Ghosts, Incorporeality, and the Ethereal Plane

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I pretty much understand how ghosts and incorporeal creatures work on the Material Plane. But what are the mechanics if encountered on the Ethereal Plane? Are they solid? Do they still benefit from being incorporeal? Is a ghost on the Ethereal Plane the same as the creature was when it was alive/corporeal (except for being of the undead type)? Is a creature with the Incorporeal subtype incorporeal on the Ethereal Plane?

 

[Nail]

I pretty much understand how ghosts and incorporeal creatures work on the Material Plane. But what are the mechanics if encountered on the Ethereal Plane? Are they solid?

Don't confound ghosts and other creatures (that happen to be incorporeal).

Ghosts can manifest from the ethereal plane onto the material plane. In such a state -and only on the material plane - they are incorporeal.

Creatures with the incorporeal sub-type are not manifesting. They exist on the plane you encounter them in, but they have no physical bodies.

Ghost found on the ethereal plane are NOT incorporeal. IOW, they have physical bodies, which include a Str score.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

So it's only the manifest thing that makes creatures corporeal on the Ethereal? Otherwise they're the same on both the Ethereal and Material Planes (corporeal if they're corporeal, incorporeal if they're incorporeal)?

 

[Hypersmurf]

So it's only the manifest thing that makes creatures corporeal on the Ethereal?

Right.

Logically, you'd think it was the other way around - that it's only the manifest thing that makes ghosts incorporeal on the Material. In theory, if you went to the Ethereal Plane, found a ghost (corporeal on the Ethereal Plane), and Plane Shifted him back to the Material, he should be corporeal, because he's not using his Manifest ability to get there.

But a ghost has the Incorporeal subtype, which means he's incorporeal unless there's some reason he isn't... and the reason he isn't is that the Manifest ability states he's not incorporeal on the Ethereal Plane.

Otherwise they're the same on both the Ethereal and Material Planes (corporeal if they're corporeal, incorporeal if they're incorporeal)?

Right.

-Hyp.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I found this article on Sean K Reynolds' site which may be of help to others.

http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/misc/incorporealandethereal.html