[Planescape] Can you go ethereal or Astral while in Sigil?

[Piratecat]

I know you can't get into Sigil through the Astral Plane (the only way in is through a portal), but can people inside Sigil access other dimensions? For instance, can an adventurer in Sigil go ethereal and walk through a wall, or cast a spell that relies on the plane of Shadow? How about spells that rely on the astral?

The answer to this has a big impact on tactics during my next game.

 

[DanMcS]

In 2e, no, the ethereal plane was not connected to the outer planes at all. It went from the prime to the elemental planes.

In 3e, most every plane has its own ethereal plane, right? So really it depends on how you're viewing sigil. It's a whacky little demiplane controlled by the LoP, the rules are whatever she wants. I would be inclined to say no on both counts. No ethereal or astral access (so no summoning monsters, teleporting, that kind of thing).

 

[Philip]

Technically you cannot 'enter' the astral plane in Sigil, although you can use it as a conduit for teleport spells and the like as long as your destination is inside Sigil.

If you rule that Sigil has an its own ethereal plane then you can access it, but not use it to travel to other planes.

IMC I have ruled that Sigil shuts of ANY access to the Astral and Ethereal planes. So no demons and devils going on a teleporting spree inside the city, no ethereal people (or Ghosts) floating through the walls etc. It makes sense and creates more gaming fun.

 

[AuraSeer]

Historically, the Ethereal is only coexistent with the Prime Material. If you're on any other plane, you cannot become ethereal. If you took a portal or gate to the Ethereal Plane, you'd end up coexisting with a spot on the Material Plane, not whatever plane you started on.

They may have changed this in the 3.5 Planar Handbook, but I just checked my 3.0 MoTP and it still worked this way. "Multiple ethereals" is only listed as a variant rule.

 

[Piratecat]

Well, we know that the Lady of Pain can access the ethereal from Sigil, because that's where she forms mazes. That doesn't mean that anyone else can. I suspect that Sigil has its own little bubble of Astral that surrounds it, and you can only summon monsters that already exist in Sigil. (I bet that there's a monster stable in Sigil somewhere that keeps monsters for the purposes of summoning; the beasties come with bills that they hand to the wizard.)

I'm going to rule that for mortal casters there is no access to the ethereal in Sigil, though. I think that's consistent with precedent.

 

[Mephistopheles]

These restrictions are why Sigil is colloquially referred to as "The Cage". If you arrive in Sigil and don't have access to a portal to get back out again you're stuck there. Anyone trying to mess with that arrangement should keep their calendar open for a visit from a certain lass.