Powerful mage and game rules, [Topic spllit by Baronius] Options

[Baronius]

I understand what he's saying. I was surprised by it too, the first time I fought him. You're expecting a powerful mage, not a physical powerhouse, and yet none of your fighters can deal any serious damage.

I have never understood this type of approach. Why can't a powerful mage have very powerful "physical" resistances via her powerful magic and knowledge? Should every wizard be protected by 9 golems so no one can reach her? Because without resistances, wizards could be killed very easily, considering their low natural hit points and physical defense.

[Sikret]

Ustrain has only 50% resistance to magic damage. His magic resistance is also not more than 60%. It's true that he is immune to lower magic resistance, but the 60% MR is not that high even if you can't lower it. Harm spell is your friend in this battle. As soon as it bypasses his MR, Ustrain is dead meat. This is an example of finding the right tactics.

Even if you don't have access to "Harm" spell, there are many other spells which inflict magic damage and using those spells correctly will lead to victory without any problems. With his 60% magic resistance, almost half of your spells will affect him and since he doesn't have more than 50% resistance to magic damage, he will take a lot of damage if you know which spells to use. I didn't want to spoil the fun of finding the right tactics to you, but you insisted on your point ...

As I said, there are many creatures even in the vanilla game and core AD&D with similar (and even more) immunties. Immunty to Lower magic resistance exists even in the core AD&D and vanilla BG2 for some creatures; so, I don't understand why you are so surprised with it. You don't even need to lower his magic resistance to win the battle. Physical attack is not the right approach in this battle either. Just cast spells which inflict magic damage (Harm, ADHW, etc). It's true that trying to remove an opponent's magic resistance is a "tactical" decision, but it's only one of the many tactical choices you have. When one tactical option doesn't work, you should try to find other tactics.