D&D 5E Do magic missiles automatically hit

[Falcon10275]

Sounds like your DM had it out for you; there was no possibility for your character (or just about any other) to survive that. Honestly, they'd have probably still finished you if only half of them took the shot. If we assume they were all first-level wizards (two 2st-level slots each), then you took nearly 50% of that encounter group's damage capacity within a single round. That's a firing squad, not an encounter.

yeah what a terrible DM you are playing with. As A DM your job is to keep the players alive not kill them. When a player dies, nobody benefits. game is over, people stop playing, fun is gone.

 

[Thaumaturge]

yeah what a terrible DM you are playing with. As A DM your job is to keep the players alive not kill them. When a player dies, nobody benefits. game is over, people stop playing, fun is gone.

Oh, boy.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Prism]

When a player dies, nobody benefits. game is over, people stop playing, fun is gone.

I have had some truly glorious character deaths - some followed by a raise dead and others not. You are missing part of the fun I'd say

 

[Grazzt]

As A DM your job is to keep the players alive not kill them.

Disagree. The DM's job is to set the tone, setting, narrate the story, describe the world, whatever, and challenge the characters. It's the player's job to keep their character alive. (Though granted in the above situation there wasn't really a chance in Hell of that happening it doesn't sound like.)

 

[Grazzt]

I have had some truly glorious character deaths - some followed by a raise dead and others not. You are missing part of the fun I'd say

Yep. The ensuing quest to raise a dead character (or NPC) has led to many memorable things in our games. (There is no run back to town and pay the cleric to raise the deceased; and PCs don't have access to revivification magic...doesn't exist as such).

 

[fanboy2000]

Yes, magic missiles automatically hit. I lost my first character, Tormyr the shiny lawful good paladin, to a group of level 1 wizards in training. The wizard school had turned evil and started blowing up parts of the town and we were sent to investigate. We approached the tower and saw a group of 10 students led by prefect going into it. The students looked scared, so my paladin stepped out and tried to talk to the students to see if they were in need of help, what is going on in the school, etc. After a bit of talking, the prefect shouted, "Now!" 11 simultaneous castings of magic missile hit my level 4 paladin for 110 damage. Wrote up a new character that had the Shield spell.

I sincerely hope that was the third time those wizard's had done that.

 

[Tormyr]

With all due respect, your DM seems a bit... hardcore, let's say.

Yeah, he is an old timer who has been around for every version, and I think sometimes he gets a bit bored or something. He sees his role as DM as part good storytelling, part killing characters.
I am quite different. I place a heavy emphasis on story, and if a character dies and the player and I feel like there is more of that character's story to tell, we will see if there is an in story way/reason for the character to come back to life. Where my first DM was bloodthirsty, I am maybe a bit too lenient.

Back when we just started our campaign back in April, I set up a medium water elemental that all six of the characters were supposed to work together to defeat. The level 2 party was looking for a way to unplug the drains in a deep pool. They saw something moving in the water, so tied a rope around one characters waist and he went in, he was knocked unconscious in one hit, and they pulled him out. Another character had the rope tied around his waist. He stuck his head in the water, tried to talk to the insane water elemental, and got knocked unconscious in one hit. The party decided to take a short rest and re-examine other parts of the dungeon. Playing his character's flaw, the halfling rogue decided to go off on her own and explore the water's edge and see if she could see any way of unplugging the drains. The elemental stepped out of the water and critted the halfling. She died in 1 hit. The cleric ran in, cast divine favor and hit both hits with his war priest ability and rolled high, taking the elemental out and freeing the rogue's corpse.

At this point, I asked the player if he wanted to continue this character or roll up another character. He felt that there was still story to tell with the character, so I had the Tiefling Wizard find that the rogue's trinket (a stone that emitted light with a command word, had writing in Infernal all over it detailing an incantation to bring her back to life. The wizard read it, and she came back to life, not realizing that she had died. The writing faded away, but a tattoo was added to her shoulder blade, marking her as owned by a fiend that they will run into in about half a year from now (1 year from when this happened).

 

[Tormyr]

I was going to say that he should have stayed behind cover but then I remembered, "Magic Missile." Yeah, not much you can do about that. An execution, pure and simple.

I actually stood next to a building to duck back behind in case something went wrong, but my mind blanked as he was narrating. I should have mentioned that I would duck back if something untoward seemed to be developing, but I didn't.

 

[Tormyr]

I sincerely hope that was the third those wizard's had done that.

I am sorry, I don't get it. What did you mean? Did I misspell something?

 

[fanboy2000]

I am sorry, I don't get it. What did you mean? Did I misspell something?

Nope. I did leave a word out though.

Should have read: I sincerely hope that was the third time those wizard's had done that.

Wizards get two first level slots at first level, but can recover one slot after a short rest. If they'd cast three magic missile three times, they'd be reduced to cantrips for the rest day. That would make them easier to deal with.