(Greater) Magic Fang - inappropriate failure message

[Amalia]

I think something may be amiss with Greater Magic Fang... I don't seem to have any spell resistance, but twice in a row I've tried to cast it on myself and have "resisted" it. I haven't seen this happen with any other spells I cast on myself. I couldn't find anything to explain this phenomenon in the help file... could it be a bug?

tried the following commands:
c 'greater magic fang'
cast 'greater magic fang' amalia

You begin to chant.
Some holly glows briefly.
Some holly glows briefly, then disappears in a puff of smoke!
You resist the effects of your spell.

[Tamryn]

I can't seem to find it now, but there was a previous report somewhere that if a spell had a duration that was too short, it would show up as being resisted, rather than failing. I will have a fiddle with this and see if it's reproducible.

[Tamryn]

Hm... what actually seems to be happening here is that neither magic fang nor greater magic fang can be cast on humanoids. I tested with a PC and with an NPC half-elf, and it failed. It was successful when cast on a horse and a rat.

This matches what the help file says, and what SRD says, which is that the spell only affects natural weapons (such as claws or a bite). A brawling attack (unarmed strike) is not a natural weapon, so this spell will not work on PCs.

I do not believe this behaviour is a bug, but the message is unclear and confusing, so I'm moving this to confirmed bugs for that reason. I will update the help file for both spells to clarify what they can affect. (Edit: help file has been updated.)

[Amalia]

Good to know! In my case - it was of particular interest because my druid was trying to cast it on herself immediately before shapechanging into an animal (in animal form, I can't cast, as I lack the appropriate limbs). Is there any way a druid can use this to supplement their own natural weapons in animal form, or would someone else have to cast it on a shapechanged druid (and in fact, would it even work on a druid in animal form)?

[Enig]

Just for the sake of argument, the wording of the SRD is:

"The spell can affect a slam attack, fist, bite, or other natural weapon."

This spell is supposed to affect unarmed attacks however we don't have any way of getting it to add the bonus to an unarmed attack and not also any weapon you may care to wield after casting it.