Unlimited magic missiles?

[Bauglir]

So even if it does not appear "overly broken" for magic missiles, it may become very much so for some dual-purpose spells... Or something like a wand of unlimited "Invisibility"...

There's already an item that provides unlimited Invisibility..

 

[RigaMortus]

A general rule I would use is, if it has an instantaneous duration, you shouldn't make it unlimited in a magic item.

 

[uzagi_akimbo]

There's already an item that provides unlimited Invisibility..

Well it's just ever so slightly more expensive (DMG says 20000 gp, which is still absolutely a bargain price for what it does ), and of course, you can only turn one person "invisible" with it at a time... not the entire group (for app 5 minutes with a caster level 5 "endless wand of invisibility", renewable without breaking invis...), their mounts, animal companions and other stuff etc etc etc.... before every (expected ) encounter, which is a severe advantage in my book....

And of course, ring slots are slightly more limited (and in demand ) on any individual character than a stowable wand. Just my 2 cents, YMMV.

As for the initial "magic missile" wand - a perfectly safe to use, no-drawback, ammo-less, guaranteed-to-hit weapon with an average damage of 10.5 points over a range of 150' ? Will shoot even pesky ghosts, shadows and other incorporeal nastiness as precisely as any cororeal target on every single attack ? hmmm, I for one can see every player (well - except the fighter types...) wanting to have one, except when trying to get them from adequately CRed opposition actually using them on the PCs beforehand....

 

[ARandomGod]

A general rule I would use is, if it has an instantaneous duration, you shouldn't make it unlimited in a magic item.

I generally use that too. Or at least that it should be looked at. On the other hand, you can easily see advice here that shows that it's actually (in general) uneconomical to have unlimited use items as opposed to charged items. OR five times per day items. Compare prices as to what you get for how much, what and how much you could get otherwise, and see. Personally I don't see it as a problem to have a player buy WAYY more charges (unlimited) than that player will likely EVER use for several times the cost of what a generous estimate of number of charges likely to be used would be. IE< if you want the flavor of unlimited charges, and don't mind paying a lot, and it's not really giving more benifit than something that costs less would... well, why shouldn't it be allowed?