[RPG] If you cast Blink, do spells with visual/physical effects centered on the caster follow you to the Ethereal Plane

dnd-5eethereal-planeplanesspells

Suppose a caster is under the effects of the blink spell, and within that same duration they are also under the effects of another spell which has a visual or physical effect that remains centered on the caster, such as:

  • Mirror image – Multiple illusory duplicates of the caster follow her wherever she goes. (Exact wording: "Three illusory duplicates of yourself appear in your space. Until the spell ends, the duplicates move with you and mimic your actions, shifting position so it’s impossible to track which image is real." Player's Handbook, p. 260)
  • Warding wind – Wind swirls violently in a 10-foot radius around the caster, moving with him as he traverses the field. (Exact wording: "A strong wind (20 miles per hour) blows around you in a 10-foot radius and moves with you, remaining centered on you." EE Player's Companion, p. 23)

QUESTION: For such effects (of which I'm sure there are more, but those serve as two key examples), do they cease to be present on the battlefield when you blink away, following you to the Ethereal Plane? Or do they remain in their same position at the point you left?

SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTION:

  • If they cease to be present when you leave, are they active in the Ethereal Plane?
  • If they remain, and you've readied an action to move in the Ethereal Plane, do the effects move with you on their native plane, or do they wait until you return, and "snap to" whatever space you return in?

Some effects, like those of fire shield seem easier to adjudicate: "Thin and wispy flames wreathe your body," so one could presume that as your body is transported to the Ethereal Plane, so, too, are the flames. After all, they follow the body. Mirror image, on the other hand, creates "Illusory duplicates in your space that follow you; they are not "attached" to you in the same way. And warding wind creates wind that moves with you.

I can see arguments to be made in either direction, so if someone can find a RAW interpretation, I'd appreciate it.

Points to consider:

  • According to this question, Tenser's floating disk can't follow you upward, so who's to say that illusions/effects that move with you can move 4th dimensionally to another plane?
  • According to this question, A projected image created in the Border Ethereal would stay in the Border Ethereal if you returned to the Prime Material Plane. What keeps the inverse from being true of your mirror image duplicates when you leave the Prime Material?

Best Answer

The effects move with you.

The 5e SRD Appendix C details how the planes of existence behave. There's nothing to suggest magic behaves any differently in the ethereal plane than the material plane (outside of some spells that have explicit interactions with the ethereal plane). The effect would move into the ethereal plane with you and remain active at your new location. It would cease to function where you used to be.

Project image remains where it was placed because it does not follow you or remain centered on you.

Floating disk cannot move with you as you fly because that case is addressed in the spell description:

It can move across uneven terrain, up or down stairs, slopes and the like, but it can’t cross an elevation change of 10 feet or more. [...]

If you move more than 100 feet from the disk (typically because it can’t move around an obstacle to follow you), the spell ends.

Emphasis mine.

Mirror image and warding wind do not impose restrictions on where the effects can follow you, so there is nothing to indicate planar travel is off-limits.

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