👉 This page covers Magic Cancellation in GnollHack.
Magic Cancellation protects you from magical or semi-magical touch attacks. You get Magic Cancellation (MC) from armor. Contrary to NetHack, it stacks and the effect is on the scale 0–25, which gives you a % chance to resist magical or semi-magical touch attacks. The chance is listed in the status bar. MC protects you from:
| Touch attack | Examples of monsters | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Disenchantment | Disenchanter | |
| Drain energy | Energy vortex | Drains mana |
| Life drain | Vampire | Drains an experience level |
| Lycanthropy | Werewolf | |
| Mummy rot | Human mummy | |
| Nymph stealing | Wood nymph | Nymphs' touch attack gives a big penalty to MC, so it has a bigger than normal chance to work. |
| Paralysis | Gelatinous cube | |
| Seduction | Incubus and Succubus | |
| Sleep | Homunculus | |
| Sliming | Green slime | |
| Slow | Shade | |
| Stat drain | Quasit | Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution |
| Steal gold | Leprechaun | |
| Stoning | Cockatrice | Petrification |
| Stun | Abbot | |
| Teleportation | Quantum mechanic | |
| Terminal illness | Otyugh | |
| Wound legs | Xan |
⚠️ Attacks that Bypass Magic Cancellation
The following touch attacks bypass Magic Cancellation completely:
| Touch attack | Examples of monsters |
|---|---|
| Elemental (fire, cold, shock) | Fire elemental |
| Mimic grabbing and sticking | Small mimic |
| Snake constriction | Giant anaconda |
| Eel drowning | Giant eel |
| Armor-damaging (rust, corrode, decay) | Rust monster, Black pudding, Brown pudding |
| Acid | Spotted jelly |
| Intrinsic stealing | Gremlin |
| Riders | Death, Pestilence, Famine |
| Healing | Nurse |
Note that intelligence drain attacks also bypass Magic Cancellation (see below).
🎲 Magic Cancellation Chance
The Magic Cancellation formula is the following:
| MC | Chance to Resist |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0% |
| 1 | 10% |
| 2 | 20% |
| 3 | 30% |
| 4 | 40% |
| 5 | 50% |
| 6 | 55% |
| 7 | 60% |
| 8 | 65% |
| 9 | 70% |
| 10 | 75% |
| 11 | 80% |
| 12 | 82% |
| 13 | 84% |
| 14 | 86% |
| 15 | 88% |
| 16 | 90% |
| 17 | 91% |
| 18 | 92% |
| 19 | 93% |
| 20 | 94% |
| 21 | 95% |
| 22 | 96% |
| 23 | 97% |
| 24 | 98% |
| 25 and above | 99% |
📉 Modifiers to Magic Cancellation
Monster attacks can incur a bonus or penalty to MC depending on the monster difficulty. Attacks of higher level monsters usually incur a larger penalty to MC than those of lower level monsters.
✨ Magic Cancellation from Enchantments
When you enchant armor, you get +1 MC for every +3 enchantment. Therefore, it is very useful to enchant armor to at least +3. The same rule applies to divine protection that you can buy from a priest NPC by making a major contribution to the temple.
Other sources of Magic Cancellation include:
- Armor Quality: Exceptional, Elite, Celestial, Primordial, and Infernal armor modifiers grant an MC bonus.
- Rings: The ring of protection grants an MC bonus.
-
Materials: Armor made of
dragonhidegrants +1 MC. - Classes: Monks receive an innate role-based MC bonus.
- Spells: The Stoneskin, Barkskin, Shield, and Protection spells grant direct MC bonuses.
- Accessories: Some special accessories, such as a brooch of shielding or an ioun stone of protection, grant bonuses to Magic Cancellation.
- Mythic Affixes: The of defense weapon suffix provides an MC bonus based on its enchantment.
🧠 Intelligence Drain Attacks
Magic Cancellation does not protect you from the intelligence drain attacks of tentacled ones. Instead, you need a helmet to block 87.5% of these attacks. Additionally, you can wear a nose ring of cerebral safeguarding or a ring of sustain ability to become immune to the intelligence drain attacks.
Note that the intelligence drain attacks also cause amnesia, which makes you forget items' identification, spells, and the layout of dungeon levels.