Playground,

I'm trying to see which spell is better if persisted, but I find Greater Blink somewhat unclear. Can I choose to become material right before the casting of my spell, and then become ethereal again right afterwards?

If so then it seems that Greater Blink is better since you're ethereal whenever you need it, and you can go material again once the battle is over, which is something Ghostform doesn't allow.

Spoiler: Blink
Show
Physical attacks against you have a 50% miss chance, and the Blind-Fight feat doesn't help opponents, since you're ethereal and not merely invisible. If the attack is capable of striking ethereal creatures, the miss chance is only 20% (for concealment). If the attacker can see invisible creatures, the miss chance is also only 20%. (For an attacker who can both see and strike ethereal creatures, there is no miss chance). Likewise, your own attacks have a 20% miss chance, since you sometimes go ethereal just as you are about to strike.

Any individually targeted spell has a 50% chance to fail against you while you're blinking unless your attacker can target invisible, ethereal creatures. Your own spells have a 20% chance to activate just as you go ethereal, in which case they typically do not affect the Material Plane.

While blinking, you take only half damage from area attacks (but full damage from those that extend onto the Ethereal Plane). You strike as an invisible creature (with a +2 bonus on attack rolls), denying your target any Dexterity bonus to AC. You take only half damage from falling, since you fall only while you are material.

While blinking, you can step through (but not see through) solid objects. For each 5 feet of solid material you walk through, there is a 50% chance that you become material. If this occurs, you are shunted off to the nearest open space and take 1d6 points of damage per 5 feet so traveled. You can move at only three-quarters speed (because movement on the Ethereal Plane is at half speed, and you spend about half your time there and half your time material).

Since you spend about half your time on the Ethereal Plane, you can see and even attack ethereal creatures. You interact with ethereal creatures roughly the same way you interact with material ones. For instance, your spells against ethereal creatures are 20% likely to activate just as you go material and be lost.

An ethereal creature is invisible, incorporeal, and capable of moving in any direction, even up or down. As an incorporeal creature, you can move through solid objects, including living creatures. An ethereal creature can see and hear the Material Plane, but everything looks gray and insubstantial. Sight and hearing on the Material Plane are limited to 60 feet. Force effects (such as magic missile and wall of force) and abjurations affect you normally. Their effects extend onto the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, but not vice versa. An ethereal creature can't attack material creatures, and spells you cast while ethereal affect only other ethereal things. Certain material creatures or objects have attacks or effects that work on the Ethereal Plane (such as the basilisk and its gaze attack. Treat other ethereal creatures and objects as material.


Spoiler: Greater Blink
Show
This spell functions like blink (PH 206), except that you have control over the timing of your "blinking" back and forth between the Ethereal Plane and the Material Plane. You can also ready an action to blink away from any physical or magical attack. The attack misses automatically unless it also affects ethereal targets (as a force effect does). While blinking, you have no chance of interfering with your own attacks or your own spells. When moving through solid objects, you do not risk materializing inside one unless you actually end your movement there, in which case you materialize and are shunted off to the nearest open space, taking 1d6 points of damage per 5 feet traveled in this manner.


Spoiler: Ghostform
Show
You assume a visible, incorporeal form like that of a manifesting ghost. You have no physical body while in this state. You can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, magic weapons or creatures that strike as magic weapons, and spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities. You are immune to all nonmagical attack forms. Even when hit by spells or magic weapons, you have a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source (except for positive energy, negative energy, force effects such as magic missile, or attacks made with ghost touch weapons). Non damaging spell effects affect you normally unless they require corporeal targets to function (such as implosion) or they create a corporeal effect that incorporeal creatures would normally be unaffected by (such as a web or wall of stone spell).

As an incorporeal creature, you have no natural armor bonus but have a deflection bonus equal to your Charisma bonus (always at least +1, even if your Charisma score does not normally provide a bonus).

You can enter or pass through solid objects while in ghostform, but you must remain adjacent to the object's exterior, and so cannot pass entirely through an object whose space is larger than your own. You can sense the presence of creatures or objects within a square adjacent to your current location, but enemies have total concealment (50% miss chance) from you while you are inside an object. In order to see farther from the object you are in and attack normally, you must emerge. While inside an object, you have total cover, but when you attack a creature outside the object you have cover only, so a creature outside with a readied action could strike at you as you attack. You cannot pass through a force effect.

While under the effect of ghostform, your attacks pass through (ignore) natural armor, armor, and shields, although deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against you. Your nonmagical attacks have no effect on corporeal targets, and any attack you make with a magic weapon against a corporeal target has a 50% miss chance, except for attacks you make with a ghost touch weapon, while are made normally (no miss chance). Spells you cast while in ghostform affect corporeal targets normally, including spells that require you to make an attack roll (such as rays or melee touch spells). You can pass through and operate in water as easily as you do in air. You cannot fall or take falling damage. You cannot make trip or grapple attacks, nor can you be tripped or grappled. In fact, you cannot take any physical action that would move or manipulate an opponent or its equipment, nor are you subject to such actions. You have no weight while in ghostform and do not set off traps that are triggered by weight.

You move silently and cannot be heard with Listen checks if you don't wish to be while in ghostform. You have no Strength score while incorporeal, so your Dexterity modifier applies to both your melee attacks and ranged attacks. Nonvisual senses, such as scent and blindsight, are either ineffective or only partly effective with regard to you. You have an innate sense of direction and can move at full speed even when you cannot see.