Quick question for you master DMs:
Is there some official rule on the order in which defensive spells are applied? I'll give a potential scenario -
Enemy cleric has numerous defensive spells layered on him:
Spell Turning (1d4+6, rolled a 2 for 8 levels)
Spell Resistance (SR 25)
Spell Immunity (Scorching Ray)
Death Ward
Entropic Field
Protection from Energy (Fire) [120 pts.]
PC shoots a Scorching Ray at the cleric. How are the defensive spells applied? Does the defending player announce the order, or what?
PS: If you can guess the NPC in question, you win the grand-pubah prize!
Quick question for you master DMs:
Is there some official rule on the order in which defensive spells are applied? I'll give a potential scenario -
Enemy cleric has numerous defensive spells layered on him:
Spell Turning (1d4+6, rolled a 2 for 8 levels)
Spell Resistance (SR 25)
Spell Immunity (Scorching Ray)
Death Ward
Entropic Field
Protection from Energy (Fire) [120 pts.]PC shoots a Scorching Ray at the cleric. How are the defensive spells applied? Does the defending player announce the order, or what?
PS: If you can guess the NPC in question, you win the grand-pubah prize!
Well, I don't know what Entropic Field does, so I am discounting it. :)
I would apply those enhancements that would logically affect the spell first. In your example, it would be Spell Turning (and if it failed to turn the spell), then Spell Immunity. The other spells wouldn't really effect the spell on its way in because they don't have a chance.If the spell was fireball, then it would be Spell Turning, then spell resistance, then Prot. from fire. IMHO, the defending character will always get the chance to declare which defending spells affect what attacking spells first, but it hasn't ever really happened like that. We just decide which defensive spell would make the defender not take damage, then move to the next one, and then the next.
Celric
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Quick question for you master DMs:
Is there some official rule on the order in which defensive spells are applied? I'll give a potential scenario -
Enemy cleric has numerous defensive spells layered on him:
Spell Turning (1d4+6, rolled a 2 for 8 levels)
Spell Resistance (SR 25)
Spell Immunity (Scorching Ray)
Death Ward
Entropic Field
Protection from Energy (Fire) [120 pts.]PC shoots a Scorching Ray at the cleric. How are the defensive spells applied? Does the defending player announce the order, or what?
I don't know about "official", but since defenses don't stack you would use the most powerful defense first.
In the above example, if it was a scorching ray, then Spell Immunity would make everything else a moot point.
Not knowing any spell cast on the said person, this is how I would look at it --
1) If the caster has to hit then Entropic Shield should be the first thing to resolve (if it doesn't hit, then it doesn't count).
2) Spell Immunity and Death Ward -- These kind of trump most anything else, so if it falls into one of these categories, then again it really doesn't count.
3) Spell Resistance -- If it gets through the above defenses, then this should be the next thing to resolve. If it doesn't get through this, then again, it doesn't matter.
4) Protection from Fire -- If it gets through everything above and it is a fire spell then you would apply this defense. No reason to apply it if the person is never affected by it.
5) The problem might come up regarding Spell Turning. The problem with this is that (as I read the rules) Spell Turning affects the spell whether it gets through the defenses or not. Also, Spell Turning is VERY specific as to the kind of spell that it will affect -- Touch spells, spells with effect (rays), and spells with area (fireball) are not affected. So Spell Turning would not turn a scorching ray (effect). Assuming that it did, however, it would turn the spell back on the caster even though the affected person is immune. So, in many ways, Spell Turning is resolved First.
Hope that this helps -- (and I have no idea the NPC in question).
Thanks for the input.
I am running an encounter soon that makes this example look like childs play. The NPC could have as many as 15 (or more) defensive effects cast before combat begins. So you can see my concern. I'll pour over the PHB and DMG for further info tonight, but I don't recall reading anything in the core books or in the FAQs regarding these situations.
This fight could get real ugly. I'll save the name of the NPC for after the fight is resolved. I have the feeling one of my players might be lurking. :)
A simple, fair way to do it would be to first follow relevance and then chronological order. Relevance, in this situation, means that you use the defense relative to the step of the procedure, so Entropic Shield comes first, since you first have to determine a hit. Then, spell immunity comes up, as it is specifically keyed to this. If there was no spell immunity, death ward would come in if the spell was covered by this defense. After those, simply resolve them in the order they were cast.