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Spell combo Viability check

Step one: Cast Etherealness (Assumingly, from the material plane)

https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Etherealness#content

Step Two: Cast Gate, and return to the material plane (Possibly at the same or different location).

https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Gate#content

Does this work?


Context (Original post)

I haven't been able to find an answer to this anywhere but is it theoretically possible for a high level cleric to use Etherealness and then Gate from the ethereal plane to function as an expensive form of Teleport to anywhere on the material plane? I'm not asking if it's smart to use a level 7 and a level 9 spell in this- just if it's possible.

I'm trying to find more creative uses of my high level cleric's spells and my GM is very lenient on encounters during our campaign session (we don't always have combat every session and even in combat heavy sessions the GM often provides "assistance" of a free long rest before a difficult fight so rarely is holding back limited slots/abilities necessary). My group is heavier on the rp side of things and a full party combat can turn a 6 round fight into a 2 hour real-time slog so I feel the GM does it to keep the difficulty from derailing the campaign story and to try to limit sessions to 6-8 hour intervals. Either way I'd like to find more uses for my cleric's spells as I've had sessions where my character has cast only a handful of spells during that session (I'm aware that Tasha's Cauldron of Everything brought a number of useful spells over to cleric's spell list and I look forward to using some when our campaign starts up again).

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Hi, And welcome to stack exchange. I took some liberties to simplify and correct your question so it is much easier to understand at a glance. Please feel free to correct or alter my additions if you feel I am in error. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 9, 2021 at 10:02
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    – V2Blast
    Apr 10, 2021 at 20:34

1 Answer 1

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Probably?

The basics of this seem fine; Etherealness takes you from the Material to the Ethereal, Gate lets you travel to a specific point on a Plane that isn't your current one. It seems the Ethereal Plane and the Material Plane aren't the same, even though they overlap.

The only thing that might be a problem, but it's up to the DM, is that Etherealness has this clause:

When the spell ends, you immediately return to the plane you originated from in the spot you currently occupy. If you occupy the same spot as a solid object or creature when this happens, you are immediately shunted to the nearest unoccupied space that you can occupy and take force damage equal to twice the number of feet you are moved.

I don't think this spell was written to deal with the consequences of using it and then using something else to plane-shift further. I would rule that if you're not on the Ethereal Plane anymore, nothing happens, but check with your DM.

Alternatively, you could use Plane Shift. It's also on the Cleric list, also takes you to a different Plane to Gate from and has no weird automatic return clauses that might cause issues.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I'd say you effectively end the spell etherealness by exiting the Ethereal Plane based on this line: "You remain in the Border Ethereal for the duration or until you use your action to dismiss the spell". If this did not make the spell end, its effects would be useless, since you cannot phase back into the Ethereal Plane when the spell is already in effect (you step into that plane only at the time of casting the spell). \$\endgroup\$ Apr 9, 2021 at 8:32
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    \$\begingroup\$ But then if you effectively end the spell by leaving the Ethereal Plane, do you end up where the spell says you end up or where the action you took says you end up? It's the reason I gave this a "probably" instead of a "yes". I think most DMs would say that you end the spell without triggering that clause if you leave the Ethereal, but it's not clear cut. \$\endgroup\$
    – Erik
    Apr 9, 2021 at 8:37

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