D&D (2024) Magic Missile is saved! Hooray!

[Reynard]

While by rule I'm pretty sure that MM only creates one save, we've always house ruled it to be one save per missile. We've never found the spell all that useful, so this gives it the niche of "concentration breaker."

This. It keeps a pretty weak spell useful at higher level.

 

[aco175]

People still use Magic Missile? Seems like nobody at my table takes it anymore. The only time PCs use it is if they a wand and then just to fire off 6 missiles once and then put it away to tomorrow.

I still like bad guys auto hitting some of the PCs once they start getting too good.

 

[Horwath]

People still use Magic Missile? Seems like nobody at my table takes it anymore. The only time PCs use it is if they a wand and then just to fire off 6 missiles once and then put it away to tomorrow.

I still like bad guys auto hitting some of the PCs once they start getting too good.

it scales horribly, maybe if it's +2 missiles or even +3 missiles per spell level.

 

[FrogReaver]

Don't know if this has been covered before by anyone, but anyway...

For the 2014 rules, Jeremy Crawford made the ruling that when you hit several targets with missiles from a Magic Missile spell, you rolled 1d4+1 ONCE and applied it as the same damage to each missile. This surprised a few people, but is what the rules said.

Chapter 9, Combat, Damage Rolls
If a spell or other effect deals damage to more than one target at the same time, roll the damage once for all of them. For example, when a wizard casts fireball or a cleric casts flame strike, the spell’s damage is rolled once for all creatures caught in the blast.


The 2024 rules have this to say about multiple targets from one spell:

Damage against Multiple Targets​

When you create a damaging effect that forces two or more targets to make saving throws against it at the same time, roll the damage once for all the targets. For example, when a wizard casts Fireball, the spell’s damage is rolled once for all creatures caught in the blast.


Magic Missile now works as I've always known it - you roll 1d4+1 for each missile, regardless of number of targets! (The extra text of "make saving throws against it" changes how it works).

I've been frustrated by some of the changes, but this one I like!

(Awaits someone telling me a spell it now breaks...)

Cheers!

I’m glad they clarified the rules so that Crawford couldn’t misinterpret it.

But even in 2014, the rule for Magic missiles against a single target was ambiguous. It never said roll once and apply that damage to each missile.

 

[John R Davis]

So
In 5E24 do we roll one d4 or one d4 per missile?

 

[FrogReaver]

Crawford reached quite a bit in a bunch of his rulings. I can't express to you in words just how little I felt obligated to follow his rulings.

This. As much as I gave Mearls answers (non-answers) crap, I very much miss them compared to Crawfords.

 

[FrogReaver]

Don't know if this has been covered before by anyone, but anyway...

For the 2014 rules, Jeremy Crawford made the ruling that when you hit several targets with missiles from a Magic Missile spell, you rolled 1d4+1 ONCE and applied it as the same damage to each missile. This surprised a few people, but is what the rules said.

Chapter 9, Combat, Damage Rolls
If a spell or other effect deals damage to more than one target at the same time, roll the damage once for all of them. For example, when a wizard casts fireball or a cleric casts flame strike, the spell’s damage is rolled once for all creatures caught in the blast.


The 2024 rules have this to say about multiple targets from one spell:

Damage against Multiple Targets​

When you create a damaging effect that forces two or more targets to make saving throws against it at the same time, roll the damage once for all the targets. For example, when a wizard casts Fireball, the spell’s damage is rolled once for all creatures caught in the blast.


Magic Missile now works as I've always known it - you roll 1d4+1 for each missile, regardless of number of targets! (The extra text of "make saving throws against it" changes how it works).

I've been frustrated by some of the changes, but this one I like!

(Awaits someone telling me a spell it now breaks...)

Cheers!

Reading closely the new rule just applies to saving throws?

 

[AlViking]

... If you hit a bless-casted cleric with a 1st level magic missile, are they making 1 concentration check or 3?

It's 3 as far as I'm concerned just like if you got hit with 3 arrows. As others have noted it doesn't come up very often.

 

[AlViking]

To be fair, Crawford's interpretation never made it into official use, it was just a tweet. I don't believe it was even added to sage advice.

They clarified long ago that the tweets were not official because they didn't really put much thought into them. It looks like they've also stopped caring about sage advice altogether but I never paid much attention to it anyway.

 

[TiQuinn]

Don't know if this has been covered before by anyone, but anyway...

For the 2014 rules, Jeremy Crawford made the ruling that when you hit several targets with missiles from a Magic Missile spell, you rolled 1d4+1 ONCE and applied it as the same damage to each missile. This surprised a few people, but is what the rules said.

Chapter 9, Combat, Damage Rolls
If a spell or other effect deals damage to more than one target at the same time, roll the damage once for all of them. For example, when a wizard casts fireball or a cleric casts flame strike, the spell’s damage is rolled once for all creatures caught in the blast.


The 2024 rules have this to say about multiple targets from one spell:

Damage against Multiple Targets​

When you create a damaging effect that forces two or more targets to make saving throws against it at the same time, roll the damage once for all the targets. For example, when a wizard casts Fireball, the spell’s damage is rolled once for all creatures caught in the blast.


Magic Missile now works as I've always known it - you roll 1d4+1 for each missile, regardless of number of targets! (The extra text of "make saving throws against it" changes how it works).

I've been frustrated by some of the changes, but this one I like!

(Awaits someone telling me a spell it now breaks...)

Cheers!

Yeah, having played across too many editions, there was no way we were doing the 1d4+1 once version. We’ve always ran it with a fistful of d4s.