Is there any spell / ability that can pull someone out of the Ethereal Plane onto the Material?

[Quintain]

See subject:

Looking for a spell that can target an ethereal creature from the material plane and essentially yank them onto the material against their will.

[Jeff Merola]

The closest I could find is Ectoplasmic Eruption.

[Quintain]

Hmm. If a non-outsider (as in a creature not native to the ethereal plane) is using an ethereal jaunt - like ability, will a ectoplasmic dismissal "return him to his native plane" -- which is the material?

[Shiroi]

It sounds like you'd be in a weird rules spot if you could yank a ghost back into the real world. Do they come back as human with a body? Die instantly and may or may not become a ghost again, possibly now or a hundred years from now? Become a ghoul? If it was a PC, are they now an NPC? What of their items?

This opens a lot of questions, and I'd be very careful if I made an ability to do this. I'd word it so it could only ever be used on people who were currently under the effects of a planar transport spell such as ethereal jaunt, and who had a plane to return to.

In which case, why would targeted dispel magic not be just as useful most of the time?

[Nathan Monson]

Gate should do it, provided you knew the persons name. I would probably allow planer ally/binding to work too, although it would be a really weird use of the spells. if you conjured a spirit, I would rule that it came back as an unbound phantom or potentially some kind of bodiless undead.

[Shiroi]

Nathan Monson wrote:

Gate should do it, provided you knew the persons name. I would probably allow planer ally/binding to work too, although it would be a really weird use of the spells. if you conjured a spirit, I would rule that it came back as an unbound phantom or potentially some kind of bodiless undead.

Is there any bodiless undead which isn't at least partially in the ethereal plane? Feels like you're pulling someone out of a place to put them back there.

Gate and planar spells wouldn't be a bad choice, and shouldn't require line of sight/effect either, which is a nice trick if they try to hide in a wall. But still, how to handle an incorporeal undead with no natural body when pulling them into the material plane is... awkward at best.

[Thotiel]

Shiroi wrote:

It sounds like you'd be in a weird rules spot if you could yank a ghost back into the real world. Do they come back as human with a body? Die instantly and may or may not become a ghost again, possibly now or a hundred years from now? Become a ghoul? If it was a PC, are they now an NPC? What of their items?

Ghostbane Dirge does just this for incorporeal beings. Sadly, incorporeal seems to be different from ethereal, otherwise it would be a nice answer for the OP.

[Jeraa]

Pathfinder ghosts seem to have absolutely nothing to do with the ethereal plane. The ethereal plane is never mentioned at all in the ghost's entry, and they have had the Manifestation ability from 3.5 D&D removed in Pathfinder. Pathfinder ghosts exist 100% on the material plane.

Quote:

Is there any bodiless undead which isn't at least partially in the ethereal plane?

Most if not all of them. Shadows, spectres, wraiths, and ghosts (all Bestiary 1) are bodiless and have no connection to the ethereal plane.

[Shiroi]

I need to brush up on incorporeal then. I was under the impression that anything incorporeal was not solid because they weren't in the material (or whichever you happen to be point of referencing from) plane. Then further under the impression that spells affected those creatures with at least some impact because magic was "imitated" or "echoed" in the ethereal plane and material plane, making a spell cast in one or the other at least partially real in the opposite.

Then again, maybe we're hitting awkward terminology between "bodiless" "ethereal" and "incorporeal" which should be clearly defined somewhere. Would anyone be able to post a relevant clarification where these things are linked as similar, or noted as separate in some way?

I suppose "bodiless" could also be a "non-solid" form such as a vapor or perhaps even so far as to say liquid might count. But to me, that's still a "physical form" since I can suck it up in a wetvac and leave it in a bottle with a do-not-disturb sign in my closet. "Bodiless, ethereal, incorporeal" to me all indicate something which is in no way affected by non magical material objects, perfectly capable of simply walking through a solid wall. This, in every experience I've seen in pathfinder at all, is a quality exclusively linked with planar travel (notably through Ethereal, though sometimes Astral, rarely Shadow, and in very specific cases other non material planes). Note that I keep saying material plane as a default, because it works just the same way no matter what plane you're on as long as you travel through a *different* plane than the thing looking at you. Anywhere planes overlap, and the ethereal overlaps the material quite heavily, this is how you move instantly, move through objects, or become un-touchable. Invisible and gaseous is the closest I can get to "ghost" without planar travel in at least some minor way.

If someone has another way to do it, I'd love to hear where I'm wrong. (not being a jerk, I actually would *love* to hear where I'm wrong, I hate being wrong and like to learn things correctly)

[Numarak]

Incorporeal and Ethereal are two different things in Pathfinder.

You could cast Ethereal Jaunt first, and then touch the target and cast Plane Shift; that would transport the target to the designated Plane, including the Material Plane as an option, if you pass the Spell Resistance roll and the target is willing or fails its WILL Saving Throw against the Plane Shift.

Not having a body translates in being incorporeal, but being incorporeal has nothing necessarily to do with being in the ethereal plane or not.