Blink Question: Does Attacking With a "Magic Weapon" Count as an "Attack Capable of Striking Ethereal Creatures"?

[Atavar]

If someone with a magic weapon attacks the subject of a blink spell (or blinker) then does that attack count as an attack capable of striking ethereal creatures and, thus, have a 20% miss chance rather than the full 50% miss chance?

Also, whatever the miss chance, does that attack do full damage or only 50% damage?

The blink spell itself doesn't say anything about only doing half damage, but it does say that ethereal creatures are incorporeal, and the incorporeal condition states that incorporeal creatures take half damage from magic weapon attacks and spells.

One of my players argued recently that an attacker with a magic weapon who can also see invisibility has no miss chance against a blinker (per the spell description) and that the attack does full damage (because the spell doesn't say otherwise).

Instead, I ruled that the attack had no miss chance but did only 50% damage because of the blinker's incorporeality (per the incorporeal condition). I did this because the ability to see invisible creatures doesn't change the ethereal creature's resistance to magic weapon attacks.

However, a blinker is only ethereal half the time, right? So, if a magic weapon does 50% damage half the time and 100% damage half the time, does that mean it "averages out" to 75% damage?

The problem is, the blink spell only seems to address miss chances with regards to weapon attacks, and it does not address damage relating to the blinker being ethereal (thus incorporeal, thus taking half damage from magic weapons) half the time.

Thanks for any light you all can shed on this for me!

- Atavar

[BigNorseWolf]

No. I think they mean force spells,a sword of the planes, or the like. If they required merely magic it wouldn't have been worth mentioning.

[Asphesteros]

yea, I think ethereal is insubstantial, not merely incorporeal. You're actually on a different plane, not having no body. Ethereal there's no interaction either way except things specifically tagged.

[Benjamin Robson]

Atavar wrote:

If someone with a magic weapon attacks the subject of a blink spell (or blinker) then does that attack count as an attack capable of striking ethereal creatures and, thus, have a 20% miss chance rather than the full 50% miss chance?

Magic weapons cannot be used to attack an ethereal creature. A common misconception is that ethereal = incorporeal and that weapons with the ghost touch property could be used, this is not the case. You cannot strike an ethereal creature unless it is with a force or abjuration effect/spell, you are also in the ethereal plane, or you have a magic weapon that specifically says it works in both ethereal and material plane. There may be an artifact or special weapon like that but I can't think of one off the top of my head.

Atavar wrote:

Also, whatever the miss chance, does that attack do full damage or only 50% damage?

The blink spell itself doesn't say anything about only doing half damage, but it does say that ethereal creatures are incorporeal, and the incorporeal condition states that incorporeal creatures take half damage from magic weapon attacks and spells.

One of my players argued recently that an attacker with a magic weapon who can also see invisibility has no miss chance against a blinker (per the spell description) and that the attack does full damage (because the spell doesn't say otherwise).

Instead, I ruled that the attack had no miss chance but did only 50% damage because of the blinker's incorporeality (per the incorporeal condition). I did this because the ability to see invisible creatures doesn't change the ethereal creature's resistance to magic weapon attacks.

However, a blinker is only ethereal half the time, right? So, if a magic weapon does 50% damage half the time and 100% damage half the time, does that mean it "averages out" to 75% damage?

The problem is, the blink spell only seems to address miss chances with regards to weapon attacks, and it does not address damage relating to the blinker being ethereal (thus incorporeal, thus taking half damage from magic weapons) half the time.

Thanks for any light you all can shed on this for me!

- Atavar

Since the damage cannot be dealt with any normal weapon to an ethereal creature, it would be 100% damage 50% of the time and you can't hit him for the other 50% because neither a magic weapon nor a ghost touch weapon is enough to actually hit an ethereal creature.

The incoporeal line is inconsistent with the rest of the blink description and the Etherealness special quality. I'm guessing that this specific instance is referring to the lack of a physical body in the material plane. RAW says however that a weapon that could hit an ethereal creature, which is not simply a magic weapon, would indeed deal half damage to it.

Another fun RAW fact about Blink is that the 20% miss chance for the Blinker is neither due to etherealness nor concealment and can therefore only be overcome by something that pierces a magical miss chance and not by a weapon that is works on both planes. D7D 3.5 had a feat called Pierce Magical Concealment that overcame miss chance due to magical effects and not just concealment. It was loved by blinking rogues all over.