Magic vs. magic - rules lawyering alert

[Joerg]

What happens when a stronger version of a non-stackable spell encounters a pre-existing weaker version of the spell? Like e.g. Enhance INT?

 

Dispel and Dismiss target the intensity of a spell, which appears to mean the sum of magic points or twice the number of rune points put into the spell, or the points of Free INT required to cast this sorcery spell (including points prepared in an inscribed spell through sacrifice of POW). Does this ignore magic points used to boost a spell (like Axe Trance or Sword Trance)?

 

Let's use a 5 point Dispel Magic on a person having a 2 point Shield and a 4 point Protection. What happens? Does the person casting the Dispel have to boost the spell with one MP in order to overcome the Shield's Countermagic effect?

A sorcerer casts a 6 point Neutralize Spirit Magic on the person. What is the resistance to this spell?

Let's use an 8 point Neutralize Magic on that same target aiming at the Protection, and succeed with the resistance roll, rolling 40%. Will the target still benefit from the Shield's Protection effect? From the Shield's Countermagic effect? Would a resistance roll of 69% still succeed?

 

Countermagic gets eliminated when overcome by another spell for more than one point exceding its strength, including Shield. On the other hand, Shield can be upped by Countermagic (combined with a sufficient boost) in order to stack the effects. Shield also stacks with Protection.

What happens when someone casts Countermagic on a person or other entity under the benefit of- Protection (or Spirit Screen)? Does a 1 point Protection prevent the recipient from receiving a 4 point Countermagic?

Now lets add one point of Shield to that one point of Protection, and cast the same 4 point Countermagic on the recipient. What spells are in effect?

Countermagic can be a nasty spell when cast on a combatant who has just gone down in a combat, preventing cheap Healings to reactivate them in a hurry (or to avert death). Not quite a Seal Wound, but potentially as deadly.

 

A 3 point Dispel Magic hits a person affected by Neutralize Spirit Magic (Strength 2 Duration 2, i.e. 2 points of additional magic - but Intensity 3, or is it autmatically 2 points because of the spell cost plus 2 points for the added intensities?). Is this enough to remove the spell? Is it enough to target a specific other spell active on the target after winning the resistance roll? If not, how about a 5 point spell: Does it have to overcome the effect of Neutralize Spirit Magic first?

 

Sword Trance doesn't combine effects with Berserker or Fanaticism, but it is theoretically possible to have both Sword Trance and Berserk active, say with a 90% skill in sword attack and 15 points boost the effective attack would be 240% (vs. 180% for just Berserker vs Chaos). Add in a Bladesharp 3, effective attack becomes 270% (vs. 240% for just Berserker plus Bladesharp cs Chaos). The other effects of Berserk are still on (like increased CON or Countermagic, or inability to parry or cast spells) would still be in place.

 

Somebody casts a Countermagic on a Berserker. Does the effect stack with the 2 points already provided by the Berserker spell?

Assuming that the caster can overcome the magic points of a person under Berserker influence, what effect will Logical Clarity have on that person?

 

 

[Scott A]

8 hours ago, Joerg said:

What happens when a stronger version of a non-stackable spell encounters a pre-existing weaker version of the spell? Like e.g. Enhance INT?

It's not explicitly spelled out, but it makes sense that duplicate spells fall under the " Incompatible Spells" rules on pg. 387. I'd also say that that's the way it works for all magic: any duplicate spell gets suppressed by the more powerful spell for the duration of the overlap.

 

8 hours ago, Joerg said:

Dispel and Dismiss target the intensity of a spell, which appears to mean the sum of magic points or twice the number of rune points put into the spell, or the points of Free INT required to cast this sorcery spell (including points prepared in an inscribed spell through sacrifice of POW). Does this ignore magic points used to boost a spell (like Axe Trance or Sword Trance)?

Sword trance describes those MP as a boost, which means it falls under the boost rules, which I read to not be counted for defending against dismiss magic and the like since it doesn't add "points" or "intensity" to a spell. I assume it works the same way for Heal Wound and the like.

Edit: Clarified the second point

Edited July 7, 2018 by Scott A

[Scott A]

Alright, daytrip with the family over, let's get back to the really important things in life

 

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

Let's use a 5 point Dispel Magic on a person having a 2 point Shield and a 4 point Protection. What happens? Does the person casting the Dispel have to boost the spell with one MP in order to overcome the Shield's Countermagic effect?

Shield's countermagic  effect effects thing that are 1 "point" above it's countermagic  (I'm going to try be consistent and call this Spell Points, or SP.). Rune magic has 2 SP per RP spent, so therefore the Dispel Magic's 10 spell points would overwhelm the shield's 4 SP countermagic and go on to dispel the 6 total SP of spells protecting the target.

A better question is what happens when a Dispel Magic 1 hits a Shield 1. RAW, the shield would just counter it, since they're the same SP.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

A sorcerer casts a 6 point Neutralize Spirit Magic on the person. What is the resistance to this spell?

Again, the spell's 6 SP beats the shield's 4 SP and would pass through untouched. It ignores the shield after that, pitting it's 6 SS vs the protection's 4 SS on the resistance table.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

Let's use an 8 point Neutralize Magic on that same target aiming at the Protection, and succeed with the resistance roll, rolling 40%. Will the target still benefit from the Shield's Protection effect? From the Shield's Countermagic effect?

Yes. Only protection would be neutralized.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

Would a resistance roll of 69% still succeed?

No. The cutoff for 6 vs 4 on the resistance table is 60%

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

Countermagic gets eliminated when overcome by another spell for more than one point exceeding its strength, including Shield. On the other hand, Shield can be upped by Countermagic (combined with a sufficient boost) in order to stack the effects. Shield also stacks with Protection.

I personally let characters ignore their own countermagic/shield when casting on themselves to avoid just this sort of headache.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

What happens when someone casts Countermagic on a person or other entity under the benefit of- Protection (or Spirit Screen)? Does a 1 point Protection prevent the recipient from receiving a 4 point Countermagic?

It's unclear exactly how incompatible spirit/rune magic spells are supposed to be handled. As I said above, I'd probably just ape the incompatible spell rules from sorcery. So, in this case, the countermagic would suppress the protection. I'd also require that any unwilling target would have to have his POW overcome.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

Now lets add one point of Shield to that one point of Protection, and cast the same 4 point Countermagic on the recipient. What spells are in effect?

Shield gets overwhelmed, so as above.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

Countermagic can be a nasty spell when cast on a combatant who has just gone down in a combat, preventing cheap Healings to reactivate them in a hurry (or to avert death). Not quite a Seal Wound, but potentially as deadly.

Huh, yeah, that's true! A neat trick, that.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

A 3 point Dispel Magic hits a person affected by Neutralize Spirit Magic (Strength 2 Duration 2, i.e. 2 points of additional magic - but Intensity 3, or is it autmatically 2 points because of the spell cost plus 2 points for the added intensities?).

Answering the parenthetical: Dismiss Magic clearly spells out that only the spell strength of sorcery needs to be overcome, so 2.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

Is this enough to remove the spell? Is it enough to target a specific other spell active on the target after winning the resistance roll? If not, how about a 5 point spell: Does it have to overcome the effect of Neutralize Spirit Magic first?

I fail to see why Neutralize Spirit Magic would matter. The Dismiss Magic would work as normal, with Neutralize Spirit Magic being treated like any other spell.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

Somebody casts a Countermagic on a Berserker. Does the effect stack with the 2 points already provided by the Berserker spell?

It's not 100% clear, but I'd personally houserule it so that works like (and stacks with) Shield. So a character could theoretically have countermagic from Shield, Berserker, and Countermagic all at the same time.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

Assuming that the caster can overcome the magic points of a person under Berserker influence, what effect will Logical Clarity have on that person?

It's not explicitly laid out, but it sounds like it would use the same rules as Madness. Alternately, you could rule them incompatible spells and use that set of rules.

 

[Scott A]

Triple post, but oh well

Quote

Dispel and Dismiss target the intensity of a spell, which appears to mean the sum of magic points or twice the number of rune points put into the spell, or the points of Free INT required to cast this sorcery spell.

Actually, reading the spells closely,  Dispel Magic's wording is inconsistent with Dismiss Magic with regards to sorcery. Dispel Magic says that it overcomes the sorcery's intensity while Dismiss Magic explicitly overcomes "only the spell strength of sorcerous spells." I strongly suspect that this is an editing oversight, and that Dispel Magic should treat sorcery the same way that Dismiss Magic does. 

Edited July 7, 2018 by Scott A

[Atgxtg]

Back in the old RQ2 days a weaker spell that was in effect did indeed block a more powerful, better spell. Check out RuneMasters for some nasty tricks you can pull off (like casting Bladesharp 1 on an opponent's weapon to prevent them from casting something better on it, such as Fireblade, or putting Countermagic on a foe to mess up  Heal spells. ). So I would suspect that the same would hold true for RQ2 compatible RQG, unless they specifically state otherwise. 

[Joerg]

55 minutes ago, Scott A said:

9 hours ago, Joerg said:

Let's use a 5 point Dispel Magic on a person having a 2 point Shield and a 4 point Protection. What happens? Does the person casting the Dispel have to boost the spell with one MP in order to overcome the Shield's Countermagic effect?

Shield's countermagic  effect effects thing that are 1 "point" above it's countermagic  (I'm going to try be consistent and call this Spell Points, or SP.). Rune magic has 2 SP per RP spent, so therefore the Dispel Magic's 10 spell points would overwhelm the shield's 4 SP countermagic and go on to dispel the 6 total SP of spells protecting the target.

Dispel Magic is the Spirit spell, not the Rune spell, so the spell points of the Dispel are just 5. If the Shield is effective to up to 5 spell points, then depending on the priorities the Countermagic effect of it could cancel the Dispel, but unlike Countermagic, the Shield would remain in place, or the Dispel effect takes place fist, removing the Countermagic effect. I would expect the existing spell to take precedence, but I am not 100% sure about that, hence the follow-up question with the boost.

The other question is whether stacked effects also mean that the spell points stack. Dispel 5 with a boost is enough to cancel either the Protection 4 or the Shield 2 despite the Countermagic effect if both Shield and Protection are counted as separate spells. Without targeting a specific spell, the most powerful defensive spell is targeted - that would be the Shield spell.

1 hour ago, Scott A said:

Actually, reading the spells closely,  Dispel Magic's wording is inconsistent with Dismiss Magic with regards to sorcery. Dispel Magic says that it overcomes the sorcery's intensity while Dismiss Magic explicitly overcomes "only the spell strength of sorcerous spells." I strongly suspect that this is an editing oversight, and that Dispel Magic should treat sorcery the same way that Dismiss Magic does. 

Dispel Magic will automatically target the strongest spell it can affect, so if the target wore a Shield 2 (which a 5 point spell can affect) and a Spirit Screen 6 (which the 5 point spell can't), the Shield would go.

1 hour ago, Scott A said:

Quote

A sorcerer casts a 6 point Neutralize Spirit Magic on the person. What is the resistance to this spell?

Again, the spell's 6 SP beats the shield's 4 SP and would pass through untouched. It ignores the shield after that, pitting it's 6 SS vs the protection's 4 SS on the resistance table.

If that is the case, the stacking of the effect with the Protection effect of the Shield doesn't make the Protection harder to neutralize.

1 hour ago, Scott A said:

Quote

What happens when someone casts Countermagic on a person or other entity under the benefit of- Protection (or Spirit Screen)? Does a 1 point Protection prevent the recipient from receiving a 4 point Countermagic?

It's unclear exactly how incompatible spirit/rune magic spells are supposed to be handled. As I said above, I'd probably just ape the incompatible spell rules from sorcery. So, in this case, the countermagic would suppress the protection. I'd also require that any unwilling target would have to have his POW overcome.

Quote

Now lets add one point of Shield to that one point of Protection, and cast the same 4 point Countermagic on the recipient. What spells are in effect?

Shield gets overwhelmed, so as above.

Does Shield's Countermagic getting overwhelmed cancel the Shield? I don't think so.

The spell description says "the spell must be at least 1 point stronger than the defense of the Shield", but is that 2 points (as per the description above) or 2 points plus 1 as per Countermagic spell?

Is an incapacitated target able to resist a spell?

1 hour ago, Scott A said:

Quote

Countermagic can be a nasty spell when cast on a combatant who has just gone down in a combat, preventing cheap Healings to reactivate them in a hurry (or to avert death). Not quite a Seal Wound, but potentially as deadly.

Huh, yeah, that's true! A neat trick, that.

That depends on whether boosting a spell with extra magic points delays the spell strike rank or not. I have heard it argued that boosting a Divine Rune Spell doesn't affect the strike rank, but I am far from sure about that.

The rules actually say "Rune magic spells always take effect at strike rank 1." This opens a new can of worms with regard to applying Rune spells to heal a comrade who will die at the end of the round. With a literal reading, you can't make the decision to cast the rune spell on a later strike rank. I do expect "at strike rank 1" meaning from the moment the caster can react to what happened in the melee round (which may or may not be delayed by the caster's DEX strike rank).

The new sorcery rules have sort of opened the "one SR per MP" meta-rule, as each additional point of intensity takes 2 strike ranks, in my reading regardless whether the caster can do so by a single magic point or whether he has to double it (multiple times) for lacking the direct rune and/or technique. Each point used for boosting a sorcery spell takes 2 strike ranks, just as any point of intensity.

Which gets me to the next question - if a sorcery spell requires two techniques, can both of them be inferred from just one related technique? Is the Command technique enough to cast a spell requiring both Summon and Combine (quadrupling MP cost just for the techniques)?

 

1 hour ago, Scott A said:

Quote

A 3 point Dispel Magic hits a person affected by Neutralize Spirit Magic (Strength 2 Duration 2, i.e. 2 points of additional magic - but Intensity 3, or is it autmatically 2 points because of the spell cost plus 2 points for the added intensities?).

Answering the parenthetical: Dismiss Magic clearly spells out that only the spell strength of sorcery needs to be overcome, so 2.

That's for the Divine Dismiss, but the box next to the Dispel Magic spell talks about the intensity of the spell, not just about the strength, and in the sorcery section the total intensity is for the basic 1 in all three parameters, plus 1 for each increase in one of the three parameters (strength, duration or range). A sorcery spell is always at least a 2-point spell (at least one technique and at least one rune), so does an intensity 1 spell require two points of Dispel Magic to be effective, or is one point sufficient?

1 hour ago, Scott A said:

Actually, reading the spells closely,  Dispel Magic's wording is inconsistent with Dismiss Magic with regards to sorcery. Dispel Magic says that it overcomes the sorcery's intensity while Dismiss Magic explicitly overcomes "only the spell strength of sorcerous spells." I strongly suspect that this is an editing oversight, and that Dispel Magic should treat sorcery the same way that Dismiss Magic does. 

On the other hand, Rune spells are supposed to be superior to Spirit spells, so maybe this difference is intentional.

Unless I misruled that all the time, RQ3 rules required only the Intensity component (which translates as "Spell Strength Intensity" in RQG) to be overcome for dispelling magic.

 

I find the use of "intensity" and (spell) "strength" to be slightly inconsistent, and the explanation on p.247 reads somewhat circular when comparing to p.384f where strength is one possible form of part of the total intensity of the spell (as cast by the sorcerer, i.e. measured in points of Free INT required, never mind the actual consumption of magic points). There is also multiple use of "intensity" when the potency of a fire is measured in variable spells requiring certain intensities. (Loaning "potency" from the poison rules here. There shouldn't be much overlap between poison and fire potency/intensity.)

The page referenced for fire intensity (p.157, referenced from p.325 and 330) doesn't say anything about fire intensity. There is such a table for the Conflagration sorcery spell on p.392, however.

[PhilHibbs]

14 hours ago, Joerg said:

A sorcery spell is always at least a 2-point spell (at least one technique and at least one rune), so does an intensity 1 spell require two points of Dispel Magic to be effective, or is one point sufficient?

The first point of intensity takes at least 2 MP, but it's still just 1 point of spell. I'm fairly sure that none of the dispel or resist mechanics take the extra MP cost into account.

Edited July 8, 2018 by PhilHibbs

[soltakss]

All of my answers are given based on how we used to play it in RQ2.

This may well not apply to RQG and some descriptions may well have changed, but I can't be bothered with checking all the descriptions to find out.

 

On 7/7/2018 at 11:05 AM, Joerg said:

What happens when a stronger version of a non-stackable spell encounters a pre-existing weaker version of the spell? Like e.g. Enhance INT?

 

We played that the stronger spell tool precedence, so Bladesharp 4 knocked down Bladesharp 2, for example. Same for Enhance INT.

 

Dispel and Dismiss target the intensity of a spell, which appears to mean the sum of magic points or twice the number of rune points put into the spell, or the points of Free INT required to cast this sorcery spell (including points prepared in an inscribed spell through sacrifice of POW). Does this ignore magic points used to boost a spell (like Axe Trance or Sword Trance)?

We played that MPs used to boost a spell had no effect on the spell's intensity when Dispel Magic was used. For Axe/Sword Trance, in particular, we played that the MPs were used "inside" the spell, not as part of the spell.

 

Let's use a 5 point Dispel Magic on a person having a 2 point Shield and a 4 point Protection. What happens? Does the person casting the Dispel have to boost the spell with one MP in order to overcome the Shield's Countermagic effect?

We played that Dispel Magic attacked the Shield spell before the Countermagic took effect, so Dispel Magic 4 would knock down Shield 2.

However, if you wanted to take down the Protection 4 them, yes, we played that you would need to boost to blast through Countermagic.

We played Dispel Magic fast and loose, by saying a Multispelled Dispel Magic could be cast to take down Rune Magic, then powerful Battle/Spirit Magic, otherwise it is useless. That way, we'd use Multispell 3 Dispel Magic 8 to take down Shield, Truesword, Protection and so on, but would often leave Berserker running, just for a laugh.

 

A sorcerer casts a 6 point Neutralize Spirit Magic on the person. What is the resistance to this spell?

Not sure what you mean by this.

 

Let's use an 8 point Neutralize Magic on that same target aiming at the Protection, and succeed with the resistance roll, rolling 40%. Will the target still benefit from the Shield's Protection effect? From the Shield's Countermagic effect? Would a resistance roll of 69% still succeed?

Again, not sure what you mean. In RQ2, we played that if you had Shield and Protection cast, they added their effects but were two different spells. So, you could target the Shield or Protection spells independently. So, Dispal Magic 4 would hit the Shield and another Dispel Magic 4 could be used to take out the Protection. We didn't play that Dispel Magic 8 would take down both the Shield 2 and Protection 4 spell. If it had, then my Dispel Magic 9 /Power Enhancing Crystal 9 combo would have been devastating.

 

Countermagic gets eliminated when overcome by another spell for more than one point exceding its strength, including Shield. On the other hand, Shield can be upped by Countermagic (combined with a sufficient boost) in order to stack the effects. Shield also stacks with Protection.

What happens when someone casts Countermagic on a person or other entity under the benefit of- Protection (or Spirit Screen)? Does a 1 point Protection prevent the recipient from receiving a 4 point Countermagic?

This comes under the first point about stronger veersions of spells, almost. We played that Protection 1 would block Countermagic 1, but that Countermagic 4 is a stronger spell so would take precedence.

The main reason we played that was that Spirits were so deadly in RQ2, as they could kill you very easily. If you had Protection 2 and were attached by Spirit Combat, then casting Spirit Screen 4 would have just bounced off the Protection, so we ruled that the stronger epsll took precedence.

 

Now lets add one point of Shield to that one point of Protection, and cast the same 4 point Countermagic on the recipient. What spells are in effect?

We played that Shield 1 and Countermagic 4 would be in effect, as the Countermagic 4 takes precedence over Protection 1, but the Shield still stacks with the Countermagic, giving a Countermagic 6 effect.

 

Countermagic can be a nasty spell when cast on a combatant who has just gone down in a combat, preventing cheap Healings to reactivate them in a hurry (or to avert death). Not quite a Seal Wound, but potentially as deadly.

In theory, yes, but we played that spells cast by yourself, or your Allied Spirit, operate "underneath" the Countermagic, so such Healing spells are not affected by the Countermagic. In any case, when the first one bounces, you just power through with a big heal, asuming you have enough MPs, which we tended to have.

 

A 3 point Dispel Magic hits a person affected by Neutralize Spirit Magic (Strength 2 Duration 2, i.e. 2 points of additional magic - but Intensity 3, or is it autmatically 2 points because of the spell cost plus 2 points for the added intensities?). Is this enough to remove the spell? Is it enough to target a specific other spell active on the target after winning the resistance roll? If not, how about a 5 point spell: Does it have to overcome the effect of Neutralize Spirit Magic first?

We played, in RQ3 as RQ2 didn't have Sorcery, that manipulation effects did not affect the Intensity of the spell, so that would need 3 points of intensity to dispel, so Dispel Magic 3 would do the trick.

 

Sword Trance doesn't combine effects with Berserker or Fanaticism, but it is theoretically possible to have both Sword Trance and Berserk active, say with a 90% skill in sword attack and 15 points boost the effective attack would be 240% (vs. 180% for just Berserker vs Chaos). Add in a Bladesharp 3, effective attack becomes 270% (vs. 240% for just Berserker plus Bladesharp cs Chaos). The other effects of Berserk are still on (like increased CON or Countermagic, or inability to parry or cast spells) would still be in place.

Although Sword Trance is new, Axe Trance was in RQ3. We played that Axe Trance puts you in a meditative trance-like state that allowed you to see the combat and react to it. Berserker makes you go all-out apeshit, so the effects could not be combined. Admittdedly, the other effects would be in place, but I would say that Berserker just stops Axe Trance from working. However, if the Berserker is dispelled, then the Ace Trance would still be in place and you would suddenly gain the benefits of the spell.

 

Somebody casts a Countermagic on a Berserker. Does the effect stack with the 2 points already provided by the Berserker spell?

We played that it did, as did the Counternagic from Shield, so a Berskerker with Shield 4 and Countermagic 8 would effectively have Countermagic 18, with 10 points staying up until the spell expires.

We also played that Storm Bull Berserker gave Protection rather than Countermagic, as minotaur Battle Rage gives a Protection effect.

 

Assuming that the caster can overcome the magic points of a person under Berserker influence, what effect will Logical Clarity have on that person?

 

Now, I need to look at the description of the spell, damn.

Hmmm, that is an interesting one.

I would be tempted to say that Berserker trumps Logical Clarity, as you cannot be both Logical and Berserking. "Enough Talk!" ...

However, you could well play that Logical Clarity just snaps the Berserker out of the spell, instead of making an INT roll.

[Joerg]

I guess much of this interaction between spells from these very different sources will have to be house-ruled, since it is nearly impossible to produce a multi-dimensional matrix for all these possible combinations, but from the answers I have seen so far, a few official guidelines appear to be helpful.

33 minutes ago, soltakss said:

On 7/7/2018 at 12:05 PM, Joerg said:

Let's use a 5 point Dispel Magic on a person having a 2 point Shield and a 4 point Protection. What happens? Does the person casting the Dispel have to boost the spell with one MP in order to overcome the Shield's Countermagic effect?

On 7/7/2018 at 12:05 PM, Joerg said:

A sorcerer casts a 6 point Neutralize Spirit Magic on the person. What is the resistance to this spell?

Not sure what you mean by this.

Does the stacked Protection effect from both Shield and Protection act as the resistance (making it 6 points vs. 8 points), or is it 6 points vs. 4 points for just the Spirit Magic spell?

Similar concerns where Multispell or Extension are involved. Basically, does stacking of effects strengthen the magical resistance of the single components? Does stacking a spirit magic effect with a divine Rune spell render this effect immune from magic targeting just spirit magic?

 

As to the Berserker effects, I have been in an adrenaline-induced fighting "zone" or rage a few times, which corresponds well with the overall description of Berserker, but also with the effects of <weapon> Trance. Basically what I experienced was an extraordinary control over moves without any ethical considerations holding me back.

So there is a possibility that two or more incompatible spells could be there on a single target, but only one of these in effect. If so, casting a Protection 3 or Countermagic 3 over an Protection 1 Extension 1 needn't remove the extended spell, but might simply suppress its effect. But given the book-keeping nightmare of such layered spells, it is probably spell strength (plus boosting) that decides which of the magics applies.

But then, the Attract Magic sorcery spell creates just this situation.

 

[soltakss]

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

Does the stacked Protection effect from both Shield and Protection act as the resistance (making it 6 points vs. 8 points), or is it 6 points vs. 4 points for just the Spirit Magic spell?

Similar concerns where Multispell or Extension are involved. Basically, does stacking of effects strengthen the magical resistance of the single components? Does stacking a spirit magic effect with a divine Rune spell render this effect immune from magic targeting just spirit magic?

Ah, I see, no we played these as separate spells, so you couldn't dispel the Protection effect of Shield, you had to dispel the Shield spell. Similarly, Shield 2 Protection 4 had to be dispelled as 2 separate 4 point spells. Again, in the Sheidl 4/Berserker combo, you get an effective Countermagic 10, which is nice, but had to dispel the Shield 4 with Dispel Magic 8 and Berserker with Dispel Magic 4. What generally happened was that a Priest used Multispell 3 with 4 Dispel Magic 8s to strip most spells away. The removal of stacking limits in RQG negates that tactic somewhat, but it would still be very useful.

[Skovari]

21 hours ago, soltakss said:

Ah, I see, no we played these as separate spells, so you couldn't dispel the Protection effect of Shield, you had to dispel the Shield spell. Similarly, Shield 2 Protection 4 had to be dispelled as 2 separate 4 point spells. Again, in the Sheidl 4/Berserker combo, you get an effective Countermagic 10, which is nice, but had to dispel the Shield 4 with Dispel Magic 8 and Berserker with Dispel Magic 4. What generally happened was that a Priest used Multispell 3 with 4 Dispel Magic 8s to strip most spells away. The removal of stacking limits in RQG negates that tactic somewhat, but it would still be very useful.

We play the same way.  Different spells need individual dispels.  Just because they might have effects that stack together does not combine them into a single spell to be dispelled.  Easier to keep track of that way also.  And you did have to dispel the whole spell.  So knocking down shield removed all of it's effects.