Technical questions
FrdNwsm
Member Posts: 1,069
A couple of questions about "resistance".
Magical resistance per se would affect the chance of a spell cast at you going off at all; so 50% MR means that a spell cast at you has a 50% chance of failing (assuming the caster is the same level you are). Does it affect other forms of magic? For example, if you are hit by a flaming sword and you have 50% magic resistance, would it affect that part of the damage due to the fire?
Or perhaps you have a robe of 50% fire resistance and you are hit with an fire arrow spell. Does this mean that the spell has a 50% chance of not going off at all, or does it always go off and the damage is then cut in half?
I have an item that gives 50% resistance to "magical damage". How does one define "magical damage"? Being affected by something like dire charm, paralysis or domination would certainly be detrimental, but I suspect that they mean purely physical damage, yes? Does this include poison? How about magical damage from sources other than spells; dragon breath, for example?
I also have one specific query about a quest. Rasaad in Trademeet wants you to help him infiltrate some sort of evil cult. When I first met him, I turned him down because I was full up on a whole bunch of quests. Recently I went back, had him join the party, but he never said a word about the cult thing. Was this a time limited quest that has gone stale? Or perhaps turning him down at all negates it?
Magical resistance per se would affect the chance of a spell cast at you going off at all; so 50% MR means that a spell cast at you has a 50% chance of failing (assuming the caster is the same level you are). Does it affect other forms of magic? For example, if you are hit by a flaming sword and you have 50% magic resistance, would it affect that part of the damage due to the fire?
Or perhaps you have a robe of 50% fire resistance and you are hit with an fire arrow spell. Does this mean that the spell has a 50% chance of not going off at all, or does it always go off and the damage is then cut in half?
I have an item that gives 50% resistance to "magical damage". How does one define "magical damage"? Being affected by something like dire charm, paralysis or domination would certainly be detrimental, but I suspect that they mean purely physical damage, yes? Does this include poison? How about magical damage from sources other than spells; dragon breath, for example?
I also have one specific query about a quest. Rasaad in Trademeet wants you to help him infiltrate some sort of evil cult. When I first met him, I turned him down because I was full up on a whole bunch of quests. Recently I went back, had him join the party, but he never said a word about the cult thing. Was this a time limited quest that has gone stale? Or perhaps turning him down at all negates it?
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Comments
Note that this only applies to MAGIC resistance. ELEMENTAL resistance is a different animal, and usually universal; i.e. something that is immune to fire will be immune to both magical AND non-magical fire. Magical damage is actual damage (i.e. hitpoint damage) caused by spells and effects that state they do magical damage. Think of it as an element, like for example fire (it's not an ACTUAL "element" per se, but it works similarly). Spells like Magic Missile or Abi-Dhalzim's Horrid Wilting will do damage of that element, and that element has its own resistance category ("magic damage"). This ONLY applies to actual DAMAGE - not EFFECTS caused by magic, such as confusion, paralysis, etc.
Poison is usually not in the magical damage category, but has its own category ("poison"). A dragon's breath is usually of a particular element, depending on the type of dragon you are facing (red dragon = fire, white dragon = ice, black dragon = acid, etc.). I've only done his quest once so I may be wrong, but I would strongly suspect that you still get to do the quest. Keep him around for a while and see what happens, even if you agree with him first chance you get it won't go off immediately, iirc.
Weapons that deal additional elemental damage are tricky, most are stopped by the magic resistance, however some are not. Melf's minute meteors fire damage ignores mr, however, the uber HLA energy blade's electric damage does not. Ofcourse, both are always subject to fire and lightning resistance, respectively.
Fire storm priest spell (lvl 7) also ignores mr, for some reason. HLAs implosion, and storm of vengeance ignores mr, as well. However, elemental resistances will lower the damage from these spells.
Imprisonment spell and effect also bypasses magic resistance.
Magic damage is coded in yellowish orange when you are hit:magic missile, cause wounds, holy smite, skull trap, horrid wilting, finger of death residual damage, and the damage you take when you abuse a later game ability are all magical damage.
Damage types are coded in color in text in ee. Dark red is fire, light blue is lightning, dark blue is ice, green is acid, sickly green is poison, etc. Magic damage is yellow-orangish, like I said.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/17511/fire-cold-vs-magic-fire-cold
Magic resistance is the first thing checked when a spell hits your character. If you have %50 magic resistance, you have %50 chance to shrug off the spell completely, the spell can never touch you, you act as if the spell never existed for you.
Example, a fireball hits you, if you are lucky, magic resistance will stop the spell. Everyone around you will scream and burn to a crisp and you will stay cool.
You will see:
Enemy casts fireball
You-magic resistance
Text, as the spell is completely blocked by magic resistance.
If magic resistance fails, or if the spell or effect bypasses magic resistance, you are hit by the full force of the spell. You may now make a saving throw, depending on the spell, to negate the effect or reduce the damage.
Continuing the example, suppose your magic resistance check failed and fireball hits you. Lvl 10 fireball does 10d6 damage. In game mechanics, it does 5d6 damage twice. One is blocked when you make a save vs spells. So if you fail the save, you see:
You-enemy did 18 damage to you (first 5d6)
You-enemy did 13 damage to you (second 5d6)
If you make the save:
You-enemy did 18 damage to you (first 5d6)
You-save vs spells:x (the number you rolled) (second 5d6 is blocked by the save!)
After the saving throw, your 'damage' resistances will come into play. Suppose you have %50 fire resistance. In the above example, it will read:
You-enemy did 9 damage to you (18-9) (the first 5d6 damage, and you resist half the damage because you are %50 fire resistant)
You-save vs spells:x (second 5d6 is blocked by the save as usual)
In previous versions of ee, the message '18-9' displayed so you could estimate how much damage resistance the target had. It is disabled as of now, you will see only the 9 damage now.
Magic 'damage' resistance is just like what fire damage resistance is, but in regards to magic damage effects like magic missile, skull trap, wilting, etc. Magic resistance stops the spell all together, damage resistance will lower the damage you take, and if you are %100 resistant, you will get 'immune to my damage' message.
However, in most cases, taking damage you are immune to (%100 resistant) will still disrupt your spell casting, so if you are a high lvl dragon disciple in your own incendiary cloud, you won't take damage as you are immune to fire, but the hit animation may still disrupt your casting. If you make a magic resistance roll and block off the spell completely, however, you can continue casting spells as if nothing touched you.
Only one problem. About a month ago (in game time), while being evil Al, I ... ummm ... somewhat accidentally ... killed Wallace. Needless to say, he hasn't returned from the dead just because we are looking for him. Is Mazzy's sister doomed?