The Truth Will Set Us Free

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach (DDO) players have spent much time speculating about and debating the effects of spell resistance in DDO. Thankfully, DDO Developer DeadlyGazebo came along to set the record straight:

DeadlyGazebo wrote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammersong
3.How is spell resistance handled by enemy casters? Many people have reported wearing SR 19-21 items and even lvl 2 kobold shamans bypass it the overwhelming majority of the time.

It's handled for enemy casters in the same way it's handled for players, though the enemy casters may have higher caster levels than you think.

The standard CR 1 kobold shaman you meet all over the harbor, for example, is caster level 2 (in normal mode). He casts acid splash and magic missile, both of which are damage spells and thus not affected by SR, and "Cause Fear", which is.

When rolling for SR, he's rolling a d20+2, versus your SR, so if you have a SR19 item, he'll be succeeding only on a roll of 17-20, for a 20% chance of getting through (which then hits your normal saving throw).

If you try him on elite, he's suddenly caster level 6, so he's now hammering through your SR19 defenses on a roll of 13 or higher, for a 40% hit chance (which then hits your saving throw).

Of course, he usually brings a couple of his friends along, so you're likely to be getting hit a lot; since you don't get much feedback when you succeed, you are likely to just not see how often your item saved you -- the one fear that gets through makes a big impression with a giant face over your head, while the several that failed just put a little blue splash on you that's easy to miss when you've got bright purple magic missiles flying everywhere.

Now that we know the real deal, character planning just got a little easier!