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Saturday, January 1, 2022

DF Felltower FAQ: Wizardly Dispel Magic vs. Holy

The split between "Holy" and "Druidic" and "Magical" in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy is in my opinion less than it seems.

I know in my own game, people see these as very broad, very distinct splits. Since No Mana Zones don't affect Holy spells, and No Sanctity Zones don't affect Magic, therefore, the logic goes, Dispel Magic cast by a Wizard doesn't affect Holy spells cast by a Cleric.

Not even remotely true.

Spells affect other spells' effects regardless of the source.

Levels of mana and sanctity and nature affect the ability to cast or keep spells of that type - they're the source of such supernatural ability.

But Extinguish Fire doesn't care if the fire is holy, druidic, or wizardly (or even non-magical, in this case.) Dispel Magic affects all of those. Magic Resistance gives you a bonus against all three as well.

That, in Felltower, I allow you to buy Magic Resistance that only affects one of the three doesn't mean the default is that they only affect one of the three. In fact, it should remain as firm evidence that the default is mutual effect.

There may be edge cases where this is not true, but I can't think of any offhand. The baseline assumption should be that magic is magic is magic, and affects each other as written regardless of the respective casters' power source.

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