On Tue, 5 May 1998, Gary V. Foss wrote:

> darkstar wrote:
>
> > Just a quick question.
> >
> > Do you think that an elf 90% resistance to charm related spells also
> > applies to realm spells?
> > I think it would with battle spells (charm unit etc) it would apply but
> > was wondering if a realm spell such as subversion would also have to get
> > past their resistance.
>
> I vote yes on this one. I think elves should be resistant to charm type
> realm spells. Anything that'll help keep them nasty humans off their
> land....
>

While I agree that the elven resistance applies on an individual
basis, the problem is the effect of such spells on groups of several
hundred elves at once. For example, the reason (as I see it) most battle
spells do not allow saving throws is that if the members of a unit each
need 16 or better to save, on average 75% of the unit will be affected,
which is good enough for full effect at the war card level of abstraction.
(Another reason is that saving to half against a meteor swarm is still
going to kill every single 0-level man-at-arms in the area of effect.)
So the question is, what happens to a war card unit of 200 elves when 10%
fail their charm resistance rolls? The 20 elves who are under the casting
wizard's control are not nearly enough to act as a unit on their own or to
cause a hit on the affected unit, but they are going to keep their
comrades quite busy trying to keep them from running away or hurting
anybody, and trying to get the effect dispelled, so if I were DMing such
an instance I might rule that a Sidhelien unit targeted by a subversion
spell would not be allowed to move or attack for one war move (i.e., week).

- --Ryan