Okay first i am going to address the actual issue brought up by the OP.
It is not even remotely clear that magic missiles shouldnt have a miss chance against blink. Magic missiles hit ethereal yes, but they also need a visible target. Neither spell specifically addresses the other one. And it is totally within the DMs perview to decide which has higher priority. The force affect hitting ethereal or MM needing a visible target? No player has any right at all piss and moan over a very fair judgement call on something like this.
Before some idiot screams "you have to tell them that before play", NO I DONT. In the PHB alone there are 100 pages of spells. If you think i am gonna bore myself and all the players to tears trying to explain how they all interact with each other your nuts. Live an learn. This was odviously the first time the sorcerer used MM against blink. Now he knows how they interect. There is no reasonable way he could have known that before casting so the player has no "reasonable expectations of effects" to base his decisions on.
I also aggree with Seetan where he said a 20% miss chance isnt worth arguing and derailing the game over. Anyone who did in my game would not be invited back the next week.
Now as the allmighty RAW. It kinda sucks in some cases. Its not perfect. It wasnt perfect in 1e, it wasnt perfect in Od&d, it wasnt perfect in AD&D, it wasnt perfect in 3.0, and its not perfect now. The fact it has an errata thread proves it. It also does not do any style of gaming besides grid map hack and slash very well. If you want your game to totally follow the RAW. Then go start DMing a game by the RAW. As long as your in someone else's game your gonna have to deal with some things happening you dont like.
Personally i use the GURPS combat and skills, Most of the D&D core classes and races (modified to fit gurps), Ravenloft world setting (including madness, horror and fear saves. And modified curses and spells). And the Core magic, but with only sorcerers.
My players know this. They like the blend. They also know that sometimes things dont work like they think they will. Thats okay.
So for all the DM's dealing with people who need a "socail contract" or "reasonable expectation of rules". Just sit them down during the first session and say "The RAW is not the holy bible. Things will change even more often in the rules then the bible has over the years. The only thing you can expect is that you will roll a 1d20 and add other numbers in an attempt to beat a different number. Tell me your character concept (so they cant whine you nerfed thier concept later), and all spells will be close to thier description. Have fun".
It is not even remotely clear that magic missiles shouldnt have a miss chance against blink. Magic missiles hit ethereal yes, but they also need a visible target. Neither spell specifically addresses the other one. And it is totally within the DMs perview to decide which has higher priority. The force affect hitting ethereal or MM needing a visible target? No player has any right at all piss and moan over a very fair judgement call on something like this.
Before some idiot screams "you have to tell them that before play", NO I DONT. In the PHB alone there are 100 pages of spells. If you think i am gonna bore myself and all the players to tears trying to explain how they all interact with each other your nuts. Live an learn. This was odviously the first time the sorcerer used MM against blink. Now he knows how they interect. There is no reasonable way he could have known that before casting so the player has no "reasonable expectations of effects" to base his decisions on.
I also aggree with Seetan where he said a 20% miss chance isnt worth arguing and derailing the game over. Anyone who did in my game would not be invited back the next week.
Now as the allmighty RAW. It kinda sucks in some cases. Its not perfect. It wasnt perfect in 1e, it wasnt perfect in Od&d, it wasnt perfect in AD&D, it wasnt perfect in 3.0, and its not perfect now. The fact it has an errata thread proves it. It also does not do any style of gaming besides grid map hack and slash very well. If you want your game to totally follow the RAW. Then go start DMing a game by the RAW. As long as your in someone else's game your gonna have to deal with some things happening you dont like.
Personally i use the GURPS combat and skills, Most of the D&D core classes and races (modified to fit gurps), Ravenloft world setting (including madness, horror and fear saves. And modified curses and spells). And the Core magic, but with only sorcerers.
My players know this. They like the blend. They also know that sometimes things dont work like they think they will. Thats okay.
So for all the DM's dealing with people who need a "socail contract" or "reasonable expectation of rules". Just sit them down during the first session and say "The RAW is not the holy bible. Things will change even more often in the rules then the bible has over the years. The only thing you can expect is that you will roll a 1d20 and add other numbers in an attempt to beat a different number. Tell me your character concept (so they cant whine you nerfed thier concept later), and all spells will be close to thier description. Have fun".
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