Death, Dispel, and High Magic

[Feldor]

This started out as a question from a player on if they could remove a chosen but not activated high magic effect on a target. Specifically, I think this applies to abilities like "Channeling Shield", "Cloak", and "Protective Reflex". Note that Rebirth has special exceptions in its description around death & resurrection.

Statements:

• The "dead" text says all effects drop except for a specific list, which does not include high magic abilities. The High Magic text counteracts this, so I think it is clear. (As an aside, it seems like this is something the rulebook should actually say in the dead section.)
• The "resurrection" text says all effects present on the character will be gone except a specific list that is the same as dead. The High Magic description says except for abilities that say otherwise, all prepared high magic is on the body and goes away with resurrection. The only ability with an exception appears to be Rebirth, so this includes cloaks, channeling shield, oak of the archmage, protective reflex, earth's bounty, exchange spell, formal link, formal magic, and many more.
• Dispel says it removes all active effects on a given creature, with some specific defined exceptions of which high magic is not mentioned.
• High Magic does not say it has any resistance to "Dispel", unlike what it does for "dead".
• The "Destroy Magic" ritual specifically references "all Formal Magic and all Battle Magic" and does not interact with High Magic as it is neither of those.

Questions:

1. Dispel basically uses the same text that "Dead" and "Resurrection" use to describe their effects. Does Dispel remove prepared high magic?
   If your answer changes for either sub-question, please say so.
   1. Does dispel remove high magic effects that are "passive"? (Channeling Shield, Oak of the Archmage)
   2. Does dispel remove high magic effects that are "times ever" since they are not active? (Exchange Spell, Elemental Augmentation)
2. Is there a way to remove prepared high magic abilities from a target other than resurrection or a LCO call?

For each of the topics, I've attempted to copy the full chunk of relevant text from the 2.0 rulebook while excluding non-applicable text. If you believe there are additional rules that apply, please quote or reference the ruling. There is likely a follow up question around spellcrafting, but that depends on this clarification so I'm keeping this "simple".

Dead:
All of your active spells, alchemical substances, and other effects will immediately disappear once you are dead.
The only effects that survive death are Amnesia, Enslavement, Euphoria, and sometimes a Curse of Transformation or an Infection. Note as well that a dead body is still subject to magical and non-magical barriers such as a Ward or Circle of Power.

Resurrection
Once a character is resurrected, a character will have his or her maximum Body Points. All remaining effects that were present on the character will be gone (excluding Enslavement, Euphoria, Curse of Transformation and Infection). Note that the lost memories from Amnesia poisons are not restored by resurrection. Finally, any skills or spells the character could currently Meditate back are restored.

Under the "Effect Groups" section:
A Dispel will remove all effects, even beneficial ones, except those in the Greater Command group and the effects Circle of Power and Ward.

Dispel
This effect will dispel all active effects on a given creature or object whatever the cause, whether beneficial or harmful.
It will not remove Wards, Circles of Power, or anything from the Greater Command effects group (Amnesia, Enslavement, or Euphoria) with the exception that it will remove the effect of Amnesia if administered within the first ten minutes.
Dispel will remove Wizard Locks, Walls of Force, and Prisons.
A Dispel thrown at a person will not remove effects on any items held by that person. Example: Belthivis is hit by a Dispel. All of his spell protectives are now gone. However, the Weakness Weapon Coating he has on his dagger is still active.

A Dispel thrown at a caster will not stop already existing effects of that caster’s spell. Example: Darlissa casts a Shun at a goblin. She is then hit with a Dispel. All active spells on her are now gone, but the Shun is still in effect.

A Dispel will stop any ongoing Storm effects on a target. For example: Vorin has 5 packets left from the Chaos Storm he cast earlier. He is hit by a Dispel, which causes his ongoing Chaos Storm to expire, and he loses the ability to throw the remaining packets.

Note that Dispel will still trigger appropriate defenses before affecting the target.

High Magic
High Magic effects generally last until the next Logistics period or until used. Unless otherwise specified, High Magic effects target a character’s Body and will always be on the body part containing the spirit if parts of the body are separated. This means that active High Magic will be lost when a character resurrects; individual High Magic abilities may grant exceptions to this.

Destroy Magic
"This Ritual destroys all Formal Magic and all Battle Magic of a designated Aspect on one item or one person who possesses a Spirit. If cast upon a person, it affects all Formal and Battle Magic on both their Body and Spirit, but not on any items the person is carrying. An item can also be a self-standing mystical force like a Circle of Power or Wall of Force. The item or person must be in physical contact with the Ritual Caster within the Circle of Power during the entire casting of the Ritual."

 

[Draven]

I don’t think it’s intended for Dispel to remove High Magic effects; it certainly hasn’t removed 1.3 Times Ever Cloaks/Rebirths/Healer’s Resolve/Every Other HM effect.

Furthermore, that would absolutely put its power level way out of line with any other spell, even Life.

However, I will agree that the RAW does not make that specification, and barring any other evidence to the contrary, would direct this to ARC.

 

[Polare]

Dispel does not remove High Magic effects chosen by a player. I'll make sure that Dispel and High Magic both note this in the next (hopefully non-beta 2.0) ARB revision.

 

[Gandian Ravenscroft]

I like to think of it this way: Dispel removes anything in the Effects section of the rulebook (barring its listed exceptions, like Enslavement, etc.), and since High Magic abilities aren't in that Effects section, they are not removed by Dispel.