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How do magical immunities work?

I want to understand how magical immunities work, there are so many cases in which I don't know what to expect. Two examples:

I attack a rakshasa with a wand of frost. The combat log says "Maharajah: spell ineffective". The description of the wand says "Charge abilities: Cone of cold". AFAIK rakshasas are immune to spells up to level 7, so they must be immune to the spell Cone of Cold. However, the game doesn't say this is a spell, it says it's an ability, so it looks like the rakshasa shouldn't be immune to it.

I attack a golem with the flail of the ages and the golem gets slowed. Golems are immune to magic, so why are they vulnerable to the slow effect? Isn't it a magic effect?

Comments

  • AlonsoAlonso Member Posts: 806
    Wow, amazing answer. I'm impressed!
    Grond0
  • AlonsoAlonso Member Posts: 806
    edited April 2019
    What about other items, like the Harp of Discord, the ring of the Ram or the ring of Fire Control (which allows you to cast Flamestrike and Burning Hands)? How do those work?
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I believe the Harp of Discord is a level 0 magical effect, so it'll bypass spell protections and so forth but not MR. The Ring of the Ram is a level 0 nonmagical effect, so it'll go past anything aside from immunity to magic damage (which I don't think exists in the unmodded game). The Ring of Fire Control casts Flamestrike and Burning Hands like normal spells, so they won't bypass spell protections (though Flamestrike will be able to bypass GOI due to being level 5) or MR.
    JuliusBorisovAlonso
  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • kjeronkjeron Member Posts: 2,367
    I'd say bug for Ring of the Ram - only the damage is nonmagical, while the knockback is magical.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @subtledoctor: Is that just because the effect bypasses magic resistance but the damage type is called "magic damage"? I think it would make sense if the damage type were crushing damage instead.

    It could be like Conjuration spells from later editions, which bypassed magic resistance. The logic was that the object or the impact was created by magic, but is itself nonmagical in nature--if you summon a cow to fall on your opponent, the target's MR isn't going to stop the cow from hitting them.
    bleusteel
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited April 2019
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
    semiticgoddess
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @subtledoctor: Worse yet, the Spike Trap HLA does nonmagical magical damage!
    Balrog99
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