Ethereal Plane

[Milo v3]

Is there any actual solid terrain in the Ethereal Plane? I previously thought it was just an empty expanse with everyone drifting around in zero gravity, but it sounds weird if ethereal marauders and sahkil are just drifting around aimlessly... I can see ethereal spiders making drifting webstructures, but sahkil floating about constantly sounds like it'd lessen the horror significantly.

[Aeric Blackberry]

I find that, generally speaking, there is little explanation about the planes in pathfinder material. I have my players regularly using expresions like: "We travel to the plane of Iomedae. I have no idea of what is "the plane of Iomedae" is or if it is some section of Heaven. What is Heaven like? (in more deep than several paragraphs, please)

[Milo v3]

I would have thought there would be some text explaining how it works considering many creatures like blink dogs, ethereal mauruders, phase spiders and sahkil have to use it's rules, and spells like Ethereal Jaunt and Etherealness.... But the rules given are innately broken... Forcing the people on the plane to just float with no power to move where they wish... It doesn't make any sense.

[KaiserBruno]

I kind of got the impression it was made out of solid aether myself with weird dream-like landscapes. Sort of a muted whitish color with streaks of bright colors in it. If there wasnt solid ground there would be no reason for any of the native creatures to even have legs.

[Cinderfist]

If you're looking for paizo products they haven't done much at all with the planes. But if you're not opposed to older material and can find a copy, the planescape
"A Guide to the Ethereal Plane" has all the goodies you need.

amazon - ethereal plane

[Kazaan]

The Astral plane has "subjective directional gravity"

PRD wrote:

Subjective Directional Gravity: The strength of gravity on a plane with this trait is the same as on the Material Plane, but each individual chooses the direction of gravity's pull. Such a plane has no gravity for unattended objects and nonsentient creatures. This sort of environment can be very disorienting to the newcomer, but it is common on "weightless" planes.

Characters on a plane with subjective directional gravity can move normally along a solid surface by imagining "down" near their feet. If suspended in midair, a character "flies" by merely choosing a "down" direction and "falling" that way. Under such a procedure, an individual "falls" 150 feet in the first round and 300 feet in each succeeding round. Movement is straight-line only. In order to stop, one has to slow one's movement by changing the designated "down" direction (again, moving 150 feet in the new direction in the first round and 300 feet per round thereafter).

It takes a DC 16 Wisdom check to set a new direction of gravity as a free action; this check can be made once per round. Any character who fails this Wisdom check in successive rounds receives a +6 bonus on subsequent checks until he or she succeeds.

So, objects and non-sentient creatures will float inertly as if weightless. But a sentient creature, if they find a solid surface, can "imagine" gravity and walk normally. If you are floating, you can imagine a "down" directly to "fly" (more like falling with style) in that direction at falling speed (and take appropriate falling damage if you hit anything). So inhabitants of the Astral aren't just "floating aimlessly" in zero-gravity; they are all skydiving constantly, usually cruising at about 34 mph, with self-determined "down" directions that can be changed with a DC 16 Wisdom check that gets +6 easier each time you fail.

[Slithery D]

Kazaan wrote:

The Astral plane has "subjective directional gravity"

Which has what to do with the Ethereal Plane?

[justaworm]

The Great Beyond - Guide to the Multiverse

I don't remember how much description of the Ethereal Plane there is, but I am pretty sure it is in there. It also has descriptions of Heaven, Elysium, Aybss, etc.

Even on sale now....

[Kazaan]

Oh, Ethereal... based on the description of "empty space", my brain mis-read that as Astral.

[Avoron]

The Game Mastery Guide has a section on the ethereal plane that gives some useful information.

Ethereal Plane wrote:

No Gravity

Alterable Morphic: The plane contains little to alter, however.

Ethereal jaunt clarifies the no gravity thing a bit, saying

Ethereal Jaunt wrote:

An ethereal creature is invisible, insubstantial, and capable of moving in any direction, even up or down, albeit at half normal speed.

but the rule might just be specific to that spell, and creatures ethereal by other means need some other mode of movement. It might even be something weird, like you have normal no gravity movement through the ethereal plane but you can change where you overlap with the material plane so you can effectively move in any direction. I'm not sure.

[Milo v3]

Avoron wrote:

The Game Mastery Guide has a section on the ethereal plane that gives some useful information.

Ethereal Plane wrote:

No Gravity

Alterable Morphic: The plane contains little to alter, however.

Ethereal jaunt clarifies the no gravity thing a bit, saying

Ethereal Jaunt wrote:

An ethereal creature is invisible, insubstantial, and capable of moving in any direction, even up or down, albeit at half normal speed.

but the rule might just be specific to that spell, and creatures ethereal by other means need some other mode of movement. It might even be something weird, like you have normal no gravity movement through the ethereal plane but you can change where you overlap with the material plane so you can effectively move in any direction. I'm not sure.

Thank you, that quote fixes the issue... Though it is rather annoying for a rule on Ethereal Creatures to be in a spell rather than the Ethereal Plane rules.

[Avoron]

Agreed.