Energy Immunity is the DEVIL!

[Rabelais]

One thing that I've realized about 3.x is that Energy Immunity from racial benefits/templates/prestige classes/magic items makes mid to high level casting/fighting more difficult and SLOWER than it needs to be.

Believe me, I've been the first one to raise my hand when the DM says that Evil Spellcaster X is going to blast me with Fireball, only to be unceremoniously told that "Not Evil, but certainly not very friendly" Player Character is immune to Fire...

Spell resistance isn't much better, but don't get me started on that overused mechanic.

I'm just whipping this thought off the top of my head, so forgive me if it comes off a bit ranty... I'm not overfond of Spell Resistance or Energy Immunity. If I dash off a fireball, I want it to hit. If that means that I have to put up with a greater chance that Monster X succeeds on a Reflex save, so be it.

I just hope that 4e allows spellcasters to be spellcasters, and not Cost/Benefit accountants.


So that's my Rant.

ummm... Stay in School, Don't do Drugs.

Now I feel much better.

 

[Sadrik]

Yes,
Convert immune to X to some form of DR X
SR should go away for the more realistic +x to save vs. magic and give creatures evasion and resiliency (evasion for fort) and indomitable will (evasion for will).
Make SR a thing of the past. The mechanic was always clunky and never worked right with the spells. 3.5 was the best implementation of magic resistance/SR.

On the same token I think you should be able to critical undead and constructs. Hitting a skeleton in the right spot or extra hard should be a part of the game.

Also, DR, Hardness and energy resistance should be worked together better.

Force damage should be physical damage not some ultra powerful special damage type.

Thats my top of the head blitz.

 

[pawsplay]

Energy immunity doesn't even make sense. If I toss a fire elemental into the heart of a sun, I would expect it to get too hot and dissipate.

 

[S'mon]

Energy immunity has its place - ice devils being immune to cold - but blanket arbitrary immunities as common in 3e really suck, agreed.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Energy immunity doesn't even make sense. If I toss a fire elemental into the heart of a sun, I would expect it to get too hot and dissipate.

Yes! It's like in the movies some monster is immune to gunfire. What!? Throwing nigh super-sonic pieces of lead en masse at something will destroy it, period. It's the one thing you can count on.

If you can't dazzle them with style, you can riddle them with bullets.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Well, there's immunity, and effective immunity. Give an Ice Devil cold resist 500 and it's as good as immunity for purposes of the game.

If you want a volcano-dwelling humanoid race to have an ability to shrug off a lot of fire damage, give it fire resist 25. That's immunity for daily life purposes, but still makes a high-level-caster's fireball a bit of a threat.

If 4e eliminates saves the way Saga has, then we've got room for a whole new way of doing damage anyway. It's entirely possible to have scaled damage based on the DC of the target. Of course, this is probably messy to implement and so won't get used, but it's possible.

Dave

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Yes! It's like in the movies some monster is immune to gunfire. What!? Throwing nigh super-sonic pieces of lead en masse at something will destroy it, period. It's the one thing you can count on.

Unless it's skin is able to deflect the lead and the body is able to dissapate the kinetic energy.

 

[cerberus2112]

Yes,
Convert immune to X to some form of DR X

That gives me the idea that Energy Reistance could be consolidated with Damage Resistance into Specialized Damage Resistance, with easy notation:

Fire {Damage} Resistance 10/magic

which would indicate that the creature resists normal fire, but not magical fire, versus:

Fire {Damage} Resistance 10/-

which indicates the creature resists all fire.

You could also have specialized damage resistance other than energy:

Magic Damage Resistance 10/epic

would mean a creature is resistant to damage from spells, unless they are epic level (21st + level spells?).

{I dunno if including the word "Damage" is a bad idea, but it should all fall under one rule}

 

[zoroaster100]

Energy immunity should be virtually unachievable for player characters and most creatures. I can see immunity to on single energy type for certain creatures, like fire immunity for fire elementals. There should be no spell that grants complete immunity, and resistance should be handled like the mechanic for stone skin: up to resistance 10 at most per round, which wears away after absorbing a certain maximum, such as 5 points per level.

In 3e too many monsters had multiple resistances to different kinds of energy, and player characters had way too easy access to near unbeatable energy resistance for the whole party. Energy resistance of up to 30 from a second level spell was ridiculous. Throwing in mass energy resistance at one level higher was just absurdly ridiculous. And an energy IMMUNITY spell was beyond the pale. If energy spells cause too much damage, then tone the damage down, but the ubiquitous resistance made energy spells practically useless at mid-level on.

Eventually everyone just used energy conversion feats and class abilities to convert all energy spells into sonic, and it was boring to lose out on the flavor of fiery monsters, icy cold attacks, acid dripping creatures, etc. which were mechanically irrelevant in combat.

 

[Aus_Snow]

IMO, it's a wider problem than that. Accordingly, I would like to briefly turn your attention here:

http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/misc/variantfewerabsolutes1.html
http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/misc/variantfewerabsolutes2.html