Magic Resistance and Absorption

[Sunrunners_Fire]

I'm aware of how to build Damage Resistance (Limited, vs Magic) (Absorption) to represent the ability to eat hostile (damage dealing) magic. However ...

How do I adjudicate Magic Resistance (Absorption) bought with the intention to eat hostile (regular-spell type) magic? Should the enhancement value change?

I know what I want to do (the elves eat magic, casting magic on them just gives them more energy to work with) but am unsure of how to handle the regular-type (malediction-type) spells. And so I ask the hivermind. :)

(Heh. I'm probably missing something obvious. But I'm sure someone will point that out quickly enough. =p )

[Dinadon]

Absorption stops damage on a one-for-one basis. Most spells cost several FP, so if you wanted to stop spells outright you'd need lots of MR.

Now, if you didn't have sufficient MR(Absorb) for a spell, would the ability fail outright? Would instead just the absorb part fail? Or would the spell simply have a reduced effect? What if finding a reduced effect isn't easy?

As to the spell, do you absorb FP of effect, of FP spent? Absorbing FP spent makes more sense to me, and means wizards will try to get cost reductions rather alternative energy sources. What if a spell isn't powered by FP?

Have you considered working from Static as a base, rather than MR? Your MR already sounds like it's quite expensive, so switching to Static may more sense. Of course working from Static means that it could be possible for large scale ceremonial castings with 100+ points to absorb in their entirety, which might be a little overpowered. Still, you would be working from scratch, so it would be easy enough to put in a limiter (probably Will).

Sorry I'm not providing any examples.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

I'm aware of how to build Damage Resistance (Limited, vs Magic) (Absorption) to represent the ability to eat hostile (damage dealing) magic. However ...

How do I adjudicate Magic Resistance (Absorption) bought with the intention to eat hostile (regular-spell type) magic? Should the enhancement value change?

I know what I want to do (the elves eat magic, casting magic on them just gives them more energy to work with) but am unsure of how to handle the regular-type (malediction-type) spells. And so I ask the hivermind. :)

(Heh. I'm probably missing something obvious. But I'm sure someone will point that out quickly enough. =p )

I came up with these a while back, only used them a few times in a campaign but it seemed to work okay and I couldn't find any real bugs with it but I might be missing something.

Magic Resistance

See p. B67

Magic Resistance can be useful but it can also be incredibly limiting, especially if your friends with a friendly magic user.

New Special Enhancements
Spell Absorption: Whenever a spell is cast on you, you can waive your bonus to resist it that normally accompanies your Magic Resistance and instead roll your unmodified resistance roll. The caster still gets a penalty equal to your MR and if the spell fails (i.e. you resisted it) you gain a number of character point’s equal to the spells modified Fatigue Point cost to cast (i.e. spells modified by high skill) that you can use to improve traits (anything but skills) temporarily. This functions’ exactly like Absorption for Damage Resistance, see that trait for cost.
Potent Resistance: Your Magic Resistance is especially powerful, in addition to providing its normal benefits it also benefits you by providing a passive-aggressive defense that resists effects that normal Magic Resistance doesn’t: Missile spells are affected by your Magic Resistance if they are aimed in the hex you’re in, magical weapons are affected (i.e. if a sword enchanted with +1 Puissance hits you, you would subtract your MR from the items Endurance, if it reduced it to below 15 then that item wouldn’t gain that +1 to damage), or information gathering spells that target something in your possession. +50% for one, +100% for two, +150% for all three.

Hope it helps some

Ghostdancer

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I came up with these a while back, only used them a few times in a campaign but it seemed to work okay and I couldn't find any real bugs with it but I might be missing something.

Hope it helps some

Ghostdancer

*copy/pastes them into his house rules master file*
Consider them stolen!

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

*copy/pastes them into his house rules master file*
Consider them stolen!

Thief! :P
>_> I had created a DF style template they were meant for that I called a 'Incantatrix' but the game fell out apart and I ended up using them elsewhere. Though do let me know if there is anything obviously wonky as I would like to make sure they are fixed before it happens in a game I run.


Ghostdancer

*Nice to know I'm not the only one that keeps zee master file for zee master rules...

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

(Heh. I'm probably missing something obvious. But I'm sure someone will point that out quickly enough. =p )

That would probably be the first paragraph of the Malediction Enhancement on B.106. That says that the target's DR has no effect on Maledictions.

So if your Absorption is the DR variant of that name it's no good against Maledictions.

Leech and Neutralize also appear to be off-target so my next best guess is some version of Mana Damper with Discriminatory. See Powers p.59.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

That would probably be the first paragraph of the Malediction Enhancement on B.106. That says that the target's DR has no effect on Maledictions.

Erm. Damage Resistance (Limited, vs Magic) (Absorption) != Magic Resistance (Absorption).

Also, there is the Malediction-Proof enhancement for Damage Resistance on page 14 of Psionic Powers (that only applies to damage inflicting maledictions) (which is also being applied to the racial advantage in case it matters).

So if your Absorption is the DR variant of that name it's no good against Maledictions.

*grins*

Leech and Neutralize also appear to be off-target so my next best guess is some version of Mana Damper with Discriminatory. See Powers p.59.

My intent is as follows:

Situation One) The magic affecting the Elf inflicts damage, then Damage Resistance (Absorption) "eats" the damage and feeds the absorbed points into an energy reserve.

Situation Two) The magic affecting the Elf does not inflict damage, then Appropriate Advantage (Absorption) "eats" the effect and feeds the absorbed points into an energy reserve.

In trying to determine what the appropriate advantage would be ... the first trait that came to mind which handles non-damaging spells is Magic Resistance. Ghostdancer provided a good definition of how it might work. (Thanks!) It may not be the best way of modeling the effect though.

You've suggested Mana Damper. How do you envision Mana Damper (Discriminatory) with a non-standard (Absorption) enhancement working (in order to feed points to the energy reserve when they would be affected by a spell)?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

My intent is as follows:

Situation One) The magic affecting the Elf inflicts damage, then Damage Resistance (Absorption) "eats" the damage and feeds the absorbed points into an energy reserve.

Situation Two) The magic affecting the Elf does not inflict damage, then Appropriate Advantage (Absorption) "eats" the effect and feeds the absorbed points into an energy reserve.

You've suggested Mana Damper. How do you envision Mana Damper (Discriminatory) with a non-standard (Absorption) enhancement working (in order to feed points to the energy reserve when they would be affected by a spell)?

Mana Damper (Discriminatory) would prevent undesirable spells while allowing the user to cast spells and receive desirable spells. I do not know off-hand of any particular way to put Absorption onto it.

An Energy Reserve with a recharge Limit of something similar to "Only recharges when magic spells are targeted on the user" might well simulate the effect you want though.

I can only advise not to get hung up on your mechanism. Powers (and 4e generally) tend to be effect driven. The question isn't so much "How does it work?" as "What benefits does it provide?",

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

I can only advise not to get hung up on your mechanism. Powers (and 4e generally) tend to be effect driven. The question isn't so much "How does it work?" as "What benefits does it provide?",

The answer to the second question is: infinite (limited by availability of enemy spell casters casting sufficiently powerful magic at you) energy to power your own spells and imbuements.

Or am I misunderstanding? Can you purchase Energy Reserve (Magic) (Special Recharge, Hostile Magic, -70%) that will rapidly recharge on a per-effect basis when its' recharge condition is met? And by rapidly I mean anywhere from a couple energy to a few dozen energy per-effect? My understanding is that you have to purchase a method to recharge the Energy Reserve if it has the Special Recharge limitation, like, say, Leech or Absorptive DR? Am I wrong?

[Refplace]

I like the idea of buying an ER and regeneration only when hit by magic.
It wont get you a huge effect though. Leech with reflexive to recahrge could be a way to go. You may not even have to buy up the range since your mostly worried about regular spells which are typically short range anyhow.
And the DR Absorbtion would cover the missile spells.
Combined you have a pretty goo defense and regen combo.