GM Brief: Incorporeal Targets
GM Primer: Handling Incorporeal Targets (PF2e Remaster)
Fighting incorporeal entities like Echoes can quickly turn deadly for a Level 3 party if players don't understand the mechanics or lack the right tools. Use this reference guide to keep combat smooth, fair, and tactically engaging without causing an accidental total party wipe.
1. Key Remaster Rules Refresher
- Immune to Nonmagical Attacks: Incorporeal creatures take zero damage from mundane weapons, unarmed strikes, or physical hazards that lack magical properties.
- Universal Resistance: Even against magical physical strikes (like a +1 weapon), incorporeal entities possess Resistance to all damage (typically 3 to 5 at low levels), except for specific damage types like Force or Spirit.
- No Material Substance: They can pass through solid walls, objects, and living creatures. Passing through or ending a turn inside a solid object makes them Concealed or Hidden.
- No Physical Maneuvers: Incorporeal creatures cannot be Tripped, Grappled, or Shoved by standard means, nor can they Flank PCs unless a specific trait allows it.
2. Damage Type Interactions
| Attack / Damage Type | Effect Against Incorporeal Echoes |
|---|---|
| Mundane Weapon / Unarmed | Immune. Deals 0 damage. |
| +1 Magic Weapon | Bypasses immunity, but damage is reduced by the Echo's Resistance. |
| Spirit or Force Damage | Bypasses Resistance entirely. Deals full damage. |
| Vitality Energy (e.g., Heal) | Deals full damage if targeting undead echoes; ignores physical resistance. |
| Ghost Touch Rune / Dust-Coated Weapon | Completely negates Incorporeal resistance for weapon strikes. |
3. Tactical GM Advice: Setting Up Party Success
Telegraph the Mechanics Early: Before throwing the party into initiative against echoes, describe environmental cues—a spectral blade passing harmlessly through a wooden table, or Varla explicitly warning the PCs that mundane steel will slice right through thin air.
Leverage Act 1 Assets:
- Graveward Dust (Grave-Salt): The party can utilize this resource in two tactical ways:
- Weapon Coating (1 Action): Coat a weapon or up to 10 pieces of ammunition. For 1 minute, strikes with the weapon gain the benefits of a ghost touch rune, bypassing incorporeal resistance entirely and allowing mundane weapons to affect echoes.
- Area Barrier (2 Actions): Sprinkle across a doorway, window, or 5-foot square. The first incorporeal entity attempting to cross it halts its movement immediately and takes 2d6 Spirit damage (DC 18 basic Will save).
- Thornwick the Wolf: Thornwick's Echolocation Sense provides a +2 circumstance bonus to Initiative against echoes, stopping the party from being caught flat-footed by phasing attackers. His warning howl also gives 1 round of prep time to draw scrolls or apply weapon coatings.