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Magic missile as a cantrip
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<blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 7830929" data-attributes="member: 6777737"><p>Having chewed through some of the math, I think I would make these changes (changes have been underlined):</p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p><strong>Magic Missile</strong></p><p>Cantrip evocation</p><p>Casting Time: 1 action</p><p>Range: <u>60 feet</u></p><p>Components: V S</p><p>Duration: Instantaneous</p><p>Classes: Sorcerer, Wizard</p><p>You create a glowing dart of magical energy. The dart hits a creature of your choice that you can see within range. A dart deals <u>1d4</u> force damage to its target. <u>However, a dart produced by this spell may not deal more damage than your spellcasting modifier (minimum 1).</u> The darts all strike simultaneously, and you can direct them to hit one creature or several.</p><p></p><p>The spell creates more than one dart when you reach higher levels: two darts at 5th level, three darts at 11th level, and four darts at 17th level. You can direct the darts at the same target or at different ones.</p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p>The math problem I'm seeing relates to when the spell ends up being better than the alternatives. Because the spell now has no spellcasting modifier benefit, it's equally potent when you have a low modifier (+2 or less). That means if you're multiclassing, or a High Elf, or whatever, you could have Int 6 and you'd benefit just as much as a character with Int 20. That's not a good design. The fix to cap damage per dart to the caster's ability bonus is fiddley in a way a really hate, but it's about the easiest way to do it.</p><p></p><p>Additionally, I might consider changing mage armor to make it give you resistance to magic missile. The immunity clause on shield doesn't make much sense anymore since it's such a short term spell now. Another alternative would be to switch it from force to piercing damage, but I don't think damage type is that meaningful.</p><p></p><p>I didn't make this clear in my initial post, but I'm not planning on using it at all. It's just a design exercise. That's why my question was, "What would a magic missile cantrip look like?"</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I think you're overvaluing it. Would you take it if each dart dealt only 1 damage? I don't think anybody would. I would go so far as to say that it's <em>strictly incorrect</em> to take it if each dart deals exactly 1 damage. So we're just arguing about the balance point. Where's the balance point between 1 and 1d4?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That's true of anything, though. It's a play style preference more than anything.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes, that's why this spell has the same implicit restriction.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That's fair.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That's still really narrow. It still costs an action to cast, and it's rarely going to trigger a save with a DC higher than 10. And this is 5e, not 3e, so force damage isn't remotely as good. It doesn't "penetrate the Ethereal," for example, or automatically have any of the properties that it used to. The designers clearly remember those rules existing because lots of ethereal things are subject to force damage, but they're not actually present as general rules for force damge. In the de facto sense there's really only 4 damage types in 5e: non-magical, fire, poison, and everything else. Yes, you might run into shadow dragons, ghosts, and helmed horrors all day, but that's not a meaningful consideration to the design. If it were, eldritch blast wouldn't exist at all.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I'm not remotely concerned about that. Any situation where that kind of thing would happen is not one which would happen in the game normally. Further, 100 apprentices could also cast magic missile the first level spell. And for the same cost, you could raise an army and obliterate anything already. Scaling out is not a concern. I really don't care if the game breaks when you turn it into a tower defense simulator.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bacon Bits, post: 7830929, member: 6777737"] Having chewed through some of the math, I think I would make these changes (changes have been underlined): [HR][/HR] [B]Magic Missile[/B] Cantrip evocation Casting Time: 1 action Range: [U]60 feet[/U] Components: V S Duration: Instantaneous Classes: Sorcerer, Wizard You create a glowing dart of magical energy. The dart hits a creature of your choice that you can see within range. A dart deals [U]1d4[/U] force damage to its target. [U]However, a dart produced by this spell may not deal more damage than your spellcasting modifier (minimum 1).[/U] The darts all strike simultaneously, and you can direct them to hit one creature or several. The spell creates more than one dart when you reach higher levels: two darts at 5th level, three darts at 11th level, and four darts at 17th level. You can direct the darts at the same target or at different ones. [HR][/HR] The math problem I'm seeing relates to when the spell ends up being better than the alternatives. Because the spell now has no spellcasting modifier benefit, it's equally potent when you have a low modifier (+2 or less). That means if you're multiclassing, or a High Elf, or whatever, you could have Int 6 and you'd benefit just as much as a character with Int 20. That's not a good design. The fix to cap damage per dart to the caster's ability bonus is fiddley in a way a really hate, but it's about the easiest way to do it. Additionally, I might consider changing mage armor to make it give you resistance to magic missile. The immunity clause on shield doesn't make much sense anymore since it's such a short term spell now. Another alternative would be to switch it from force to piercing damage, but I don't think damage type is that meaningful. I didn't make this clear in my initial post, but I'm not planning on using it at all. It's just a design exercise. That's why my question was, "What would a magic missile cantrip look like?" I think you're overvaluing it. Would you take it if each dart dealt only 1 damage? I don't think anybody would. I would go so far as to say that it's [I]strictly incorrect[/I] to take it if each dart deals exactly 1 damage. So we're just arguing about the balance point. Where's the balance point between 1 and 1d4? That's true of anything, though. It's a play style preference more than anything. Yes, that's why this spell has the same implicit restriction. That's fair. That's still really narrow. It still costs an action to cast, and it's rarely going to trigger a save with a DC higher than 10. And this is 5e, not 3e, so force damage isn't remotely as good. It doesn't "penetrate the Ethereal," for example, or automatically have any of the properties that it used to. The designers clearly remember those rules existing because lots of ethereal things are subject to force damage, but they're not actually present as general rules for force damge. In the de facto sense there's really only 4 damage types in 5e: non-magical, fire, poison, and everything else. Yes, you might run into shadow dragons, ghosts, and helmed horrors all day, but that's not a meaningful consideration to the design. If it were, eldritch blast wouldn't exist at all. I'm not remotely concerned about that. Any situation where that kind of thing would happen is not one which would happen in the game normally. Further, 100 apprentices could also cast magic missile the first level spell. And for the same cost, you could raise an army and obliterate anything already. Scaling out is not a concern. I really don't care if the game breaks when you turn it into a tower defense simulator. [/QUOTE]
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