Resistance and saves question

[farscapesg1]

There is a RAW answer, but you just happen to be asking the wrong question.

The RAW answer is that the resistance applies to damage taken. Therefore, you necessarily need to determine damage taken before applying resistance. QED.

Oh, btw, I feel bad for you having a DM like that (who can't think for himself and only accepts answers only from the Sage). Maybe he's a great story teller, but that attitude has gotta be aggravating. You'd think that the resounding consensus in this thread would be sufficient to sway him.

Well, I'm sure he will come around. It was a gut call during game time.

I actually like the DM's style. The whole group is fairly new to the 3.5 rules, resulting in a lot of arguments like this one. I'm trying to get the group to not worry so much about the rules during the game and then discuss the issues afterwards via email or message board.

Combat's are taking us forever. For example, we just started the second adventure in the Shackled City Hardback (the one that wasn't in Dungeon Magazine) and it took the group about 3 hours of game time to pretty much clear out the first level of dungeon. We have 7 characters in the group, all either 4 or 5th level. The first battle was against around 18 goblins (should be a cake walk for this level) and it took about 1 to 1 1/2 hours for the combat So, in interest of keeping things flowing I was kind of pushing people to just take the DM's rulings without having to look up every little thing and discuss it.

 

[andargor]

The closest thing I could for in RAW is this:

Resist Energy
...
The subject gains energy resistance 10 against the energy type chosen, meaning that each time the creature is subjected to such damage (whether from a natural or magical source), that damage is reduced by 10 points before being applied to the creature's hit points.

This actually specifies in more detail what energy resistance is, and mentions that the "damage is reduced by 10 points before being applied to the creature's hit points". This is a strong hint that any saves precede this, and that energy resistance is applied last.

There's nothing in the FAQs on the subject.

Andargor

 

[andargor]

Oh, and one more for "saves first, resistances last":

The Spell's Result

Once you know which creatures (or objects or areas) are affected, and whether those creatures have made successful saving throws (if any were allowed), you can apply whatever results a spell entails.

Notice the "...you can apply whatever results a spell entails". So after the save, the resistances kick in.

Andargor