If you have 50 fireres, and get hit by a firebolt that deals 100 firedmg, you take 50 firedmg. That's the point of haveing res based on %. It gets simpler that way. And now to the commonness of resistance. Every item resists everything better or whorse. A copper armor doesn't resist lightning that well. And prehaps it's not that good at resisting fire either. My point is that resistance doesn't have to be common just because every item has resistance. The resistance doesn't have to be high on every single item (it doesn't even have to be positive <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />). Physical resistance should be one of the resistances. Wearing a heavy platemail doesn't make you harder to hit, but you don't take as much dmg. Only magical items should have a chance on high resistances. And to have high resistance you need high resistance on all your items. And as said, high resistance should be rare.
