Do you let Magic Missiles destroy Mirror Images?

[Nail]

Let's say a Mirror Imaged wizard in steel boots walks through a field full of magnets.

The magnets stick to his boots, not to the figments. Does this mean the magnets are capable of deductive reasoning?

....<wipes tears from eyes>....

Anyway: You are saying that in order for a spell to be completed, the targets that are selected must be valid?

But what about:

Target or Targets: Some spells have a target or targets. You cast these spells on creatures or objects, as defined by the spell itself. You must be able to see or touch the target, and you must specifically choose that target. You do not have to select your target until you finish casting the spell.

 

[Storyteller01]

Never mind. Not an arguement for this thread.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Anyway: You are saying that in order for a spell to be completed, the targets that are selected must be valid?

In order for a casting not to fail.

You complete the casting, you select your targets, and then discover whether the casting you just completed succeeds or fails.

There's an example in the PHB of a casting failing because the wrong type of target is chosen.

-Hyp.

 

[KarinsDad]

There's an example in the PHB of a casting failing because the wrong type of target is chosen.

However, a good definition of "failing" is not exactly specified.

For example, one DM could be justified in ruling that 5 Magic Missiles streak to the 4 images and the real caster. The caster gets hit by one. The other 4 fail and do nothing to the images.

A different DM could be justified in ruling that 1 Magic Missile streaks to the real caster. The other 4 fail and do nothing, not even streak from the caster's hand.

A different DM could be justified in ruling that no Magic Missiles streak to the 4 images and the real caster. The entire spell "is wasted".

 

[Hypersmurf]

However, a good definition of "failing" is not exactly specified.

It says the spell is wasted. If it has some effect, then a/ the casting didn't fail, and b/ the spell wasn't wasted...

-Hyp.

 

[KarinsDad]

It says the spell is wasted. If it has some effect, then a/ the casting didn't fail, and b/ the spell wasn't wasted...

Really? So how do you justify the spell being wasted with your "I rule each Missile individually" interpretation?

Do you use one of the three examples I just gave, or something else?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Really? So how do you justify the spell being wasted with your "I rule each Missile individually" interpretation?

I don't.

I think that as written, if I target my five missiles at four kobolds and a ham sandwich, the casting fails and the spell is wasted.

I think that in my game, I choose to rule that if I target my five missiles at four kobolds and a ham sandwich, the four kobolds are struck by missiles, and the ham sandwich is not.

-Hyp.

 

[MarkB]

All targeted spells require you to be able to 'see or touch' the target.



Not at all.

Let's say a Mirror Imaged wizard in steel boots walks through a field full of magnets.

The magnets stick to his boots, not to the figments. Does this mean the magnets are capable of deductive reasoning?

Let's say the wizard and his four figments walk through a muddy estuary. Only one set of footprints is left behind when they've passed. Does this mean the mud is capable of deductive reasoning?

The spell doesn't distinguish between the targets. Once it's cast, it just discovers whether or not it succeeds or fails. The glowing dart isn't something that happens prior to the success or failure of the casting; the glowing dart only occurs if the casting is successful, and the casting can only be successful if the target is valid.

-Hyp.

A spell is not a magnet, nor is it mud. If a 1st-level spell can, by its innate nature, distinguish between an illusory creature and a real one before it ever interacts with them, why does it take a 5th-level spell with a 250 GP material component to make a spellcaster aware of precisely the same difference?

 

[pallandrome]

The way I run it is this-

Mirror Image make images indistiguishable from the real you. Meaning it fools the magic missiles into thinking they really exist. Meaning they actually DO hit the images, thus popping them. When this comes up, if ever, I adjudicate this decision to streamline play. Any arguements can take a long walk off a short pier.

similarly, if playing in a game, and a gm adjudicates something else that I normally wouldn't, I go along with it, because fair is fair.

 

[Nail]

It says the spell is wasted. If it has some effect, then a/ the casting didn't fail, and b/ the spell wasn't wasted...

Isn't there room to say: "The spell is wasted...at least the part that targeted the Ham Sandwich?"

BTW: I get the distinction between "How Hyp reads the RAW" and "How Hyp uses the RAW in his game." I'm looking for wiggle room in the RAW.....just for giggles, really. I rule in my game just as Hyp does...and as alot of people do, I suspect.