Incorporeal Creatures- How to Attack?

[MacMathan]

Can an incorporeal creature attack through a wall such that it cannot be counterattacked? For instance, if you are adjacent to a wall and an incorporeal creature occupies the space of the solid wall and attacks you (since you are adjacent to it), would you not be able to attack it? Or only with a readied attack?

Worse yet what about through the floor rather than a wall?

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I would say by the rules that yes, you could do it, but do you really hate your players all that much? I might have it happen for the first attack, but after that I'd give the party a fair chance at fighting back.

 

[jgsugden]

Note that incorporeal creatures can not see through walls. They can just walk through them. Look in the DMG for rules on listening to locate a target while inside a wall.

Being unable to see their foes, they would be effectively blind (50% miss chance, etc...). The PCs should be able to ready an attack and fight back, though the incorporeal creature would have cover from the wall/floor.

Pay attention to what action the PC readies when in this situation. If the PC readies to attack the incorporeal creature when it pokes out of the wall, he should not get an attack if the creature attacks from the floor.

 

[pvandyck]

Note that incorporeal creatures can not see through walls. They can just walk through them. Look in the DMG for rules on listening to locate a target while inside a wall.

Being unable to see their foes, they would be effectively blind (50% miss chance, etc...). The PCs should be able to ready an attack and fight back, though the incorporeal creature would have cover from the wall/floor.

Pay attention to what action the PC readies when in this situation. If the PC readies to attack the incorporeal creature when it pokes out of the wall, he should not get an attack if the creature attacks from the floor.

Also remember, that if they do chose to ready, the attacker can't see them, and thus looses it's dex bonus on that readied attack.

pvandyck

 

[Nail]

....that is, the wraith "in the floor" (for example) takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), and moves at half speed. So an average wraith's AC goes from 15 to 10 if attacking from within the floor, and the PCs have a +1 to their attack rolls because they are on higher ground.

 

[UltimaGabe]

Oh, I hate incorporeal undead. One of my characters got killed in an adventure because we were in this room where these ghosts with Spring Attack kept moving in, attacking him, and then springing right back through the wall. I kept readying actions against them, but my weapon wasn't ghost touch, so I kept losing due to that stupid 50% miss chance.

As soon as this adventure was over, I made my weapon Ghost Touch.

A couple adventures later, I was known all across Faerun as "Ichi the Undead Slayer".