Blink vs. Dispel Magic

[Ovinomancer]

How does a dispel magic targeted solely at the blink spell work?

This came up in our session tonight, and I, as the GM, ruled that the chance of failure does not apply to a Dispel targeted at the Blink effect. I did this because I feel that the 50% chance of targeted spell failure should not apply the the effect providing the failure chance. My player thinks that it should still apply.

Blink
Transmutation
Level: Brd 3, Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round/level (D)
You “blink” back and forth between the Material Plane and the Ethereal Plane. You look as though you’re winking in and out of reality very quickly and at random.
Blinking has several effects, as follows.
Physical attacks against you have a 50% miss chance, and the Blind-Fight feat doesn’t help opponents, since you’re ethereal and not merely invisible. If the attack is capable of striking ethereal creatures, the miss chance is only 20% (for concealment).
If the attacker can see invisible creatures, the miss chance is also only 20%. (For an attacker who can both see and strike ethereal creatures, there is no miss chance.) Likewise, your own attacks have a 20% miss chance, since you sometimes go ethereal just as you are about to strike.
Any individually targeted spell has a 50% chance to fail against you while you’re blinking unless your attacker can target invisible, ethereal creatures. Your own spells have a 20% chance to activate just as you go ethereal, in which case they typically do not affect the Material Plane.
While blinking, you take only half damage from area attacks (but full damage from those that extend onto the Ethereal Plane). You strike as an invisible creature (with a +2 bonus on attack rolls), denying your target any Dexterity bonus to AC.
You take only half damage from falling, since you fall only while you are material.
While blinking, you can step through (but not see through) solid objects. For each 5 feet of solid material you walk through, there is a 50% chance that you become material. If this occurs, you are shunted off to the nearest open space and take 1d6 points of damage per 5 feet so traveled. You can move at only three-quarters speed (because movement on the Ethereal Plane is at half speed, and you spend about half your time there and half your time material.)
Since you spend about half your time on the Ethereal Plane, you can see and even attack ethereal creatures. You interact with ethereal creatures roughly the same way you interact with material ones.
An ethereal creature is invisible, incorporeal, and capable of moving in any direction, even up or down. As an incorporeal creature, you can move through solid objects, including living creatures.
An ethereal creature can see and hear the Material Plane, but everything looks gray and insubstantial. Sight and hearing on the Material Plane are limited to 60 feet.
Force effects and abjurations affect you normally. Their effects extend onto the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, but not vice versa. An ethereal creature can’t attack material creatures, and spells you cast while ethereal affect only other ethereal things. Certain material creatures or objects have attacks or effects that work on the Ethereal Plane. Treat other ethereal creatures and objects as material.

Emphasis mine.

The you is what did it for me; the Dispel is not targetting you, its targeting the blink.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Dispel Magic makes no mention of working on ethereal targets, so it fails if the target is ethereal when it is cast. Thus, I say it gets the miss chance.

 

[dcollins]

Agree with the player. A targeted dispel suffers the miss chance to targeted spells.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I agree with ThirdWizard. When you blink into the ethereal plane, you, your equipment, and any spells active on you blink there as well. Of course, this means hell for adjudicating other spell effects (though rare) you might have on you, like magic circle vs. evil. Does your circle keep a summoned monster from attacking an ally 100% of the time or is there a chance that the monster attacks while you are blinking on the ethereal plane? Technically, basically doesn't blinking break line of effect for any other ongoing spells, as applicable?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Dispel Magic makes no mention of working on ethereal targets, so it fails if the target is ethereal when it is cast.

A force effect originating on the Material Plane extends onto the Ethereal Plane, so that a wall of force blocks an ethereal creature, and a magic missile can strike one (provided the spellcaster can see the ethereal target). Gaze effects and abjurations also extend from the Material Plane to the Ethereal Plane. None of these effects extend from the Ethereal Plane to the Material Plane.

Dispel Magic
Abjuration
Level: Brd 3, Clr 3, Drd 4, Magic 3, Pal 3, Sor/Wiz 3

-Hyp.

 

[Ovinomancer]

to follow Infinti: does being on another plane affect your ability to maintain concentration on spells in this plane? It is obvious that line of effect and line of sight are broken. Hmmm, this could be a worse outcome than allow the blink to be dispelled without a failure chance.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Excellent point, Hyp. That's a seldom-remembered rule, so thanks for bringing that up. However, does the fact that abjurations extend into the ethereal plane still mean that you can target something on the ethereal plane? Let's say you had see invisibility and wanted to target an ethereal ghost with a dispel magic, could you do it?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Excellent point, Hyp. That's a seldom-remembered rule, so thanks for bringing that up. However, does the fact that abjurations extend into the ethereal plane still mean that you can target something on the ethereal plane? Let's say you had see invisibility and wanted to target an ethereal ghost with a dispel magic, could you do it?

Let's say you had see invisibility and wanted to target an ethereal ghost with a magic missile, could you do it?

(See the example provided in the above quote for the answer.)

-Hyp.

 

[Infiniti2000]

So, if you don't have see invisible, then you can't. I agree. So, unless the caster of the dispel magic has see invisible going (or something else to see into the ethereal plane), there's a miss chance. Right?

In other words, although the dispel magic definitely extends onto the ethereal plane and can snuff out the blink, what I'm questioning is whether or not there's a chance to miss-target. So, we need more information on the scenario in question. Does the caster of the dispel magic have see invisible going?

 

[Testament]

The abjuration effect extends into the Ethereal plane, but the targeting effect doesn't? What the spork?

Man, this Blink spell is hell.

There's another solution, he can area dispel. Then he doesn't have to worry about the miss chance.