The best way to describe the Deep Ethereal is the analogy of an ocean and a seashore. The shallow water near the shore is the Ethereal Plane where it is coexistent with the Material Plane. As one moves out to sea (and away from the Material Plane), the sea deepens until finally one loses sight of land entirely. The deep ocean is the Deep Ethereal.
Travelers on their way to the Deep Ethereal see the Material Plane becoming even foggier. Sight dims from the usual 60-foot radius, losing 10 feet each minute until finally the traveler only can see within a 10-foot radius. At that point, the traveler has left the Material Plane behind. To an observer who remains behind, the traveler grows foggier and foggier, then vanishes entirely.
With no landmarks, travel in the Deep Ethereal works much like movement on the Astral Plane, where only time matters, not direction or distance. Depending on the destination, a trip in the Deep Ethereal takes minutes or hours.
When returning to the Material Plane, the individual reappears in a random location, instead of returning to where he or she started. The traveler's return point is 1d10 miles away from the original starting point for each minute the traveler has been trying to return. Determine the direction of the new exit point randomly.
Traits
If the Ethereal plane is tightly wed to the Material plane, the Deep Ethereal is divorced from it. It has the following traits.
- No Gravity.
- Normal Time.
- Infinite Size.
- Alterable Morphic: There is little on the plane to alter, however.
- No Elemental or Energy Traits.
- Mildly Neutral-Aligned.
- Wild Magic: Spells and spell-like abilities function in wildly different and sometimes dangerous ways. Any spell or spell-like ability used has a chance to go awry. The caster must make a level check (DC 15 + the attempted spell level) for the spell to function normally. For spell-like abilities, use the caster level for the ability to determine the DC and the level or HD of the creature for making the level check. Regardless, while spells function wildly on the Deep Ethereal Plane they do not cross into the Material Plane or Ethereal Plane. Spellcasters on the Material Plane cannot detect foes on the Deep Ethereal Plane, but neither can those foes detect them. No magical attacks cross from the Deep Ethereal Plane to the Material Plane or Ethereal Plane, including force attacks.
Links to Other Planes
- The Deep Ethereal Plane borders the Ethereal plane, but the deeper you go the farther you become from whatever realms coexist with the Ethereal plane.
- Portals from other planes may open onto the Deep Ethereal Plane, rather than the corresponding point on the Material Plane or Ethereal Plane. Such portals appear as foggy clouds of shimming colors (rather than the Astral Plane's color pools). These portals create conduits through the Astral Plane to reach their destination, just like any other portal, but their entrances are on the Deep Ethereal Plane. Travelers from elsewhere become ethereal once they reach the Deep Ethereal Plane by means of a curtain, and they must pass through another such curtain (or have some other means of manifesting themselves) to reach the Material Plane.
- It is impossible to Plane Shift (as the spell) into the Deep Ethereal Plane. With the exception of curtains, to venture into the Deep Ethereal you must first enter the Ethereal Plane. Travelers who do find a way into the Deep Ethereal become ethereal themselves (as the Ethereal Jaunt spell) when they arrive, if not already ethereal. Unless they have the ability to somehow leave the Deep Ethereal Plane, or they find a curtain leading out of the Deep Ethereal Plane, they're trapped there.
Inhabitants
The Deep Ethereal Plane is much less populated than the Ethereal Plane. Magical beasts such as the ethereal marauder, phase spider, and ethereal filcher which are found in the Ethereal Plane can also be found here, but in far fewer numbers. The most prevalent of the Deep Ethereal natives are the ghosts, most of whom have long since forgotten who they were. Trapped between realms, these deep ghosts sometimes create their own mockery of civilization in the Deep Ethereal. Such creatures often have a deep and abiding hatred of the living, and no love for those travelers who impinge upon their realms.
Features
- As the Ethereal plane, there is no direct danger to general survival on the Deep Ethereal Plane. The atmosphere is normal, and inhabitants breathe normally. Inhaled poisons and spells such as cloudkill work normally.
- Like the Ethereal plane, there is no food or water other than what travelers bring with them. Someone trapped on the Deep Ethereal Plane without a way out risks eventual starvation or dehydration.
- The Deep Ethereal plane is shrouded in fog, obscuring vision further than 80 ft. The Deep Ethereal plane emits its own deep blue diffuse light, so ethereal observers do not need torches to see around them. Light sources do not expand the 60-foot vision limit, nor do alternate methods of sight such as darkvision. A creature with blindsight on the Deep Ethereal Plane can detect other ethereal creatures in the Deep Ethereal at its normal range.