Ethereal Plane

The Ethereal Plane is a misty, fog-bound dimension. Its “shores,” called the Border Ethereal, overlap the Material Plane and the Inner Planes, so that every location on those planes has a corresponding location on the Ethereal Plane. Visibility in the Border Ethereal is limited to 60 feet. The plane’s depths comprise a region of swirling mist and fog called the Deep Ethereal, where visibility is limited to 30 feet.    

Geography

Border Ethereal

The Border Ethereal fills in the interplanar gaps in-between the Inner planes. It is the sheet that covers the Material realm, and as such can be reached into and felt throughout it. While it is always right next to you, you can go for an entire lifetime and never once see it.   Those that visit the Border Ethereal should be ready to experience the following dangers and phenomena:  

• The Border Ethereal washes against the edges of the Material Plane, becoming a single realm separated by only a thin veil. Some creatures are able to span this veil, such as ghosts or the more monstrous phase spider, but for the most part, the Border Ethereal is the safely removed vantage point from which to witness the Material Plane. The life, landscapes, and sounds from the Material are seen and heard here, albeit only in shades of gray and softly warbled tones. As a result, many Border Ethereal natives enjoy the challenges and theatrics of neighboring civilizations from across the planar barrier and often use it as their primary source of entertainment.
• While sight and sound can traverse the planar shores, smells cannot. While not completely devoid of smell, the Border Ethereal is most often described as having a faint but pervasive odor akin to licorice mixed with the aftermath of a summer storm. Were wind, weather, or temperatures to affect this plane of existence at all, such odors might become more common or varied. As it is, goods known for their odors, both good and bad, are often coveted by those on the Border Ethereal.
• Light cast by a lantern or magical spell on the Border Ethereal doesn’t reflect off of nearby surfaces the way it does on the Material Plane. Instead, the light simply moves through whatever is nearby, making visibility a difficult challenge when traveling.
• Gravity’s hold over the Border Ethereal is nothing short of tenuous or elective. Dropping an object there doesn’t cause it to fall, but merely to remain in place instead, staying there until it’s forced to move again by something else. Similarly, walking across the ground on the Ethereal is as normal as it is to fly, moving in whichever direction you will yourself to go.
• Similarly, very few structures prevent travel on the Border Ethereal. Movement through walls, mountains, or other barriers located on the Material Plane poses no resistance to travelers here. However, common folk tales warn children of the Ethereal Plane to be wary when doing so, as to lose your sense of direction when moving through these expansive barriers is extremely dangerous.
• Swirling mists obscure the paths that lead deeper into the Ethereal Plane and away from where it borders alongside the Material. It’s through these deeper paths that inter-planar travel between the Prime Material Plane and the others is made possible, albeit not for the faint of heart.

  From the Border Ethereal, a traveler can see into whatever plane it overlaps, but that plane appears muted and indistinct, its colors blurring into each other and its edges turning fuzzy. Ethereal denizens watch the plane as though peering through distorted and frosted glass, and can’t see anything beyond 30 feet into the other plane. Conversely, the Ethereal Plane is usually invisible to those on the overlapped planes, except with the aid of Magic.   Normally, creatures in the Border Ethereal can’t attack creatures on the overlapped plane, and vice versa. A traveler on the Ethereal Plane is invisible and utterly silent to someone on the overlapped plane, and solid objects on the overlapped plane don’t hamper the movement of a creature in the Border Ethereal. The exceptions are certain magical effects (including anything made of magical force) and living beings. This makes the Ethereal Plane ideal for reconnaissance, spying on opponents, and moving around without being detected.  

Deep Ethereal

To reach the Deep Ethereal, one needs a plane shift spell or arrive by means of a gate spell or magical portal. Visitors to the Deep Ethereal are engulfed by roiling mist. Scattered throughout the plane are curtains of vaporous color, and passing through a curtain leads a traveler to a region of the Border Ethereal connected to a specific Inner Plane, the Material Plane, the Feywild, or the Shadowfell. The color of the curtain indicates the plane whose Border Ethereal the curtain conceals; see the Ethereal Curtains table.  

Ethereal Curtains

d8	Plane	Color of Curtain
1	Material Plane	Bright turquoise
2	Shadowfell	Dusky gray
3	Feywild	Opalescent white
4	Elemental Plane of Air	Plae blue
5	Elemental Plane of Earth	Reddish-brown
6	Elemental Plane of Fire	Orange
7	Elemental Plane of Water	Green
8	Elemental plane of weave	Purple

 

Getting There

Characters can use the etherealness spell to enter the Border Ethereal. The plane shift spell allows transport to the Border Ethereal or the Deep Ethereal, but unless the intended destination is a specific location or a teleportation circle, the point of arrival could be anywhere on the plane.    

Traveling Around

Traveling through the Deep Ethereal to journey from one plane to another is unlike physical travel. Distance is meaningless, so although travelers feel as if they can move by a simple act of will, it’s impossible to measure speed and hard to track the passage of Time. A trip between planes through the Deep Ethereal takes 1d10 × 10 hours, regardless of the origin and destination. In combat, however, creatures are considered to move at their normal speeds.  

Creatures & Denizens

Denizens

Most encounters in the Border Ethereal are with creatures on the Material Plane whose senses or abilities extend into the Ethereal Plane (phase spiders, for example). Ghosts also move freely between the Ethereal and Material Planes.   In the Deep Ethereal, most encounters are with other travelers, particularly ones from the Inner Planes (such as elementals, genies, and salamanders), as well as the occasional celestial, fiend, or fey.  

Ethereans

Bearing a resemblance to the drow from the Material Plane, ethereans are similarly gray-skinned and willowy in stature but have billowing plumes of wispy, mist-like hair. If only potentially a distant relative to the fey, ethereans have managed to not only scrape together an existence on the Border Ethereal but have done so with vibrance and infectious charm.   Most ethereans live relatively solitary lives amidst their nuclear families for self-preservation but also thrive in social climates wherever song and dance can be found. While etherean taverns are rarely found outside of larger settlements, it’s not uncommon for ethereans to come together and regale one another with melodic songs, far-flung tales, or the pulpy life stories of whomever it is they’ve been watching recently from the Material Plane. It’s through such true-to-life etherean storytelling that even the most obscure heroes of the Material Plane, whose deeds may have been completely unseen by others, can live on for generations on the Ethereal as beloved ballads.  

Features

Ether Cyclones

An ether cyclone is a serpentine column that spins through the plane. The cyclone appears abruptly, distorting and uprooting ethereal forms in its path and carrying the debris for leagues. Travelers with a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 15 or more receive 1d4 rounds of warning: a deep hum in the ethereal matter. Travelers who can’t reach a curtain or portal leading elsewhere suffer the cyclone’s effect. Roll a d20 and consult the Ether Cyclone table to determine the effect on all creatures in the vicinity.  

Ether Cyclone

d20	Effect
1-13	Extended journey
14-20	Blown to the Border Ethereal of a random plane (roll on the Ethereal Curtains table)

  The most common effect of an ether cyclone is to extend the duration of a journey. Each character in a group traveling together must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. If at least half the group succeeds, travel is delayed by 1d10 hours. Otherwise, the journey’s travel time is doubled. Less often, a group is blown into the Border Ethereal of a random plane.  

History

Creation Myth

In the beginning, the realm was shrouded in elemental chaos. Here, the very forces and spirits of nature waged an unrelenting battle within a primordial chaos. This tumultuous conflict is now remembered as the Elemental War, where each elder elemental strove for dominance over the plane. Their clashes, fueled by the fury of weave, fire, air, water, and earth, gave birth to the material plane, emerging from the crucible of elemental chaos.   Yet, amid their ferocious combat, the elder elementals inadvertently consumed the essence of the Weave elemental, leading to a profound imbalance within this nascent world. It was within this unstable and volatile realm that the ancient gods arrived—a group of nine deities, each representing a distinct alignment.   The ancient gods sought to establish order and society, but the elder elementals fiercely contested their presence. However, due to the preexisting imbalance triggered by the consumption of the Weave elder elemental, the ancient gods ultimately prevailed. They banished the elder elementals to pocket planes known as the Elemental Planes.   Nevertheless, the elemental power of these ancient beings was too potent to be wholly suppressed. In time, they harnessed the surrounding chaos, giving rise to the five Elemental Planes. Meanwhile, dragons and giants, forged the prime material plane from the materials left of the battle of the elements, shaping the world into the familiar form it holds today.   The connection between the inner planes and the Ethereal Plane is a remnant of the once-unbridled elemental chaos, its formidable power gradually harnessed and subdued over the course of countless ages.