OK, The best description of MR I have read describes it as a body-covering magical condom. Magic just cannot get through unless it has enough "oomph" to penetrate. You can read all about this at http://redcap.org/FAQ/FAQ2.html#parma_claws .
Here are some rulings I have had to explain over and again.
- I hit the guy with a massive boulder and even if it does not penetrate his MR, the force of the blow should knock him over. What gives?
OK. Momentum, and inertia do not exist as far as magic is concerned. Basically, magic is wrong, but it is powerful enough to impose its mistaken methods on the real world. The methods by which magic works are based on incorrect assumptions about how physical laws work. Isaac Newton had not been born (1642); neither has Galileo (1564), so Bonisagus did not know about inertia and the three laws of motion. He was working with Aristotle's Laws of Motion which include "Nothing moves unless you push it". Once you stop pushing, it immediately stops. Period. So, no matter how fast something is moving or how big it is, if something stops the motive force (magic in this case), the item stops immediately as if it had been pushed very gently up against a wall. Didn't Aristotle ever see someone throw a rock or shoot an arrow?
NOTE: There is a case where you can use magic to throw things at people and MR is not considered. If you toss something, or drop something, and then let its natural motion carry it to the target, MR does not matter, as long as the item is a natural item and not magically created or modified. A Magus could have a Parma of 100 and still get squashed, but according to the rules you must make a targeting roll similar to someone who throws a rock with his hand. The first example explains items that are "carried" the whole way by magic.
- I want to use Muto to change the ground under a Magus to water so he will drown. The SG says it won't work. What gives?
This one had a pretty good discussion on the forums, but I think the best answer is like this. If it was acid instead of water, it is easy to understand that the acid would not burn the Magus as it cannot get through his MR, right? OK, well the water cannot get through his MR either. Once again, magic is wrong, but powerful. It just thinks that having water in your lungs makes you drown. So the lack of oxygen will not kill you because oxygen doesn't exist, and the water cannot get close enough to smother or drown you.
However, changing a stone bridge to water while a Magus is walking over it can cause him to fall through it, and if the bridge is high enough, SPLAT!
- It is dark in here. I want use Creo Imaginem to make light, but the SG says it won't work. What gives?
Once again, magic is wrong, but powerful enough that things have to work the way it says they work. According to magic, Ignem makes light, but we do not see light; we see little bits of images (called species). Imaginem make species, but we cannot see them without light. It works like this: You can make an image of a glowing ball while standing in a dark room, but no one will see it. For the visual species to travel from the glowing ball to our eyes, they need to be able to "ride" the light to our eyes. Without light, they do not get to leave the pretty glowing ball, and dissipate uselessly. Also, you can create light with Ignem, but you cannot make it look like anything specific. It would just be "light" or "fire" or another Ignem phenomenon. You can shape light, but it would just be shaped light or fire. You would not have control over its color; that's Imaginem (or Muto, but that is another post).
Feel free to comment.
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