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View Full Version : Recognizing immunity to your attack spells



ffone
2011-01-08, 05:20 PM
You cast a targeted, with-a-save spell like Charm/Hold/Dominate Person, Destruciton, etc. against a foe. It fails. Can you tell whether it failed b/c they made a save vs had Spell Resistance you failed to overcome vs immunity from something like Mind Blank / Freedom of Movement / they're undead and you didn't recognize it?

I vaguely remember something in the SRD/PHB/DMG saying that you know when a creature makes a save vs a spell of yours, but can't find it now. (If a creature has immunity, I'm guessing that would apply 'first' and they'd never roll the fated-to-not-matter-anyway save?) If so, you'd get some information (if you know they made a Will save vs your charm/dominate, clearly they don't have mind blank or a similar mind-affecting immunity, etc.)

Closest I found is

"The Spell’s Result
Once you know which creatures (or objects or areas) are affected, and whether those creatures have made successful saving throws (if any were allowed), you can apply whatever results a spell entails."

from

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/castingSpells.htm

But it's not clear me whether they mean 'you know whether they made a save', or are merely saying 'if you know / in cases where you can know..' (such as knowing that the spell succeeded, but not necessarily why it failed if it failed).

pwykersotz
2011-01-08, 08:07 PM
I've never had this clear for myself either. I usually go off of what the character has experienced. If they've faced enemies with spell resistance before, they know the 'feel' of spell resistance. Same with immunities and Will Saves. Usually I apply a small Spellcraft or Knowledge (Arcana) check to figuring it out for the first time.

Reluctance
2011-01-08, 08:23 PM
The SRD says under Succeeding on a Saving Throw (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#savingThrow) that the creature knows if it has to make a save, and that you know if a creature made its save against a targeted spell but not an area spell. Aside from a blurb in Spellcraft about identifying the spell you just saved against, RAW doesn't say a word about awareness interactions past that.

Gamblerjoe
2011-01-09, 02:29 PM
Here's what i found. if you want it straight from the horse's mouth, check out Rules Compendium (under saving throws and spell resistance).

A caster can't sense when creatures succeed on saves against effect spells or area spells, or against similar abilities.

A creature's spell resistance never interferes with its own spells, items, or abilities.

i couldn't find anything about whether or not you can tell if a spell was stopped by SR, but i would guess no for that as well. you just have to go off of the character's knowledge skills, experience, and sensory clues.

Theres a paragraph on turning off your spell resistance too, but thats a different topic.