I am pondering the mechanics of lowering a creatures might score.
If a creature uses a power or spell that costs might does this lower his magic resistance too and his effective might for wards, etc?
If you smack a beastie with a spell that directly lowers might, does that lower magic resistance too or does it just drain his might pool, make him easier to ward and eventually kill him?
Basically, what are the effects of lowered might? Does it come off a pool of might or is the creatures might a single score that is then lowered?
I'd say your two questions have different answers.
IMHO..
when a creature spends Might points it's MR wouldn't drop. It's maximum MM is unchanged, it just happens that it now has only 25 of the 30 available to it. It's MR would stay at 30.
in your second example, where a spell is used to reduce the creatures Might, such as Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit, you're reducing the creatures maximum Might, and therefore also it's MR.
I should point out that I'm biased as its me wanting to cast the spell in Gribbles game, but that's how I understand the workings of MM & MR.
It does that to me too I hit Submit, nothing happens, I get mad and hit it again like twenty times, and I get a double or tripple post.
But in any of those two cases, I think you are out of luck. Each affects his current Might pool, not his Might score.
But just now glancing at the book, it desn't say. Back in the old days I used to do it as you mentioned, it's magic resistance goes down as it spends or looses might. But any way, lets say you hit it with a might stripper that penetrates and scores five points of reduction. I look at it like damage. Given recovery time, the being would restore itself back to the full score, or "heal". So the Score is unaffected, and since that is what generates Magic Resistance, that is also unaffected.
I was checkig this one myself only the other day. The description of DEO is decidedly vague on this point, not indicating specifically if we are reducing might score or points (p.160); only that it loses might.
It does, however say you could potentially destroy the beast with the spell, and thus I would conclude from this it loses might score, although I would presume given sufficient time the might score would regenerate too. Alternatively, we assume beasts kill themselves with their own powers if they ever lose track of how many powers they have used in a day.
Perha[s there is an errata on this point somewhere I should have read.
I believe it was noted somewhere that Might Score and Might Pool are two different things. It might have been on the Berklist or here, or a book, I don't remember which.
They begin the same, but the cost of various powers reduces the Might Pool accordingly. The Might Score -- and thus the resistance to various magical effects-- remains constant unless reduced via spells like DEO.
I'm inclined to say DEO type spells reduce temporary might, rather than permanent, for the same reason as Marko. The creature should be able to recover from the 'damage' of the spell if it isn't killed in the encounter.
Can't remember where, but I believe there is a ruling that DEO and similar are recovered from as if the beast had taken wounds proportional to the loss of might. Mystery cults?