Ethereal
This is basically just mental combat. It can be done in either
the corporeal or the ethereal realm (this is what we might call the
dreamlands, which is called the "Marches" in In Nomine), and in the
corporeal or celestial form. You need ethereal Songs or weapons to attack,
though. If you don't have any Ethereal Forces you can't engage in ethereal
combat, either to attack or be attacked. Basic attack: Intelligence +
Ethereal Forces.
You Dodge using the Precision skill instead of Agility. Damage
is done in Mind hits instead of Body hits. You have [Intelligence
* Ethereal Forces] Mind hits. If you fall unconscious in the Ethereal
Realm you automatically get kicked out of there and, to add insult
to injury, you take one level of Ethereal Discord. Aside from that,
and the fact that one cannot become stunned there, healing or making
someone unconscious in the Marches is pretty much the same, except it's
"Ethereal stuff," i.e. you'll need an Ethereal Song of healing to heal
someone -- a Corporeal one won't work there.
Celestial
Physical or mental attacks are pointless in the celestial realm --
you need celestial attacks and defenses. If you don't have Celestial
Forces you don't have to worry about celestial combat, but if you do,
and you lose them all, you die -- all gone, forever. Basic attack:
Will + Celestial Forces.
There are, of course, weapons unique to the Celestial realm, and
you can try Dodge, although your target number is now [Dodge +
Perception], which is nicer. You get the snazzily named Soul hits
here, which are [Will * Celestial Forces].
Unfortunately, each time the total hits you take equals your Soul
Number, i.e. your total number of Soul hits, you permanently lose
one Force, then reset at your total number of Soul hits again, and the
cycle starts over. To die the Final Death you have to have lost all
your Forces.
Roll 1d6 to determine what type of Force you permanently lost --
corporeal (1 or 2), ethereal (3 or 4), or celestial (5 or 6). Naturally,
you also lose the associated 4 levels in associated abilities, although
they do let you decide how they get ripped off the character. This also
means any associated formulas, like Soul hits or Perception or whatever,
have to be redone -- which is extremely unpleasant. [author's note:
Yuck. Talk about the spiral of death.]
Explanation of "the spiral of Death!": Wounds add negative modifiers
to all future actions. Once someone has received a wound, they are
more likely to receive future wounds -- and less likely to be able
to inflict wounds on their opponent. This leads to an ever-increasing
reduction of capability known in the joking local idiom as the "spiral
of Death!"
Important lesson: Always attack weaker foes -- and if
you get hurt, run away!
You don't get the hits from lost Forces back, even with the appropriate
healing Song. Also, you only heal one per week here. Celestial combat
is convoluted, and there's the prospect of dying the Final
Death. Avoid Celestial combat!