-Tiberius

 

[Murrdox]

What is the way it "should be"? That you can't get to the etherial plane from the outer planes?

 

[Tiberius]

"Way it should be" = fragment leftover from my pre-edit message. I think the current version of the planar structure differs too much from the 1e version of the Great Wheel (different plane names, no para-/quasi-elemental planes, the Etherial and Astral connect everywhere, and Sigil exiting above the spire of Concordant Opposition, where neither man nor god may come within 100 miles of it are a few of the problems I have) for my tastes, so I have ratcheted the planar structure back to that version for my campaign. I just got careless when editing the post.

-Tiberius