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Positive Ethereal Resonance

Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 2:42 pm
by TheArcaneWeirdo
So a while ago I've read the explanation about ethereal reasonance (I think it was in the 3e Ravenloft Player's Handbook), and I noticed that ranks 1-3 get examples of reasonance left both by negative and positive emotions, but ranks 4 and 5 only get negative ones.
And, like, I get why. We're in the Domains of Dread, not the Domains of Delight! If something here happened to leave such intense emotions that they left a permanent imprint on the Near Ethereal, it was probably a terrifying one. This (more or less subtle) imbalance toward evil and misery is an inherent part of the setting.
Also, people generally have a harder time pinning down what makes them feel good than what makes them feel bad. I think we evolved that way because paying attention to dangers is more critical for survival.
But:
1) While danger-awareness is more necessary, I think understanding what makes us feel good can be extremely beneficial to our mental state and to determining our life goals, so this can be useful to practice.
2) When in the demiplane of eternal doom and gloom where nothing ever ends well, it's easy to get 'Too Bleak; Stopped Caring' (TB;SC for short, if you're the sort of internet nerd that writes TVTropes articles). A vision of extreme joy can both bring hope back to the narrative, and remind the players what the stakes are. Traveling into the shadow rift to find the darkling animated by John Doe's soul so you can get Mr. Doe's soul back sounds like a fun quest - but while investigating what happened to him you stumble into the kitchen and see a vision of his daughter's sixth birthday when he saw she really liked the pixie decorations on the cake he made, that was his first attempt ever at baking and decorating a fancy cake - suddenly seeing this man, whom you've only known as a random catatonic halfling who doesn't seem nearly interesting enough for the fae to go all the way to Richemulout to kidnap him, as a devoted father with an creative bent? Realising that if you fail, a kid would lose forever their amazing parent? Dam, now you actually give a dam about Jacky. Now it's personal. Now you're fighting for them, not just for the adventure. Positive ethereal reasonance can show you why the little people matter when said little people can't say it themselves.
3) Glimpses into the happy moments of a story can shed light on what led to its tragic end. For example, you might be trying to solve the murder of a young Borcan woman. You enter the garden where she used to meet with her secret lover, and see a vision of the day he proposed her. During the proposal, said lover states that he doesn't care what his grandfather thinks - she's the best wife he could ever hope for. If your players have a brain cell, they'd try to figure out what did the grandfather have against her. (Maybe. Maybe not. You should always give your players 3 clues for each question when running mystery, just to be on the safe side. But this can be one of them!)


So the point of this post is...
What experiences can induce in you positive emotions powerful enough to create ethereal reasonace, and of what rank?

Reminders:
- Everyone has different preferences, so this doesn't have to be universal.
- My main goal is to get examples for 4th and 5th rank reasonance, but you're more than welcome to give lower ranks too.
- The stuff that makes us happy doesn't have to look important from a logical or traditional perspective. Some of the silliest things can make us feel supreme joy.
- Please avoid giving mental illness, drugs or spell effects as examples. Not because I'm against discussing these themes, but because I don't want here examples that 'hack' the brain and artificially create a certain emotion. I want you to think when does your (or your character's) brain produce this emotion as a natural reaction to the situation.
- Someone is going to write an evil example like 'the darklord's sadistic joy while torturing their toxic crush'. If that's what makes you happy, go with it, but it's not as original as you think it is.

Re: Positive Ethereal Resonance

Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 3:41 pm
by TheArcaneWeirdo
My examples:

- Well, this is quite predictable for a geek, but I daresay that the elevation felt while reading an epic moment in a story - especially the turn of events where the heroes start winning after you already thought they're doomed, what Tolkien dubbed as 'eucatastrophe' - is at least rank 3 resonance. (resonance? reasonance? how do you spell it?) I'd guess that such moment in a play or movie, where the emotion is experienced by dozens of watchers at the same time, can easily reach rank 5. (Of course, this can be true for all emotions experienced while being engaged in a story - meaning that one with ethereal sight and sufficient attention can discren all the plays that were staged inside a certain theatre, or at least the most dramatic scenes in them. I imagine a medium with too much time on their hands could have tons of fun exploring with this.)

- Shows, fairs & concerts of any kind can reach a pretty high rank IMHO, by multitude of emotions if not by magnitude.

- Of course, you can't forget eucatastrophes that actually happened (or seemed to happen) in the setting's history. Victories of past heroes, or even past victories of your own heroes when they return to their scene after a while.

- But this are all big stuff. Sometimes silly things make us the happiest too, don't they? To me, certain sensory stimulation - like, petting something fluffy, or swimming, or flapping my hands, can induce pure joy. However, this pleasure is usually fleeting and not very memorable, so I'd rank it as rank 1. 2 at best.

- Gender Euphoria (Like, as a trans person, finally feeling like your gender identity is validated.) can get higher than you think. Getting gendered correctly for the first times, starting to experiment with cloths and haircuts that actually feel right for you... This can easily get to rank 4. I'd say the moment of coming out to yourself, of downright accepting this part of your identity, is rank 5. (I haven't gone through medical transitioning as of now, so I can't confirm how high this gets. I just know that if transphobes knew how excited I was the first time my boyfriend called me 'he', they wouldn't have the heart to rob that joy out of anyone.)

- Creating anything. A drawing, a meal, a story, even a school essay. That moment of taking a step back and looking at your own work with admiration... Wow. I'd say it gets a higher rank the more time, effort and creativity you invested in the creation process.

Re: Positive Ethereal Resonance

Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 4:42 pm
by Drinnik Shoehorn
Graves and memorials to fallen heros would have high positive ethereal resonance, and places people feel safe and secure. Melancholy, respite and hope are poweful emotions.

Going Old School on the forums here, but long time posters who took part in the Galen Saga would hopefully agree the grave of Evee Biederbeck outside of Vallaki is a place of peace, hope and love. The emotion doesn't have to be one strong burst of emotion, but a growing, steady build up, like the filling of a lake.

Van Richten's shop in Mordentshire would have a high positive ethereal resonance (probably much to the horror of Godefroy), as monster hunters all over the Land of Mists would see it as an essential place to visit, almost as a secular pilgrimage.

The Lawful Good headquarters of the Church of Ezra would be very high too, probably the same positive rank that the Lawful Evil sect's headquarters has as negative.