Well, they've tried to confuse us with spell resistance and magic resistance (I love these new, simplfied rules
)
Spell resistance means the spell either gets through or it doesn't.
Magic resistance is what absorbs damage from spells.
So let's say your Drow has a spell resistance of 25 and magic resistance 10. The evil mage chucks a fireball and must get 25 or better on his roll to have a chance of affecting him. Mage ends up with a 16, so the Drow just sneers and takes no damage at all.
But suppose said mage rolls up a 27. Now the spell gets through so the Drow must reflex save against the fireball. Let's say he makes it for half damage, maybe 15 points. Magic resistance eats 10 of that, so the Drow ends up with a first-degree burn of 5 points of damage.
Nightowl2