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The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount sourcebook contains a new Fighter subclass, the Echo Knight. Echo Knights have the ability to summon an "echo" of themselves; per the overall subclass description (p. 183):

the Echo Knight has mastered the art of using dunamis to summon the fading shades of unrealized timelines to aid them in battle.

The Manifest Echo feature also describes it as follows:

This echo is a magical, translucent, gray image of you [...] It is the same size as you, and it occupies its space.

In this unofficial tweet from March 2020, Jeremy Crawford confirms that an echo is an object.

Is an "echo" a tangible object, for the purpose of being interacted with (e.g. a giant picking it up from the ground like a large bottle of beer)?

user-781943
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Gael L
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    It is worth noting that the echo has immunity to all conditions, so the given example is probably not relevant, since it would entail the giant grappling the echo. – Blake Steel May 24 '20 at 14:57
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    @BlakeSteel Well, since it's an object, it wouldn't really be a grapple, more like simply picking up a branch from the ground (free object interaction). Assuming it's tangible, of course. – Gael L May 24 '20 at 21:29
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    As Gael L pointed out, grappling is only possible against creatures: "When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack action to make a special melee attack, a grapple." – user-781943 May 27 '20 at 02:37

3 Answers3

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The echo is intangible

A plain English reading of "This echo is a magical, translucent, gray image" indicates that this is not a tangible phenomenon. In English, an "image" is intangible, therefore unless you add some adjective that necessitates it being tangible, it's intangible.

Your DM should make rulings

Since the rules don't explain what to do, you should rely on your DM. If a hostile giant tries to pick up the echo, it probably makes sense to play it as an attack roll and have the echo destroyed if it is picked up.

user-781943
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    a magical, translucent, gray image has nothing to do with being tangible. It just means that it is made of magic, is grey and it lets light pass through it. If it can attack other creature it means that at some points it has a physical form. – Fernando Fuentes Martins May 27 '20 at 02:56
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    @FernandoFuentesMartins For some reason you missed out the noun in that sentence; "image". Look at the language for minor illusion, you create an "image of an object". Are you saying that "image" is also tangible? In normal English we understand image to be intangible. It is magic, it can deal damage without a physical form, as many spells do. – user-781943 May 27 '20 at 03:14
  • How can the echo take up space if it's intangible? Even a ghost in 5e dnd can be shoved/moved. It's a image made of magic so can't the magic be tangible? – Gerson Lopez May 24 '21 at 04:24
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    if its intangible how does it "occupy it's space" intangible illusions don't occupy spaces. – John May 25 '21 at 00:44
  • @John a hologram absolutely occupies discrete space. It also has no physical mass, it is made of intangible light. A laser occupies discrete space, it also has no mass (although potentially a fair amount of heat). Leaping flames from a campfire also occupy discrete space, and can also burn you, but you cannot physically touch them. – user2754 May 25 '21 at 16:43
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    A statue is also an image of something, and stone is certainly tangible. It can also simply mean "exact likeness." This answer relies on a "plain English" reading that doesn't actually work, and ignores the fact the echo can attack and deal damage. "Occupies space" is also terminogy used in game to mean other creatures can't (easily) pass through it: it does not mean a hologram. With these refutations I'm compelled to downvote. – Jason_c_o May 25 '21 at 21:02
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    @user2754 "occupies a space" has a specific meaning in 5E, it means an enemy unit cannot pass through that space. A hologram does not occupy a space. – John May 26 '21 at 01:35
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The Echo is Tangible.

Crawford's tweet states that the Echo is an object. Objects are by default tangible. No one argues whether a table or painting or sword is tangible, do they? The ability description also explicitly states:

"(The Echo) is the same size as you, and it occupies its space"

It is in effect a gray, translucent, tangible shade statue made in the image of the fighter. Whether or how easily an enemy can move through the object's space is another question entirely.

The Echo also deals the same damage as the fighter when used as the point of attack. Only a tangible object would be able to deal physical damage like slashing, piercing or bludgeoning. The Echo can also be attacked, has Hit Points and an Armour Class- features that only exist in tangible objects.

Some may wrongly argue that the word "image" in the description negates the rest of the evidence pointing towards the Echo's tangibility. This is a very narrow reading of the word (not to mention ignoring the game rules altogether), because its definition extends to more than just 2d and imaginary representations, going so far as to explicitly include statues and "a tangible or visible representation".

I would also point out that Illusion spells that specifically create images such as Minor Illusion or Major Image always explicitly state:

"physical interaction with the image reveals it to be an illusion, because things can pass through it."

If the Echo was meant to be intangible, its ability would say so, just as Illusion spells do. But it doesn't, so it isn't. Spells like Creation do not have to specify whether or not its created objects are tangible because of course they are! Objects are always tangible, unless specifically stated otherwise.

BigBurgerBoy
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    It’s worth noting that Crawford’s tweets are not official rulings. That said, welcome to the stack. Take the [tour] when you have a moment. This looks like a pretty good first answer (even though a disagree with the conclusion). – Thomas Markov Jan 05 '22 at 00:16
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The echo is tangible RAW

The definition of tangible is perceptible by touch (adjective).

Firstly the Echo Knight's echo is able to be attacked RAW. This means that it is able to be touched by whatever is attacking it. Since it can be touched it is tangible.

Secondly RAW the description of the echo says that "it occupies its space", therefore it has to be tangible since something intangible cannot take up space. For example air and light (which can be considered intangible) is considered to be in multiple spaces in game play quite often but they still leave spaces unoccupied/unfilled unlike the echo knight's echo.

Any object that takes up space can be picked up like any other object using your object interaction.

"You can also interact with one object or feature of The Environment for free, during either your move or your action. For example, you could open a door during your move as you stride toward a foe, or you could draw your weapon as part of the same action you use to Attack.": from https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Combat#content

Gerson Lopez
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    Can you explain why you are down voting me? I don't see anything wrong with my answer. – Gerson Lopez May 25 '21 at 15:41
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    "RAW the description of the echo says that "it occupies its space", therefore it has to be tangible since something intangible cannot take up space." This is not how english the language works. An intangible gas can 'occupy' or 'fill' a space, as can light, or sound, etc. The tweet is confusing and you're extending its rather vague description to some quite extreme usage ('a moving hologram' = 'you can pick it up like any random object'). Nothing to do with vague mutterings about 'subjective experience', my -1 is due to this isn't what another person conclude upon reading those words. – user2754 May 25 '21 at 16:41
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    @user2754 fillings space does mean it is tangible because from a mechanical perspective any filled space means that it is no longer unoccupied. For example, Air is in every space in dnd but it does not fill any space because any space air is in is still considered to be unoccupied. – Gerson Lopez May 25 '21 at 17:34
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    @NautArch I removed the RAI section completely and added a section about how it being able to get attacked also makes it tangible . – Gerson Lopez May 25 '21 at 18:50
  • Note that the illusions created by mirror image can be attacked (and similarly have an AC), and are seemingly intangible, being illusory images. Amusingly, the first paragraph of that spell uses the term 'image' in a way that implies that the caster is also an image. – Fie Mar 24 '22 at 04:26