Magic Resistance and Magic Susceptibility Question

[Diomedes]

I was reading the Basic entry on Magic Susceptibility, And I noticed this line:

Originally Posted by Basic p.143

Magic Susceptibility works normally against Area spells; do not double its effects as you would those of Magic Resistance (p. 67).

The Magic resistance entry on page 67 doesn't mention Area spells at all; was the intention that "spells cast directly on you" includes "spells cast on an area that includes you" for the purposes of Magic Resistance? That seems counterintuitive, but it's the only way I can see that the above sentence has any meaning.

[Stone Dog]

I think....
If you get to resist an area spell, MR counts double to help you. Because rolling WILL to resist counts as cast on you, even if your neighbor has to do it too. Exploding fireballs are cast on an area, sleep is cast on people IN an area.
If you get to resist an area spell, MS doesn't count double to hurt you.

[Diomedes]

The trouble with that is that the first half of the benefit is a penalty to the caster. So if you resist an area spell, everyone in the area benefits from your Resistance.

[Stone Dog]

Why don't they make their own resistance rolls with their own modifiers? If an area spell resists with HT does everybody get to roll at the highest HT stat?

Makes more sense for the MR character to get a bonus and the other characters have to roll with the bonuses they paid for.

[Diomedes]

Originally Posted by Stone Dog

Why don't they make their own resistance rolls with their own modifiers? If an area spell resists with HT does everybody get to roll at the highest HT stat?

Makes more sense for the MR character to get a bonus and the other characters have to roll with the bonuses they paid for.

I agree, so I was surprised to see it isn't written that way.

[Stone Dog]

oh wait, MR affects the casting roll and not the resistance roll doesn't it?

Well, everybody stay near the dwarf. ;)

[Diomedes]

Originally Posted by Stone Dog

oh wait, MR affects the casting roll and not the resistance roll doesn't it?

Well, everybody stay near the dwarf. ;)

It affects both. So if you cast an area spell on a group that includes someone with MR, they all benefit from the penalty to your roll, even if they don't get the bonus to resist.

Of course, this leads to the question, what if more than one person in the group has MR? Do the penalties stack?

[Desthro]

I really feel that it was poorly implemented that way, giving everyone in an area the benefit of the caster's penalty is absurd... it may be GURPS way of mitigating what can be a pretty brutal disadvantage... Magical Resistance can be a killer.

But to the OP, i think that is an artifact of 3rd ed MR listed in MS. It's not listed in 4th ed MR.

Boo on MR... especially at its 4.5pt version.... >.<

[Diomedes]

Originally Posted by Desthro

I really feel that it was poorly implemented that way, giving everyone in an area the benefit of the caster's penalty is absurd... it may be GURPS way of mitigating what can be a pretty brutal disadvantage... Magical Resistance can be a killer.

Sounds like you're agreeing with me about my interpretation. Dammit, I was hoping to be wrong.

Originally Posted by Desthro

But to the OP, i think that is an artifact of 3rd ed MR listed in MS. It's not listed in 4th ed MR.

Hmm. I looked up MR in the 3e Basic Set, and MS in the Compendium I, and both entries seem to have the same language as 4e. In both cases, the double-dipping for Area spells in MR is only implied by saying MS works differently.

Originally Posted by Desthro

Boo on MR... especially at its 4.5pt version.... >.<

4.5? you mean the 5 point, +150% version?

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Diomedes

It affects both. So if you cast an area spell on a group that includes someone with MR, they all benefit from the penalty to your roll, even if they don't get the bonus to resist.

Of course, this leads to the question, what if more than one person in the group has MR? Do the penalties stack?

The rules for applying Magic Resistance to resisted spells are in Chapter 5, on pages B241-242. That last page has the rules specific to Resisted Area spells. The skill roll penalty does not apply to those... instead, those with MR get double the usual bonus to their resistance roll. The fact that some targets in the area may have MR does not affect the resistance of other targets.