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From: parks@kpno.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: d and d dispel magic
Message-ID: <253@kpno.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 17-Oct-83 18:16:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: kpno.253
Posted: Mon Oct 17 18:16:42 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 19-Oct-83 20:36:51 EDT
Organization: Kitt Peak Natl. Obs.  Tucson, AZ
Lines: 57

A few days ago, I sent a letter out asking for help in saving dragons
from the nefarious and wicked minions of humanity.  This concerns that
in a sideways fashion.  As this is a question dealing --entirely--
with AD&D, you patrons of a more reasonable gaming system may feel
free to pass over the rest.

One incident I mentioned had a magic resistant creature.  A spell had
been cast on the ceiling above him, turning the rock to mud.  The mud
buried him, and he could not resist.  It was my belief that since the
spell was not cast at or on him, he couldn't resist it.  When the
magical mud did strike him, he could resist it but this would only
have the effect of turning the falling magical mud back into (now
falling) normal rock.

Others felt that magic resistance would have worked entirely
different.  The spell could never have been used to attack if he
resisted it (even though it was never cast at him), or the falling
(magical) mud would not have hurt him.

It gets worse.  The creature (a shy, retiring dragon) was now deep in
magical mud.  A dispel magic was cast, changing the mud to rock and
trapping him.

Well, can you resist a dispel magic?  When the magic is dispeled,
does the rock return to the ceiling, as several people thought?

Finally, many people had a **radically** different view of the
"dispel magic" spell.  The spell description says the spell is
permanent.  I always assumed that this was like curing wounds, it
worked once and the magic was gone.  Spells were dispeled and that
was it.  Not one, but several people said that a dispel magic is an
area of effect that lasts permanently.  It creates a zone where spells
are naturally dispeled.

If dispel magic is permanent, it radically alters my universe.  How
do you get rid of a dispel magic?  Why, by casting another one, of
course!  The darned things proliferate.  Pretty soon, most of the
world is in a dispel magic field (say hello to the real world).  This
cuts down the power of wizards tremendously, since magic suddenly
becomes much more unreliable.  Who knows where one of these old
dispels might be lurking around.  And what foolish wizard is going to
cast one?  After all, a dispel has a chance (roughly 50%) of negating
somebody else's magic, but it AUTOMATICALLY dispels the caster's
magic!!  What wizard in his right mind is going to let one of those
things loose?

To say the least, I thought these ideas a bit odd, but after several
different people came up with the same interpretation, I began to
wonder.  Any opinions out there?  Can the laws of the universe be
decided by voting on them?  Is there a game system anywhere which is
so concise that everyone agrees on the rules?  These questions, and
many others will be answered in the next episode of soap. . .

                                    From my ivory tower,
                                      Jay Parks 
	{...,arizona,decvax,hao,ihnp4,sdcsvax,seismo,unc}!kpno!parks
        (hey, where did all these suds come from?  oh no!  it's raining!)