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<blockquote data-quote="Mistwell" data-source="post: 2894902" data-attributes="member: 2525">It's a very common situation that an NPC is fighting a PC in melee combat in a hallway.I'm not sure how you adjudicate area spells.&nbsp; But in our game, there is no way to cast an area spell in a 5-10&quot; wide hallway and miss the ally that is next to the NPC.&nbsp; Your fireball will fry the ally.&nbsp; Your Black Tenticles will grapple the ally.&nbsp; You cannot target INSIDE wall, only with line of sight, and therefore very often an area spell will hit your ally.Which brings it down to touch attack spells.&nbsp; Which are harder to hit when the NPC is in melee combat with a PC as well.In those situations, a magic missle can be appropriate, even if all you have left is 4th level spell slots, particularly given that a sorceror built for more utility-based and travel spells isn't going to often have the spell choices open to have a lot of other options at certain levels.Why do you think that almost all other direct-damage spells have either a saving throw or a ranged attack roll?&nbsp; Given the game designers of 3.0 said they also wanted to change magic missle to be higher damage but with a ranged attack roll, but playtesters shot it down merely because magic missle was &quot;iconic&quot;, don't you think it's at least possible magic missle occupies a unique position in D&amp;D that just might be a bit overpowered because of that uniquness?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mistwell, post: 2894902, member: 2525"] It's a very common situation that an NPC is fighting a PC in melee combat in a hallway. I'm not sure how you adjudicate area spells. But in our game, there is no way to cast an area spell in a 5-10" wide hallway and miss the ally that is next to the NPC. Your fireball will fry the ally. Your Black Tenticles will grapple the ally. You cannot target INSIDE wall, only with line of sight, and therefore very often an area spell will hit your ally. Which brings it down to touch attack spells. Which are harder to hit when the NPC is in melee combat with a PC as well. In those situations, a magic missle can be appropriate, even if all you have left is 4th level spell slots, particularly given that a sorceror built for more utility-based and travel spells isn't going to often have the spell choices open to have a lot of other options at certain levels. Why do you think that almost all other direct-damage spells have either a saving throw or a ranged attack roll? Given the game designers of 3.0 said they also wanted to change magic missle to be higher damage but with a ranged attack roll, but playtesters shot it down merely because magic missle was "iconic", don't you think it's at least possible magic missle occupies a unique position in D&D that just might be a bit overpowered because of that uniquness? [/QUOTE]

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