Ethereal Plane

It is a plane out of phase. It is a place of ghosts and monsters. It is right next to you, and you don't even see it.

— Wanderer of the Planes

The Ethereal plane existed adjacent to the Material Plane and connected it to the Inner Planes. The non-Border region was called the Deep Ethereal. While in the Border Ethereal, a traveler could still see into the adjacent plane but only dimly and not very far, whereas those on the bordering plane could not see the traveler without magical detection. Verbal communication was not possible between the Border Ethereal and the bordered plane. The Ethereal was unique among the many planes in that an individual could exist in two planes simultaneously: the Border Ethereal and the adjacent plane.
When travelers crossed into the Border Ethereal, they and all their possessions were converted to their Ethereal equivalents—metal became ethereal metal, flesh became ethereal flesh, and so on —allowing free movement (in most cases) in any direction through the solid matter of the adjacent plane. However, not all in the adjacent plane was insubstantial. Living things larger than one-celled animals generated an aura that radiated around them and prevented passage to their interior, so an ethereal traveler could not place a weapon inside a living creature where it would materialize and cause damage. A jungle would be an extremely torturous maze to navigate; it would be much easier to float above the vegetation or pass below its roots. Dense metals such as lead or gold also prevented passage of ethereal matter. And finally, some magic spells and alchemical mixtures could form an effective barrier.
Travel in the Ethereal and Border Ethereal was accomplished by force of will—you wished to go somewhere and you did, at your normal rate of movement. There was a sense of up and down but no real gravity existed. Objects released from possession would hover where they were dropped; it was impossible to fall in the Ethereal plane.
If one managed to reach the Deep Ethereal, time slowed down to one tenth the rate it flowed in the Border Ethereal and the plane that it bordered. For every ten hours spent in the Deep Ethereal only one hour passed on the other side of the curtain. Metabolic and other natural processes slowed down also, so it did not feel like ten hours, when you crossed back through a curtain into a Border Ethereal you were only an hour older and an hour hungrier.
The Deep Ethereal swirled with large blobs of protomatter (imagine a cosmic lava lamp) which could form a demiplane when a critical size was reached. Powerful wizards, technologists, or demigods could also bend the proto-matter to their will and create a demiplane.

Inhabitants

Certain creatures dwelled primarily on the Ethereal Plane. Examples of these include ghosts. Others can become ethereal virtually at will, such as thought slayers and phase spiders.

Languages

none

Color Pools

Spiraling White

Ethereal Curtains

none

Tuning Fork

Glass, B

Shape and Size

Infinite or the same size as its coexistent plane

Gravity

none

Time

Normal

Type

Dimensional plane