Spell Resistance

Spell Resistance

Spell Resistance (SR) is a special anti-spell defense possessed by some creatures. Spell Resistance is an additional layer of defense against most non-damaging magical attacks, in that it adds an extra roll that the caster has to make for his magic to "land" on that target.

Spell Resistance only matters if the spell's target creature actually has it, and the spell being cast is one that can be stopped by Spell Resistance. In DDO, spells that focus purely on dealing damage largely ignore Spell Resistance.

The most common creatures with Spell Resistance will be Drow, Duergar, Devils, anything with "Fiendish" in the name and some bosses. (Anticipate spell Resistance to be at least CR plus 10 for regular monsters. Red and purple named bosses tend to have a much higher CR, and generally have spell resistance within 0-5 points of their CR.)

To affect a creature that has Spell Resistance, you must make a caster level check at least equal to the creature's Spell Resistance:

1d20+caster level+spell penetration bonuses (Includes Feats, Enhancements, Epic Destinies, and Items.)

Spell Resistance and Saving throws are separate mechanics. A spell that gets past Spell Resistance may still be saved against.

Caster Level checks do not automatically succeed on a 20, nor do they automatically fail on a 1.

Spell Resistance on player characters

Player characters can gain spell resistance as an alternative / in addition to having high saving throws. Spell Resistance is particularly useful against spells and abilities which don't offer a saving throw, such as gaze of umber hulks or many beholder ray attacks.

Sources of Spell Resistance

• Monk's Diamond Soul class feature
• Deep Gnome's and Drow's racial spell resistance
• Spell Resistance (spell); typed as an enhancement bonus
• Spell Resistance, Mass spell; typed as an enhancement bonus
• Occult Slayer's capstone enhancement (stacks with racial SR, does not stack with items)
• Ward against Weird; typed as a primal bonus
• Spellshield Aura: +6 mislabeled as a sacred bonus (stacks with racial SR, does not stack with items)

Monk's Diamond Soul does stack with Drow's / Deep Gnome's Racial Spell Resistance.

Items can grant bonus to SR:

• Enhancement bonus - available on named items, random loot and via cannith crafting
• Insight bonus - available on random loot and via cannith crafting
• Quality bonus - available on named items

Additional stacking sources:

• Grandmaster of Flowers: +1 per core
• Serenity: +9 (or +18^{[Unverified"or +18" has not been verified in-game. Please verify it!]}) twistable (tier 2)

Monster spell penetration roll is usually 1d20 + CR^{[Unverified"usually 1d20 + CR" has not been verified in-game. Please verify it!]}. Therefore, having SR above monster CR+20 should protect you against all spells and effects with SR check.

The highest sources SR obtainable by any class is:

• +52 Item:Gauntlet of the Iron Council / +34 enhancement from Cannith Crafting;
• +26 Item:Gauntlet of the Iron Council / +17 insightful from Cannith Crafting;
• +10 quality bonus from Legendary Drow Outrunner Armor;
• +9 (unknown type) bonus from Serenity twist in Grandmaster of Flowers destiny;
• +6 from cores while in Grandmaster of Flowers destiny;

Other sources:

• +6 racial from Deep Gnome;
• +12 racial from Drow (6 at lvl 1 and +6 from racial Enhancements);
• +10+monk level (Monk feat Diamond Soul, autogranted for monk lvl 13), 30 SR on lvl 20.

See also:

• Dec 2016 tests
• Jun 2019 discussion