Magic Resistance

Magic Resistance (MR) is the character stat that determines the probability of completely shrugging off hostile spells and spell effects.

How it works[]

When a character has a Magic Resistance of x percent, this means that:

Hostile spells cast directly at that character have an x% chance of being completely negated.
Hostile spell effects which indirectly hit that character (such as the blast from a fireball cast at the nearby ground) have an x% chance of not affecting that character.

Exempt from this are certain spells which specifically bypass MR (see below), as well as hostile effects which do not count as spell effects (such as disease from a mummy's attack).

Most characters in the game world have a Magic Resistance of 0%, which means that they fail all of their MR checks. (A character with 100% MR or higher would succeed all of their MR rolls.)

Related stats[]

Even when a character fails their MR roll against a hostile spell, the spell's effects can in some cases still be blocked or reduced by Saving Throws and Damage Resistances.

Magic Resistance should not be confused with Magic Damage Resistance and other damage resistances, which, while also expressed as percentages, are multipliers and not probabilities.

Spells that bypass MR[]

Buffs[]

All player characters start out with a MR of 0% at character creation. However, there are ways to at least slightly improve this stat.

Equipment[]

The following items improve a character's Magic Resistance while equipped:

Item	Category	MR	Other effects
Robe of Enfusing	Armor	+5%	AC +2, Lore +5, Can cast one extra 1st-level wizard spell
Robe of the Good Archmagi	Armor	+5%
Robe of the Neutral Archmagi	Armor	+5%
Robe of the Evil Archmagi	Armor	+5%
Necromancer's Robe	Armor	+3%
Robe of the Watcher	Armor	+10%
Shadowed Studded Leather +1	Armor	+5%
Shadowed Robe	Armor	+15%
Clear Ioun Stone	Helmet	+5%
Remorhaz Shell Helm	Helmet	+10%
Ring of the Protector +2	Ring	+10%
Mage Dagger +4	Weapon	+15%
Two-Handed Axe of Resistance +3	Weapon	+10%
Faith Killer +2	Weapon	+5%
Morning Star +4: Defender	Weapon	+15%	AC +2, Slashing & Piercing Resistance +20%
War Hammer +4: Defender	Weapon	+15%
Star-Forged War Hammer +4	Weapon	+10%
Great Halberd +4	Weapon	+10%
The Argent Shield +2	Shield	+25%
Waukeen's Defender +2	Shield	+10%
...

Consumables[]

...

Creatures, protected from magical damage[]

Wizard Slayer

Debuffs[]

Ways to reduce an enemy's MR:

Equipment

Ring of Aura Transfusion

Magic Damage Resistance[]

This is characters stat. One of primeral resistances. Difference between Magic Damage Resistance (MDR) and Magical Resistance (MR) is that MDR reduces or block (if 100%) pure magical damage by himself unlike MR just block entire spells with chance of MR%. Unlike elemental resistances MDR is less common and is good choice to deal damage by Wizards.

Protection from magical damage[]

Spells[]

Abilities[]

Items[]

Red Potion (+50% damage reduction)
Potion of Magic Shielding (+50% damage reduction)
Remorhaz Shell Helm (+20% damage reduction)

Creatures, protected from magical damage[]

Damage from magical damage[]

Spells[]

Abilities[]

Items[]

Creatures, dealing magical damage[]

Creatures with MR[]

The following creature types encountered in the game have a non-zero Magic Resistance:

Creature type	MR	Encountered in
Drow Spellsword	66%	chapter 4 ► Upper Dorn's Deep
Drow Vanguard	68%	chapter 4 ► Upper Dorn's Deep
Drow Sorcerer	68%	chapter 4 ► Upper Dorn's Deep
Remorhaz	75%	HoW ► Gloomfrost
...

External links[]

Magic Resistance article on the Baldur's Gate Wiki, a wiki for the Baldur's Gate games.
Magic resistance article on the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Forgotten Realms