Magic Missile

Here I discuss why I think an old school Magic-User would be making a big mistake choosing Magic Missile as their spell. With so many cool options that add flavor to your Magic-User, Magic- missile falls flat IMO.

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Magic Missile

[BanditsKeep]

Oh man, I said the average damage was 3.5 it’s actually 4.5! So would 100% take down a “normal human”

[hotdogthebarbarian]

Another good use for magic missile is as a guaranteed disruption against an enemy spellcaster.

[DarkHorseCom]

Daniel, great video. Being out of the game for so long I had no idea there were differences in Magic Missile and it's uses throughout the various editions of D&D. I just received my 1e DMG reprint and have the 1e PHB and MM coming this week. Talk about a scavenger hunt! All are NEW condition. It's like being a kid on Christmas morning.

Thanks for kindling that longtime smoldering ember that was once a flame in my gaming youth. Very much appreciated!

[TheEldarGuy]

Oh yeah, the one vs many effect (Sleep, Light, for example) is the best choice for 1st Level.

Magic Missile is a must have in AD&D 1st edition, because you get an extra missile every 2 levels. By 14th Level the Magic-user rolls for 7 missiles, there's a 10' radius. No saving throw and auto hit!
AD&D demands the Magic-users to make their own scrolls and items, even spell research is encouraged.

Again, thanks for the video, I like the easy way your explaining and exploring the rules.

[SentientSoup]

Excellent points, Daniel. Thank you for those insights. I have always liked the idea of the magic user keeping a charmed monster as a henchman.
Good on you, sir.

[TheSimpleMan]

Magic missle has long been the "sidearm" for the party at our tables. It's a quick guaranteed little push of damage that can finish a combat encounter without expending more valuable resources. But as one Israel Wright is fond of saying "I carry a sidearm, but if I'm always having to resort to it, something big has gone pretty badly wrong."
(I'm paraphrasing, as his language was a good deal more colorful and he ranted a bit longer.)

[Vasious]

Well said on magic missile

And the points on Charm
Perfect opportunity to get a henchman, taking the efforts to treat them like the friend they see you as from the magic and earn that friendship that lasts past the charm finally fades.

[MrNetWraith]

Seeing all these well-made videos talking about OSR and 5e, I really wish I had the courage to make my own videos on D&D 4th edition.

[nickyhaller]

Your point about scrolls is spot on. I think they are an oft forgotten aspect of the game, but they are so important for magic-users!

[krystalfruehling]

Daniel, I cut my d&d teeth on Redbox in the 90s. You have so much information on spells pre 2e. The view of casters and spells has changed so much. In the current iteration I play is based off d&d 3.5 where casters get more spells being magical not just trying to pretend. I understand your point on spells. Well made. I really think the way the game has evolved, a large number of folks wanted more to their characters than 1e and 2e gave.
Great video, thank you for it.

[UntoldRelic]

I've been watching your videos for months and just realized I hadn't yet subscribed. Sorry 'bout that. Cheers from rural Québec. I find it is more important to know how prevalent magic is in the world for b/x style of play than it is for 5e. In an AD&D game, I filled an entire village with awe with a simple light spell, but in a 5e one, magic was ubiquitous so the same trick did not work and we ended up in jail. Good times all around, though.

[theroguegeneralhunter]

B/X is the only Original edition I have seen that does spellbooks this way. The White book might have, but I don't have that edition so I cannot speak to that. Both BECMI (My favorite edition) and the "Blue book" D&D cover spellbooks in different ways.

I find I prefer the later Basic D&D system where you start with 2 spells and can add spells from scrolls (within limits) as you will. This creates a versatile toolbox of spells, but with the limiter of only a handful of castings per adventuring day.

With that, MM is not so bad at low level. I would still take sleep if available 10 out of 10 times.

BTW- a problem I have with sleep is that it caps out pretty fast while MM gets better over time.

Great video! Keep it up!

[RodBatten]

Been looking forward to this, thanks Daniel.

[maesemateo]

Cool video. This is how I do it:
*Once casted, it lasts 1 turn
*MU can use it at ANY TIME, including the enemies' turn. You can shoot it at the orc charging at you before they get to hit or at the rival MU as soon as they start casting if you want.

I've read Frank Mentzner saying MM was intended to last even longer than a turn, so you can have the arrow(s) hovering over your head until you need them for several turns/hours.

[SusCalvin]

One trick the crew does with Darkness is escapes. They pop Darkness behind them as they run and toss out spikes or marbles or oil or something inside the dark.

Enemies might hesitate just a little when suddenly faced with a sphere of magical darkness, enough for the crew to leg it around one or two corners and lose pursuit. And if they push it, they have no chance to detect the marbles and nasty stuff tossed out.

[Marcus-kien]

Love the advocacy for scrolls, add wands as well (may or may not be recharged). We have always thought of it as a 6 shooter or single shot pistol.

[Taricus]

Wand of Magic Missiles exists in AD&D. It can fire a max of 2 missiles/round, using 1 charge for each missile. Any class can use the wand. It hits automatically if I wizard uses it, but requires an attack roll to hit with any other class.

[comproggi]

I mostly used it to pick off injured foes fleeing to get help, or to disrupt the enemy. I thought of it as a long range dagger that didn't put me in harm's way.

[RoDaGrier]

Off topic, I launched a ASSH game today for my players. We do a play by post game as we all have crazy schedules. I really enjoyed your mega dungeon videos. Very good information for resources (like Don Jon) that I wasn't aware of. It was also just good to hear a DM who wasn't myself thinking out loud.

[NegativeHeadspace]

Thanks for the video. I get what you're saying now. And agree. I shall ponder well these pearls of wisdom. Two thumbs up 👍