Incorporeal

Incorporeal

Creatures with the incorporeal condition do not have a physical body. It can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, magic weapons or creatures that strike as magic weapons, and spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities. It is immune to all non-magical attack forms.

Even when hit by spells or magic weapons, it takes only half damage from a corporeal source.

Although it is not a magical attack, holy water can affect incorporeal undead. Incorporeal undead also take full damage from Channel Divinity.

Corporeal spells and effects that do not cause damage only have a 50% chance of affecting an incorporeal creature.

Force spells and effects, such as from a magic missile, affect an incorporeal creature normally.

An incorporeal creature's attacks nearly always target the Touch AC of corporeal creatures, as they pass straight through an enemy's natural and non-magical protections.

An incorporeal creature can enter or pass through solid objects, but must remain adjacent to the object's exterior, and so cannot pass entirely through an object whose space is larger than its own.

• It can sense the presence of creatures or objects within a square adjacent to its current location, but enemies have total concealment (50% miss chance) from an incorporeal creature that is inside an object.
• In order to see beyond the object it is in and attack normally, the incorporeal creature must emerge.
• An incorporeal creature inside an object has total cover, but when it attacks a creature outside the object it only has cover, so a creature outside with a readied action could strike at it as it attacks.
• An incorporeal creature cannot pass through a force effect.

Incorporeal creatures pass through and operate in water as easily as they do in air.

Incorporeal creatures cannot fall or take falling damage.

Incorporeal creatures cannot take any physical action that would move or manipulate an opponent or its equipment, nor are they subject to such actions. This includes nearly all combat maneuvers.

Incorporeal creatures have no weight and do not set off traps that are triggered by weight.

An incorporeal creature moves silently and cannot be heard with Perception checks if it doesn't wish to be.

Non-visual senses, such as scent and Blindsense, suffer a -10 penalty when attempting to perceive incorporeal creatures.

Incorporeal creatures have an innate sense of direction and can move at full speed even when they cannot see.

Nebulous

Some creatures, tied to shadow and darkness, have a lesser form of incorporeality, called nebulous.

Nebulous creatures take half damage from all attacks, including non-magical attacks, but only while the creature is not in an area of bright light. Furthermore, as with incorporeal, ghost-touch attacks, attacks by other nebulous or incorporeal creatures, and force effects, deal full damage. Note that nebulous creatures deal only half damage to incorporeal creatures, as they are more corporeal than not.

Phased

Phased is a stronger form of incorporeality.

Creatures which are phased can only be hit 50% of the time with magic weapons, spells or supernatural abilities, and cannot be hit at all with mundane weapons or extraordinary abilities (unless the extraordinary ability is performed with a magic weapon).

Furthermore, a phased creature takes only half damage from all damage sources.

Phased creatures take no damage from spells or effects which deal half damage on a successful save. This behaves like the Evasion special ability but applies to effects allowing Fort, Reflex or Will saves.

Spells and effects that do not cause damage only have a 50% chance of affecting a Phased creature.

As with Incorporeal creatures, force effects, other incorporeal creatures, and ghost touch weapons deal full damage against a Phased creature, but only if they successfully hit.

Ethereal

An ethereal creature is out of the Material Plane they started from and are wholly within the Ethereal Plane. While within the ethereal plane, they do not interact with the true material plane: They are in a reflection of the material plane that may, or may not, correctly match "reality".

Ethereal creatures are usually completely divorced from the Material Plane. Some ethereal creatures may have powerful abilities that allow them to pierce the veil between the Ethereal and Material in a more exact way.

Ethereal creatures are normally gone completely from the Material Plane, but one of the very few constants of the Ethereal is that movement within the Ethereal is analogous with its Material Plane. If an Ethereal creature moves 50 feet through a door on the Ethereal Plane and then returns to the Material Plane, they seem to disappear from the Material, than reappear in their new location. This can be considered as a form of slow, information-rich teleportation, as the Ethereal Plane frequently has at least some similarity to the material.

The Ethereal Plane may reflect the Material in a fairly accurate fashion, or it may reflect the material as it was in the past, or will be in the future, or an alternate history, such that creatures, objects, even terrain, may be totally different.

Ethereal creatures are capable of moving in any direction in the Ethereal Plane, even up or down, albeit at half normal Walk speed. An ethereal creature can move through solid objects that are reflections of the Material plane, including living creatures. Note that it is possible for there to be Ethereal terrain features, such as walls and ground, that 'exist' in the Ethereal but not in the Material, and such Ethereal terrain is impassable to an Ethereal creature. An ethereal creature cannot see and hear directly onto the Material Plane, but they certainly can see and hear the reflection of their material plane, with wildly varying degrees of accuracy. While on the Ethereal Plane everything looks gray and ephemeral. Sight and hearing on the Ethereal Plane are limited to 60 feet, as the very structure of space tends to 'fog out' any perception beyond that distance.

Force effects (such as Ghost Touch weapons and Force-based spells) and abjuration-based spells and effects on the material Plane almost always affect an ethereal creature normally. Their effects usually extend onto the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, but not vice versa. An ethereal creature cannot attack material creatures, and spells you cast while ethereal affect only other ethereal things (even force and abjuration effects). Certain material creatures or objects have attacks or effects that work on the Ethereal Plane.

An ethereal creature treats other ethereal creatures and ethereal objects as if they were material.

Note that the incorporeal condition reflects a creature that has no physical body, but is still within the Material Plane. It may be possible for some Ethereal creatures to project an incorporeal effect into the Material plane.