Magic resistance

This article is about the magic resistance property. For monsters' magic resistance, see Magic resistance (monster).

Magic resistance is an extrinsic property which protects against many annoying magical attacks and effects. It is part of most ascension kits, and is generally considered a high priority to obtain as soon as possible.

Effect

Magic resistance protects against:

• Death magic from external sources:
  • instadeath effect of Death's touch attacks
  • zapped wand of death and finger of death
  • the touch of death monster spell
• Polymorph magic from external sources:
  • vapors from a potion of polymorph
  • polymorph traps
• Damage from pure magic:
  • magic missile attacks of angels, gray dragons, Yeenoghu, the Chromatic Dragon, and the Oracle
  • zapped or broken wands of striking or magic missile
  • zapped spells of force bolt or magic missile
  • broken wands of cancellation, create monster, digging, light, make invisible, polymorph, sleep, slow monster, speed monster, teleportation, and undead turning
  • damage from exploding spellbooks
• anti-magic, teleport, and level teleport traps
• the destroy armor, drain strength, and confuse monster spells
• effect of the paralyze and stun monster spells is reduced to one turn
• damage from the psi bolt and open wounds monster spells is halved
• damage from artifact blast is halved
• number of items cursed by curse items from any source is halved
• Magicbane cannot scare you, chance of other effects is reduced

Magic resistance does not protect against:

• Death magic that you pointed at yourself:
  • zapped wand of death or finger of death aimed at yourself
  • broken wand of death
• Polymorph magic that you pointed at yourself:
  • zapped wand or spell of polymorph aimed at yourself
  • broken wand of polymorph
  • quaffed potion of polymorph

Obtaining

Magic resistance is granted by wielding Magicbane, wearing a cloak of magic resistance, gray dragon scales, or gray dragon scale mail, polymorphing into a (baby) gray dragon, or carrying certain Quest artifacts.

Quest artifacts granting magic resistance when carried
Role	Artifact	Alignment
Archeologist	the Orb of Detection	Lawful
Caveman	the Sceptre of Might	Lawful
Knight	the Magic Mirror of Merlin	Lawful
Monk	the Eyes of the Overworld	Neutral
Tourist	the Platinum Yendorian Express Card	Neutral
Wizard	the Eye of the Aethiopica	Neutral

Monsters

Magic resistance is intrinsically possessed by monsters with a magic missile attack or a random breath weapon, and baby gray dragons In vanilla, Angels, Yeenoghu, gray dragons, and the Oracle all have magic missile attacks, while a random breath weapon is only possessed by the Chromatic Dragon. In SLASH'EM, diamond and crystal golems, as well as adult shimmering dragons, having random or magic missile breath attacks, are magic resistant. Anybody seeking to write code for their own monsters should be careful when giving them magic missile or random breath attacks, as such monsters will be magic resistant as a side effect.

Strategy

Relying only on your own Quest artifact for magic resistance is dangerous in the endgame, because the Wizard of Yendor can steal it from you and become magic resistant himself. He will now absorb any death rays or magic missiles unharmed, but you are now quite vulnerable to his touch of death. A Quest artifact of another role, obtainable only by wishing, is safe from this kind of theft (but not from that of nymphs, of course).

Magic resistance is a good property to have in a pet, as it provides all the same protections to monsters as it does to the player. If your pet has magic resistance, you need not worry about the odd death ray, polytrap, or levelport trap removing your pet from you. In the case of non-eating pets, this can be a lifesaver, as one that hits a levelport trap will often go feral before you can find it again. The best way to give your pet magic resistance is to have it wear a spare cloak of magic resistance or GDS(M). Unfortunately, the most useful pet, the Archon, cannot wear cloaks or body armor. Magic resistance can still be given to them by having them wield Magicbane, although this may not be possible or desirable in every game. Use a bullwhip to steal their current weapon, and curse Magicbane to make sure they don't unwield it. Unfortunately, monsters will not carry a quest artifact for very long unless they wear or wield it, which is only possible with the Sceptre of Might.

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