A player of a wizard PC in a game I run has asked to take this 1st level spell. I'm trying to decide whether to allow it or not. It's clearly modeled after magic missile, with identical range and number of missiles, but requiring ranged touch attack rolls in exchange for more damage of a selected energy type.
A bolt of a chosen energy type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic) blasts from your fingertips and with a successful ranged touch attack deals 1d6+1 points of the chosen energy type of damage.
For every two caster levels beyond 1st, you gain an additional missile: two at 3rd level, three at 5th, four at 7th, and five bolts at 9th level or higher. If you shoot multiple missiles, you can have them strike a single creature with one attack roll or several creatures with multiple attack rolls. A single bolt can strike only one creature.
With up to five missiles, the choice of all five energy types and medium range, is it too good for a 1st level spell?
I used this fairly frequently in a campaign I played in before. The damage scales about as you'd expect for a an evocation at its level, requires a touch attack, and has to deal with energy resistances (if any) and other things force damage gets to avoid or ignore.
I don't consider it overpowered for its level, myself.
The Spell is an OGL legacy from Dave Arneson's Blackmore (The first D&D campaign setting), updated to Pathfinder, This is the first time anyone has ever had even the slightest issue with the spell in the 5 years since its release.
At most I'd remove the choice for sonic damage. It's so rarely resisted why use the other types unless you know something is vulnerable to them?
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When compared to most PF spells, the fact that it is not locked in to a specific damage type until casting makes it a little more powerful/useful. Also, based on the wording, you could create bolts of different energy types. Which at higher levels, could be used to find enemy weaknesses and strengths.
I would allow the spell if the energy types were the same for all missiles. And possibly make the spellcaster choose an energy type if using a prepared caster.
This is very similar to the energy missile psionic power. That one is a 3rd-level power, and gets a saving throw for half, but it works against up to 5 targets within 15ft (yes, it's an AoE).
In the psionic version, you have an "active energy type" which requires an action to change, so this is more flexible than the psionic version. Unless you're playing a kineticist psion, the one class and discipline that can change energy types on the fly.
The psionic version also has slightly different damage (or other effects) for different energy types.
While the power is considered a very good one, it isn't broken, so this spell probably isn't either. Probably the reduction in damage for sonic that psionics get wouldn't be a bad house-rule on this spell though.
Do note that the energy missile psionic power doesn't mention requiring a touch attack, so is an auto-hit effect similar to magic missile.
RP's energy missile spell is pretty on par with magic missile as a 1st-level spell.
- Loses the ability to auto-target and instead requires a ranged touch attack
- Reduces range from long to medium
- Increases damage die size from 1d4 to 1d6
- Replaces force damage with energy damage, becoming subject to energy resistance and losing effectiveness vs incorporeal creatures
About the only things I'd change if it were up to me would be the removal of sonic as an energy type and requiring all missiles to be a single energy type per casting, as other people mentioned above.