magic resistance and saves from an rp perspective
jesterdesu
Member Posts: 373
The title captures my questions. Saves improve as you gain levels, suggesting they're more than just luck, however if they're your characters naturally improving ability to resist spells, what is the difference between that and magic resistance (in principle rather than in application as I realise there is no roll required if magic resistance kicks in).
Is this just another quirk of 2e?
Is this just another quirk of 2e?
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Comments
It is a bit quirky.
But you would need MR anyway, because not all spells are harmless even if you make the save...a Fireball still does half damage for instance.
Saves though improving with levels makes some sense, some of its reflexes, some toughness, some willpower, etc. For HP I know non-martial classes are supposed to have low HP due to not knowing how to take a hit, or make it less dangerous. IE any character at 50% HP should appear somewhat similar in degree of injury, ie seriously injured but not in immediate danger of death. Constitution based HP only amounts to 20-50ish HP, regardless of how great Your cons is.
Obvious example from real life, someone who regularly drinks has the ability to drink more than a teetotaler, even if the teetotaler might be tougher. Experience could also grant durability.
Magic resistance shows as an unnatural (demons), mystic (monk, wizardslayer) or magical (drow, golems) occurence. While a saving throw may be due to toughness, reflexes, or just plain old luck.
Imagine a man caught up in the explosion of a fireball. With a succesful save vs spells, he may manage to fend off the worst of the explosion, via taking cover, diving and rolling on the ground etc. He still gets burned, and is wounded, but was lucky enough to survive with horrid burns. It is a rare and surprising thing, but it can happen. Now imagine if the man was not touched by the explosion, by the virtue of magic resistance, as if the flames washed away from his body like water on a duck's feathers. To the onlooker surely this is something most unnatural! And creepy.
Frankly, I think it makes sense to have such critical failures, though it would absolutely wreck certain no-reload strategies. You could implement it by adding a 5% base chance to bypass saves on all effects that offer a saving throw, and add a 5% chance of having no effect or doing half damage automatically (reflecting a save roll of 20). But that would be pretty time-consuming.
If humans were adapted to live in the Underdark, close to those magical sources, lile drow did, maybe they could develop mr as well, however, I still think they wouldn't be able to have as high magic resistances as drow elves do. Drow and elves are just more magical by their nature.
Those magic rich areas you're thinking of are faerzress. There are also Earth Nodes, old mythals, probably Shadowweave Nodes. Lots of very powerful msgic down there!
Which I need to buy >_>
I have the Complete Book of Necromancers for 2e, now just need Complete book of Elves and Complete Book of Halflings&Gnomes. I don't even play 2e, I just love collecting books.
Drow
Ability Score Adjustments: Drow are extraordinarily dexterous and intelligent. They gain a
bonus of +2 to Dexterity and a +1 to Intelligence. However, their personalities can be described
as grating at best (although not usually to their faces), and they have the typical elf Constitution.
Thus, they have a -2 penalty to Charisma and a -1 to their initial Constitution scores.
TABLE 6: DROW ABILITY SCORES
Ability Minimum Maximum
Strength 3 18
Dexterity 8 20
Constitution 7 17
Intelligence 9 19
Wisdom 3 18
Charisma 6 16
Languages: Drow Elvish, Elvish, duergar, svirfneblin, deep dwarf, illithid, undercommon,
sign language, kuo-toa, bugbear, orcish.
Infravision: 90 feet.
Special Advantages: Once per day, all drow can use the spells dancing lights, faerie
fire, and darkness. They achieve this through force of will, rather than spell components. A 4thlevel
drow can cast levitate, know alignment, and detect magic once per day. In addition,
drow priests can cast clairvoyance, detect lie, suggestion, and dispel magic once a day.
At the start, drow are 50% magic resistant, and every level they rise increases the resistance
by 2% (to a maximum of 80%). Multiclassed drow use the higher level to determine this bonus.
In addition to their high magic resistance, drow also receive a +2 bonus on all saves
involving magic. This includes those devices that emit magical effects or are powered by magic.
This magic resistance does not hamper their ability to use magic themselves, however.
Special Disadvantages: The major disadvantage of the drow is their inability to see in
bright light. Any light greater than that of torches or continual light spells (including bright
sunlight) will blind them and severely affect their ability to fight. Wan light, like that of a light
spell, does not trigger this disadvantage.
Bright light causes the drow to suffer, temporarily, -2 to Dexterity. Attack rolls are made at
a -2 penalty, and opponents gain a +2 save against drow spells if they are within the light. When
a drow is in darkness and his opponents are in the light, he retains his Dexterity and surprise
advantages but still suffers a penalty on attack rolls.
If the drow spends more than two weeks away from the subterranean caverns of the
Underdark, the special advantages fade at the rate of one power a day. This starts from the
most innate spellcasting and works down to the least powerful. Thus, a drow priest would first
lose dispel magic, followed by suggestion, clairvoyance, and detect lie. Drow magic
resistance is lost at a rate of 10% per day. This process can be halted and the powers regained
if the drow returns to the Underdark and spends one day there for each week spent
aboveground.
Finally, all other elves hate the drow, and reactions to them are with at least a -4 penalty.
This modifier is cumulative to any kits the drow player might be using. Only after a particular elf
comes to accept a particular drow as a friend, does this penalty disappear.