A player in a game I Dm describes his magic missiles as little flowers that fly from his finger tips & hit his target. Then a another flower sprouts from the area hit by the first flower, then wilts and pops off, stinging and leaving a little welt.
I've been thinking of others ways a person could experience a magic missile. But would like to know what others think a magic missile feels like.
Any way the other mages have come up with much more imaginative looking magic missiles, since Rink's magic missile flowers.
P>S>I'm going to ask the other mages what thier magic missiles feel like in the next game we play.
In various games I have been in a magic missle has been all kinds of elementally based (Ice, fire etc). I tend to go with pure light that packs a punch.
Wasn't there a feat from one of the early 3X FR books that would allow all a caster's spells to have some eerie image? I always thought it was a waste of a feat. If you want to customize your spells appearance, why waste a feat?
I like my magic missles to be screaming skulls or gibbering faces. Describing a the evil necromancer flinging a handful of screaming skulls at a PC puts the fear of (insert diety here) into him.
It was "Spell Thematics" out of Magic of Faerun, I believe. I always thought it was a waste of a feat as well. I would make a Spellcraft check instead to alter the appearance of the spell, DC 10 + the spell's level.
Wasn't there a feat from one of the early 3X FR books that would allow all a caster's spells to have some eerie image? I always thought it was a waste of a feat. If you want to customize your spells appearance, why waste a feat?
|
I always thought it was a waste of a feat as well. I would make a Spellcraft check instead to alter the appearance of the spell, DC 10 + the spell's level.
I agree with you, Matt, and I think Lilith has a great way of handling it. I give my players free reign in describing the effects of their spells as long as it's just 'cosmetic'. I mean, if everyone describes it as a glowing arrow or dart, that's fine, but if you have a caster with a bit of flair or an affinity of some kind, let them explore it!
I had a player who had a dwarven sorcerer who was working his way to being an earth elementalist. When he cast magic missile, he described the dust from the dungeon floor rising and coalleasing into jagged rocky darts that shot to the target. I thought that was pitch perfect.
I have a 1st level Necromancer in an on-line game, when he gets a little more experience under his belt, this is how I envision him casting his magic missile... "Noqtal throws his hand forward, mystic words falling from his lips. Magic force emminates from his fingertips, seeming to make the bones of his hand stretch out through the skin. With a subtle cracking sound, the ivory projections break off to form unsettling missiles that streak out and lance into the body of his opponant."
My basic concept and description has never really changed since the 1st Ed. days - they resemble miniature Will o' Wisps that exit the caster's fingertips at multiple angles and converge on their target, hitting simultaneously or close to that; the original Baldur's Gate game hit it pretty much dead-on.
I don't think that there is much impact force from getting hit, since that might be categorized as a 'force' effect of a spell, of which MM isn't... I would describe the pain as part shock, part energy burn, part heat, since the spell doesn't adhere to any single energy type for purposes of damage.
It could be said that "eldritch energy" combines the sensations of all energy types into a greenish light that burns without heat, like a caustic chemical would.
My 2 gps,
M
Getting hit by a (lvl 1) magic missle feels exactly like getting punched by a drunken zombie-faced ugly guy...who is medium-sized, has a 15 STR and Improved Unarmed Combat.
Getting hit by a (lvl 1) magic missle feels exactly like getting punched by a drunken zombie-faced ugly guy...who is medium-sized, has a 15 STR and Improved Unarmed Combat.
Drunken zombie got the idea. What does a magic missile looks like is fine, What I like to know is what people think a magic missile feels like.
Just having been bit by a centipede (4 times) The burnning sensation followed by a stinging welt followed by a few days of itchyness. If that is what a magic missile feels like, I would loathe mages for ever as I do centipedes.
I have seen others play them as balls of force (or energy) that cause damage when they hit- imaging getting hit by half a dozen baseballs thrown at high velocity. :)
Getting beamed by a baseball sucks!!!
I like this one
Like a kick in the ribs!
I sort of imagine them as being sharp, like big slivers of glass. So if you're a peasant it goes right through you and you die, If you are a higher level character you twist out of the way somewhat and it gives you a nasty gash.
like getting hit with a baseball bat.
|
Bean bag gun. Now I live in Portland Or and there have been a few weird political marches that have resulted in bean bag gun injuries. Not on me mind you, I'm a civil citizen (though my gamer background did provide me with the foresight to wear a baseball catchers vest and a cup to said events) but I have witnessed the few unlucky anarchists who have been pelted about the torso, face, and thighs with such devices. So that is how I describe the sensation of getting hit with a magic missle. Either that or getting socked with a baseball or empty red dog bottle from range.
I've been thinking of others ways a person could experience a magic missile. But would like to know what others think a magic missile feels like.
I think they would feel like getting your nipples pierced. (e.i.: Not a pleasant experience, but you don't die from it.)
Ultradan
(note: No, my nipples are not pierced!)
...Not a pleasant experience, but you don't die from it...
Most 1st level characters can die easily from two, and many can die from one -- they must be pretty painful.
My visual is based on Neverwinter Nights, which is likely the same as Baldur's Gate (describe earlier).
Jack
I think they would feel like getting your nipples pierced. (e.i.: Not a pleasant experience, but you don't die from it.)
Ultradan
(note: No, my nipples are not pierced!)
My nipples are pierced (double-pierced, actually). I didn't find it to be a particularly painful experience.
I can imagine a magic missile's effect being akin to being hit by a taser. Granted, the spell is listed as being a force effect, for which the 'struck by a baseball/beanbag' description would be more apt, but I can think of the magic missile disrupting any target's ability to function, without necessarily leaving a specific wound (i.e., lacerations, abrasions, burns, etc.)
Ages ago, there was a Dragon article that discussed changes in appearance for spells, without altering the damage, range, etc. This allowed a wizard specializing in fire spells to have magic missiles that looked like darts of flame, rather than just 'magic missile, 1 each'.
I had a necromancer whose magic missiles took the form of spirits that attacked the target. Same range, same damage, but the effect it had on PCs and NPCs!
|
It was "Spell Thematics" out of Magic of Faerun, I believe.
They revised it for 3.5 in Player's Guide to Faerun. Basically it raised the spellcraft DC to identify your spells by 4. You could also choose one spell per spell level as a thematic spell and cast it at +1 caster level.
For my 2 cents, I usually visualize MM pretty much as Marc Chin described them, maybe with a variation of color depending on where/who the arcanist learned it from. When one gets hit I somewhat imagine a stinging burn that quickly fades to a chilly numbness over about 10 seconds.
I'm disagreeing with all of the "baseball/bat/punch" references that have to do with getting hit by some kind of object...
MM is not a force effect, nor do the spell missiles have mass, nor do they rely on velocity, aim or momentum to impart damage; neither do they impart kinetic impact upon the target...thus, they do not 'hit' you as much as they reach their destination and do their damage.
Electric shock, heat, chemical burn, stinging - all good descriptions. Impact, bad.
(says Mr. "goes by the letter of the spell description" before anything else)
M
MM is not a force effect, nor do the spell missiles have mass, nor do they rely on velocity, aim or momentum to impart damage; neither do they impart kinetic impact upon the target...thus, they do not 'hit' you as much as they reach their destination and do their damage.
Electric shock, heat, chemical burn, stinging - all good descriptions. Impact, bad.
(says Mr. "goes by the letter of the spell description" before anything else)
M
Not to be a rules lawyer, but the decription for Magic Missile lists it as 'Evocation (Force)'.
Whether or not the spell's missiles have mass, they could inflict impact damage - we are talking about magic.
That being said, I prefer to use some other description as to how the damage is caused. Adds a little more magic to the missile
Not to be a rules lawyer, but the decription for Magic Missile lists it as 'Evocation (Force)'.
I kind of imagine them as bolts of violet lightning like the Sith use in the Star Wars movies. I guess that would definitely be a FORCE effect. dark side, that is. :)
By the way, something doesn't need mass to have momemtum actually. Light has momemtum and light doesn't have mass.
so it "could" be impact damage...
But I see it more has a nasty energy burn, like one from a really energetic laser.
Like being smacked in dodgeball...in the head.
Like being smacked in dodgeball...in the head.
I saw just that last year in Las Vegas' Corporate Challenge. Knocked dudes safety goggles off. Glad it wasn't me.
As a side note, the (subscriber) portion next to our name no longer appears....
Since magic missile cannot damage inanimate objects its a pretty strange force effect to be sure. As to how it would feel, its impossible to say. Since most of us have never been hit by a baseball bat for lethal damage I don't know how that feels like either. Magic missile is not a bludgeoning attack or a slashing or piercing attack either, so describing it as cutting people like a dagger or hitting people like a bat is silly. Its magic, and feels like magic when it hits you.
I think the look of a spell is purely a cosmetic thing, but it shouldn't look like it could be another spell. For instance, making a fireball spell look like a blast of magenta sparks conceals the fact its a fire spell and makes it look like an electrical spell instead. Now that should be a big no, no. Making magic missile look like little flowers or fingers of bone is probably going too far in my books, but each to his own.
Granted, the spell is listed as being a force effect, for which the 'struck by a baseball/beanbag' description would be more apt, but I can think of the magic missile disrupting any target's ability to function, without necessarily leaving a specific wound (i.e., lacerations, abrasions, burns, etc.)
i contend that it would probably leave bruises, and the accompanying soreness until healed (instantly if magically, or over a few days if naturally).
Senior Software Developer
|
As a side note, the (subscriber) portion next to our name no longer appears....
Paizo site trivia: The "subscriber" notation only appears if you're in a Dragon or Dungeon forum. The D&D forums are a little odd, they live at the Paizo messageboards as well as in the Dragon and Dungeon messageboards.
If you go to the D&D forums via the Dragon or Dungeon page, the subscriber title will show up. If you go to a thread via the front page, you're actually in the Paizo messageboards, and so the site doesn't know which magazine you need to subscribe to, so it doesn't display there.
|
|
In various games I have been in a magic missle has been all kinds of elementally based (Ice, fire etc). I tend to go with pure light that packs a punch.
As a force spell, I treat it as a good solid punch in the sternum , face, or elsewhere that's sure to leave a mark. Add up a bunch of magic missiles and you're essentially risking being bludgeoned to death.
|
|
Magic missile ... feels like magic when it hits you.
Good luck roleplaying that.
Making magic missile look like little flowers or fingers of bone is probably going too far in my books.
Making it look like will o' the wisps is also might be a little missleading to the PCs that spray on their ACME will o the wisps repelant (NB/ it's my image of choice) ...
... but seriously if the spell's effect is obviously a majikal device like the awesome flowre descriptions or transparent skulls etc then noone is going to get misslead (unless that's what you all want), and it doesn't unbalance the mechanics so who cares.Also I went swimming a couple of lenghts of Bondi beach the other day (I live in Sydney Australia WOO HOO) and swam thru a 'pod' of blue bottles. Those stingy little jelly fish tendrils feel like a cut - like a wip - and leave a red welt from the chemical burn I guess. THAT's what I believe they feel like. And i had a facefull of them LOL. Still like a good meat sheild I took my 5 x (1d4 +1) hits and finished the 2km.
As much as I hated the Pool of Radience storyline that game defined generic majik for me and I always view MM as those balls of purpleish light trailing each other
[I] Magic missile
Also I went swimming a couple of lenghts of Bondi beach the other day (I live in Sydney Australia WOO HOO) and swam thru a 'pod' of blue bottles. Those stingy little jelly fish tendrils feel like a cut - like a wip - and leave a red welt from the chemical burn I guess. THAT's what I believe they feel like. And i had a facefull of them LOL. Still like a good meat sheild I took my 5 x (1d4 +1) hits and finished the 2km.
I live on Maui and swim in the Pacific Ocean. I 've been stung across the face , and arms, legs and torso by jelly fish and it sucks.
regardless of what a magic missile might feel like, it seems all agree that it should not be pleasant.
