Nifft said:
I finally realized what I hated about Magic Missile, and what to do to fix it.
The guide to 1st level spells says that they should cap out at 5 dice of damage. That's fine for many spells, but it's based on an underlying assumption -- one die per level.
What the designers should have said is that 1st level spells should cap out at 5th level. Then, spells which graded differently due to the power of their effect -- such as Magic Missile, which increases at one die per 2 levels -- don't outstrip other spells of their spell-level.
Therefore, I'm going to cap Magic Missile at 3 missiles (5th level), where it is still balanced against Shocking Grasp and Burning Hands.
-- Nifft
Damage caps are an inaccurate way of describing the limitations of the spells at each level. Magic missile is fine an is for it's level - it just lacks a true "rival" spell (whereas
fireball is rivalled by
lightning bolt). I've been studying the spells quite intently as of late looking for patterns to try to bring the system closer together without massive rewrites. Changing one of the games signature spells, in any way, qualifies as a major rewrite and something that turns me away from both products and game tables. I want to play D&D, not Joe Bob's RPG.
Magic missile has an average damage yield of 3.5 per missile, maxing out at 17.5. Shocking Grasp also has a yield of 3.5 / level to a max of 17.5. Because the dice are different the spreads are different - 10-25 for magic missile and 5-30 for Shocking grasp. A maximized grasp does more damage than magic missile.
If you use the feat energy substitution from Tome & Blood, you can modify shocking grasp in order to deal double damage on many types of creatures. Magic missile can't be done this way.
Magic missile is akin to an officer's pistol - especially at higher levels. A high level caster reduced to using this spell is already in serious trouble (if he wasn't he'd use something more effective like cloud kill et. al). Each magic missile deals damage comparable to an arrow without any strength bonuses. Yes, it always hits - but a well honed archer type character rarely misses either and can deal a lot more damage for a lot longer than magic missile using standard issue arrows (add magic arrows to the mix and it gets to be even more fun).
I have my doubts about rewriting spells unless there are serious issues with them. Magic missile has issues - it's borderline 1st & 2nd I'll admit - but we don't have level 1.5 spells so it's always dropped to 1st. A class with the spell at 2nd level would be nice if only to show that the spell is still servicable at 2nd level. Wizards and sorcerers need the spell if only for them melee isn't an option.
A better fix to magic missile than your's nift is to use the playtest version of magic missile everyone hated so much. It deals 1d6 / missile and allows a reflex save for 1/2 damage. This has the same average damage BEFORE save, and considerably less after.
Nerfing benchmark spells won't work Nifft. There will ALWAYS be some spells that are better than others at all levels. Magic missile is an obvious case (maybe too obvious), but all levels feature this. If magic missile is removed from first choice contention, another spell will take it's place. What then, nerf it too? Before long your spell casters will be better off throwing rocks and shooting arrows at folks.
My only real problem with magic missile is that it doesn't have a rival spell - it's a no brainer. Rather than nerf magic missile, I developed a spell that competes with it for the honor of "Best 1st level damage dealing spell." You'll get to see that spell in Art of Magic when it comes out next year.
