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

[Chaltab]

no amount of d4 rolling will make feeling of rolling a d4 good or better(than something).
if anything, more d4s I roll, the worse I feel.

Luckily I play online so computer adds the numbers for me

 

[John R Davis]

IIRC I think Basic had magic missile deal 1d6+1 damage per missile. I had forgotten about that.

Enough to kill that silly cleric, who must have been at least 3rd level cos she had cast two spells. Go Bargle

 

[Willie the Duck]

IIRC I think Basic had magic missile deal 1d6+1 damage per missile. I had forgotten about that.

Yes, derived from oD&D where it was specifically 'per a magic arrow' which was "Magic Arrows have a +1 chance of hitting their target and do additional damage to their target unless specified otherwise due to the type of monster being shot. Thus, a Magic Arrow normally does from 2-7 points of damage when it hits."

FWIW, I still think the spell is a decent spell in 5E. Having a spell deal guaranteed damage is pretty nice IMO and I use it from time to time. I do think making it two additional missiles per spell level when upcasted would make it more appealing in general, however.

I'm not sure that a specific number of darts/damage per dart would sell or unsell me (certainly would need to compare to the hp totals of a given edition). I don't know that 2, 3, or 8 more darts would make tactically minded folks use 3rd level slots on the spell, and anyone who just likes the sure-thing are already sold.

FWIW, I don't dislike the spell, but I think the situations where it is tactically sound (especially now with at-will cantrips) is smaller than it ends up getting used. Like Fireball, people just plain like it for historical reasons. I know one player who will just kind of toss out a magic missile (sometimes upcast to level 2-4 when playing higher-level games) simply because he can't think of what else to do that round. In that situation, I wish that there was instead an iconic spell that was built to actually be a good choice for that situation.

 

[ezo]

FWIW, I don't dislike the spell, but I think the situations where it is tactically sound (especially now with at-will cantrips) is smaller than it ends up getting used. Like Fireball, people just plain like it for historical reasons. I know one player who will just kind of toss out a magic missile (sometimes upcast to level 2-4 when playing higher-level games) simply because he can't think of what else to do that round. In that situation, I wish that there was instead an iconic spell that was built to actually be a good choice for that situation.

For us it helps because of our rule for upcasting spells: any additional dice are automatically maximum.

So, even for magic missile, at 2nd-level you would get one missile for automatic 5 damage, no roll required. The other three would be rolled as normal. At 3rd-level, you would get two 5-damage missiles and 3 rolled damage missiles, etc.

Like with our critical damage rule, it is one of the few MUST use house-rules at this point.

 

[Voadam]

IIRC I think Basic had magic missile deal 1d6+1 damage per missile. I had forgotten about that.

For Moldvay Basic and Rules Cyclopedia yes, but a steeper jump in missiles with two extra missiles only every five levels gained instead of one missile every two levels in AD&D and 3e. Same for the OD&D magic missile but notably it has no indication that it is auto hit.

Moldvay Basic:
Magic Missile Range: 150'
Duration: 1 turn
A magic missile is a glowing arrow, created and shot by magic, which does 2-7 (Id6+1) points of damage to any creature it strikes. It will automatically hit any visible target. For every 5 levels the caster has gained, he or she may shoot two more missiles when casting the spell. EXAMPLE: a 6th level magic-user may cast three missiles. These may be shot at one target, or the caster may choose to cast the missiles at different targets.

1e:
Magic Missile (Evocation)
Level: 1 Components: V, S
Range: 6” + 1”/level Casting Time: 1 segment
Duration: Special Saving Throw: None
Area of Effect: One or more creatures in a 10 square foot area
Explanation/Description: Use of the magic missile spell creates one or more magical missiles which dart forth from the magic-user’s fingertip and unerringly strike their target. Each missile does 2 to 5 hit points (d4 + 1) of damage. If the magic-user has multiple missile capability, he or she can have them strike a single target creature or several creatures, as desired. For each level of experience of the magic-user, the range of his or her magic missile extends 1” beyond the 6” base range. For every 2 levels of experience, the magic-user gains an additional missile, i.e. 2 at 3rd level, 3 at 5th level, 4 at 7th level, etc.

OE Greyhawk:
Magic Missile: This is a conjured missile equivalent to a magic arrow, and it does full damage (2–7 points) to any creature it strikes. For every five levels the magic-user has attained he may add an additional two missiles when employing this spell, so a 6th-level magic-user may cast three magic missiles at his target, an 11th level magic-user casts five, and so on. Range 15”.

 

[FrogReaver]

The separate die for each missile is in the Magic Missile spell where it says that "Each dart strikes a creature of your choice that you can see within range. A dart does 1d4+1 force damage to its target." That's clearly making each dart an individual damage roll.

The Evoker ability clearly says it applies to only one damage roll of the spell, so it doesn't matter if you target one creature or three with the Magic Missiles, only only get to apply the extra damage to one of the damage rolls since it is a single spell.

Your third question is answered by the second. Since you can only apply the damage to one damage roll in the spell, it doesn't matter how you choose to target the missiles, only one missile can benefit from the Evoker ability since each missile is a separate damage roll. You roll all 8d6 for the ONE fireball at the same time. You don't get 8 small fireballs that each do 1d6. So fireball is one damage roll. You do roll each Magic Missile separately, so the one spell has 3 damage rolls and only one of those rolls can benefit.

I'm really not sure how you can read this differently.

Note: I’m not saying it’s clear but the magic missile spell doesn’t say whether you roll damage once and apply that to each missile or whether you roll it separately for each missile. Either is a valid reading of the spell as written.

If it’s the case that damage is rolled once and applied to each missile then the vocation ability would ultimately apply to each missile.

 

[Chaltab]

In 4e the revised Essentials version was great as a minion popper. A missed attack never damages a minion but magic missile always does.

 

[jayoungr]

no amount of d4 rolling will make feeling of rolling a d4 good or better(than something).
if anything, more d4s I roll, the worse I feel.

This is why I have 12-sided and 8-sided d4's now. I hate those little pyramidal bar stewards!!

Have you tried the column dice (or barrel dice) from Crystal Caste? I quite like rolling those:

 

[cbwjm]

People still use Magic Missile? Seems like nobody at my table takes it anymore. The only time PCs use it is if they a wand and then just to fire off 6 missiles once and then put it away to tomorrow.

I still like bad guys auto hitting some of the PCs once they start getting too good.

When you really need to hot, magic missile is great, especially if the DM has been highlighting how hurt enemies are, gives you a good target to attempt to finish off with MM.

 

[TiQuinn]

When you really need to hot, magic missile is great, especially if the DM has been highlighting how hurt enemies are, gives you a good target to attempt to finish off with MM.

Magic Missile was good for guaranteed damage in earlier editions and then if you really wanted to accentuate its use, you counted each missile as a separate attack or missile, so in 2e, if someone was using Stoneskin, you could rule that each missile whittled away at then Stoneskin spell, just as in 5e, you could rule that each one means a Concentration check. But that’s dependent on your read of the spell’s effects and not every table can be counted to treat it the same (which to me is fine.)