An analogy to understand magic resistance

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

While preparing a setting for a new saga, I have been trying to define an analogy that makes sense to explain how magic resistance works, and why.

So I thought I'd run it by the Ars community here to see if it makes sense, and what its effects would be in a saga. Note that this is an effort to avoid problems the pink dot problem, as well as other potential abuses. It is probably not perfect, but I figure discussion my help me improve it a little.

Here it goes...

What Magic Is
To understand why and how magic resistance protects against magic, one must first understand what magic is. This is best done through an analogy. As all analogies, though, this one is imperfect and should not be taken at face value.

Magic is like the temperature within an oven. It is the energy that is applied to the solid placed within the oven. The solidity of the object does not change the temperature of the air around it, in the same was as magic resistance does not nullify magic. The solid will have the same temprature as the air around it, but it remains solid until its melting point is exceeded, at which point it changes state.

How Magic Resistance Works in the Saga
Magic resistance (like the one given by the Parma Magica) is not a force field. It is not a nullifying field or a dead magic zone. It does not suppress magic effects, but rather makes the magus or maga more resistant to its effects. That is, provided the strength of the magic resistance is greater than the strength of the magic assaulting the magus. Envision it as the sharp melting point of a solid in a oven -- at one temperature the object is solid, but raise the temperature and suddenly it turns into a liquid. Magic resistance represent how high a temperature must be applied to the solid before it melts.

This is manifested in different ways depending on the type of magical effect applied against magic resistance.

Creo
Objects created wholly by magic are blocked by magic resistance. This is because the essential substance of the object is magic, and without magic to hold it together it has no existence and no physicality. This does not nullify the existence that Creo'd objects manifest, but weakens the energy that goes with it and how it can affect a target protected by magic resistance. For example:

  • A Pilum of Fire (CrIg 20) parts around and is stopped by a target protected by magic resistance because the movement of the flames have only magical force.
  • A created boulder dropped onto a magus protected by his Pamra Magica bounces off and drops to the ground (because it is its magical substance that transmits energy from falling). However, the magus still needs to exert strength to lift that boulder and cannot move through the boulder (because the Parma does not nullify the physicality of the boulder).
  • A maga falls into a pool filled with magically created water and sinks. Her Parma protects her from drowning, but without air she will soon suffocate.

Intellego
Intellego magic can directly try to gather information by targeting the entity protected protected by magic resistance. These effects must penetrate magic resistance.

  • Using an arcane connection, a magus casts The Inexorable Search (InCo 20) to locate find a lost member of his covenant. His spell must penetrate.

It can also grant senses to detect something that emanates from the target, or detect such residue. These attempts are not resisted.

  • Caught in the dark, a maga casts Vision of Heat's Light (InIg 20) to see heat sources in the dark. She can see her fellow magi just fine without having to penetrate each of their magic resistance.

Muto
Muto magic interact with magic resistance in a number of ways.

First, Muto can interact with magic resistance directly by trying to transform the entity protected by the magic resistance. Such attempts have to penetrate magic resistance to succeed.

A second way is indirect, by using an object affected by Muto magic against the entity protected by magic resistance. In these situations, the nature of the change determines whether it is resisted of not. The essential substance of the object determines how much the effects of the change are resisted. Tactile changes will usually bypass magic resistance (based on the physicality and mass of the original object), while more subtle properties will be resisted against. Changes within the entity protected by magic resistance is suspended until the Muto'd object leaves the entity's body, which is accelerated. Some examples:

  • A maga casts Transformation of the Thorny Staff on his staff and attacks a magical wolf. The thorny staff hits and the increased damage bypasses the wolf's magic resistance.
  • During a banquet, a magus drinks wine affected by Incantation of Putrid Wine. The poisonous property of the wine is magical, so his Parma Magica protects against it.
  • Later during the banquet, the same magus drinks poison changed into wine using Muto magic. Since no magical effect or property is projected towards the magus, he is unaffected and drinks water. The effect expires soon after this, but is manifested by the magus having an urge to urinate. When he does, the liquid is foul-smelling and poisonous but he is unharmed.

Perdo
Perdo magic can affect directly by targeting an entity protected by magic resistance, in which case the effect must penetrate.

A second way for Perdo to affect an entity is by affecting its environment. In those situations, magic resistance will sometimes insulate the entity from the immediate effects of the magic, but mundane changes in his environment will eventually catch up with it. Since Momentary Perdo effect can permanently modify the environment, it can often bypass magic resistance. Some examples:

  • A magus is in a room where Conjuration of the Indubitable Cold (PeIg 25) has just been cast. Although everything in the room is instantly chilled by the spell, the magus is protected from the immediate effect. However, everything in the room is now quite cold, so if the magus remains there he may eventually have to check for fatigue loss due to this cold.
  • Later, in the same room, the spell Room of Stale Air (PeAu 15) is cast, fouling up the air. The air within the magus' lungs was not affected by the spell (it failed to penetrate), but the room's now-stale air is completely non-magical. As he keeps breathing the air in the room, he will have to check for fatigue. At most, the magus' Parma Magica protected him for the initial Fatigue check.

Rego
Most ambiguities between Rego magic and magic resistance concerns objects moved with Rego to attack a target protected by magic resistance. So this section will focus on Rego movement. Rego magic can generate different kinds of movement, each of which interact differently with magic resistance.

The first kind is magical movement, that picks up an object and directs it to its destination without the need for a targeting roll. Magical movement does not grant any momentum to an object -- when the spell expires, the movement stops. An object under this kind of movement is stopped by magic resistance, since the magic resistance prevent the force behind the object (which is magical) from being transferred to the target. For example:

  • A magus uses magic to generate a geyser of water from a nearby river towards a faerie creature. No targeting roll is required, but since the movement is generated by magic, it must penetrate the faerie's magic resistance. If it fails to penetrate, the faerie will get a little wet, but the water has no force when it hits its target, so no damage is done.

The second kind is magical acceleration, that simulates the acceleration that would be provided by a mundane mean, such as a bow, a sling or a catapult. Once in movement, the object keeps moving in the direction it was accelerated towards even when released from the spell. Hitting anything requires a targeting roll, but magic resistance does not stop the object. An example of this:

  • Seeing that his first spell was ineffective, on the next round the magus to launch a rock against the same faerie, like a sling would do. It requires a targeting roll to hit the faerie, but bypasses the faerie's magic resistance.

The last kind of movement is teleportation, where an object is moved from one location to another without traversing the intervening space. Teleportation is stopped by magic resistance of the object or beeing that is to be moved, as well as by magic resistance of the destination area (such as an Aegis). When stopped by magic resistance, teleportation fails altogether and the target is unmoved.

  • Using an arcane connection, a magus tries to teleport into his old covenant. Unfortunetely for him, the Aegis of the Hearth has been renewed without his participation since he left the covenant. His teleportation spell fails to penetrate the Aegis. He remains where is, unmoved by his spell.

Thoughts?

2

I don't think you can have the parma suspend the end of a magical effect so with the wine turned into water either it is stopped by his MR and he cannot imbibe it (it probably spills down his chin) or it is not stopped, he drinks it and suffers the consequences. I would say it is stopped. With Muto effect I would not try to judge the degree of change but the targeting - if the whole of a thing is the target of a Muto spell (target individual or part of a group) then even if the change seems superficial or localised the magic is pervading the thing's essence and the thing must penetrate MR. If the target was Part then only that part bounces. Thus the staff of thorns would need to penetrate.

There are some categories you have left out:
Objects/people subject to an ongoing Creo improvement. I think no resistance on this one - not because I can justify it philosophically but because I don't like the effects on the game world - see my rants in the magic sword thread.
Warded objects, including those with parma. For me no resistance again.
Objects under Imaginem effects. I'd say again no - an object is separable from its image or The Wizard's Sidestep would not be possible as a low level Rego effect. There be some odd special effects as the illusion is blocked but the object goes through - I'm OK with that.
Enchanted objects
Vis

Then there are more subtle questions like how much mundane force can a magic object and parma shield one from? If Robert Whiterook CrAn a woolly sock, sticks a half brick in it and whacks Marcus ex Guernicus with it (insulted his wife's cooking perhaps) does it hurt? If not does this mean a CrAn bobble hat will protect Marcus from an ogre club to the head?

3

Is this supposed to be a description for the RAW or for your game?

Some of the effects or reasons for how things work the way they do differ from my understanding of the RAW. Not that my understanding can't be flawed, but before I start making comments about how your rules differ from the RAW, I want to make sure this is not intentional.

4

The analogies are more confusing than helpful i think.
Overall it looks fairly reasonable.

Im not sure about the Muto effects though:
The Thorny staff is under the effect of active magic and the thorns would probably be blocked even if the staff as a whole isnt(and its not for sure that it isnt), and poison changed to wine should probably be completely blocked as its a matter of something changed completly, ie ALL of it is under an active spell effect.

And some comments on the Perdo examples:

Wether the magi needs any checks will depend on how quickly the room heats back up again, and if the magi is wellclothed or in the nude. So if the room is heating up reasonably fast(summer outside and an open door and maybe a couple of open windows) the magi might not need to check for fatigue at all, and if she does should get a bonus against failing the check.
And alternatively, if the magi was just enroute to go outside in the middle of winter and was dressed for a cold winterday, she might need a check due to cold air, but probably not.

Essentially the same comment as above except that its a matter of how ventilated the room is rather than the level of isolation and outside temperature. If there´s any serious ventilation, the Parma will protect long enough for the bad air to start being diluted.

5

The "pink dot" is an annoying exploit that can massively increase the protective benefits of magic resistance. However solving this aspect of the game often either radically reduces the effectiveness of MR or at worst makes it a pretty big liability. You seem to have covered most of the obvious bases but there still may be a few loopholes that players might actually find by design or accident.

Allowing a muto'd object to still have the desired effect without having to penetrate MR like in your transformation of the thorny staff example is a pretty big boost to hermetic magic. It don't see a reason why that loophole would be allowed and I'm sure there are ways to exploit it dramatically. Also your example seems to say that if a boulder where turned into a pebble and thrown at a mage it would feel as though he where hit by a throw boulder.

Also your transformations suspended while in someone protected by MR could still result in some lethal situations. What about solid objects turned into food or shrunk or both. What about a large quantity of burning oil transformed flames and all into a glass of wine.

6

I think the idea is that any Muto affected item, would be expelled by the magus before the liquid could have a chance to change back.

I like it both ways. I like the idea of your MR not permitting the substance to touch you, but also kinda enjoy the MR forcing magical impurities out of your body.

I had the idea of taking a strong poison, and then Muto it into a different kind of strong poison. Either way I was going to get ya... chortles

7

:smiling_imp:

Icky... That could really mess things up, especially on the basic level of how does it know WHEN?

Yeah this is hard to handle in any good way. Thats why i always go by the basic idea that if something is completely mutoed, its totally resisted as well.

8

Probably for the best cause the other option as you said would cause no end of troubles.

9

Not to pick on you, but Maine75man seems to have resumed it best IMO:
"solving this aspect of the game often either radically reduces the effectiveness of MR or at worst makes it a pretty big liability".

So this means I can take a giant's sword, muto it into a form more acceptable to me, such as a dagger, but then, when striking a magus, not only will it go through the parma, but it will hit as though being a 10-foot sword?
And, well, if you base things on the physicality and mass of the original object, it means that:

  • Your parma canceled the magic in all but appearance
  • Your thorned staff should do damage based on the original staff's damage, so... the thorns are suddenly no more consistent than an illusion?

What's the difference?
In one case, the poisonous property is magical, and thus stopped.
In another, the non-poisonous property isn't stopped?

Also, why the urinate thingie?
The damage is not caused by a magical effect, but by very real poison. Why would he suddenly eliminate it an urinate? Aside from a pure GM's decision, this makes no sense to me: When you drink, you don't go to the bathroom right afterwards, so why would you in this specific case? And, well, if drinking mutoed acid, why wouldn't it hurt to urinate it?

Yup.

The biggest problem with MR, IMO, is that we can't make actual physical experiences to try to find how it works :laughing:

10

You can't?

The thing is that it is somewhat weird how MR works. This comes for a "gut feeling" most of us get, that a sharp sword should be able to hit you in the face (and do more damage than an unenchanted sword), while at the same time a PoF should be resisted. The problem (IMO) lies more with going against dragons and faerie warriors than vs other hermetic wizards here. At least IMS wizard on wizard conflicts are the exception, not the norm.

Another problem is that (your POV might vary) is that an edge of the razor should not be resisted, while a fñlaming fist should. Both are touch range effects, so that is not a criteria either.

Looking at the forums, house ruling seems to be the norm here, rather than the exception. The problem is that we can't for the love of Hermes agree on HOW to house rule it. every group has different interpretations on how it should work.

Cheers,
Xavi

11

My intent is to formulate something specific to my saga. It will diverge from RAW. But I am trying to keep the difference from changing the effectiveness of MR too much.

What I am trying to get is magic resistance that feels more "realistic" from a medieval/mythic perspective. To me, magic resistance should not act as a force field in most situations, but should still offer as much protection as the Order's background suggests and make it a major advance.

The analogies are there to act as illustration and guideline. I use the term "physicality" to express the fact that an object exists in the real world. Whether it is wholly mundane, modified by magic or created by magic, the magus can touch it, feel it and even ingest it. But the the magical "properties" that would affect him are resisted.

Basically, I'm trying to move closer to "smart" magic resistance, without it actually having intelligence behind it.

Under RAW, a magical liquid would spill over his chin (if resisted), acting as a "force field". I want to move away from something like that.

Thinking about it, maybe the thorny staff should be resisted. I am still struggling with shifting gears between 4th and 5th edition description of Muto. I was still thinking about the Muto effect changing the shape of the staff to form thorns at its end, but that would have been Rego in 5th edition. I'll need to think some more about this one. Probably the thorns should break off (they're wholly magical substance, added to the staff and then squeezed between the staff and a hard place), but the staff itself would do its normal damage.

Muto is the though one, particularly when it changes the size of the object. I would intuitively want magic resistance to resist increased effects (the added mass is magical, so only the mundane substance as an effect), but not resist reduced effects (the effect "hides" part of the mundane substance and so that substance does not effect the magus, while the magic is not targeting the magus at all).

All good categories to address and clarify.

For that last one: He's basically getting hit by a brick, so yes it hurts. Because the brick has real substance, not magical. The fact that it is wrapped by magical substance (which neither increases nor decrease the speed of the brick).

More answers later...

12

That's the intended effect in both cases. I should probably specify that in the examples.

13

I agree. See one of my previous answers, but basically substance "added" by Muto would not add damage, while substance "hidden" by Muto would not affect the magus. So you cannot increase damage with Muto (if it is resisted), but you can reduce it.

Turn a brick into a loaf of bread. Eat the bread. You begin digesting it (with no sustenance gained as it is not real food). Later, duration expires. You get a sudden urge to go to the privies, and literally shit bricks. If you successfully resisted the effect, you suffer no damage. If you failed to resist, some damage (SG call on how much) is received because the change does not completely occurs outside of you.

Sorry for the somewhat gross images this might evoke... :neutral_face:

In the first case, the "poisonous" property is added by magic, so it is resisted (the property will attack the magus).
In the second case, the "poisonous" property is "hidden" away by the magic and cannot attack the magus. Bringing back the property inside the magus is initiating a change that affects him and is resisted.

Thanks for all of the comments! I hope my responses helped clarify what my intent is. :slight_smile:

14

But, if Robert instead conjures a punch dagger and uses it then it's clearly the intent of the rules that parma should stop the blow dead. However the situations are physically analogous - Robert's fist and arm are as really substantial as the brick, the wool is no more likely to disintegrate between parma and blunt object than the dagger between parma and fist etc. So where do we draw the line and on what axis? Force applied? Pressure applied? Thickness of magical object? Magnitude of spell effect? magnitude of parma? When harm is likely?

15

The substance of the dagger is magical, so the dagger doesn't add to the damage. Treat it as if Robert was punching his opponent.

This way, attacking an opponent with magic resistance in melee using a magical object should not be worse than attacking him with your bare hands. The physicality of the created object transmits the force from your body, but does not add to it.

16

That works.

17

Interesting idea about the punching. I like it. So you are making a brawl attack using your single weapon total.

What if Robert throws the dagger at the offender? Is like him throwing a "distance punch" at Marcus?

18

I would be tempted to say no. Since the dagger is made of magical substance, it has very little effective "mass". It would feels like getting hit by something very light and soft. You would feel it hitting you (the object has physicality), but no damage would be done. In the same way, magical water will make you wet (but won't drown you) and magical fire will feel hot (but not burning), but neither will damage you.

The melee "punching" conpromise is because you are putting your own weight behind it, basically "backstopping" the dagger. Not a very modern way to look at it, but good enough I hope!

19

Take two, I refined and improved my text...

This page presents the house rules for magic resistance in the saga. The intent of these rules is to make magic resistance something much more natural and mythical than the current description provided in the ArM5 Corebook. For example, in the corebook, Parma Magica seems to be treated as some kind of force field that protects against external intrusions on the magus. I dislike that view, and am proposing an alternative here that provides a more organic feel to magic resistance, while at the same time providing a similar power level. This results in a few adjustments to what is and what is not resisted.

What Is Magic?
To understand why and how magic resistance protects against magic, one must first understand what magic is. This is best done through an analogy. As all analogies, though, this one is imperfect and should not be taken at face value.

Magic is much like the temperature within an oven. It is the energy that is applied to any solid placed within the oven. The temperature within the oven is not affected by the solid placed within it, in the same was as magic is not nullified by an entity protected by magic resistance. The inside of the solid can have the same temperature as the rest of the oven, without being changed by it. All that remains true as long as the temperature does not exceed the melting point of the solid. When this happens, the solid changes (it melts). See this as a sharp transition between the solid form and the liquid state. In the same way, an entity protected by magic resistance remains unaffected by magic until its resistance is overwhelmed (i.e. the magical effect penetrates).

There are two key concepts that are essential to comprehending the following rules:

  • Physicality is the set of characteristics that allows us to percieve and interact with objects. You can touch an object with physicality, and you have to apply force to lift one.
  • Substance is what an object is made of. There are basically kinds of substance in Ars Magica: the mundane and the magical. Mundane creatures (such as people) usually cannot distinguish between the two, but those associated with the four realms (Divinde, Infernal, Magic, and Faerie) interact differently with magical substance than with mundane substance. An object of effect made of magical substance must overwhelms magic resistance in order to change the way things are.

What Is Magic Resistance?
Magic resistance (such as provided to magi by the Parma Magica) is not a force field. Neither is it a nullifying field or a dead magic zone. It does not suppress magic effects, but rather makes it beneficiary more resistant to its effects. It "resists" magical substance (as well as change) and prevent it from having an effect.

This applies only as long as the magical effect is not stronger than the magic resistance. When it is, the beneficiary loses all protection and is treated as a mundane creature would be.

Magic Resistance by Technique
Creo
Objects created wholly by magic have physicality but only magical substance. Because of this, their ability to transmit energy to a target protected by magic resistance is severely limited. Because they have physicality, they can be touched and felt. Because they lack mundane substance, they easily bounce off when meeting magic resistance. This does not nullify the existence that Creo'd objects manifest, but weakens the energy that goes with it and how it can affect a target protected by magic resistance. When a magically created object is used to strike a protected target, some damage can still be done when the object is backstopped by a mundane object. This is usually equivalent to the damage that would be done without using the object.

  • A Pilum of Fire (CrIg 20) parts around and is stopped by a target protected by magic resistance because the movement of the flames have only magical force.
  • A created rock dropped onto a magus protected by his Pamra Magica bounces off and drops to the ground (because its magical substance does not fully transmit energy from falling). However, the magus still needs to exert strength to lift that boulder and cannot simply move through the boulder (the Parma does not nullify the physicality of the boulder).
  • A maga falls into a pool filled with magically created water and sinks. Her Parma protects her from drowning, but without air she will soon suffocate.
  • A magically created dagger is used to stab a magus. The dagger itself does not penetrate the magus' Parma Magica, but the force behind the blow is partly transmitted, so he suffers damage equivalent to a punch. The same dagger, if thrown at him, would have simply bounced off and done no damage.

Intellego
As described in the ArM5 Corebook, Intellego magic that directly gather information from a target protected by magic resistance must penetrate. Meanwhile, an effect that grants or improves the senses bypasses magic resistance.

  • Using an arcane connection, a magus casts The Inexorable Search (InCo 20) to locate find a lost member of his covenant. His spell must penetrate.
  • Caught in the dark, a maga casts Vision of Heat's Light (InIg 20) to see heat sources in the dark. She can see her fellow magi just fine without having to penetrate each of their magic resistance.

Muto
Muto magic interact with magic resistance in a number of ways. Direct attempts to affect a target protected by magic resistance are blocked, as usual. Indirect effects are another more complex.

Muto magic can add substance to an existing mundane object, by making it grow in size or by adding pieces to it. When using such an object, the additional substance is simply ignored when it is used against a target protected by magic resistance. But as with a Creo'd object, this additional substance can still transmit the force of a blow if it is backstopped by the mundane substance of the object.

  • A maga casts Transformation of the Thorny Staff on her staff and attacks a magical wolf. The thorny staff hits but fails to penetrated the wolf's magic resistance. Damage is still done, but only as if the staff was unchanged. Some of the thorns will probably break if the blow was strong enough.
  • An arrow is magically transformed into a ballista bolt as it flies towards a target protected by magic resistance. It hits, but only does normal arrow damage because the additional mass added by the Muto effect is composed of magical substance and thus resisted.

On the other hand, Muto can also be used to diminish an object by decreasing its size. When that happens, the Muto effect "hides" the mundane substance and prevent it from affecting a target protected by magic resistance. These effects are not resisted, as they reduce the impact of the object on the real world.

  • A giant throws a mundane boulder at a magus, who fast-casts a spell to turn the boulder into a much smaller rock. The rock hits him, but only does the damage for a rock of this (reduced) size, not that of a boulder.

Muto magic can also be used to grant or remove properties to an object which is then used against a target protected by magic resistance. These properties are simply ignored, like additional substance is. The Storyguide can decide to apply a cosmetic effect for illustrate resisting the effect, if appropriate.

  • A magus is hit with a rope that was given the rigidity and weight of iron. Aside from a stinging sensation (from being struck with a rope), he suffers no damage. The rope bends slightly upon striking him, as an iron bar striking a rock.
  • During a banquet, a magus drinks wine affected by Incantation of Putrid Wine (MuAq 15), making it poisonous. The poisonous property of the wine is magical, so his Parma Magica protects against it.

Finally, when the end of a Muto effect would happen inside a target protected by magic resistance, the substance or object is expelled before the effect ends. Again, appropriate cosmetic effects can be applied.

  • Later during the banquet, the same magus drinks poison changed into wine using Muto magic. Since no magical effect or property is projected towards the magus, he is unaffected and drinks water. The effect would expire soon after this, but magic resistance prevent it and the magus gains a sudden and urgent urge to urinate. When he does, the liquid transforms back as it leaves his body but he is unharmed.
  • Also during that dangerous banquet, the magus ate a large rock transformed into a loaf of bread. Unfortunetely for him, this effect was stronger than his magic resistance. As it is about to transform back, he is taken by an urge to go to the privies, but is still suffer nasty consequences.

Perdo
Perdo magic can affect directly by targeting an entity protected by magic resistance, in which case the effect must penetrate.

A second way for Perdo to affect an entity is by affecting its environment. In those situations, magic resistance will sometimes insulate the entity from the immediate effects of the magic, but mundane changes in his environment will eventually catch up with it. Since Momentary Perdo effect can permanently modify the environment, it can often bypass magic resistance.

  • A magus is in a room where Conjuration of the Indubitable Cold (PeIg 25) has just been cast. Although everything in the room is instantly chilled by the spell, the magus is protected from the immediate effect. However, everything in the room is now quite cold, so if the magus remains there he may eventually have to check for fatigue loss due to this cold.
  • Later, in the same room, the spell Room of Stale Air (PeAu 15) is cast, fouling up the air. The air within the magus' lungs was not affected by the spell (it failed to penetrate), but the room's now-stale air is completely non-magical. As he keeps breathing the air in the room, he will have to check for fatigue. At most, the magus' Parma Magica protected him for the initial Fatigue check.

Rego
Most ambiguities between Rego magic and magic resistance concerns objects moved with Rego to attack a target protected by magic resistance. So this section will focus on Rego movement. Rego magic can generate different kinds of movement, each of which interact differently with magic resistance.

The first kind is magical movement, that picks up an object and directs it to its destination without the need for a targeting roll. Magical movement does not grant any momentum to an object -- when the spell expires, the movement stops. An object under this kind of movement is stopped by magic resistance, since the magic resistance prevent the force behind the object (which is magical) from being transferred to the target.

  • A magus uses magic to generate a geyser of water from a nearby river towards a faerie creature. No targeting roll is required, but since the movement is generated by magic, it must penetrate the faerie's magic resistance. If it fails to penetrate, the faerie will get a little wet, but the water has no force when it hits its target, so no damage is done.

The second kind is magical acceleration, that simulates the acceleration that would be provided by a mundane mean, such as a bow, a sling or a catapult. Once in movement, the object keeps moving in the direction it was accelerated towards even when released from the spell. Hitting anything requires a targeting roll, but magic resistance does not stop the object.

  • Seeing that his first spell was ineffective, on the next round the magus to launch a rock against the same faerie, like a sling would do. It requires a targeting roll to hit the faerie, but bypasses the faerie's magic resistance.

Another kind of movement is teleportation, where an object is moved from one location to another without traversing the intervening space. Teleportation is stopped by magic resistance of the object or beeing that is to be moved, as well as by magic resistance of the destination area (such as an Aegis). When stopped by magic resistance, teleportation fails altogether and the target is unmoved.

  • Using an arcane connection, a magus tries to teleport into his old covenant. Unfortunetely for him, the Aegis of the Hearth has been renewed without his participation since he left the covenant. His teleportation spell fails to penetrate the Aegis. He remains where is, unmoved by his spell.

A special kind of Rego that also affect movement is wards. Wards are more effective at countering magic resistance than other kinds of effects. That is because they target both the mundane and magical substance of the target. Whenever a target protected by magic resistance tries to cross a ward boundary, the magic resistance must be greater than both the ward's effect level and the penetration total of the ward.

Objects That Contain Vis
Objects that contain vis have a dual nature and thus substance: mundane and magical. Their magical properties are resisted as described above, while their mundane properties bypass magic resistance. This applies to enchanted objects (containing "cooked" vis) and objects that contain raw vis. When the object contains raw vis, its magical properties have a penetration bonus equal to 5 times the number of pawns it contains.

  • The horn of a magical bull, containing Animal vis, was collected. Now, in need of an improvised weapon, someone uses it as a weapon against a target protected by magic resistance. The horn is not resisted and does appropriate melee damage, probably using the stats of a dagger.
  • An enchanted sword is used against a Faerie troll. The sword is enchanted to striker harder than a normal sword, increasing its damage. But the added magical movement is resisted by the troll, and it only does regular sword damage.
  • A foolhardy magus eats a Nightshade plant that contains raw vis. Let's assume that Nightshade is a mundane plant that is slightly poisonous. But this one contains 2 pawns of Perdo vis, making it a deadly poison. The mundane poisonous property is not resisted by the magus' Parma Magica, but fortunately for him it resist the +10 penetration of the magical poison. The magus only becomes ill from the mundane poison instead of dying from the magical poison.