Monster Immunities

VanDerBerg

Is there any way to know what monsters are immune to what effects, spells and weapons by looking at the game files or using some tool (on Mac)? Because the output in a game is incredibly unhelpful in this, so when I cast a spell on a monster and nothing happens, I have no idea whether the monster is naturally immune to the effect, has high magic resistance and whatnot (the latest annoyance being rakshasas in druid grove). Or is there maybe a table somewhere on the internet? Googling this every time I encounter a tougher enemy so I don't waste hours trying to figure out what spells/spell level something is immune to is quite annoying...

jmerry

There is a way to look things up, but you kind of need to understand how to read things. I use Near Infinity (on a Mac) for this; some immunities are in the main creature file, and others are in items the creature has equipped.

The output in the game actually does tell you something. If you see "Magic Resistance", then that was magic resistance neutralizing the spell. If you see "Spell Ineffective", then it's a specific immunity to that spell, such as how Shield protects against Magic Missile or how Spell Deflection protects against targeted spells.

Rakshasas have the RAKRING item, which grants immunity to spells of levels 1-7. So basically, don't even try using offensive magic.

Moomintroll

It's fun to figure these things out through what the game is telling you. I long for the days when it was harder to look these things up online. Like jmerry says, the expanded combat dialogue tells you a lot.

Balrog99

VanDerBerg wrote: »

Is there any way to know what monsters are immune to what effects, spells and weapons by looking at the game files or using some tool (on Mac)? Because the output in a game is incredibly unhelpful in this, so when I cast a spell on a monster and nothing happens, I have no idea whether the monster is naturally immune to the effect, has high magic resistance and whatnot (the latest annoyance being rakshasas in druid grove). Or is there maybe a table somewhere on the internet? Googling this every time I encounter a tougher enemy so I don't waste hours trying to figure out what spells/spell level something is immune to is quite annoying...

Ask Volo!

VanDerBerg

There is a way to look things up, but you kind of need to understand how to read things. I use Near Infinity (on a Mac) for this; some immunities are in the main creature file, and others are in items the creature has equipped.

Thanks, I will try this!

It's fun to figure these things out through what the game is telling you. I long for the days when it was harder to look these things up online. Like jmerry says, the expanded combat dialogue tells you a lot.

The problem is that, at least on my system, it sometimes doesn't output anything. I cast a spell, it doesn't work, and there is no output. And 'Spell Immunity' doesn't say whether the creature is naturally immune to the effect (like elves are immune to sleep) or it is just protected by spells that make it immune and that can be dispelled.

Rakshasas have the RAKRING item, which grants immunity to spells of levels 1-7. So basically, don't even try using offensive magic.

These are some tough mothers. They are tough in the vanilla game. And in SCS, as you know, in addition to them being naturally immune to the weapons up to +2 or so, they also pre-buff themselves with protection from magic weapons, stoneskin and spell deflection or turning. Which makes them pretty invulnerable to my party that can cast just up to level 6 cleric/druid spells and level 5 mage spells. So they have 4 rounds to slaughter me and cast stuff like cloudkill in parallel. So I had to cheese this encounter by summoning fire elementals and aerial servants and striking the main rakshasa as soon as it turn hostile, killing it within those three seconds it was unprotected.

jmerry

Actually, if it's something like elven sleep resistance or immunity to an element, you get another message: "Unaffected by effects of (spell/item)".

There's another good way to cheese that encounter - use the door. Those rakshasas don't follow you outside, so you can just wait out any troublesome spells like PFMW or Cloudkill.

SCS changes things so that you can use spells that tear down defenses despite their general immunity to low-level spells. Spells like Secret Word and Breach will still work, as will Dispel/Remove Magic if you have enough levels. For all their power, these rakshasas don't have many levels - level 11 for the leader and 9 for the followers. And that means they have a low caster level, making their spells easy to dispel.

VanDerBerg

Oh, I thought that was the case only with Breach. Good to know that Spell Thrust and sisters also work on monsters who are normally immune to lower level magic. And even better to know the Dispell Magic works too. I knew there was a reason I am dragging papa Keldorn in my party. In retrospective, since he was around level 11 and being an inquisitor, he would almost certainly dispel all their magic if I have only tried doing it instead of assuming it is not possible.

The problem with me for this particular encounter was that I didn't have Secret Word memorised and Spell Deflection (or Tuning, not sure) couldn't be dispelled by Spell Thrust. Therefore, I couldn't breach them immediately and therefore couldn't hurt them.

On another note, I never really understood how the whole Spell Deflection/Turning work. If it says it absorbs 10 spell levels, does it mean that the total level of all spells that it will absorb is 10, so it can absorb 2 spells of level 5 and above, 3 of level 4, 4 of level 3 and so on? Or it means something else?

ThacoBell

@VanDerBerg "On another note, I never really understood how the whole Spell Deflection/Turning work. If it says it absorbs 10 spell levels, does it mean that the total level of all spells that it will absorb is 10, so it can absorb 2 spells of level 5 and above, 3 of level 4, 4 of level 3 and so on?"

Yup, just like this.