bstempleton@watmath.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (09/29/83)
This is a tricky question. There are some things that magic resistance doesn't work against. One in my book is a Sphere of Annihilation. If you read this item it seems that it is just a rift in space, not a magic item itself. So one of these plus a Talisman of the Sphere gives you a 48% chance to get Orcus, I think. But let's get on to a trickier question. How does magic resistance protect you? If you have it and somebody does a rock to mud UNDER you, does it work? I say yes (same in a Globe of Invulnerability) since the magic creates a physical effect which affects you. So you can get poor old Orcus by this kind of magic in my book. I still think the Mirror works, if only for the reason that such a powerful item must come from a really powerful creator. Magic resistance is useless against a 30th level MU and his creations. Even if Orcus does get some resistance (assume 20th level MU) we are talking 35% chance of failure, and with 4 mirrors we have a very good chance of getting the poor demon. And his retainers if they are there - but the scenario says they are not. Of course, magic resistance does not apply to my Iron Flask solution. -- Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304
tim@unc.UUCP (Tim Maroney) (10/04/83)
Magic resistance is very ill-defined in AD&D. My earlier article was an attempt to make sense of it in terms of the definitions given in the Monster Manual and Deities and Demigods. This is difficult to do, since the Monster Manual definition is just plain wrong, but I think the idea of giving magic resistance to ALL magic effects is best. If the effect is a spell or something else which has a clear level (for instance, wands are sixth level, according to the DMG), weight the percentage accordingly. If the effect is an artifact, treat it as being 20th level. Anything else requires you to use the basic (11th level) magic resistance percentage. The reason for this last rule should be obvious to anyone who plays (and not just talks about the game). It is there to prevent a lot of player character arguments and spot subjective DM decisions, two really bad things for the flow of play. If you wanted to base it on the X.P. value of the item in some well-defined way, I would have no objections, but this is how I do it. The game rules as written do not support anything else. The only real "extra" rule I add to magic resistance is that it is only possible to resist magic when you are conscious, and that it does take a conscious decision to do so. (This can be made when an offensive spell hits; that is, reaction time is close to null.) This means that a Trap The Soul will effect you if you choose to accept the soul prison, regardless of magic resistance. If you knew in advance, you could choose to resist, but not otherwise. _____________________ Tim Maroney duke!unc!tim (USENET) tim.unc@udel-relay (ARPA)