A few weeks ago in my AD&D campaign, an NPC used a scroll of Protection From Magic. This is a very powerful scroll and is easy to mis-adjudicate in play. This was the first time I had encountered this scroll in play either as a player or DM. As usual, one learns best by doing, and I did some follow up research after the session on similar spells and effects to better understand it.

A scroll of Protection From Magic negates all active spells, and has a 50% chance to remove the magic from permanent magic items. This even applies to magic the user of the scroll possesses, with a 5 foot radius.

Minor Globe of Invulnerability and Globe of Invulnerability are one way areas of magical protection. The caster can cast spells and spell effects out of these spheres of protection, but spells of the stated levels cannot affect the caster.

Anti-Magic Shell stops the function of all magic even that of the caster. Breath weapons, gaze and voice attacks, magic items, and spells. Magic weapons still fork as normal weapons within the shell. It is only the bonus to hit and damage and any other magic effect that is blocked. It blocks charmed, conjured, and summoned creatures from entering.

The DMG [Affiliate Link] has a note that creatures on their home plane would be considered normal creatures.

Dispel Magic would be useless against Anti-Magic Shell. Brute force or waiting for the minimum 2 hours for the spell to cease. A 6th level spell requires at least a 12th level magic-user, and this spell lasts 1 turn per level, a turn being 10 minutes.

I supposed the DM can allow Dispel Magic and other spells to counteract the Anti-Magic Shell. What happens when two casters, either friends or foes each have an active Anti-Magic Shell?

I see the options as being:

• Nothing
• Cancel each other out while their areas of effect overlap.
• Double Effect? (Not sure how that’d work.)
• Reduce effect? (Not sure how that’d work.)
• Determine difference in caster level and adjudicate similar to Dispel Magic
• Each caster has to roll a save vs. magic for their Anti-Magic Shell to survive interacting with another Anti-Magic Shell.
• Something unexpected happens like a rift in space time and all within 30 feet have to make a save or get sucked in.
  • Many variations on the unexpected could require a table to roll on what happens.

Creatures

Beholder’s Central Eye – This creature’s large, central eye has an Anti-Magic Ray. In the first edition Monster Manual [Affiliate Link], it does not specify how this works. In practice, I think all assume it removes the magic from any item in the path of this ray. This is why beholders are so feared.

Beholders first appeared in the OD&D Greyhawk Supplement with the same simple description of what the large, central eye does, but no explanation to help a DM adjudicate it.

The effects logically would be like the spell of the same name, but the duration or a ray is instantaneous. So permanent magic items would be nerfed for the round they were in the ray, is how I would interpret it.

Other Types Of Protection From Magic

My past article, Magical Protections in AD&D, was the third part in a series relating to undead in AD&D, and thus was focused on protections from Undead that included summoned creatures.