Etherealness in BECMI?

[Havard]

I posted a proposed encounter table for the Ethereal Plane in this thread.

What spells and magical items provide Etherealness in BECMI? What creatures posess the ability to shift into the Ethereal Plane or are otherwise connected to that realm?

Haunts (Banshee, Ghost, Poltergeist) are able to shift between the Prime Material and the Prime Material Plane. What others?


-Havard

[Wangalade]

In our games, we've had potions of etherealness, and boots, and I think an intelligent sword had the ability. My brother's PC had a shield that could turn him Ethereal. We even had a helmet that just let you see ethereal things/into the ethereal plane.

[ripvanwormer]

What spells and magical items provide Etherealness in BECMI?

Aerial servant (only for the servant itself)
Potion of Ethereality (soo often function as potions of ethereality, if you drink them)
Armor & Shields: Ethereality special power
Gate can open a direct connection to the Ethereal Plane.
The Ether Station from Honor Island (GAZ4) - the Honor Islanders used a gate, but but it's worth mentioning
Ethereal Longships (GAZ4) - see Ether Station above

Prismatic Wall extends into the Ethereal Plane (if cast on the Prime).
Truesight allows the caster to see into the Ethereal.

What creatures posess the ability to shift into the Ethereal Plane or are otherwise connected to that realm?

Aerial servant
Apparition
Banshee
Blackball
Brain collector
Demon
Ether weird (GAZ4)
Fleet, Merchant (IM1)
Fleet, War (IM1)
Djinni, Greater
Efreeti, Greater
Haunt
Ghost
Party, diaboli (IM1)
Party, normal (IM1)
Phantom
Plasm, giant (IM1)
Plasm, normal
Planar spider
Poltergeist
Immortal
Sabreclaw (can see ethereal creatures) (AC9)
Snakemen (IM1)
Spectral hound

Basilisks, medusae, gorgons, catoblepas, and cockatrices could affect the Ethereal Plane in AD&D, but I don't think BECMI specifies that anywhere.

[Havard]

What spells and magical items provide Etherealness in BECMI?

Aerial servant (only for the servant itself)
Potion of Ethereality (soo often function as potions of ethereality, if you drink them)
Armor & Shields: Ethereality special power
Gate can open a direct connection to the Ethereal Plane.
The Ether Station from Honor Island (GAZ4) - the Honor Islanders used a gate, but but it's worth mentioning
Ethereal Longships (GAZ4) - see Ether Station above

Prismatic Wall extends into the Ethereal Plane (if cast on the Prime).
Truesight allows the caster to see into the Ethereal.

Very nice compilation! Thanks!

What creatures posess the ability to shift into the Ethereal Plane or are otherwise connected to that realm?

Aerial servant
Apparition
Banshee
Blackball
Brain collector
Demon
Ether weird (GAZ4)
Fleet, Merchant (IM1)
Fleet, War (IM1)
Djinni, Greater
Efreeti, Greater
Haunt
Ghost
Party, diaboli (IM1)
Party, normal (IM1)
Phantom
Plasm, giant (IM1)
Plasm, normal
Planar spider
Poltergeist
Immortal
Sabreclaw (can see ethereal creatures) (AC9)
Snakemen (IM1)
Spectral hound

Basilisks, medusae, gorgons, catoblepas, and cockatrices could affect the Ethereal Plane in AD&D, but I don't think BECMI specifies that anywhere.

Great list! I had forgotten that IM1 actually has an encounter table for the Ethereal Plane.

I am wondering if I should use the planar encounter tables from the Gold Box and IM1 when having mortals explore the planes. I could see it for the Outer Planes, but this does make the Ethereal Plane a very dangerous place.

The War Fleet and Merchant Fleet are Planar Spiders. I like how Frank has them using flying saucer like ships. I wonder if having Planar Spider War Fleets travelling through the Ethereal Plane has some larger implications for some brewing conflicts on the Prime Material or Inner Planes. Who might they consider going to war against?

The Snakemen entry was really weird! The description in IM1 says these appear as black blobs easily mistaken for a Blackball. Yet they are called Snakemen? Is he talking about them having blob like vessels similar to how the Spiders are using saucer like ships? This is the first reference to Snakemen I have seen in Mystara source material. I wonder if we could connect them to the Serpentine Empire invented by James Mishler as servitors of the Carnifex?

I will revise my Ethereal Plane encounter tables now!

-Havard

[Cthulhudrew]

The Snakemen entry was really weird! The description in IM1 says these appear as black blobs easily mistaken for a Blackball. Yet they are called Snakemen? Is he talking about them having blob like vessels similar to how the Spiders are using saucer like ships? This is the first reference to Snakemen I have seen in Mystara source material. I wonder if we could connect them to the Serpentine Empire invented by James Mishler as servitors of the Carnifex?

The layout of that page may be confusing you (it did for me when I first looked at it). The description for the snakemen continues underneath the table; the description of the blackball like creatures is a continuation of the Soo entry from the bottom of the second column.

This is interesting, though. I have been working on a "complete" bestiary of BECMI monsters for some time now, and I thought I had picked up all the entries from every canon product out there; I am not sure if I caught the Snakemen, though. I will have to double check my work now.

[ETA: Oh- I think I probably ignored it because they are described as Immortals on a mission. Still, though- if they are all in the same form, it suggests that mission may be to infiltrate a group of mortal snakemen somewhere, so there probably is a snakemen race.]

[ripvanwormer]

[ETA: Oh- I think I probably ignored it because they are described as Immortals on a mission. Still, though- if they are all in the same form, it suggests that mission may be to infiltrate a group of mortal snakemen somewhere, so there probably is a snakemen race.]

They might be the same as the Serpentmen from IM3, described as dwelling in the plane of Serpentia on page 11.

[Khedrac]

Another thing to remember about the BECMI Ethereal plane is that wormholes to the elemental planes are not short and usually form a tube through the etheral plane before reaching the destination.

Very few things can breach the walls of the tube, but some things may be able to pass through them; and if there is a tube breach then you have another way into the etheral plane...

[Sturm]

I wonder if we could connect them to the Serpentine Empire invented by James Mishler as servitors of the Carnifex?
-Havard

Indeed a branch of Serpentines servitors of the Outer Being in the plane would add an interesting danger to it

[Havard]

[ETA: Oh- I think I probably ignored it because they are described as Immortals on a mission. Still, though- if they are all in the same form, it suggests that mission may be to infiltrate a group of mortal snakemen somewhere, so there probably is a snakemen race.]

They might be the same as the Serpentmen from IM3, described as dwelling in the plane of Serpentia on page 11.

Cool! That description says that these Serpentmen were imported from the Prime Material Plane, so they could easily have originated on Mystara.

Yeah, for some reason I confused the description in IM1 with the description of the Soo. I actually like the description of the Serpentmen from that module.

-Havard