D&D 5E Ethereal Plane in 5e?

[Quickleaf]

I'm going to be using the Ethereal Plane in an upcoming game with a Lost City that exists both on the Material and the Border Ethereal. But I'm having a hard time grasping the essence of the Ethereal Plane (pun intended) even after reading its entry in the 5e DMG, the 3.5e Manual of the Planes, and the 2e Guide to the Ethereal Plane. The material I've read had exhaustive descriptions on the what/mechanics, but little on the why/essence.

So...what is the Ethereal Plane about?

Is it the Plane of Dreams? Well...maybe...cause night hags go there and prey on the nightmares of dreamers...and ethereal dreamscapes are a thing in 2e...but then the 5e DMG says explicitly that the Astral is the "realm of thought and dream." So...which is it?

Is it the Plane of Travelers Unseen? Some kind of "space between spaces" with travelers both in the literal and figurative sense (e.g. dead souls "traveling" to their eternal reward) moving amidst the mists? Kinda like a cross between the city of Ghostwalk in 3.5e and a planar caravanserai with all kinds of skullduggery and espionage?

Is it like the "Upside Down" from Stranger Things, full of strange monsters, like a surreal blend of the Far Realm and the Shadowfell?

Is it the Plane Beyond Time and Space where the ruins of ancient civilizations crumble into faded memory? Where you could run into any figure imaginable, whether from history or legend or pure fancy?

Is it the Plane of the Un-manifested, where the building blocks of life wisp away from the Inner Planes into mists, to coalesce and form tangible matter on the Material Plane?

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

My take is that it is a realm of imagination. To the passive imagination, it is the place where the things that you see in the corner of your eye reside. To the active imagination, it is a world of "grey goop" that can be molded by the willful into personal microcosms.

 

[jgsugden]

My version is morphed from the book material, but it works for me.

There are two polar opposites in the Planes - the Core of the Negative Energy Plane (which exists only at the end of the universe) and the Core of the Positive Energy Plane (which exists only at the start of time). All existence is found between these two points which are separated by five dimensions (length, width, height, planar, and time) Extending between these two points is the Astral Sea, a five dimensional space that is undefined until beings enter it and define it through their beliefs and understandings of existence. As almost all creatures perceive time, they create time within the Astral Sea via their presence. The Astral Sea connects to all other planes (Outerplanes, Elemental Planes, Far Realm, etc...) with

The Prime Material Plane (PMP) has the Shadowfell as an Echo of the Negative Energy Plane, the Feywild as an Echo of the Positive Energy Plane, and the Ethereal Plane as an Echo of the Astral Plane. These three realms are distorted reflections of the PMP, the Shadowfell touched by dark energy, the Feywild abundant with positive energy (which the Fey creatures long ago mastered and abuse), and the Ethereal which reflects the partially undefined nature of the Astral Sea - with segments of it infected with the energy of the other planes touched by the Astral Sea. However, the Ethereal doesn't like to be occupied and tends to push creatures out of it, leaving it generally empty of life.

This results in short trips to the Ethereal appearing surreal with hints of other planes that range anywhere from angelic, demonic, elemental and nightmarish - often with these elements clashing around the PCs. A PC that assumes Ethereal Form and enters the Ethereal might see one ally burst into flame, another grow demonic horns, a third ooze slime from their eyes, while a fourth be surrounded by both an angelic halo and a swirling whirlwind of elemental air. Meanwhile, the world around them would look like the PMP they left with touches of all the planes that touch the Astral Sea infecting them. Generally, these hints are all randomly aesthetic, but occasionally I'll use it to introduce something into the game or provide a hint... why does that NPC always look like a demon in the Ethereal when everyone else switches from one influence to another...

 

[CapnZapp]

I'm going to be using the Ethereal Plane in an upcoming game with a Lost City that exists both on the Material and the Border Ethereal. But I'm having a hard time grasping the essence of the Ethereal Plane (pun intended) even after reading its entry in the 5e DMG, the 3.5e Manual of the Planes, and the 2e Guide to the Ethereal Plane. The material I've read had exhaustive descriptions on the what/mechanics, but little on the why/essence.

So...what is the Ethereal Plane about?

Is it the Plane of Dreams? Well...maybe...cause night hags go there and prey on the nightmares of dreamers...and ethereal dreamscapes are a thing in 2e...but then the 5e DMG says explicitly that the Astral is the "realm of thought and dream." So...which is it?

Is it the Plane of Travelers Unseen? Some kind of "space between spaces" with travelers both in the literal and figurative sense (e.g. dead souls "traveling" to their eternal reward) moving amidst the mists? Kinda like a cross between the city of Ghostwalk in 3.5e and a planar caravanserai with all kinds of skullduggery and espionage?

Is it like the "Upside Down" from Stranger Things, full of strange monsters, like a surreal blend of the Far Realm and the Shadowfell?

Is it the Plane Beyond Time and Space where the ruins of ancient civilizations crumble into faded memory? Where you could run into any figure imaginable, whether from history or legend or pure fancy?

Is it the Plane of the Un-manifested, where the building blocks of life wisp away from the Inner Planes into mists, to coalesce and form tangible matter on the Material Plane?

All of that. But basically (boringly?), it's the space ghosts dwell in.

Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[Tony Vargas]

So...what is the Ethereal Plane about?

It's a misty otherspace useful to underpin some magical effects.

Is it the Plane of Dreams?

No.

Is it the Plane of Travelers Unseen?

Only in the practical sense that some creatures can travel there, and thus move unseen/incorporeally about the prime material.
In that sense it's like an explanation for the impression of ghosts and spirits as being misty see-through beings - an impression that only goes about as far back as 19th century 'spirit photography' (double-exposures).

Is it like the "Upside Down" from Stranger Things, full of strange monsters, like a surreal blend of the Far Realm and the Shadowfell?

Yes, but less so, because it doesn't have lots of weird/cool/surreal set-dressing, just mist.

Is it the Plane Beyond Time and Space where the ruins of ancient civilizations crumble into faded memory?

No.

Is it the Plane of the Un-manifested, where the building blocks of life wisp away from the Inner Planes into mists, to coalesce and form tangible matter on the Material Plane?

Pretty fair. The RL meaning of Ethereal comes from ancient ideas about the structure of the universe, the Greeks thought that the four elements made up the physical world, and the the stars were made of some fifth, spiritual essence - 'ether' was one of the words used to translate the concept. Scientist later used it for, well, ether (C4H10O) and for the theoretical luminiferous ether that explaned the wave characteristics of light, confusing the subject.

The D&D Astral & Ethereal planes are clearly influenced by Theosophy (as is so much the pop-culture take on the supernatural), the Astral coming prettymuch whole cloth, the Ethereal possibly a take on the Theosophic afterlife, as an immaterial being that perceives itself in the form it had in life, and exists apart from, but able to perceive, the world of the living. D&D Ghosts and the like, for instance, have been 'Ethereal,' in early editions of the game.

So, it's a plane of the immaterial which is co-existent with and permeates the material planes - both the prime material and elemental. Where the prime is layered into infinite parallel planes, the ethereal is just one undifferentiated misty nothingness - shapes glimpsed as 'part of the Ethereal' different from one's native material plane are probably reflections from other prime materials.

TL;DR -

All of that. But basically (boringly?), it's the space ghosts dwell in.

Yeah, OK, if you want to be succinct and to the point... ;(

 

[snickersnax]

Here's my take on it.

I think of the ethereal plane as the firmament that connects energy and elementals to the Material plane. It would be more like energetic memory than imagination. Like what you would see with Kirlian photography. I would think that a city that existed on both the prime material plane and the border ethereal would be less lost and more living. Meaning that damage to structure might regrow following the ethereal template.

I guess I would say that the astral plane is more like your #1 and #2 and the ethereal is more like your #5. #4 seems to be a blend. I'm am unfamiliar with your #3.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=996]Tony Vargas[/MENTION] [MENTION=6888204]snickersnax[/MENTION]

Long story short, this is for a project I worked on with [MENTION=4937]Celebrim[/MENTION] a while back, which I'm using in my own game. It's a "lost" city because it planeshifts through the Inner Planes and Material Plane, not "lost" because it's a ruin – it's actively inhabited by jann genies.

Both of you guys seem to be saying something similar – the Ethereal is a firmament / plane of the immaterial. OK, I get that philosophically. My next question is: What on earth does that look like making it an actual adventuring locale?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Cosmologically (and I believe this is traditionally accurate; someone correct me if I'm wrong) the Ethereal Plane is the conduit through which the elemental building blocks of the multiverse travel from the elemental planes to compose the Material Plane (just as the belief from the Material Plane travels through the Astral Plane to compose, or at leastly shape, the Outer Planes). It is composed of proto-matter. That is also why it is the most common location for demiplanes to exist within/attached to. (It might have been the sole location in 2e, but I can't recall).

Keep that in mind when interpreting everything else.

The realm of dreams seems to exist somewhat connected to it. The souls of those not ready to pass on through the Astral Plane to the Outer Planes are drawn into the Etheral Plane and become ghosts. You can use it to travel between the Inner Planes and the Material Plane.

Think of it as not quite fully formed matter, and that's a decent concept.

 

[Tony Vargas]

[MENTION=996]My next question is: What on earth does that look like making it an actual adventuring locale?

It doesn't. It's like a Twighlight Zone scene shot on an empty, dark sound-stage, or with fog machines going full blast. The point is the lack of features.

The Feywild & Shadowfell, even if they were blatantly derivative of the WoD's 'Umbra,' were a step up from D&D tradition for that reason. Actually - you could look at any oWoD material you have kicking around on the Mage version of the Umbra, that could give you some ideas...

...OK, one thing you could do is bring whole features into the Ethereal. So you could have a town, or castle, or mountain or something, misty, and surrounded by impenetrable mists - wandering off into them either brings you back at another point or you never return (for purposes of the episode scenario).

...Or, you could emphasize the connection to material planes. Describe the Ethereal as vaguely-seen shapes and images, consistent at first (because you're looking at a particular prime), then when your perspective shifts, everything changes. As you become more attuned to the Ethereal, the images become increasingly jumbled together from many planes. It could be a danger of being Ethereal too long - at first, it's a convenient way to walk through walls and avoid detection, but if you stay too long, it's harder to keep your point of reference to the prime material, if you lose that connection, you might never return to the right prime - if you stay Ethereal for too long, you could lose all perception/connection to the prime material, and just be floating in that formless mist for eternity...

 

[Elderbrain]

If you want the full "canonical" details on the Ethereal Plane (Border and Deep), the best place to get the answers is a 2e Planescape book called "A Guide To The Ethereal Plane", which fleshes the whole thing out and gives you the low-down on what's of interest there - including the many demiplanes that can be accessed from the Deep, and who lives in or visits the Ethereal.