D&D 5E 1st-10th Level: How Many Times Does A PC Mage Cast Magic Missile?

Jeremy E Grenemyer · Apr 26, 2017

I am trying to estimate how many times a PC Wizard will cast Magic Missile from levels 1 to 10.

If you were to estimate a number for this task, what would it be?

Thankee in advance.

Horwath · Apr 26, 2017

If it's main source of damage on early levels I would say 20-25 times.

At lvl5 it is better to cast cantrip for damage rather than magic missile. So it would all be from lvl 1-4.

And it scales horribly. if it would be +3 missiles per spell level then it would maybe be viable as certain 9d4+9 damage at lvl5 vs 8d6 of fireball is better if you are afraid of collateral damage or only a single though opponent.

Right now after lvl5 magic missile is most of the time waste of action.

Sorry for the rant, but evocation spells are pathetic when it comes to empowering them by higher level slot.

Giltonio_Santos · Apr 26, 2017

Horwath said:
At lvl5 it is better to cast cantrip for damage rather than magic missile. So it would all be from lvl 1-4.

Firebolt is average 11 at lvl 5, if you hit. Magic missile is average 10.5, but always hits. Now, if you say that a Lvl 5 wizard has better ways to use 1st level slots, I'll agree, but magic missile's power after lvl 4 really depends on the opponent. Against "high AC, low HP" opponents, magic missile is a good choice even after level 4, mainly if you're not finding better ways to use your level 1 slots.

Thedip · Apr 26, 2017

For me it is zero; I have a limited amount of spells that I can cast, other people to hit things, and so I tend to concentrate on areas that only I can do.

OB1 · Apr 26, 2017

Because my Wild Magic Sorcerer had only a +2 in Charisma until level 12, this was one of my go to spells, since I was guaranteed damage and it worked well with Tides of Chaos. Probably used it on average 3-4 times per long rest over the first 10 levels.

jaelis · Apr 26, 2017

This is a weird question. It's going to vary tremendously from character to character and campaign to campaign.

Are you trying to estimate the average, over a range of typical players? Because probably few people on this forum are very "typical." And even then, isn't it the players at your table that matter?

Maybe if you explain why you want to know, we would be able to provide more useful feedback on your underlying question?

dco · Apr 26, 2017

With luck 1/long rest? The first levels Sleep and Shield are the usual spells, beyond lvl 5 a cantrip can do near the same damage and usually I don't want to waste a spell slot. It's there for emergencies, like let's kill those guys that are nearly dead and wasting our time.

WarpedAcorn · Apr 26, 2017

The Sorceress in my Campaign uses this spell pretty much all the time. At level 7, she's probably used it at least 20 times.

I am assuming it gets the most play because the creatures I have been using as the grunts of my campaign are resistant to a lot of damage, including Fire. Missing is also less fun when you are doing it for half. So I think she uses it more than anything else due to the confirmed hit and unresistable damage.

CydKnight · Apr 26, 2017

As others have said, it's going to depend on the type of player and the make-up of the character. If someone made me guess how many times, I would probably just roll a couple of 20 sided die and take the total which is just as good as a wet finger in the air for this. Another thing to consider, is that a Wand of Magic Missiles isn't all that hard to find at low levels which would limit the amount of times an actual spell slot would be used to cast it.

Jeremy E Grenemyer · Apr 26, 2017

CydKnight said:
Another thing to consider, is that a Wand of Magic Missiles isn't all that hard to find at low levels which would limit the amount of times an actual spell slot would be used to cast it.

Good point about wands. I had not thought to consider their use as well.