Spell Resistance

Fifty · Post by **Fifty** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:02 pm

I kind of know who this works, but how much does it really take to be useful? I mean, is there any point in having spell resisatance of between, say, 10 and 14? Or is it only really useful once it starts to get above that? What sort of spell resistance can typical NPC/Monster encounters overcome? What about PCs?

Actually, I have just read up on this. It seems kinda useless. Once a caster has 12 or 13 levels it is almost impossible for them not to get through even modest spell resistance, neh?

fyrmin · Post by **fyrmin** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:32 pm

i used to have a belt of SR 12 or 14 i believe- it stopped lots of little irritating things like magic missiles (particularly from NPC bandit mages) as well as a lot of magical cloud affects like poison and what not. basically anything over 10 can be useful, but if you're talking vs an epic mage, it has to be over 30 to really make a difference.

so i would say against low-medium level spawns in the wilderness you will be immune to a lot of their low magic (1st and 2nd) level spells.

Fifty · Post by **Fifty** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:36 pm

In general though it sounds like even 1 extra point on your saving throws for things like vamps etc will be more useful?

Sickocrow · Post by **Sickocrow** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:38 pm

It's the spellcasters 'caster' levels + SR penetration feats + d20 VS Spell Resistance.

So mister level 5 wizard with basic SR penetration would roll;
5 + 2 + d20 VS Spell resistance. Must equal or better to get past SR.

fyrmin · Post by **fyrmin** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:40 pm

yeah in the long run probably more points to saving throws will be better than a low SR. but for a low to medium level PC (up to level 12 maybe?), a belt providing 10-14 points of SR might be for the best.

but once you get to the point that a couple magic missiles won't kill you/disrupt your spell casting, you can toss the SR item out and move on to something better.

is this for a feat or something btw? if its for a higher level character, i wouldn't take some feat giving 10-14 SR over something that gives a couple extra points to saving throws, especially fortitude.

edited to say: exactly what sickocrow says- its really only effective against mages at level 10 or below (bandit mages and the such) and rarely ever useful against PCs (10-14 points of SR that is).

Final Shinryuu · Post by **Final Shinryuu** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:42 pm

Unless you can get SR over 20 or so, it's really not going to do anything.
Just get saving throws up, if possible. That will let you ignore most harmful effects.

Sickocrow · Post by **Sickocrow** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:49 pm

I find SR useful as a cleric, and of all NPC things I've fought it usually stops about 50-75% of the imcoming stuff. Fighting against a PC mage would be different, as some of them would have SR penetration feats, and use spells that reduce SR.

Fifty · Post by **Fifty** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:17 pm

Well I was just thinking it really isn't worth wearing my (Kered. lvl20) Ring of Magic Defenses.

Either a +1 resistance ring or a +2 Int/Cha ring will pretty much always be more useful to me.

Arandil · Post by **Arandil** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:19 pm

I always found it very useful..but that was with a very high SR item. Even then, it was mostly of use against NPCs, as PC opponents of any power would invariably cast Mords or spell breach anyway.

gwydion2 · Post by **gwydion2** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 9:56 pm

For a level 20 character I'd have to say 14 SR was worthless unless some DM spawns 20 5th level mages all casting magic missile on you.

The cleric and druid spell resistance, begins much stronger than that and still is only really good against lower level casters

Moredo · Post by **Moredo** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:05 pm

SR also work against traps that shoot spells (melfs, fireballs, ect) from placeable objects. A low SR could save you there, since those types of traps usually use the lowest casting level available.

loki70 · Post by **loki70** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:05 pm

The best SR, with the exception of a 40th level monk (SR 50) is when a race gets it per level (drow, etc.) For the most part, the PCs you will run into with spell resistance have it in some spell form, and with mords or one of the lower resistance spells, it gets relatively easy to penetrate (though it is an extra spell slot).

mortzestus · Post by **mortzestus** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:23 pm

loki70 wrote:The best SR, with the exception of a 40th level monk (SR 50) is when a race gets it per level (drow, etc.) For the most part, the PCs you will run into with spell resistance have it in some spell form, and with mords or one of the lower resistance spells, it gets relatively easy to penetrate (though it is an extra spell slot).

That spell resistance acquired via spell is actually higher than racial (drow and svirfneblin get 11+1/level) or monk (10+1/level). Spell Resistance gives the caster SR 12+1/level, the only weaknesses being that it can be dispelled or breached.

Moredo · Post by **Moredo** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 11:34 pm

You can get 70 SR, if you take all the SR feats as a Monk. (The character gains a +2 to spell resistance. This feat may be taken multiple times, to a maximum of +20)

TilenN · Post by **TilenN** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 6:21 am

gwydion2 wrote:For a level 20 character I'd have to say 14 SR was worthless unless some DM spawns 20 5th level mages all casting magic missile on you.

The cleric and druid spell resistance, begins much stronger than that and still is only really good against lower level casters

Some friendly DM spawned a couple of dosen spellcasting creatures all casting magic missile. Luckily I'm a monk with a hefty spell resistance so I just proceeded to kill them all, ignoring all of probably 200 or more missiles during the fight. Were it for another character, they'd be dead in the first volley.

SR is great, but only if greater than 20. A level 10 mage will succeed 55% of the time against a SR 20.

Moredo wrote:You can get 70 SR, if you take all the SR feats as a Monk. (The character gains a +2 to spell resistance. This feat may be taken multiple times, to a maximum of +20)

And that's what I'm going to do... Fear me, some day

Dirk Cutlass · Post by **Dirk Cutlass** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:24 am

It's a handy "bonus" to have on an item, e.g. I got a cloak with SR 12 and a hammer with SR 14 (they don't stack by the way - these are different characters anyway).

As mentioned, it will help stop some niggling spells from low-level mages, e.g. NPC bandits, etc. But that is all. However, if it comes for free (as in my cases) then I take it.

I once had Amonien cast the clerical spell Spell Resistance on me, and noticed it go to something huge like 30 or something. Now that was worth having! Also, high level monks can get a decent SR too.

EDIT: Of course, for magic missiles, there are Rod's of Ghost that come in handy as well as (Lesser) Magebane belts. Very handy, and the belts even work against missile storms.