Spell and Item Effects - Stacking Effects

Spell and Item Effects - Stacking Effects

Any time a spell, potion, poison, magic item, alchemical item, tinkering item, ritual, etc. does something to a player that is known as an "effect". When a character is affected by multiple effects there are rules on how they interact.

For the purposes of this page a one-time effect is any effect that has a limited number of times it happens. This could mean something that applies to your next attack, or your next four attacks.

A character cannot benefit at the same time from a spell (or effect) with the same name twice. In all circumstances the second instance of that spell (or effect) has no impact (as if it had never been cast or used).

Effects that apply to the "next" time something happens can't stack either. A character can't use two of the same blade poison that applies to their next attack, in order to have it apply to the next two attacks. The second blade poison in this scenario would be wasted.

If multiple spells (or effects) have different names but the same type of bonus (such as increasing body or magic armor) they can stack together. This will likely result in a character being impacted by a cap. Only effects that explicitly let you go beyond a cap of a stat let you break those limits. When crafting each bonus crafted onto a piece of gear is counted as a separate effect and therefore you couldn't craft the same bonus onto an item multiple times unless that bonus says it can be crafted more than once.

When an effect allows you to call for something different with a weapon than you would normally call, you must choose which call to use when you make your attacks. If the something different only applies to the "next successful hit", and you choose not to use it when you make that hit, the effect is wasted.

For example if a character who deals 2 damage with each melee attack has a sword that deals "Nature" damage and they apply Scorpion's Kiss to that weapon so that it can deal "poison weaken" damage for the next successful hit. When they make that successful hit against an opponent they can choose to call "2 nature" or "poison weaken". They may not call "2 Nature poison weaken". Regardless of the effect they choose, the Scorpion's Kiss will be expended after that successful hit.

With defenses a relevant immunity applies before any one-time effects apply.

If a character has two different one-time effects that both prevent an attack the higher level one applies first. Should two one-time effects be the same level, the one that is more limited in what it applies to is used first.

No combination of effects can make you invulnerable to all damage. The last effect received that would create an invulnerable situation is automatically prevented.

The following spells and effects may not stack with each other unless an ability explicitly allows them to:

• Poison Immunity Spell
• Battle Mastery Spell
• Nature Immunity Magic Items
• Mind Blank Spell
• The Rare Arcane Antiviral Ritual
• The Rare Elemental Shelter Ritual
• The Rare Vulnerability Trap

Related Rules

Changing Weapon Calls

When an effect allows you to call for something different with a weapon than you would normally call, you must choose which call to use when you make your attacks. If the something different only applies to the "next successful hit", and you choose not to use it when you make that hit, the effect is wasted.

For example if a character who deals 2 damage with each melee attack has a sword that deals "Nature" damage and they apply Scorpion's Kiss to that weapon so that it can deal "poison weaken" damage for the next successful hit. When they make that successful hit against an opponent they can choose to call "2 nature" or "poison weaken". They may not call "2 Nature poison weaken". Regardless of the effect they choose, the Scorpion's Kiss will be expended after that successful hit.

Stat Limits

Each character has a natural maximum limit on certain stats generally referred to as a "cap" that can only ever be exceeded by rare effects which explicitly allow a character to break that cap. Rules and abilities that exceed a cap are said to "break cap" or say a character can go past a certain limit. Non-player characters follow these same rules when they are from the playable PC races but may be exempt from these limits if they are other races or creature types.

Weapon damage, body, magic power points, production points, crafting points, physical armor, and magical armor are all affected by these caps. There is also a limit on using spells imbued in magic objects.

Immunities, One-Time Prevention Effects, and Taking Damage

The first thing you do when you take damage (or are hit by a spell call) is check to see if you have any immunity effects. So if you are hit for "4 Poison" and you have the spell Poison Immunity up, it will prevent that damage and you will not proceed any further in taking damage. An ability such as a damage requirement would also be checked at this time. A "No Effect" call must be made whenever an attack successfully hits you but does not inflict damage (or does not take effect in the case of spells) so that the attacker knows-that-you-know the attack successfully hit and so that they know they may need to attack with something different.

After you have checked for immunity effects you check to see if you have any limited use prevention effects. These are often called "one time" effects because they generally only work once. One example of such an effect is from the spell spirit shield. Remember to call ''No Effect" if the damage is prevented outright by an effect.

Categories: Magic Rules | Item Rules | Immunities | Terminology | No Effect Calls