# Magic resistance
This article is about the magic resistance property. For monsters' magic resistance, see Magic resistance (monster).
Magic resistance is an extrinsic property which protects against many annoying magical attacks and effects. It is part of most ascension kits, and is generally considered a high priority to obtain as soon as possible.

Contents

1 Effect
2 Obtaining
3 Monsters
4 Strategy
5 Variants

5.1 SLASH'EM

6 References

Effect
Magic resistance protects against:

Death magic from external sources:
instadeath effect of Death's touch attacks
zapped wand of death and finger of death
the touch of death monster spell
Polymorph magic from external sources:
vapors from a potion of polymorph
polymorph traps
Damage from pure magic:
magic missile attacks of Angels, gray dragons, Yeenoghu, the Chromatic Dragon, and the Oracle
the magic explosion from breaking any wand, but not necessarily the wand specific special effect
zapped or broken wands of striking or magic missile
zapped spells of force bolt or magic missile
damage from exploding spellbooks
Teleport and level teleport traps
Energy drain from anti-magic fields; they cause damage instead
Being scared by Magicbane, and the chance of its other effects is reduced
The destroy armor, drain strength, and confuse monster spells
The effect of the paralyze and stun monster spells is reduced to one turn
Damage from the psi bolt and open wounds monster spells is halved
Damage from artifact blasts is halved
The number of items cursed by curse items from any source is halved
Magic resistance does not protect against:

Magic traps
Death magic that you pointed at yourself:
zapped wand of death or finger of death aimed at yourself
Polymorph magic that you directed at yourself:
zapped wand or spell of polymorph aimed at yourself
broken wand of polymorph
quaffed potion of polymorph
eating a chameleon corpse
Obtaining
Magic resistance is granted by wielding Magicbane, wearing a cloak of magic resistance, gray dragon scales, or gray dragon scale mail, polymorphing into a (baby) gray dragon, or carrying, wearing or wielding certain Quest artifacts.

Quest artifacts granting magic resistance

Role

Artifact

When

Alignment

Archeologist
the Orb of Detection
Carried
Lawful

Caveman
the Sceptre of Might
Wielded
Lawful

Knight
the Magic Mirror of Merlin
Carried
Lawful

Monk
the Eyes of the Overworld
Worn
Neutral

Tourist
the Platinum Yendorian Express Card
Carried
Neutral

Wizard
the Eye of the Aethiopica
Worn
Neutral

Monsters
In addition to monster-type magic resistance, some monsters have player-style magic resistance: those with a magic missile attack or a random breath weapon, plus baby gray dragons.[1] In vanilla, this means Angels, Yeenoghu, gray dragons, the Oracle, and the Chromatic Dragon. Anyone coding new monsters should be aware of this somewhat counter-intuitive means of granting intrinsic magic resistance to monsters.
Monsters gain player-style resistance from a worn cloak of magic resistance, gray dragon scales or scale mail, or from wielding a co-aligned artifact: neutral Magicbane, lawful Sceptre of Might. Carrying quest artifacts also works (especially important in the case of your quest nemesis and the Wizard of Yendor), but tame monsters will not keep them unless worn or wielded.
This provides most of the same protections to monsters as it does to the player, e.g. death rays, magic missiles and involuntary polymorphs. It does not make them resist taming or conflict, as monster-style magic resistance would, nor against level teleporter traps, as player magic resistance does.

Strategy
Magic resistance and reflection are the number one properties to get, closely followed by magic cancellation. Generally, you should wish to get them or make gray dragon scale mail if you cannot get them otherwise, ideally before the Castle.
Relying only on a quest artifact for magic resistance is dangerous in the endgame, because the Wizard of Yendor can steal it from you and become magic resistant himself. He will then absorb any death rays or magic missiles unharmed, while you are left quite vulnerable to his touch of death. As of Nethack 3.6.1, the Wizard can steal any quest artifact, not just your own.
Player-style magic resistance is good in a pet, as death rays and polymorph traps lose their threat. If you want to make your pet magic resistant, gray dragon scale mail (or the cloak) are usually best. If you go the artifact weapon route, make sure your pet is carrying as few objects as possible and disarm it with a bullwhip beforehand to keep it from wielding any different artifact it may encounter. Unfortunately, the most useful pet, an Archon, cannot be made magic resistant—pets will not wield quest artifacts (ruling out the Sceptre of Might) or cross-aligned artifacts (preventing Magicbane from working). Thus, only intelligent neutral pets can be made magic-resistant with an artifact weapon.

This page is based on a spoiler by Dylan O'Donnell. The original license is:
Redistribution, copying, and editing of these spoilers, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

The original contributors to any spoiler must continue to be credited.
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Variants
SLASH'EM
New monsters with player-style magic resistance are diamond and crystal golems and adult shimmering dragons. In addition, there are many more useful pets capable of wearing body armor, including astral devas and vampire mages.
Also, magic resistance is granted by carrying the Great Dagger of Glaurgnaa, the Stake of Van Helsing, or the Crown of Saint Edward. The Crown will always be lawful, and the Stake is lawful if wished for or if obtained by a lawful Undead Slayer, so they can both be used to give a pet Solar magic resistance.

References

↑ resists_magm in mondata.c

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