Ghost Elves, Archery, and the Ethereal Plane...

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A theoretical question to those with expert knowledge of the planes (or a copy of Tome of the Planes, I suppose)...

According to the Dragon Magazine #313 issue article about Ghost Elves (Elves of the ethereal plane essentially) one of the tradeoffs for being a Ghost Elf, is losing proficiency with bows.

According to the article "Such weapons are useless in the obscuring mists of the Ethereal Plane."

So basically, Ghost Elves instead rely on melee weapons instead.

Which got me thinking...would the difficulties of using a bow be different if the archer were an Arcane Archer?

Obviously, an AA get increased damage for regular arrows, and special attacks like the fireball arrows and seeker arrows, but...would any of this be usable in the Ethereal Plane?

If a Ghost Elf learned to be an AA in the material world, would these skills help them at all in the Ethereal Plane?

Thanks!

-D

 

No. No to everything.

 

Excerpt from the Manual of Planes (p. 54):

Ethereal Combat

Combat on the Ethereal Plane is unaffected by the nature of the plane, with the exception that attacks may be made from any direction (See Combat in Three Dimensions sidebar in Chapter 1.)
The limited vision on the Ethereal Plane also affects combat; it's difficult to spot opponents at long range. Furthermore, a group that is separated may have difficulty pulling itself back together as members are drawn off into smaller combats. Natives to the Ethereal Plane might try to lure adventurers away from each other, then ambush them individually.

 

Have they actually said just what this "difficult" entails? It can mean a heck of a penalty to spot checks to see things, concealment that comes with distance, or actual limitations in range a la low-light vision/darkvision.

 

"Vision is limited, however, to 60 feet both an the Ethereal Plane and onto the Material Plane." (p. 55)

I guess one treats it a solid object after 60 feet.

 

This sounds like full concealment, actually - your arrow may hit further away, but you can't see a thing.

 

Thanks everyone...I think I get the basic idea...Archery in the Ethereal Plane is not a sound strategy it seems.

-D