Does Poison Immunity do what I think it does?

Tad_Has_A_Cold_Olive

So, in my current runthrough, I've got a Cavalier in my party. One of the benefits of a Cavalier is their immunity to poison. If I have a mage cast a spell like Cloudkill, which deals poison damage, will my Cavalier be immune to that spell? It would be a pretty neat combo if it works like I think it does.

atcDave

Last I knew, Cloudkill was considered a sort of special magic poison that Cavaliers actually are NOT immune to. Bummer.
Perhaps this was a bug that's been fixed? But I wouldn't hold my breath..... Er...... Unless I was actually trying to survive that Cloudkill....

Sylvus_Moonbow

This will help you sort out what poison effects a Cavalier is immune to.

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/276360/#Comment_276360

ZanathKariashi

Technically he's supposed to. Much like the paladin's disease immunity, which is built in, and due to magic, their poison immunity is also magical in nature, which is why they lose it if they fall.

(2ndly...Cloudkill is NOT magical (at least it's not supposed to be if properly implemented). It's an invocation effect (summoning), rather then a evocation effect (creation). Which means it's transporting a toxic gas of known properties from elsewhere (a 3rd party source lists one of layers of the abyss as being the source due to a constant cloudkill effect over the entire plane, generated from it's toxic bogs) and dumps it in a location, which then dissipates according to standard decay time assuming a "normal" wind speed (baldur's gate simply doesn't factor in slow or fast wind, so the spell only lasts it's "normal" duration before it dilutes enough to become harmless. This means it's instantaneous which is why you can't simply throw a dispel magic to get rid of it.)

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And holding your breath is useless against cloudkill, it's so potent even contact is enough to infect you.

elminster

I just checked Near Infinity and it looks like they are granted immunity to Cloudkill (the spell as a whole) and any poison damage.

the_spyder

"if" the spell summons a gas literally from one of the lower planes, an argument could be made for it to be magical in nature. After all, 'Extra planar' would appear to be magical. And summoning something doesn't preclude summoning something magical. However, the point is moot thanks to @elminster and the definition.

Lord_Tansheron

the_spyder said:

"if" the spell summons a gas literally from one of the lower planes, an argument could be made for it to be magical in nature.

Sounds like a weak argument tbh, given that the poison is generated by natural phenomena. Would a rock summoned from a lower plane be magical in nature, too?

I remember this issue of magical/non-magical being quite the controversy in some other place. What was it, Fireshield vs. Magic Resistance? I think so...

Wanderon

Wouldn't it depend on the make up of the rock or could it be magical just because it was summoned from the lower planes?

I think I would agree that a gas from the lower planes COULD be magical in nature but probably not that it MUST be. ;-)

Jarrakul

If summoning things instead of creating them makes them non-magical, why has no one replaced Fireball with "summon some fire from the elemental plane of fire" so as to avoid pesky magic resistance? Just a thought.

Sylvus_Moonbow

I don't have the patience to go through this all over again with everyone.

Enjoy the game.