Energy Anti-Resistance (3.5e Creature Ability)

energy resistance like it wasn't even there!]]

Anti-resistance
Some exceptionally powerful energy attacks can blow right through a creature's resistance or immunity to an element! This is a quality that can be possessed by a creature, class, spell, power, or... well, really, it can be attached to anything associated with one or more of the five energy types (fire, cold, acid, electricity, sonic). At its most basic, [energy] anti-resistance X means that this attack (or all of the creature's attacks) of the associated energy type can ignore X points of a target's [energy] resistance, as well as treating its [energy] hindrance as being X percentage points lower than it really is. This means that in order to take no damage from an attack, a target needs to have energy resistance and/or hindrance equal to or greater than the anti-resistance plus the damage being dealt (instead of just being greater than the damage being dealt); the anti-resistance is literally subtracted from the energy resistance. However, anti-resistance only applies for the creature or attack bearing the anti-resistance property; the creature being targeted still gets to use its full resistance/hindrance against other attacks of that type.

Anti-resistance can only override existing resistance or hindrance. It cannot treat a creature as being more vulnerable to an energy type than it actually is. If a creature or attack's energy anti-resistance is greater than the energy resistance or hindrance of its target, the resistance/hindrance is reduced to zero; it does not become a negative number.

Some anti-resistance qualities are so strong that they can override immunity. In this case, the immunity isn't outright bypassed so much as it provides a steep, but potentially surmountable obstacle. An energy anti-resistance property that can overcome immunity treats a creature's energy immunity as being energy resistance equal to the target's HD &times; Y. (Y is usually, but not always, equal to 5; the attack/creature's description will provide the value of Y if it is not 5.) The converted resistance value is then subjected to the anti-resistance X as normal. (This means that a creature with sufficiently high HD may still be able to take no damage from the attack.)

Most forms of anti-resistance do not have the ability to defeat energy absorption of any kind. Absorptive creatures will absorb the anti-resistant attack as normal and gain the standard benefit from their absorption (usually regaining hp equal to the damage that would have been dealt). However, a few exceptional anti-resistances can defeat absorption. Such an anti-resistance is always capable of overcoming energy immunity as well, and treats energy absorption as being energy resistance equal to the target's HD &times; 2Y. If this effective resistance is still greater than the damage the attack would deal, the absorptive creature gains from the attack as though the difference between the damage and its effective resistance value was the damage the attack would have dealt. For example, a creature with 20 HD and cold absorption being attacked by a creature with cold absorption-overriding anti-resistance 80 that dealt 60 cold damage would regain 60 hp (200 &minus; (80+60) = 60). (If the energy anti-resistance can treat absorption as ordinary immunity, then that is due to another ability supplementing the anti-resistance; see the specific attack or creature for details.)

An attack with anti-resistance of its own can stack with the anti-resistance possessed by a creature. However, attacks explicitly attached to a creature almost never have anti-resistance (and where they do, the creature itself generally doesn't). Usually, a creature has anti-resistance capability for all of its attacks or only for the ones that have anti-resistance of their own &mdash; and attacks that have anti-resistance in and of themselves are generally ones that can interchangeably be used by any eligible creature, such as manufactured weapons, spells, powers, maneuvers, etc. (A spell-like, psi-like, or maneuver-like ability that mimics a spell, power, or maneuver with anti-resistance will also have that anti-resistance.)

Example: A creature with sonic anti-resistance 20 attacks a creature with sonic resistance 40 using a sonic attack. The target is treated as though it had sonic resistance 20 against that attacker. Later, the anti-resistant creature attacks a creature with sonic resistance 10. Since the anti-resistance is higher than the resistance, the resistance is completely ignored. Still later, that same creature attacks a foe with sonic immunity. Its anti-resistance can't overcome immunity, so its sonic attacks are utterly useless. (The attacker then gets utterly curbstomped; most creatures with anti-resistance are highly reliant on their chosen energy to deal damage. As a side note, sonic anti-resistance can't defeat a silence effect, even if it overrides immunity or absorption. Overcoming silence will have to come from a different ability.)