how deal with etherial enemies?

[Merry Jolkar]

My Daoine Sidhe cannot seem to hit the enemy Dispossessed Spirits, because they are etherial, and can thus almost never be hit by non-magical weapons. Since I can't give magical weapons to my troops, how should I fight them?

Thanks,
Merry

[Kristoffer O]

Banishment, spells and summons of your own.

Flaming arrows is a good spell.

Fire 9 blessing would give your sidhe flaming weapons.

[Merry Jolkar]

Thank you. I will encourage more young men to pursue a life in the church.

[HotNifeThruButr]

What's the first summoned units with access to magical weapons? The only ones I can think of right now Ether Warriors.

[PvK]

Shades are ethereal themselves... not sure if that means they can hit other ethereals or not. Same question applies for all the seasonal spirits, Phantasmal Warriors, Ghost Wolves, etc.

Wights and Banes have bane blades, which I assume are magic enough.

Do fires hurt ethereals? Or do flaming arrows only work well against ethereals because they are also magical?

I seem to remember Holy Pyre is quite effective, and is available either directly cast, or ala Flambeaux.

Can ethereals be trampled as easily as solid troops?

PvK

[PDF]

Originally posted by HotNifeThruButr:
What's the first summoned units with access to magical weapons? The only ones I can think of right now Ether Warriors.

In fact you can even get magically armed Mercenaries, the Eternal Knights ! However they appear randomly as de all mercs...

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by HotNifeThruButr:
What's the first summoned units with access to magical weapons? The only ones I can think of right now Ether Warriors.

Anything with a life drain attack has a magical weapon, so the earliest available summon is a black servant. Banes and, wights, and bane lords all have a bane blade, so they can damage the troops normally.

Of course, against soul gate, while you might not be able to hit their troops very often, the spectral troops will also have trouble hitting you. The Antimagic spell is extremely effective against these troops. Any magical attack that doesn't specifically state that it has trouble against ethereal troops will also work very well since magic ignores etherealness.

[Jasper]

Phantasmal battle summonings all have magic attacks, although this is offset by allowing a MR save. Hama Dryads have Strength stealing (also with a MR save) although they're hard to get much use out of. A summoned commander can use magic weapons.

Some factions also start with troops wielding magic weapons. Caelum and C'tis spring to mind. I would guess the damage from a Fire 9 blessing is also magic, though I haven't checked.

[rabelais]

Do seasonal spirits with "natural" attacks (e.g fall bear, with vanilla "claw") count as magical for the purpose of hitting fellow ethereals?

If not, it seems like two Groups of fall bears or WWolves could flail at each other quite ineffectually for some time.

An inadvertently efficient "meat" shield against other ethereals?

Maybe an Ether Claw new weapon type is called for?


Rabe the Beastiary Booster

[Chris Byler]

Another important point: although you can't easily give magic weapons to your troops, you *can* give them to your *commanders*. All weapon items count as magical weapons and can damage ethereal creatures. The Astral Weapon spell also allows the caster's weapons to damage ethereal beings (and negate armor too).

So try equipping some Sidhe Champions with enchanted swords, thorn spears, or even the Bow of War (fires 13 arrows, all of which hit ethereal IIRC) and let them attack the ethereal enemies.