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<blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 7214985" data-attributes="member: 53980">Really, it's the DMs call. I can't recall any edition addressing this via RAW.I would largely base my ruling on what I consider the situation's &quot;cheese factor&quot;. Meaning, are the players trying to get one over on the game? Not to be conflated with the players being clever. Admittedly, this is a fine distinction and an extremely subjective one (I know it when I see it). While the general advice is to keep your rulings consistent (and this is generally good advice) keep in mind that this is magic, not science. It's okay to sometimes have it behave inconsistently. If anything, it drives home the idea that spellcasters deal with mysterious forces beyond the ken of mortals. That's not to say that you should undermine the stated effects of a spell, but once you're out in the grey edges of unspecified spell interactions you're in the clear as far as I'm concerned.If I feel like the players are trying to abuse the magic (spam polymorph on every significant enemy until they fail the save and cram them in a leomund's chest) I'd probably have the enemy appear in the nearest space (having been shunted out of the ethereal plane) at an inopportune time. Or perhaps it seems to work, right up until those enemies (having met on the ethereal plane) find a being capable of plane shifting them back. On the other hand, as a clever one time thing, I'd probably let it work effectively as an auto-kill. Of course, in this scenario any treasure the creature was carrying would be lost/destroyed as well. That's only reasonable, after all.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Fanaelialae, post: 7214985, member: 53980"] Really, it's the DMs call. I can't recall any edition addressing this via RAW. I would largely base my ruling on what I consider the situation's "cheese factor". Meaning, are the players trying to get one over on the game? Not to be conflated with the players being clever. Admittedly, this is a fine distinction and an extremely subjective one (I know it when I see it). While the general advice is to keep your rulings consistent (and this is generally good advice) keep in mind that this is magic, not science. It's okay to sometimes have it behave inconsistently. If anything, it drives home the idea that spellcasters deal with mysterious forces beyond the ken of mortals. That's not to say that you should undermine the stated effects of a spell, but once you're out in the grey edges of unspecified spell interactions you're in the clear as far as I'm concerned. If I feel like the players are trying to abuse the magic (spam polymorph on every significant enemy until they fail the save and cram them in a leomund's chest) I'd probably have the enemy appear in the nearest space (having been shunted out of the ethereal plane) at an inopportune time. Or perhaps it seems to work, right up until those enemies (having met on the ethereal plane) find a being capable of plane shifting them back. On the other hand, as a clever one time thing, I'd probably let it work effectively as an auto-kill. Of course, in this scenario any treasure the creature was carrying would be lost/destroyed as well. That's only reasonable, after all. [/QUOTE]

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