Penetration

Synopsis

Penetration is the ability of a character to overcome the Magic Resistance of a target by magical means. Penetration is of no use against characters that do not have Magic Resistance.

Penetration Ability

The Arcane Ability Penetration provides the base value for all calculations with regard to Penetration.

Penetration Total

When casting a spell, the Penetration total is equal to the sum of the Casting Total and the Penetration bonus (see below), minus the effective spell level. Consequently, spells with low levels yield higher Penetration totals.

The Penetration bonus either consists of the score of the Penetration Ability only, or, when using Sympathetic Magic, an additional bonus in form of a multiplier of the Penetration score. Note that penetration can also be increased by the use of raw vis.

Achieving high penetration can be done in several ways. The simplest, perhaps, is using plenty of raw vis. Alternatively, one can use powerful sympathetic magic. If the spell is cast outside combat (usually with an Arcane Connection), Wizard's Communion can be used to greatly increase penetration, even more-so as it would usually be cast in a high Magic aura. Finally, charged items that make heavy use of the penetration enchantment option, especially ones created with the aid of a lab text, can reach very high penetration totals. Of course, the lower the spell level, the higher the penetration. In short, Hermetic magi can reach very high penetrations, much higher than the simple initial formula might suggest.

References

• ArM5, p. 66 (Ability), 82 (Penetration total), 84 (Sympathetic Magic), 87 (Spell Mastery), 99 (Enchanting items), 183 (Effect of auras), 184 (Magic Resistance), 191 (Might score, Magic Resistance).

Legacy Page

The history of this page before August 6, 2010 is archived at Legacy:penetration