Spell Resistance

[Story]

At what level does spell resistance start becoming an issue? I was under the impression that spell resistance only starts showing up in the mid to high levels. But we just faced a Bralani and two Celestial Lions at level 4. (Admittedly we had 5 players at the time, including an ECL20 Hill Giant).

The combination of high SR and energy resistances on the lions makes them very tough to hurt. Glitterdust and Web still work, but not much else does. Even Kelgore's Grave Mist fails to the resistance.

[Morcleon]

In our last game session, I had my first encounter with Spell Resistance. I was under the impression that spell resistance only starts showing up in the mid to high levels. But we just faced a Bralani and two Celestial Lions at level 4. (Admittedly we had 5 players at the time, including an ECL20 Hill Giant).

Why do you have an ECL 20 character with a bunch of level 4s?! :smalleek:


My melee teamates rushed in and attacked, so I decided to try to help with a Persistent Blade, which just shattered against the SR. I then pulled out Kelgore's Grave Mist, which has no SR, only to discover that Celestials also have Cold Resistance. I'm not really sure what else I could do if we face them again. Web might have helped, except I already cast it that day, and my teammates were already in melee by the time I got a chance to start casting.

So what do you do? The SR and resistances combo seems hard to get past. There's always Hail of Stone, but that does barely any damage without metamagic shenanigans. And as an AOE, it might hit my teammates.

Assuming only 1st and 2nd level spells (level 4 and all that), the lesser orbs seem to be your best bet for damage. Pick up lesser orb of sound for 1d6/2CL, max 5d6. The other energy types are 1d8, but are more easily resisted.

For other things, grease is always fun. :smallsmile:

[Lupus753]

Is it true that Magic Resistance in 2nd ed. was a thousand times worse than Spell Resistance? Mostly, I heard that there are at least ways to pierce SR, but not MR.

[dwlc2000]

Prepare assay spell resistance from CA. Problem solved.

[ken-do-nim]

There's lots of other ways around spell resistance, such as summoning monsters to attack the opponent or spells that don't allow spell resistance to help (those conjuration orb ones at level 4 come to mind).

[hymer]

Is it true that Magic Resistance in 2nd ed. was a thousand times worse than Spell Resistance? Mostly, I heard that there are at least ways to pierce SR, but not MR.

It's stronger in 2nd edition. Magic Resistance is a simple percentage (and for drow it's over 50%, though MRs around 15% are more common in my experience), and it doesn't matter who casts the spell. Also, lowering your MR isn't much of an issue, it's something you can do on a per spell basis. Lowering SR takes actions and leaves you vulnerable to everything while it's lowered.
But I wouldn't call it a thousand times worse, that's going too far.