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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 5248766" data-attributes="member: 66434">[From Supplement I GREYHAWK 9th printing, May 1978-page 22] 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".[END TEXT]   [From Holmes Basic 3rd Edition December 1979 -page 15] Magic Missile-Level 1; Range: 150 feetA conjured missile equal to a magic arrow, and it does 1 die roll plus 1 point (2-7) to any creature it strikes. Roll the missile fire like a long bow arrow (Missile Fire Table). Higher level magic-users fire more than one missile. [END TEXT] [ From Moldvay Basic First Printing-January, 1981- page B16] Magic Missile Range: 150'Duration: 1 turn A magic missile is a glowing arrow, created and shot by magic,which does 2-7 (1d6+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 shee 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. [END TEXT] Interestingly, the original presentation of magic missile was not explicit on the matter of requiring a to-hit roll. The Holmes rules were quite clear that such a roll was required and the Moldvay rules were quite clear that a roll was not required. You could interpret a logical reasoning for either treatment based on the original description.  Also note the duration of the Moldvay version. We interpreted that and played it so that a caster could summon the missiles then discharge them as desired over the course of the combat provided that the action lasted less than a full turn of course. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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