If I cast Magic Stone on three sling bullets and then shoot them in three separate rounds, what happens to the bullets if one hits (and deals it's magic damage) and the other two miss and clatter to the floor? Do any of them retain the effect? In other words, could I pick one up after combat and take it with me to the next combat? If I also cast Light on it, it would be very easy to see and reclaim.
If I cast Magic Stone on three sling bullets and then shoot them in three separate rounds, what happens to the bullets if one hits (and deals it's magic damage) and the other two miss and clatter to the floor? Do any of them retain the effect? In other words, could I pick one up after combat and take it with me to the next combat? If I also cast Light on it, it would be very easy to see and reclaim.
You might consider the ammunition rules:
Generally speaking, ammunition that hits its target is destroyed or rendered useless, while ammunition that misses has a 50% chance of being destroyed or lost.
Based on that, on a miss there would be a 50% chance for the stone to discharge. If the GM considers the stone is "lost" instead of destroyed, the possibly a detect Magic might allow to reclaim the stone with some search.
Thanks, Yorian. I also just noticed (don't know how I missed it) that the spell's duration says, "30 minutes or until discharged", so I guess if the ammunition were not destroyed (as you pointed out) then it would also not be "discharged".
Thanks, Yorian. I also just noticed (don't know how I missed it) that the spell's duration says, "30 minutes or until discharged", so I guess if the ammunition were not destroyed (as you pointed out) then it would also not be "discharged".
Yeah, that's the idea, and works for most types of projectiles.
If you hit, then damage is done and the projectiles becomes useless.
If you miss, then there's a 50% for the projectile to be destroyed or lost; if it's not then you should be able to recover the projectile normally and use it again as long as you can find it. For normal ammo finding the projectile might be difficult and probably not worth the cost (unless ammo is scarce), but for magical, more expensive ammo (or projectiles under a spell), something like detect magic might come in handy to recover at least some missfired projectiles back.
On large battles where ammunition count may become important (sieges and such come to mind) then your GM might rule that some projectiles that hit can also be scavenged back (at least non-magical ones), but that's out of scope from the usual PC skirmishes.
The stones would actually be discharged as soon as you fired them, so even if they miss, they are done.
Although you didn't get any extra damage from them, you did in get the +1 to hit.
The stones would actually be discharged as soon as you fired them, so even if they miss, they are done.
Although you didn't get any extra damage from them, you did in get the +1 to hit.
Since they come from a spell and not from crafted ammunition, that might be true, a GM may consider that firing a stone discharges the magic; but since the spell states the stones are treated as sling bullets, I'd say they behave as generic magic ammunition.
A normal weapon firing magic projectiles gets the magic projectile enhancement bonus but characters still have a 50% recovery chance if the projectile misses. If a character rolls the recovery chance, the recovered projectile is still magical.
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The rules for magic stone are kinda iffy. It's unclear in the written rules wether the stones are ammunition for a sling, or if they are just able to use a sling's extended range for their effect. The distinction is in adding strength damage to the attack, which is really not covered by the spell at all. Also matters for characters with alternate distances to throw or sling ranged increments, since the spell specifies how far it goes.
That said, every GM I've played with goes on the assumption that they function as ammunition for the sling or as a thrown weapon.