Multiple Resist Energies

[draconlord]

Hi.

Is it possible to have multiple "Resist Energies,"(or "Protection from," "Energy Immunity", etc) ongoing at once?

For instance, 5 castings:
CL 11 Resist Energy(fire)
CL 11 Resist Energy(frost)
CL 11 Resist Energy(acid)
CL 11 Resist Energy(sonic)
CL 11 Resist Energy(electricity)

I mean, I understand the general principle is that "spells don't stack, only the best one applies." Well, obviously if there's a fireball, Resistance to fire is the best one, etc.

If there's some arbitiary against having all five castings simultaneously, I suppose you could just cast five different spells that provide different resistances/immunities (eg, resist, protection from, energetic healing, energy immunity, fire shield, etc), but that's such a pain to keep track of.

Thanks,
draconlord

 

[Ranes]

Bad advice expunged.

See below. Thanks, Patryn.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Hi.

Is it possible to have multiple "Resist Energies,"(or "Protection from," "Energy Immunity", etc) ongoing at once?

No. The rule you're looking for is this one:

Same Effect with Differing Results

The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.

 

[Ranes]

You could argue that it's a different spell, where energy is a placeholder for the permutations of energy type. The example given is for different polymorph effects (which does make sense).

I had forgotten that rule, however, and I have to agree that your interpretation sounds like what they had in mind.

Thanks for the correction. And sorry for the bad advice, Draconlord.

 

[draconlord]

So as an artificer, will you say my best bet is to have "Resist Energy" for one type, "Protection from" for another, "Energetic Healing" for a third, "Dragonskin" for a fourth and "Energy Immunity" for whichever one is the most likely?

Is there any other resistances I'm missing?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

That seems like it would work, and I can't think of any more off the top of my head.

 

[Dandu]

A wand of Wings of Cover.

 

[Greenfield]

What about items, such as Rings of Fire Resistance? Can one of those work with a Ring of Resist Cold?

Could a person wearing such a ring benefit from the spell itself, such as Resist Acid?

I think I know the answer, but what I know might be wrong.

 

[Eldritch_Lord]

No. The rule you're looking for is this one:

That's not quite true. As Ranes noted, the example given in the PHB is of a polymorph effect, but the SRD changed the wording a bit; if you look at the whole example in the PHB, the context becomes a bit more clear:

Differing Results: The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. For example, a series of polymorph spells might turn a creature into a mouse, a lion, and then a snail. In this case, the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.

When this section is talking about one spell "trumping" others, it's referring to two spell effects that are literally incompatible. You can't use polymorph to turn into a weird mouse/lion/snail hybrid, so a sequence of polymorph spells overwrite each other. It is not incompatible, however, to have one spell protect you from fire at the same time is protecting you from cold.

You can't really say that being immune to fire makes being immune to cold "irrelevant" in the same way that you can say becoming a lion via polymorphing makes any previous forms "irrelevant," so I'd say any number of energy resistance spells would stack with themselves as long as they're protecting against different energy types.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

When this section is talking about one spell "trumping" others, it's referring to two spell effects that are literally incompatible.

I disagree (obviously, right? ).

While Resist Elements (Fire) is active, the effects of the previously cast Resist Elements (Cold) is irrelevant. If RE (F) runs out before the duration of RE (C) expires, then it comes back into force.

Similarly, if RE (F) were dispelled, RE (C) would remain in effect.