"additional damage (1 an+mr)" = ?

[Taqwus]

an+mr = Armor-negating, but magic resistance negates. Mind bLast is unaffected by spell foci or other penetration bonuses.

[tinkthank]

A question on Mind BLast here: the damage listed in the description is X, with additional damage being based on 1 an + mr. I have no clue what this means, do you?

(I would have guessed that "mr" stands for magic resistance, but cant guess how or why that should increase damage.)

A second question: Does a spell focus increase the power of effectivness of Mind BLast or only Mind Burn?

merci

[tinkthank]

Thanks -- I was wondering about the phrase "additional damage" in this context; where does that come in?

[Taqwus]

It's additional damage because the main Mind BLast damage is "merely" paralysis, and doesn't by itself deduct hit points. It's the 1 pt an+mr damage that causes the occasional hp loss, combined with having other attacks being able to take advantage of the victims' helplessness.

[tinkthank]

Ah right - but isnt damage listed as "10" (or 12 as the case may be)? what is with the 1 point? (sorry --- I'll understand soon, I'm sure)

[Taqwus]

The 12 and 10 (from unarmored illithids and illithid soldiers respectively, if memory serves) dictate how strong the paralysis effect is in terms of how long it Lasts, I believe. Paralysis is a completely different attack form, in that it prevents any unit action (spell, movement, attacking, et al) and reduces defense to 0. It does not inherently cause damage, however paralyzed a unit is, however.

(One might note that fatigue damage, on the other hand, -can- be lethal by itself; additional fatigue damage on somebody who's at 200 points already gets converted to hit point damage at some ratio that I can't recall.)

Thus, when an illithid attempts a mind bLast, the victim has a risk of being paralyzed (the main effect) and also has to make a separate check against a (probably small, although the die roll is likely open-ended) amount of armor-negating damage. This physical damage is small enough that it can take quite a few mind bLasts to kill somebody, and frequently it won't do any hit point damage at all.