D&D (2024) Magic Missile is saved! Hooray!

[Andras]

The funny thing about the single die roll was a Bard with Cutting Words could reduce the whole thing to no damage.

 

[Xeviat]

JC has made a bit of a habit of confusing people with Magic Missile. I believe he ruled both that it was 3 separate concentration saves if hit by 3 magic missiles and that it was only a single death save vs all 3 of those missiles (or it may have been the other way round).

I never thought of Magic Missile being the "He's down: Finish Him Off!" spell.

I kind of like it being an anti concentration spell, as that makes it a good anti-mage spell and gives it a particular niche; it's just a bunch of DC10 checks, though, so it loses its utility at higher levels.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

BG3 I think does use the each missile causes a death save. I had a character taken out by a foe spellcaster and it blew my mind.

 

[Weiley31]

This still makes Magic Missile one hells of a double tapper for those on the receiving end when making Death Saving Throws

 

[Weiley31]

For those of you that like Magic Missile as a Concentration breaker, what about Death Saves? Someone mentioned it earlier, but I don't think anyone answered.

If there is a couple characters down, can the big bad finish one off with two missiles and give the other two fails? Or do they both just get two fails?

There was a reason why the Wizard, that invented the Shield spell, came up with it specifically for scenarios like this.

 

[Voadam]

There was a reason why the Wizard, that invented the Shield spell, came up with it specifically for scenarios like this.

I don't think it was to develop a personal reaction spell to use when you are already unconscious to prevent death saves.

 

[Mannahnin]

Is there any other instance where the rules of a spell or attack specifically call out the damage as "simultaneous"? I feel like that must be trying to tell us something, even if the rules don't make it clear.

I don't know. I mean, the Rules Glossary has a section on Simultaneous Effects, but it doesn't seem particularly relevant to this situation.

"If two or more things happen at the same time on a turn, the person at the game table—player or DM—whose turn it is decides the order in which those things happen. For example, if two effects occur at the start of a player character’s turn, the player decides which of the effects happens first."

It could just be telling us that the missiles all strike their targets at the same time rather than one after the other. Also if one target is further away than another, the missiles still strike at the same time. Stuff like that ...

My inference was that it's another way of saying you have to designate targets all at once. That you can't choose to allocate more missiles to a given target after seeing the effect.

I've also in the past seen it as reason to treat it as only inflicting one Concentration check, but I kind of like the idea of it having specific utility in forcing multiple checks.

The idea of inflicting multiple death saves with it is a nasty one. I'm a bit conflicted about that. Since it can't miss that gives me some concerns. At least Eldritch Blast and Scorching Ray have to roll to hit to do that.