Can a ghost touch weapon reposition an incorporeal creature?

[CMantle]

Just the question listed above... since the weapon interacts with incorporeal as if it were also incorporeal, does that mean you can force the enemy to interact with it via the reposition combat maneuver?

[Claxon]

As far as I can tell Ghost Touch only allows you to deal damage, it doesn't do other things. So no.

As an example, Ghost Touch armor spikes don't allow you to grapple incorporeal creatures. But the Ghost Spike specific magic item does, as it has a special ability that does exactly that.

[baggageboy]

This is debatable there is this lane at the end that could be the basis for such an argument depending on the weapon. "Essentially, a ghost touch weapon counts as both corporeal or incorporeal."

If it's an incorporeal weapon it can "physically" interact with a ghost as if it was a ghost itself. So can a ghost reposition a ghost?

[Claxon]

That is perhaps a fair argument.

Though if it was allowed it would need to be limited to maneuvers that use weapons, such as trip, disarm, and sunder. I think reposition gets a special allowance as it also specifically mentions using a weapon.

I think there is an FAQ about which maneuvers use weapons.

[CMantle]

Unless there is an exception somewhere in an FAQ for ghost touch I don’t think it would work [RAW]. Here’s an entry from the Incorporeal section of Universal Monster Rules:

“Incorporeal creatures cannot make trip or grapple attacks, nor can they be tripped or grappled. In fact, they cannot take any physical action that would move or manipulate an opponent or its equipment, nor are they subject to such actions.”

I think Ghost Spike sets good precedent for it though, as well as the fact that incorporeal’s CAN “move or manipulate” a ghost touch weapon... personally I still think it’s a two-way road, if they can move/manipulate the weapon, then the weapon should be able to move/manipulate them.

[Joey Cote]

Claxon wrote:

That is perhaps a fair argument.

Though if it was allowed it would need to be limited to maneuvers that use weapons, such as trip, disarm, and sunder. I think reposition gets a special allowance as it also specifically mentions using a weapon.

I think there is an FAQ about which maneuvers use weapons.

This one https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo5lcom?Combat-Maneuvers-and-Weapon- Special-Features

But it does mention that weapons with the trip property can be use to drag and reposition.

[Claxon]

That is what I was referring to Joey Cote.

If ghost touch would allow for maneuvers like trip, sunder, and disarm it would also allow for reposition.

I'm not sure Baggabeboy's argument is correct, but if it is, it would go beyond just reposition.

[baggageboy]

I think RAW you can't. There simply is no explanation given for why you can trip and otherwise maneuver a ghost. However it's pretty reasonable to infer that that is the flavor text for the usual situation because they are incorporeal and players usually aren't. The text of ghost touch does not explicitly say you can apply maneuvers.

If you can find an instance where players are on the astral plane, incorporeal or in some other similar circumstance you might be able to prove out my theory. In a home game I'd absolutely allow it for weapons that can normally perform those maneuvers.