The Magic Missile Murder Machine

[T.W. Hamill]

So...

This isn't a "works on everything" kind of thing because anything that makes a target immune to Magic Missile will make this not work, but i found some EXTREMELY funny interactions between items and feats.

So...

Bolster Spell (Feat) - increases the damage rolled per die by +2, and makes anyone adjacent to the target(s) of the spell take 2/die that is rolled as splash damage, basically.

When applied to Magic Missile, it is (incorrectly, i'd assume) applying the +2 damage/die to each missile.

So, if you're high enough level to get 5 missiles, EACH missile hits for 1d4+1+10, so you get a total damage of 5D4+5+50... though i think its also interacting some OTHER way, since at 9th level my Nenio was landing each missile for 20-23 damage. EACH missile, not the whole spell, which is higher than expected (each missile should hit for between 12-15, not 20-23)

I think its working this way because the game treats each missile as its own effect - each missile rolls against SR, etc.

Oh, and guys standing near to main target are taking another 50 - 10/missile. So it turns into a basically unsoakable small AoE (its "adjacent targets" - so about 5ft).

But WAIT... it gets bettah.

There's a dagger called Edge of Force...

That adds +2 force damage per die rolled to any spell with the Force Descriptor.

It, also, improperly adds that +2/die to EACH missile. Now Nenio is landing MMs for 30+ PER MISSILE.

Just for shiggles, i used Bag Of Tricks to give me a second copy of Edge of Force.

Yeah.

You can dual-wield it.

They stack.

40 per missile. 200 damage from a level 2 spell (Bolstered is only +1), unsoakable, mostly. And anyone nearby takes over 100.

Its...

Its pretty hillarious.

Im going to take Heighten spell just so i can make them 3rd level too.

I have run into instances where its not effective, obviously, because there are mobs that are just outright immune to Magic Missile, and lots of casters will throw up Shield or already have it active.

But when it does work its hillariously broken. The super-tough spectres in a certain town area (like CR20 or something when you're 9th ish)? Melted. CR22 treants? provided you overcome their SR (a little tough at that level but not impossible) One shot.

Just thought id share.

[dwarfpcfan]

there's a pair of gloves you can add on top of that that adds +1 damage per dice on any level 1 spell you can buy from the barkeep in the tavern of the first town

meaning your missles will add even more damage.

[Ciaina]

Originally posted by T.W. Hamill:

So...

This isn't a "works on everything" kind of thing because anything that makes a target immune to Magic Missile will make this not work, but i found some EXTREMELY funny interactions between items and feats.

So...
el but not impossible) One shot.

Just thought id share.

It's not IMPROPER.
It states it directly: FOR EVERY DICE.

Magic missile "throws" a dice for every single missile.
Like many other spells.
Fireball is X dices of fire damage, so anything that ups fire damage on every thrown dice is added to EVERY THROW.

Working as intended.

[Frostfeather]

Don't Heighten, use Favorite Metamagic on Empower/Maximize and stack it with Bolster.

[T.W. Hamill]

Originally posted by Ciaina:

Originally posted by T.W. Hamill:

So...

This isn't a "works on everything" kind of thing because anything that makes a target immune to Magic Missile will make this not work, but i found some EXTREMELY funny interactions between items and feats.

So...
el but not impossible) One shot.

Just thought id share.

It's not IMPROPER.
It states it directly: FOR EVERY DICE.

Magic missile "throws" a dice for every single missile.
Like many other spells.
Fireball is X dices of fire damage, so anything that ups fire damage on every thrown dice is added to EVERY THROW.

Working as intended.

no, it isnt. Its a confirmed bug and it is NOT the way Bolster works in the tabletop.

In Tabletop, it would add a TOTAL of +10 damage (2 points per die - 5 dice at max) to the ENTIRE spell, so it would end up being 5D4+5 +10 from Bolster.

It should not add the entire +10 to EACH missile, which is what is currently doing, which adds 50 (FIFTY!) damage to the entire spell.

If it were to work the way you were saying, then it would simply add +2 to each individual missile since each individual missile only does 1D4+1. Either way, youd end up with 5D4+15 total damage.

Its broken. Wether they will fix it, or not, who knows, but that is NOT how it is supposed to work, i assure you.

[T.W. Hamill]

Also, its somewhat likely they wont bother to fix it, since it is a purely beneficial bug and its a single player game and youd only be affecting yourself by using it.

[djinnxy]

What i was getting at before is I wonder if it's working the same for multiple ray attacks or spells like chain lightning.

[T.W. Hamill]

Well none of them do Force, but i havent tried to bolster one. Ill test it out.

Update, however:

The dagger (Edge of Force) is CORRECTLY adding only +2 per missile.

I did some save/load testing with Nenio built specificaly to exploit this with all the feats possible.

When casting a bolstered (but not boosted by the dagger, staff equipped) Magic Missile, each missile hits for 1d4+21. This is in line with Bolster being broken .. but its MORE broken than we thought! It SHOULD be +10 from Bolster (five dice), but its getting +20 - which is why the damage reads 1d4+21 - its the base Magic Missile (1d4+1), plus the 20 its getting (for whatever reason) from Bolster.

When casting a bolstered + dagger boosted Magic Missile, each missile hits for 1d4+23, adding exactly the +2 damage "per die" - but correctly adding a single +2 to each missile.

testing with two daggers, it hits for 1d4+25 - so stacking the dagger does work, but its not a huge gain.

Empowered Magic Missile does NOT go crazy - its just adds the expected 50% bonus (missiles were hitting for about 6-7 damage, about 8-10 with the dagger(s) equipped)

Bolstered AND Empowered Magic Missile is hitting for the mid 30s per missile - Empower is applying its damage bonus as a flat bonus after the bolstering. The damage roll show the same 1d4+21 for a Bolstered Magic Missile, but the total damage is 34 (50% higher than the roll would have been). So its just a flat boost.

In neither case does Empowering it add additional missiles.

Bolstered Battering Blast is showing the same behaviour (it adds the entire bonus - at 12th level shes throwing two 5D6 blasts, for a total of 10D6 - which should yield +20 - to EACH projectile) - each Blast hits for 5D6+20 (so its totalling up to to 10D6+40). So it IS incorrectly applying the full bonus to each projectile individually. But Magic Missile seems to double-dip, getting 20 when it should get ten.

Bolstered Battering Blast + The Dagger, however, benefits from the dagger MUCH better since each projectile is 5 dice, so its getting +10 from the dagger - the combat log correctly shows each Blast doing 5D6+30 with the dagger applied. (and +20 with two daggers).

Empower doesn't actually alter the dice rolled (as noted above, its a flat % bonus, on damage at least) nor does it create additional projectiles.

However, Empowered + Bolstered + Double Dagger Battering Blast has some serious potential to wreck face.

At 10th level (when its worth casting, as you get the 2nd projectile) it does 2x 5D6+40 X 1.5. On "average" rolls (3.5 on a D6), youre looking at 57x1.5 = 85 per projectile, or 170 damage.

At 15th level, itll be 3x 5D6+50 X 1.5; about 100 damage/projectile, x3 - so 300 damage per cast.

At 20th level, itll be 4x 5D6+60 X 1.5: About 115 damage/projectile x4 - about 460 damage.

Thats... pretty rough.

[diegentarodie]

Good!

[The Hat]

Originally posted by T.W. Hamill:

Originally posted by Miskatonic:

if only there was something like Isaac's greater missile storm spell from NWN2

This is basically that. Except its easier to resist because its level 1 base and some enemies are just outright immune to it.

I assume of course if you go lich and make all damage negative, and then make negative non resisted, it will always work still like most lich spells? So there would be no mob that stands up to it. Maybe that doesn't work with magic missile?

[T.W. Hamill]

Originally posted by The Hat:

Originally posted by T.W. Hamill:

This is basically that. Except its easier to resist because its level 1 base and some enemies are just outright immune to it.

I assume of course if you go lich and make all damage negative, and then make negative non resisted, it will always work still like most lich spells? So there would be no mob that stands up to it. Maybe that doesn't work with magic missile?

Anything that prevents Magic Missile from working would prevent it.

Shield, for instance, makes you straight up immune to the spell entirely - not its damage type, and it doesnt give you a SR check.. the spell just fails completely. There are monsters thave have that same immunity to the spell (again, not its damage type, specifically listed "immune to Magic Missile").

However.. see above for how Battering Blast can replace it at higher levels and do absolutely absurd damage. And against things that ARENT immune to it, its still a great option for cleaning up trash mobs and contributing heavy damage to a tough monster.

Pop off a level 2 Bolstered Magic Missile for about 80-100 damage.... still damn solid.

Bolstered and Empowered (takes up a level 4 slot) hits for almost 150.

Oh, and you can Empower those just-Bolstered level 2 MMs with a lesser rod of Empower. So you can pew pew a lot of dudes.

And then unleash Battering Blast on anything that is immune to Magic Missile for some serious pain. (At 15th-19th, which youll spend a decent bit of the game at, you're looking at 300 non-soakable damage for a 6th level spell slot.

Not too shabby at all.

[The Silver Santana]

Originally posted by T.W. Hamill:

Originally posted by The Silver Santana:

Nice catch. Didn't put together that bolster would work on every missile.

Well it definitely isnt supposed to as it is written. But hey, enjoy it while it lasts.

There were hints that the game was broken in that regard, due to how it calculated SR per missile. I suspect there is a wider problem with how they handle such things for all multi-shot spells, but am unwilling to go trawling to figure out what exactly it screws up.

[T.W. Hamill]

Ill test it with some Ray spells later.