Show stopper or Interesting effect

[KyleG]

How game breaking would a squib character that cant use or be affected by magic be? In this scenario i could picture the character as not being affected by spells but spell damage affects would still impact them.
eg. A fireball is cast...at which point the spell itself is over and a fireball would cause damage to them as per normal. But something like Bane, or inflict wounds wouldnt impact them. In that same token they couldnt be healed by cure wounds or blessed etc. An absolute magical squib for all intents and purposes.

Resistance is not what i am imagining which could mean this is totally not viable but Im wondering if it could be sold to a DM with additional negative impacts on the character if need be.

[Galithar]

If a player came to me with a great backstory on this and why their character is like this, I would absolutely allow it.

And then I would hit the drawing board to come up with mundane situations that parties normally solve with magic.
For instance, the next dungeon has a massive underwater labyrinth that the rest of the party will use Water Breathing to explore. Muahahahahah!!

[KyleG]

If a player came to me with a great backstory on this and why their character is like this, I would absolutely allow it.

And then I would hit the drawing board to come up with mundane situations that parties normally solve with magic.
For instance, the next dungeon has a massive underwater labyrinth that the rest of the party will use Water Breathing to explore. Muahahahahah!!

I like it...both challenging and downright mean...lol

[Galithar]

I like it...both challenging and downright mean...lol

I don't like to say no to my players. But I'm perfectly okay with saying yes and then making them wish I'd said no. haha
As a side note if you do something like this make sure you are VERY CLEAR to your player that you're saying yes because you plan on ramping difficulty of unaffected things up and that this will 100% certainly without doubt make the character harder to play. Otherwise you'll just make them mad, and upsetting your players is bad. It's also perfectly acceptable to just make sure they can't overshadow the rest of the party without truly punishing them like the Evil DM inside me would!

[KyleG]

I don't like to say no to my players. But I'm perfectly okay with saying yes and then making them wish I'd said no. haha
As a side note if you do something like this make sure you are VERY CLEAR to your player that you're saying yes because you plan on ramping difficulty of unaffected things up and that this will 100% certainly without doubt make the character harder to play. Otherwise you'll just make them mad, and upsetting your players is bad. It's also perfectly acceptable to just make sure they can't overshadow the rest of the party without truly punishing them like the Evil DM inside me would!

So you would build the consequences of such an ability into the adventure as opposed to a drawback into the actual character?

[hymer]

I'd be very wary, and very probably would not allow it. This character cannot teleport, so the party has to go everywhere by conventional means. If a strong NPC wants to use non-lethal spells to take the PCs captive, this PC will require something more dangerous - perhaps hp damage, leaving her/him at 0 when everyone else is fresh, and with few means to recover quickly. And the PC cannot benefit from various healing and restorative magic, meaning that all manner of problems would require retirement from adventuring.

It might be better if the PC is looking to get rid of this curse, so you can clear it away when the levels get higher, and magic becomes more crucial to the way the game runs.

[KyleG]

It might be better if the PC is looking to get rid of this curse, so you can clear it away when the levels get higher, and magic becomes more crucial to the way the game runs.

Ok so more like their powers were locked away. Im not sure that was the plan but worth looking at as an option.

Would you consider potions magical or medicinal?

[Digimike]

The whole idea seems a bit much. I wouldn't allow it mostly because it would be a complete pain to run.

There was a Forsaker presteige class in 3.5 you could base some character ideas around though.

[Azgeroth]

this is going to be a lot of work...

for instance, you cannot be teleported, but can you enter a portal? i.e. a 'natural' portal to the feywild, can you enter mordekainens magnificent mansion?

can you ride a summoned creature? can you use magical objects? i.e. can you put your hand in a bag of holding? use a ring of spell storing? any magical cloak?

are magical items affected by the character? i.e. whilst wielding a magic sword, it is now a mundane sword. or are they simply incapable of activating any magical affects? does the magic in the item continue to function?

at what point does magic cease to work? physical contact? imbibement? proximity?

if magic doesn't affect a character, why do magical flames?

there are a hell of a lot of considerations to take into account...

[xroads]

It's interesting idea. One that I've toyed with for other media. Ex. a superhero who could shrug off Xavier's telekinesis, but actively starts dodging when Juggernaut starts tossing the cars around.

But for D&D, I think the biggest issue is getting a DM who is willing to try it. It would be a lot of work for the DM to make sure balance is maintained. And there is always a risk to the narrative.


DM: Mua Ha Ha Ha! Evilcus completes his ritual just as you burst in. Suddenly the whole party shrinks to the size of mice...
Bob: But I can't be affected by magic.
DM: /sigh

[RickAsWritten]

Hmm...a magebreaker character would be interesting. As others have stated, probably going to be pretty complicated. Maybe a Warlock patron that doesn't give Pact Magic, but increases Invocations known and make some new ones that focus on anti-magic. That's getting to the point of being a whole new class though.

[Galithar]

So you would build the consequences of such an ability into the adventure as opposed to a drawback into the actual character?

Exactly! You don't say "Okay, I'll let you be immune to magic but you have to put up with having a -X modifier to your blahbittyblah"

Instead "Okay, that's interesting. Just remember that means NO magic can effect you. That means no healing or buff spells, and any spell that creates a PHYSICAL effect can still hurt you. Bigby's Hand can still crush you, Fireball can still damage you, and you can still be fooled by an illusion (assuming it's not one of the 'in your head's Illusions). But on the plus side you'll never have to worry about Hold Person, or Bane, or Synaptic Static. Also it might be more difficult to atune to magic items (make certain items require a longer attunement period, maybe they have to use the item for X in-game days before they can attune to it, or it just takes two or three times as long). Also realize that it is going to be a lot harder to interact with and survive the world, and if you do die no resurrection!"

It absolutely will be more difficult to run a campaign. How do you challenge the magic immune guy without the rest of the party trivializing it, or vice versa. You can absolutely do it, just obviously don't put things like "The BBEG turns you into the size of mice with magic" into your campaign unless you are intentionally highlighting the characters immunity to magic for some reason.

You should also take the time to go through so least PHB and Xanathar's (preferably all source books your game uses) and identify which spells would work on/against this character and which would not. Create a list and give one to the player and one to the DM. Do not stray from this list, and ensure that you have casters use spells from both sides so that the character truly feels the effect of this.

[KyleG]

Sounds like it may a bit big to consume...ee might need to go back to a "can't use magic" scenario. Which in itself is interesting as the character is an Eladrin who "fell out" from the feywild.

[Keravath]

I think the fact that they could never be healed would be a sufficient downside by itself.

No healing word, cure wounds, revivify, raise dead, resurrection.

It would be playing D&D in hard mode. You have one life ... you die and you are gone.

Not only that, adventuring days would also be tough. You would still get hit dice on short rests and fully restore hit points on long rests but no other healing. There are a lot of times this character would be down hit points. I could only see it working as a ranged battlemaster type of build who tries very hard not to get damaged.

[lperkins2]

if magic doesn't affect a character, why do magical flames?


Magical flames (a la Sacred Flame) wouldn't. Magical sourced flames (a la Flaming Sphere) are real flames once created. Something like Fireball is a bit more ambiguous, as it's an Evocation spell (like Sacred Flame), rather than Conjuration (like Flaming Sphere), but the effect specifies an explosion. If the Fireball spell heats the air and that is why it damages creatures, the hot air will still burn. If the fireball magically heats the valid targets in the AoE, then it wouldn't affect a magic immune creature. Thematically, most people seem to treat it as the former, where it sends dead creatures flying on detonation, but RAW I believe Fireball would be the latter, as other than igniting combustibles, it doesn't have any of the effects you'd expect from an actual explosive.



Not only that, adventuring days would also be tough. You would still get hit dice on short rests and fully restore hit points on long rests but no other healing. There are a lot of times this character would be down hit points. I could only see it working as a ranged battlemaster type of build who tries very hard not to get damaged.

The healer feat would be a must, as that is not a magical effect. 1d6+4+level HP back per rest isn't much, but I suspect it would be vitally important.

[KyleG]

I think I may take this idea in a different direction with a NPC/Villain in a homebrew campaign. An alchemist who boosts his abilities via alchemy but is not directly affected by magic.